#curly most of all

[eruhamster]

Anya tried to tell Curly about Jimmy, and he didn't do anything.

No one protected her.

As the nurse of the ship, she was expected to perform mental evaluations of everyone else. Even Curly comments on his own failing to say he never thought about her own mental health.

She gets pregnant. She tries to tell Curly. He fails her again. He fails all of them by trusting Jimmy, who already does not have the capacity to care about the bodily autonomy of others. He dooms them all in an act of selfishness.

They say the same thing that people always say to defend rapists; arguing their lives shouldn't be judged by 'a few minutes' of a 'mistake'. But that mistake is how their lives all end.

Jimmy pulls Curly out of the wreckage to paint things in a different light, and Curly becomes the new Anya.

Anya saves Curly's life, even when he's burnt to a crisp and should by all accounts be dead. She's a great enough nurse that she managed to stabilize him, but he remains in constant pain. All because Jimmy wanted to keep him alive.

His bodily autonomy is stripped from him. Jimmy shoves whatever he wants down his mouth. Curly's punishment for his mishandling of Anya's rape is that he goes through something similar, losing all power over Jimmy and becoming nothing but his toy to be abused.

As the nurse, the pills are Anya's job. But she won't do it. Jimmy calls her a bad nurse and useless for it, but she saved Curly's life; she's phenomenal. She just can't do it because giving Curly the pills is akin to experiencing her trauma through the other. She'd be acting out the part of Jimmy. She can't do it.

When things get worse, she can't take it anymore. She tries to protect both herself and Curly from Jimmy. She locks themselves in the medical bay. Curly didn't protect her, but she wants to protect him.

She probably wanted to put Curly out of his misery. But couldn't bring herself to do something like that, when he can't even speak to say if that's what he wants.

So she just takes the pills. She can finally end this and kill herself rather than continue to suffer, and now Jimmy can no longer continue to shove pills down Curly's throat. It was an act of kindness.

Jimmy finds another victim to abuse since he lost immediate access to Anya and Curly. He can't go a minute without abusing someone else.

And once the door to medical unlocks, Anya is shoved off in a corner, out of the way, blocked out in Jimmy's vision. Even in death, he can't view her as a person. Her bodily autonomy mattered least of all to him.

Jimmy raped Anya and impregnated her. There was the initial act of the rape that took away her bodily autonomy, but also the removal of bodily autonomy that comes with months of an unwanted pregnancy. No one on that ship can offer her an abortion. They're there for 8 more months. Once they're off the ship, it's too late to have an abortion. She will be having that child. And then it's essentially two decades of stasis, of her life being put on hold for a child she never asked for.

Jimmy has a "few minutes" of a mistake by crashing the ship. That "one mistake" left Curly suffering for months with no bodily autonomy. No way of saving himself. No way of saying no. No out. Months of having his bodily autonomy stripped of him, reliving that trauma. Months. And at the end of it, as one last insult, Jimmy shoves him in a stasis chamber, where Curly will remain for two decades. He never asked for it. But Anya never asked for it, either. And in the end, neither of them could truly protect the other from Jimmy.

[curlytsunamiart]

the pointless cruelties found aboard the pony express long-haul freighter tulpar

alternate colors:

[dykedvonte]

I think depictions of Anya being cruel to Curly or drawing out his suffering are artful and chilling but completely miss the point of the story and her character.

I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to have that "I told you so" moment with him but not in something callous or cold. Even if that is how it happened, she'd immediately feel guilty cause at that point she's not tormenting her tormenter or even the person truly at fault. She's doing something cathartic, similar to how Jimmy likely hits Curly to release rage he can't against the rest of the crew. She'd see herself as no different when she'd come back from the moment and see Curly cowering at her. She wants someone to take responsibility but how does being cruel to the defenseless help? Why would she want the power Jimmy has over her over Curly?

The idea of her extending someone else's pain is just so against the struggles she already faces and how she can't even bring herself to cause someone pain even to help them. Her very desire is to release herself from her own suffering and I doubt she'd even fine some sort of guilty release in being cruel to another.

[eggsistential-breakdown]

started making this a couple weeks ago and then learned there's an art contest for it! had a lot more in mind for this but the deadline is as good of an excuse as any to force myself to take things manageably. Hopefully will be able to get to the end of it someday it's so epic in my brain hrgrgghgh

Song is by @sparkbirdmusic

also I have a YouTube channel now :3

[blissfulrain12]

Do you ever think about how Jimmy verbally abused Curly in front of the whole crew and no one did a thing to stop him? Do you ever think about how confident Jimmy must have been that no one would help Curly to casually abuse him in front of others?

Do you ever think about how only Curly carries the title of enabler and just as bad as Jimmy for failing to act?

[juststandingthere]

ISTG this game is making me insane, brainrot strong enough for me to make my first analysis post

One thing i love about the narrative is how distorted the characters, relationships and events are from jimmy's pov. Most posts discussing this focus on Anya, and it makes sense bc she's probably the biggest victim of this. She's seen as less than a person, she's an incompetent nurse, she has a meek personality, she'll let anyone(jimmy) step over her and she still follows his orders, despite everything he has done to her. We obviously see, from curly's pov, that she's simply too terrified of her abuser to act any other way, and when she's not with him she's way more confident and competent.

I haven't seen as many people talking about how this "distortion" affects Swansea and Daisuke as well, including the relationship they have with each other.

We see, in the first Curly section, that Swansea is a great mentor to Daisuke (one might even say they have a father-son/uncle-nephew relationship). He takes his time to teach him not just the basics, but also how to do his job as safely as possible. He lets him take notes, he himself writes stuff down for him to remember and even lets him doodle on those notes! Sure he is harsh with him, but he clearly cares about him and wants him to be safe.

And in return Daisuke looks up to him and has great respect for him, as both a mechanic and a man, while he also makes some jokingly offensive comments towards the older man, showing the close bond they have formed.

But that's not what we see when we play as Jimmy.

In his pov we don't see them interacting much, when they do we either see Swansea insulting Daisuke for no apparent reason or, in one occasion, we see him leading the kid down a "bad path" wanting to teach him how to "drink like a man".

When they aren't interacting tho, we do see hints of their actual relationship: Swansea asking where the kid is when he is "partying" in the lounge, confirming that he does not, in fact, hate spending time with him; him looking desperately for something, *anything*, that could help Daisuke with his suffering after he's injured; how whenever Jimmy tries to bring up to Daisuke how "badly" Swansea treats him, or how he "lied" to them about the utility room, Daisuke immediately shuts him down, because he knows what he's saying is completely wrong (i'm pretty sure those are the only times he doubts something Jimmy says), showing once again the trust and respect he has for his mentor.

(this part is kinda speculative but i think it makes sense)

There are two other times where we see them interacting, where we actually see how much Swansea cares for the kid, and coincidentally, neither of them is seen through Jimmy's eyes, but from a third person pov: what Swansea says right before they knock him out with the drink, about how he resents the people that let Daisuke, someone with his whole life ahead of him, with so much optimism and joy, board the ship for a job that would inevitably leave him "mangled" and "smarter in a worse way" (i could make a whole other essay on this part but i won't), and what he says right before mercy killing him. In that scene specifically, as the camera pans out in the corridor as Swansea raises his axe, ready to take the final swing, Jimmy doesn't see the hesitation in his body language, the way his body tenses, the way he comforts the kid, telling him to close his eyes, the heavy breaths (crying?maybe?) right after the act. He only sees the older man as a monster that would take away an innocent life that jimmy would have been able to fix had he been given the time to fucking think.

Hell, now that i think about it, Swansea's final monologue, where we find out that he is in fact a good man who tried his best to better himself, who simply wanted to protect the kid and give him "a chance off this goddamn rock"(implying that the Cryopod was meant for Daisuke all along) is also shown in third person!

A few other things i found interesting:

1-The missing pieces between what happened to Daisuke in the vent and when Swansea started attacking Jimmy. There's a cut from when Daisuke screams to when he's laying on (Swansea's) bed, bloody and in pain; from when Jimmy uses the mouthwash to disinfect him (which only causes him to suffer more) and two hours later; from after the talk the two men have and the moment Jimmy decides to go find the gun, the axe gone from Daisuke's face. What happened in those missing scenes? Was Swansea the one who helped the kid onto his bed, trying to make him as comfortable as possible? Did he try to comfort him, to distract him, and ease his pain as well as he could? What was his reaction when he had to take back the axe off the face of the young man he had started seeing as his own kid, whose life he had hoped he could save but that he ultimately had to take with his own hands?

I personally think those parts are blocked out of Jimmy's mind, as he couldn't fit them in his own narrative, where he was the hero, Swansea the villain and Daisuke the innocent, young man whose life he tried his best to protect from this "monster" that was now going to come after him.

2-Swansea attacking Jimmy with the axe, especially the cemetery scene, and how it can be interpreted in different ways.

We, the viewers, knowing everything that happened, will see it as a desperate man, Swansea, trying to avenge the lives that had been lost on that ship because of Jimmy (wether directly or not), with Daisuke's death being the last straw. But i don't think that's how Jimmy saw it. He saw swansea as a crazed, mad man, a ruthless killer, coming for him after taking an innocent life, Daisuke's photo and mausoleum as a reminder for Jimmy of what the older man had done, and a justification for what he was about to do.

(not to talk about the implication that the fight against swansea was not as intense as we saw it, only confirming the idea that jimmy was looking for a justification for shooting him)

[sunshinem0ths]

how do you guys think curly felt watching anya die a gruesome, self-inflicted death and being completely unable to stop her. how much do you think he realized that he failed her in that moment

[ovium-sheep]

I hate seeing people mischaracterize Jimmy’s obsession and bend it into some sort of “caring” for Curly. Jimmy may have cared for Curly at some point, but no where does he express any genuine sympathy or care towards Curly.

ONCE does he say he “understands” him, but that’s only because he took the place of Curly. The place he so DESPERATELY WANTED.

Everything Jimmy did was out of morbid obsession for his “best friend.” Jimmy doesn’t care for Curly. Jimmy literally physically abused Curly.

Folks who twist his gross idolization of Curly, did we even play/watch the same game? 🤨

[whitenoisewife]

they have such a complex relationship

[sprolden]

music is entirely subjective and it's literally impossible for anyone to have 'incorrect' opinions on what is and what isnt a good song. except for people who disagree with me personally, who are in a unique position to be Wrong. btw

[jackoino]

the devil is in the details

[noperopesaredope]

Me: Ooooo, I wonder what this "Mouthwashing" thing is that everyone's been obsessed with lately. I should check some of it out.

Me, 30 minutes later: I would kill myself for you, Anya.

[dykedvonte]

I think Anya only failed out of me school because she couldn’t afford it.

She’s a very aware and intelligent woman, she figures out things and knows the composition of the mouthwashing makes it useless as anything but what it’s for. She kept Curly alive for so long, something that would be impossible for someone with no medical prowess. Doctors would’ve struggled to stabilize him. A training that good couldn’t have been cheap. She had to work and work a lot. Work hard to scrap by even though she knew the material and was passionate about it. Enough to enlighten her but not enough to keep her enrolled.

But why is she on the ship? Because all it takes is a trip or two and you’re set!

[v4guelyv4mpiric]

i just think they look cool together

[fantasykiri5]

BEHOLD! Smallidarity

[clock-06]

Curly Mouthwashing I dislike you but I could never hate you.

Mouthwashing has me by the throat rn shoutout to ADHD and hyperfixations

The only truly innocent person on board is Anya, Daisuke I love you dude but I feel like you could’ve helped Anya and just kinda assumed someone else was gonna do it. Swansea, you kinda redeemed yourself but not enough.

Jimmy deserves to live in horse purgatory forever