#Please keep in mind this is my “ghoulcy glasses” interpretation here

[yourfingeronmytriggers]

The "Ghoulcy" Songs of Fallout 2/4

“I Can Dream, Can’t I?

I admit this song both excites and puts a shadow over my ghoulcy shipping heart. But OH– how it pulls deliciously on my poor heart strings.

This song may well speak to how Ghoulcy ends. If Lucy cannot/does not break through to him, everything may well end as “a dream” which is never fulfilled. 

This scene, part of which I already did an analysis on, is just so heartbreaking with the addition of this melody crooning in the background.

I can see, no matter how near you’ll be

You’ll never belong to me

But I can dream, can’t I?

Can’t I pretend I’m locked in the bend of your embrace?

For dreams are just like wine

And I am drunk on mine.

Intentional or not, the word play here is perfect: he’s literally going on a bender and drinking himself stupid because sure a ghoul + a load of drugs= no brainer. But it’s more than that here. Lucy’s just thrown him for a loop by sticking to her Golden Rule when she could have taken her revenge. She proved tough enough to survive and still show mercy when given the opportunity to “do unto him” as he had done unto her.

And uh-oh– because the ghoul has survived his own trauma for the last 200 years on the principle that things like that–people like that– didn’t really exist in this world.

And now she's gone and challenged this, he chooses to try to lose himself to old habits and poor coping skills. Except it backfires. He just can't escape so easily from his demons.

I’m aware, my heart’s a sad affair

There’s much disillusion there

But I can dream, can’t I?

Everything he thought Barb was (but ended up not being) is superimposing in his mind over everything Lucy embodied when she laid down those vials and spared him. In that moment she had the power of his life and death in her hands and she made the choice Barb, his wife and lover, did not.

And I think that sort of terrifies him. I think he is almost as afraid of her proving him right about the world as he is her proving him wrong. 

Can’t I adore you, although we are oceans apart?

I can’t make you open your heart

But I can dream, can’t I?

They’ve gone their separate ways…for now. And Cooper’s left alone to dwell on all of it.

I know they said for season 2 they were going to be playing with the idea of how far Lucy could be pushed while holding on to her “golden center” and I think how that plays out will be vital in how things go for Ghoulcy. If she can manage to hold on to at least some semblance of herself despite having to harden somewhat, I think that will be the key to opening up the Ghoul’s heart again.

And yet.

I think the Ghoul is marked for tragedy. I fear he may even be marked for death.

But I can dream, can’t I?