#they could never make me like you Jimmy

[swanpyart]

Honestly, there’s a lot of instances of the game where Jimmy’s intense rewriting of history really shows how delusional he is. And I don’t think these manifest from guilt, but from a victim-martyr complex: a lot of these are used to make himself look good to the audience, but the utter dissonance between these visions and reality make it terrifying instead.

1. The Birthday Party scene

It seems like something obviously scary, but it’s actually what Jimmy thinks his crew should do. He wants to be celebrated, wants to be admired, and up until he dies is still convinced he was just a well meaning guy who did his best. The party was not a guilt and fear ridden hallucination, but Jimmy deluding himself into thinking he’s the hero. His team should be thanking him and throwing him a party, even when they’re all dead by his own actions. In reality: there probably isn’t even any balloons or confetti, and all Curly sees is Jimmy and the rest of the corpses of the crew sitting at an empty table in a dark room.

2. Curly in the Chair attached to Wheels

The scene where Curly is attached to wheels that must be turned for his organs to sit right so you can feed him his leg is also a good example. This isn’t how bodies work, and Curly is a burn victim, so his internal organs being rearranged makes no actual sense; all of his health issues are external. No, this is what Jimmy thinks must happen; that Curly simply can’t keep down his food, and that all Jimmy needs to do is try harder to get him to eat it. Jimmy, in reality is probably just forcibly feeding Curly his own puked up leg chunk over and over again until Curly grows too tired to fight. And isn’t it like Jimmy to shove a square peg in a round hole and insist it’s the hole’s fault? Jimmy already has shown he’s perfectly fine with force feeding Curly already and is not afraid to get violent when doing so. The reality of that situation is that Curly was probably resisting as much as he physically could, but eventually grows too tired of the abuse and just gives in.

3. Swansea with an axe

And with Swansea, the entire sequence of Swansea chasing him around with an axe may be partially true, but a lot less even-sided in reality. Swansea was shown to have a temper, but killing Daisuke was horribly difficult and emotionally crushing, even if he wouldn’t admit it outright. Jimmy on the other hand clearly views Swansea as an axe wielding maniac who kills without remorse and wants to hoard the cryotank all to himself. I think Jimmy was hallucinating Swansea chasing him around, because I think it would be in character for Jimmy to witness Daisuke’s death at Swansea’s hands and, rather than think over his actions, instead become paranoid and fearful that Swansea would target him, too.

Cus think about it: while Swansea is bigger, he’s also a drunken old man whose grieving the loss of a kid he viewed like his own, while Jimmy is a comparar healthy younger man with a gun. Jimmy already has a track record for picking on those he sees as vulnerable (Anya being the only woman with her room not having a lock, Daisuke being the youngest and easy to influence, and Curly being physically disabled and unable to fight back). What’s more likely: that Swansea suddenly goes from sullen and mournful to an axe wielding maniac gunning for Jimmy’s blood, or that Jimmy is paranoid about an older grieving man and holds him at gunpoint to tie him to the chair?

Feel free to add more examples, this is fascinating

[swampyswan]

I’m surprised we don’t talk about the Polle statue more.

Anya sleeps next to the Polle statue post-crash because it’s sound activated, therefore alerting her if Jimmy tries to approach her in the night. This is already horrific because it leans into the idea that , even AFTER crashing the ship, Jimmy has not learned that how he treated Anya had consequences and continued to abuse her after the fact, only with no Curly to act as even a theoretical buffer. Curly didn’t do much, but at the very least, the idea of him finding out was enough for Jimmy to keep his abuse of her under wraps. Now he has no one to stop him from doing so as long as it happens while Daisuke and Swansea are asleep.

The Polle statue becomes a symbol of Anya’s safety; her last safeguard against Jimmy, because she knows he cares about his reputation and won’t dare approach her if it’ll attract the attention of the other two, or at the very least alert her in case he tries anything and she can ward him off.

And then, halfway through, we find it broken. Smashed to pieces.

It’s easy to point to Jimmy as the culprit. As his control over the situation starts to dwindle and bite him in the ass, so does his control over Anya. The reason he imagines Polle as a monster in his mind is because he acts as a barrier between him and his favorite punching bag. Destroying it is a sign to Anya that she can’t escape him.

But… maybe it was Swansea, in a drunken rage, who destroyed it, out of annoyance of its constant jabbering about a job he hates, out of desperation, out of the growing stress of starvation and subsisting on only Mouthwash that made him lash out. Maybe he didn’t even realize just how badly he screwed over Anya in the moment, maybe only regretting it when he sees her dead.

It could have been Daisuke. Maybe it was an accident; maybe he bumped into it one day and it shattered. Maybe he couldn’t have known what he did.

Or maybe it was Anya herself. Maybe she’d came to the realization that the Polle statue couldn’t protect her forever, that if Jimmy ever eventually decided the risk of exposure was worth the attack on her, that the statue could not actually stop him. Maybe it was slowly losing battery power and, one fateful night, might no longer work. Maybe it was the beginning of the end for her; her slow realization that there was ever only one way this was going to end.

[bianc0re]

Take a slice

[tubbytarchia]

For the ranchers a bit more shleep i just really like charakters comfy and nice:Dc /nf

Eepies. Jimmy woke up to really sore wings but its okay because Tango

[sanasanakun]

People try too hard to make Curly an active participant in Jimmy's abuse. Isn't the whole point that he's passive in everything Jimmy does? Abuse occurs because he actively doesn't do anything? Not to call someone out or be mean, but I saw a post saying Anya's ID being in Curly's locker at the beginning shows that he intended to prevent Anya from filing an HR report and I disagree. I get where that interpretation is coming from, but I think it's a little uncharitable. I don't like being too kind to Curly because he's like...a morally mid dude at best lol But if we're going by the HR report interpretation, I would say it's more likely he requested Anya's ID in order to file an HR report on her behalf. After all, the only way to contact Pony (that we see) is in the cockpit, he's the Captain, and Pony Express sucks bad so I wouldn't put it past them to only allow the Captain to use the communication device thing. As we see before, Curly is the only one able to use tools around the ship that you would think other employees could use (ex. Swansea should be able to use the axe if he's the repair guy. Idk why they'd need an ax but that falls under manual labor which Swansea is designated for as the mechanic/fixer dude. But it has to go through Curly). I never got the vibe that Curly moved to actively protect Jimmy. He just lets things happen without say a word; Jimmy walks all over him, and by extension, the whole crew. I get why people would think that because he gives the whole "Hey Jimmy, we can get through this together, bud" spiel right before the crash. This part interests me a lot because there's so many ways to interpret Curly's intentions there. My interpretation is that Curly is on autopilot mode. The responses seem so stilted in comparison to Jimmy's. Like it's the kind of thing Curly's said before again and again and again when Jimmy's gotten in trouble. However, as others previously pointed out, I don't think Curly ever dealt with Jimmy doing something this irredeemable. He doesn't know how to respond, so he just goes for the default "You've gotten through tough situations before. Work through it one step at a time." Like the response is lame af lol I think he was in shock; he was scared (and just so I can say it one more time: he's super lame).

Anyway, this is way longer than I intended and I've said things a billion people have already stated. But uhhh tldr the whole point of Curly's character is he's passive; he never acts. He just watches. Making him an active participant in the abuse by taking actions to cover for Jimmy (like preventing Anya from filing an HR report) defeats the purpose of his character. He's a bystander.

[hyper-pixels]

I won’t be getting over how Jimmy blamed Curly. Not for the accident. Each dig about him alluding to the accident was alluding to how Curly tried to save them. Jimmy blamed Curly for trying to save them not because of the incident

[amethyst-marshmallow]

dude i just watched a mouthwashing playthrough and dude. like that was a horror game, but it wasnt a normal horror game. a normal horror game makes me jump and scream. This one? i was frozen. my eyes were wide with terror. i was cold, even though i was wearing a blanket. I was holding onto my blanket and i didnt even realize until it literally started hurting because i was holding on so hard. I cried at least twice. i was frozen in terror afterwards. I wasn't even playing the game yet i still felt everything. What the hell did I just see.

ok but seriously THE SOUND DESIGN?????????? SO good and it was SO terrifying. the breathing sounds and the sounds of curly taking the pills were so gross omg i am not the same person after hearing all that it was heart wrenching and soul crushing and dream shattering im going to rot away and turn into mold holy shit

Also normally i dont like nonlinear storytelling because its normally confusing to me but this one???? So good, it woudnt have worked linearly. the graphics also are good, its gory and gross and it couldn't be better. I'm terrified and might not sleep tonight. i love you daisuke and i fucknig hate you jimmy grrrrrr

[sir-dahlia]

no but like. listen. i know a lot of people have made points about Jimmy not seeing Anya at all and giving her zero respect but like. what drives me absolutely bonkers is the fact that we don't even see Anya die. not in like a literal sense because obviously she locked herself Medical but metaphorically. Jimmy doesn't see her. he REFUSES to see her. Daisuke goes into the vent and we hear him discover Anya's body but Jimmy doesn't even comment on it. when Jimmy is searching for mouthwash to "disinfect" Daisuke's wounds and he walks into Medical, her body is covered up with static. he doesn't linger on it for a single moment and it's just like. URGRHSHGHAGIUGUGUHHH

AND THE NEXT TIME WE SEE HER she's gone. she's dead she overdosed there's nothing more about it her life ended she's gone. that's it. we're forced to move on because Jimmy moves on before her death is even revealed. i'm LITERALLY nauseous what the FUCK he did not CARE JIMMY I'M PUNCHING YOU DIRECTLY IN THE FACE

[swanpyart]

I think part of why Daisuke’s death impacted Jimmy the most out of the crew was because of a few things that have to do with Jimmy’s ego and Daisuke’s attitude.

There are a few points that make it extra painful for Jimmy

1. Daisuke is the youngest of the crew and therefore has theoretically more life to live. It seems that the rest of the crew has a soft spot for him by virtue of this alone.

2. Daisuke does not have any prior history with Jimmy that causes any major beef with him. Jimmy is abusive towards Anya who’s terrified of him, and Swansea mutually dislikes him and seems to see how irresponsible he actually is. Daisuke is so new that he doesn’t have the context to know how awful Jimmy is. He probably doesn’t even know what Jimmy did to Anya.

3. Having his death be directly Jimmy’s fault in a way that cannot be spinned positively. Anya killer herself to get away from him, and Swansea was trying to rightfully kill him, but Daisuke actually did what Jimmy complains that his crew never does… LISTEN TO HIM. Jimmy laments that no one listens or does as he says, but Daisuke did! And he did it despite knowing that he probably shouldn’t. Daisuke gave Jimmy the benefit of the doubt and respected him as a leader and authority figure , and it ended up painfully killing him.

And it’s no wonder Swansea goes nuts and tries to kill Jimmy. Jimmy took this poor naive kid and knowingly put him in danger, KILLED him, to get what he wanted. Instead of risking his own life like the hero he supposedly wants to be, Jimmy has to send someone else to do the hard part.

[doverstar]

joseph gordon-levitt called jim hawkins "just a very good-looking wasp of a boy that I will never be" and I've been thinking about that for two weeks

[made-nondescript]

the devil is in my brain and she is telling me to try and make not one but two plushies even though i didnt finish my last one but what if this time was different. what if

[floral-hex]

I’m so over emotional right now. read that Jimmy Buffett died surrounded by his friends and family and started crying. not that he died. that everyone he loved, that loved him, was there with him in his final moments. and his dogs! his dogs were there, too! something about it is so beautiful and nice and fuck, I am bummed he died, but that he went out surrounded by his loved ones makes it seem okay. I’m glad he got that in the end. That knowing you’re loved and you’ll be remembered. I think that’s all we can really hope for in the end.

[sanasanakun]

Jimithon Mouthwashing is such a good representation of untreated, enabled NPD like it makes me want to squeeze the life out of him. I'm endlessly fascinated when watching him interact with his crew, surroundings, and himself because he's so fucking lost in his own sauce. It's insane. If I'm being real, it makes him my favorite character in the game.

It's a little scary to say, but watching Jimmy is like seeing a mirrored version of myself two years ago before I truly committed to treatment for my NPD. He's like a shadow. The opening line "I hope this hurts," which I believe comes from Jimmy right before the crash, is such a poignant statement. It's a simple line, but I can tell you from experience that the desire to hurt others when in a narcissistic rage is overwhelming. It's such a good line to sum up Jimmy's character in that moment. Luckily, in the real world, I had my friends and family there to catch me when I hit my lowest, even though I'd hurt them so many times. Jimmy probably could've used friends to force him into therapy (cough cough Curly cough cough)

[koifishing]

I just rewatched Shutter, that one 2000s horror movie about a "vengeful" ghost girl who haunts her ex-boyfriend and his new wife because the asshole took pictures of and stood by his friends raping her and just forgot! about it! or hid it or whatever excuse, and it reminded me of Curly just not doing anything about Jimmy and the whole bro culture shit and how often this kind of thing happens in real life and in other media. And now I'm mentally turmoiled about this game once more.

[melittosphex]

Mouthwashing Good end! Jimmy they could never make me like you

[terrapinart]

I know it's gonna be a good day when I wake up, go to trauma therapy, and when I get home I sit down and start drawing some mpreg jimmy