#yayyyy i love yapping. i don't know how coherent this is sorry

[walterdecourceys]

context for nauta @sesamie and anyone else who cares:

twenty-five grand and it doesn't even have to be your foot in the picture: this is walter's introductory scene in bway, as freddie's "marketing agent." he is negotiating a shoe advertisement for freddie to do. the deal he eventually settles on is 25k for freddie to sign a photo of someone else wearing the shoe, because "a photo session, i told them, was going to cost real money."

well we couldn't be sure he's alive but then you couldn't be sure he was dead (no change there, eh?): walter spends most of act 2 of london trying to pull off an elaborate deal that involves anatoly losing the chess match and returning to the ussr. one of the key parts of this plan is promising florence that if anatoly loses, her father (who has been a political prisoner of the soviet union for the past thirty years, and presumed dead) will return home. at the end he reveals that he has no idea if florence's father is even still alive. but then, she couldn't be sure he was dead! no change there 🤷

for christ's sake i'm doing a goddamn job and i think i'm doing it well: line that makes me crazyinsane in the head. this is from the end of bway, in which walter has pulled of a deal similar to the one described above, except it involved making an elderly hungarian man impersonate florence's father and basically convince her that they've been reunited. walter decides to tell her directly that he's lied to her (??) and that instead of her father coming home, a captured cia agent will. walter is confused as to why she's upset by this. insists that he's doing his job well and his bosses are pleased with him. we move they move some trust gets built up that is how it's played!!!!! pained smileeeeeee

you and i both know freddie isn't good for much besides pushing pieces around on a chessboard: similar situation as the last two quotes, this time from us tour. walter reveals that he made the deal so that he could get access to the chess market in russia (???? hilarious character motivation. what's his problem). florence asks if freddie knows about this. walter says the aforementioned line. important to note that us tour is also the production where florence freddie and walter have some kind of toxic polyamory situation going on

do you think i enjoy playing with people's emotions? - ANOTHER LINE THAT MAKES ME CRAZYINSANE. this is from sydney it's while walter is trying to orchestrate the deal. florence says something to the effect of "i absolutely don't trust you you're cia" and walter says. hold on can i do the whole thing off the top of my head. do you think i enjoy playing with people's emotions in a way that ensures i have to extinguish my own while you and your morals can selfishly, safely survive? and now here just for once, i can do something rewarding - you have to forget anyone else's ambitions, all that should matter to you is your father's alive! <- insane line. most direct insight into walter's psyche in the chess canon. makes me feel normal

yes i'm hoping the chlamydia will distract me from the boredom - a hit from the danny strong script. at least part of pretty much all chesses is set in bangkok, and therefore pretty much all chesses have at least one joke about the bangkok nightlife. this is one such joke. immediately after this molokov says "i'm sure that can be arranged," which is a very normal thing to say to your rival coworker

boy does your wife have a surprise waiting for her - walter says this after anatoly defects (with another woman) in us tour. this is the first time we find out anatoly has a wife. walter just walks offstage after this. it's really funny

anatoly has good taste - florence has just met her boyfriend's wife for the first time. she comments that she's quite attractive. walter agrees that "anatoly has good taste," and then i think the stage direction has him putting his hand over florence's??? very very odd. this is the only time walter does something that could be constituted as making a pass at florence. very appropriate time to make such a comment nice going buddy

addendum 1: i knowww some of these aren't the full quote i knowww it's "isn't good for much besides pushing pieces on a chessboard." tumblr character limit wants to harm me

addendum 2: feel free to vote on this is you are unfamiliar with chess i promise some of these lines are stranger in context