#and i can't even think about hoffman's vii characterisation it's so. ugh.

[tibby]

I know this has already probably been brought up time and time again but I was rewatching 5 (because it’s my beloved) and “Then why do you need Amanda in the game?” in the context of Jigsquad is making me crazy. Also… Hoffman’s character is at its best here tbh why did they do him like that in 3D LOL 😭

oh no literally...it's something that kief and i have discussed a lot but like. the line itself doesn't change at all in jigsquad but the meaning behind it absolutely does, because now it's hoffman being annoyed that john is so willing to put amanda's in harm's way again for the sake of the game. and he isn't even aware at this point that what he feels for the others is concern/love because he's so out of touch with his emotions (those realisations don't happen until the aftermath of the denlon/rigg/etc games) but he DOES know he's angry with john for it. amanda is so devoted to john and to mark it feel like he's using that devotion to his advantage. it's that big brother protective instinct coming back from where he buried it after he lost angie.

(nerve gas house in jigsquad is just. a big gamechanger for amanda at least. the daniel of it all, especially since he doesn't turn her in afterwards + lawrence and adam taking care of her later because the needle pit fucked her up more than she was expecting, because she never expected to end up in there at all. just...contrasting how john "cares" for her vs how others do. and she doesn't even know that hoffman takes issue with her being put there!)

another hoffman line wrt amanda that has huge context changes in jigsquad is when he tells john that "amanda will fail you" right before lynn's test. because he's not setting amanda up for her downfall. but he has tuned into the fact that the events of the past year and a half - saving adam and john's response to it, nerve gas house, adam's very presence, how dangerous the night is going to be for amanda specifically given that she's unmasked - have planted enough seeds of doubt in amanda's mind, and she's going to break free of john's hold on her heart eventually. she's not the brutal game master that john wants her to be, and she's never going to be that person. amanda may not know it yet, but one day she will fail john, and it'll be the best thing that ever happened to her. and hoffman knows it and he's not above threatening john with this knowledge.

and well. it's that very same night that amanda chooses to save lynn's life instead of john's. she fails him, and even though she's stricken with guilt and grief and anger and heartbreak, she's going to be glad that she did.