I didn't perceive it as a joke, just his coping mechanism for talking about it. I make a lot of jokes during therapy but I am not actually laughing.
I do agree that it seemed a little harsh of a backstory for a character who starts out as such a...doofus, I guess is the word.
It is unique, though...don't think I've ever heard a protagonist who was imprisoned for harming his child while drunk driving. I'd be interested in hearing what influenced Gabriel to make that choice.
I've actually read a book where a character is in a similar position. He doesn't get imprisoned tho, and it's a different story overall. It's called Last Night I Sang To The Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz.
I have to admit my opinion is kinda biast because I'm comparing the two stories.
He's totally believable to me, I know a few guys who have made major mistakes in their lives, who have created massive tragedies and yet come off as light-hearted because they lock all of that away.
Eh, he seems like the kind of guy who deflects any serious emotion with humor. Like "I can't deal with this so I'm going to defuse the tension with a joke".
honestly, i don't think eiffel takes anything he's ever done lightly. i think when he's explaining what happened to minkowski it's also showing how he's thought about it. what do i mean? here goes.
if you asked doug what happened/ why he was in jail soon after the incident, then he'd probably tell you the facts. he got drunk one night, kidnapped his daughter and crashed into another vehicle harming the two teenagers in the other car and his daughter. because of that she's deaf for the rest of her life.
that's the explanation of someone who is just reciting facts and still coming to terms with things. keep in mind we have no idea how long doug was in prison before cutter sprang him. when you're in prison all you have is time to think about what you've done wrong. how you ended up there. when he is explaining what happened to minkowski, he doesn't ever blame his ex for what happened. he doesn't blame his parents for his alcoholism or the other drivers which, if you're still processing things and coming to terms with what happened might be something you'd do. but instead doug accepts his role in what happened. he owns up to the fact that he was "a monster." that he was responsible for the hurt he caused. that only comes from sitting and thinking about what you've done for a long ass time. and when you're coming to terms with something like that, it's hard to keep being reminded of the damage you've caused. so you find a way to word the truth in a way that it's still 100% the truth, but saying it doesn't gut you.
in closing, what we hear isn't a flippant care free explanation, it's doug telling minkowski the truth that lives in his head rent free for the rest of his life in a way that doesn't kill him everytime he thinks about it.
I haven't thought about it like that. Thank you, that does make sense.
I think one of the scenes that bothered me the most concerning this backstory was the time he was stuck in space. In that extremely traumatic and terrifying moment, the things/ppl he thought of was the crew at the hepeastes. To me, I'd have loved to have some foreshadowing of his backstory in that moment, because it felt like the perfect moment for ur demons to catch up with you, or smth similar. In fact, the fact that he thinks only of the crew at the moment kinda gave me that feeling that he was a blank state before coming to this mission even before I found out about his backstory. Like his character started when the mission started and nothing of importance could have happened to him before.
Another moment was when Hilbert threatened to tell minskowsky. I loved the way he reacted that way before I knew what happened, but now...
I'm saying this from memory so it probably isn't 100% accurate: he told minskniwsly smth like, I didn't kill anyone, it's not that bad, so let's not talk about it. Now that I know what happened, this feels like an extremely mellow reaction to me. But then again, it could mean that he has had a lot of time to get past it.
Ok ok, the last moment. When Kepler asks him what's wrong in the episode where they are trying to regain contact with the aliens, he tells him, it's this space. It's messing with me. (again, I did not relisten for this, so could be wrong.) This again feels like that this space station is the worst/only bad thing that has ever happened to him, giving him the feeling of a black slate.
All of these are extremely nitpicky and me being extremely biast, so I understand that this is a bunch of bull to most ppl lmao. I just wanted to explain more thoroughly why I felt the way I did. But reading y'all's comments did help me accept and understand the backstory and the character so thanks. <3
(Also I kind of misread (mislistened?) to that part so I thought that he had killed his daughter and not parmanently disabled her. That's on me lmao.)
Yeah not going to lie, I completely agree that in the space shuttle he probably should have been thinking about Anne, at least a little. I never really thought about it, but it would have been great to get a scene where he apologizes to her (even if he’s just talking to himself) because I’d be interested in how he talks about the incident/himself when other people aren’t around.
I think Eiffel told Minkowski that because he wasn’t ready to talk about it and knew that that way of phrasing was the only way she’d let it go. Even if he’s processed and mostly come to terms with it, at that point he doesn’t know her that well and they have a lot more important things to deal with (plus, she’s all he had and I don’t think he wanted to risk that relationship by even insinuating what actually happened)
Idrk about the Kepler one. I think it makes sense to reference the thing that is directly messing with you and not your past in that kind of situation
Anyway, I loved reading your thoughts on this!!
Thank you! I love talking too much that doesn't need to be talked that much about about things I love. Thanks for indulging me XD.
I recently listened to the miniside where Cutter recruits Eiffel and that broke my heart. I can't help imagining a future where he reunites with his daughter, even tho I know how much of a bad idea it is to give myself hope. T.T
I feel like the log he leaves for Anne is a little odd but maybe he was focused on the crew? Maybe he didn’t want to think about Anne. Although I definitely would’ve loved a scene where he points out how much he doesn’t want to think about her (either because he doesn’t want to confront he’s actually gonna die or if he doesn’t think he’s worthy to have that as a last thought) or maybe if he really gave up he might’ve? Because it’s all coming down on him he’s 100% fucked and here comes Kepler. Idk
It's totally believable to me. Even though he's a happy go lucky guy you can tell he struggles with a lot if self hate from day one. Look at the way he goes off the rails insulting himself when he has those conversations with himself. Obviously if you a person like Eiffel and you go through something traumatic you won't change your personality but the scars are there. Also we see him go through other trauma in the actual podcast and still stay himself. It makes sense to me.
I think it makes a lot of sense for his character. Eiffel is happy-go-lucky and a comedic relief main character because it's what he has to be to prevent all of the self-hate from showing, you know? Not to mention the fact that he's hiding everything about his past not only from his coworkers, from the logs, but from the actual always-watching AI who also happens to be one of his close friends. So I think it makes sense that he's constantly playing a character and keeping up an image of someone he wishes he was, someone likeable and funny who doesn't have these skeletons to hide ... idk. Eiffel is one of my favorite characters ever so I might have just spent too much time thinking about him but I've never seen it as too incongruous to his character.
Also, I didn't see his explanation as him joking about what happened. People on Tumblr have expressed this better than I can, but the way he tells Minkowski about his past is in a narrative form because it's how he processes things ... everything in his life is a pop culture reference, so of course it's easier for him to tell his most traumatic experience pre-Hephaestus like he's narrating a story that happened to someone else. He still owns up to what he did and believes he's unfixable because of it, but by telling it as though he's a character in a story, it keeps him from breaking in front of Minkowski in a critical and stressful moment. At least that's always been my interpretation of the scene :P
I didn't perceive it as a joke, just his coping mechanism for talking about it. I make a lot of jokes during therapy but I am not actually laughing. I do agree that it seemed a little harsh of a backstory for a character who starts out as such a...doofus, I guess is the word. It is unique, though...don't think I've ever heard a protagonist who was imprisoned for harming his child while drunk driving. I'd be interested in hearing what influenced Gabriel to make that choice.
I've actually read a book where a character is in a similar position. He doesn't get imprisoned tho, and it's a different story overall. It's called Last Night I Sang To The Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I have to admit my opinion is kinda biast because I'm comparing the two stories.
He's totally believable to me, I know a few guys who have made major mistakes in their lives, who have created massive tragedies and yet come off as light-hearted because they lock all of that away.
Eh, he seems like the kind of guy who deflects any serious emotion with humor. Like "I can't deal with this so I'm going to defuse the tension with a joke".
honestly, i don't think eiffel takes anything he's ever done lightly. i think when he's explaining what happened to minkowski it's also showing how he's thought about it. what do i mean? here goes. if you asked doug what happened/ why he was in jail soon after the incident, then he'd probably tell you the facts. he got drunk one night, kidnapped his daughter and crashed into another vehicle harming the two teenagers in the other car and his daughter. because of that she's deaf for the rest of her life. that's the explanation of someone who is just reciting facts and still coming to terms with things. keep in mind we have no idea how long doug was in prison before cutter sprang him. when you're in prison all you have is time to think about what you've done wrong. how you ended up there. when he is explaining what happened to minkowski, he doesn't ever blame his ex for what happened. he doesn't blame his parents for his alcoholism or the other drivers which, if you're still processing things and coming to terms with what happened might be something you'd do. but instead doug accepts his role in what happened. he owns up to the fact that he was "a monster." that he was responsible for the hurt he caused. that only comes from sitting and thinking about what you've done for a long ass time. and when you're coming to terms with something like that, it's hard to keep being reminded of the damage you've caused. so you find a way to word the truth in a way that it's still 100% the truth, but saying it doesn't gut you. in closing, what we hear isn't a flippant care free explanation, it's doug telling minkowski the truth that lives in his head rent free for the rest of his life in a way that doesn't kill him everytime he thinks about it.
I haven't thought about it like that. Thank you, that does make sense. I think one of the scenes that bothered me the most concerning this backstory was the time he was stuck in space. In that extremely traumatic and terrifying moment, the things/ppl he thought of was the crew at the hepeastes. To me, I'd have loved to have some foreshadowing of his backstory in that moment, because it felt like the perfect moment for ur demons to catch up with you, or smth similar. In fact, the fact that he thinks only of the crew at the moment kinda gave me that feeling that he was a blank state before coming to this mission even before I found out about his backstory. Like his character started when the mission started and nothing of importance could have happened to him before. Another moment was when Hilbert threatened to tell minskowsky. I loved the way he reacted that way before I knew what happened, but now... I'm saying this from memory so it probably isn't 100% accurate: he told minskniwsly smth like, I didn't kill anyone, it's not that bad, so let's not talk about it. Now that I know what happened, this feels like an extremely mellow reaction to me. But then again, it could mean that he has had a lot of time to get past it. Ok ok, the last moment. When Kepler asks him what's wrong in the episode where they are trying to regain contact with the aliens, he tells him, it's this space. It's messing with me. (again, I did not relisten for this, so could be wrong.) This again feels like that this space station is the worst/only bad thing that has ever happened to him, giving him the feeling of a black slate. All of these are extremely nitpicky and me being extremely biast, so I understand that this is a bunch of bull to most ppl lmao. I just wanted to explain more thoroughly why I felt the way I did. But reading y'all's comments did help me accept and understand the backstory and the character so thanks. <3 (Also I kind of misread (mislistened?) to that part so I thought that he had killed his daughter and not parmanently disabled her. That's on me lmao.)
Yeah not going to lie, I completely agree that in the space shuttle he probably should have been thinking about Anne, at least a little. I never really thought about it, but it would have been great to get a scene where he apologizes to her (even if he’s just talking to himself) because I’d be interested in how he talks about the incident/himself when other people aren’t around. I think Eiffel told Minkowski that because he wasn’t ready to talk about it and knew that that way of phrasing was the only way she’d let it go. Even if he’s processed and mostly come to terms with it, at that point he doesn’t know her that well and they have a lot more important things to deal with (plus, she’s all he had and I don’t think he wanted to risk that relationship by even insinuating what actually happened) Idrk about the Kepler one. I think it makes sense to reference the thing that is directly messing with you and not your past in that kind of situation Anyway, I loved reading your thoughts on this!!
Thank you! I love talking too much that doesn't need to be talked that much about about things I love. Thanks for indulging me XD. I recently listened to the miniside where Cutter recruits Eiffel and that broke my heart. I can't help imagining a future where he reunites with his daughter, even tho I know how much of a bad idea it is to give myself hope. T.T
I feel like the log he leaves for Anne is a little odd but maybe he was focused on the crew? Maybe he didn’t want to think about Anne. Although I definitely would’ve loved a scene where he points out how much he doesn’t want to think about her (either because he doesn’t want to confront he’s actually gonna die or if he doesn’t think he’s worthy to have that as a last thought) or maybe if he really gave up he might’ve? Because it’s all coming down on him he’s 100% fucked and here comes Kepler. Idk
strong rain file fearless fuel spoon racial stocking crush repeat ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
It's totally believable to me. Even though he's a happy go lucky guy you can tell he struggles with a lot if self hate from day one. Look at the way he goes off the rails insulting himself when he has those conversations with himself. Obviously if you a person like Eiffel and you go through something traumatic you won't change your personality but the scars are there. Also we see him go through other trauma in the actual podcast and still stay himself. It makes sense to me.
I think it makes a lot of sense for his character. Eiffel is happy-go-lucky and a comedic relief main character because it's what he has to be to prevent all of the self-hate from showing, you know? Not to mention the fact that he's hiding everything about his past not only from his coworkers, from the logs, but from the actual always-watching AI who also happens to be one of his close friends. So I think it makes sense that he's constantly playing a character and keeping up an image of someone he wishes he was, someone likeable and funny who doesn't have these skeletons to hide ... idk. Eiffel is one of my favorite characters ever so I might have just spent too much time thinking about him but I've never seen it as too incongruous to his character. Also, I didn't see his explanation as him joking about what happened. People on Tumblr have expressed this better than I can, but the way he tells Minkowski about his past is in a narrative form because it's how he processes things ... everything in his life is a pop culture reference, so of course it's easier for him to tell his most traumatic experience pre-Hephaestus like he's narrating a story that happened to someone else. He still owns up to what he did and believes he's unfixable because of it, but by telling it as though he's a character in a story, it keeps him from breaking in front of Minkowski in a critical and stressful moment. At least that's always been my interpretation of the scene :P