#Once I'm on my laptop I'll hyperlink my other Jim post so they can be a family

[louisinart]

Okay let's talk about Jim's gender.

Jims gender in s1 is something else about their character that didn't quite make sense to me until I was rewatching more recently, having already seen season two.

I remember feeling a bit disoriented back in 2022 because on one hand I had queer friends glowing at the upfront representation of being nonbinary and then, on the other hand, my parents genuinely did not understand Jim was queer at all. Of course, some of that can be chalked up to my parents as people, but it did itch at some deep feeling for me. While I understand that ofmd is technically historical fiction (silly jenkinisms aside), and therefore can't have a character break into an educational monologue about what it means to be nonbinary (a modern day word to describe a modern day understanding of gender), jims transness felt almost discreet to me. There was a fuzziness to it that didn't sit comfortably in me, even if I didn't hold it against the writers or the character.

Then came season 2 and with it a much more actualized Jim. And, for that matter, a Jim whose gender feels (at least to me) quite different. There's less fuzziness, and more play. Some of this is that they've been styled to be more aligned with modern modes of queerness, for sure, but I think it has meaning beyond that. Where their clothes were once loose and beige, Jim has incorporated color and different fits. They have that delightful party outfit that just sings of gender euphoria to me.

So, after all that, I went back to watch episode 4 of season 1 and I hear this:

"So this whole time you were a woman?"

"Yeah, I guess... I dunno"

And honestly? It all falls into place. Of course Jim's gender seemed fuzzy to me in season one, they were in ACTIVE GENDER CRISIS.

Like, if we look at jims gender timeline here's where we're at: Jim is living, unquestioned, as a woman. As they have for their whole life. Then, one day, they do a bit of murder and to help them go on the run they wear a disguise and start living as a man. That works pretty well, actually! Great! Everyone is treating them well, and they're pretty damn respected too. Until it comes out that they're not a man, actually. And then everyone is talking to them like a woman and it feels bad now in a way it didn't before -- or at least they think it didn't? Maybe it was always bad and they just didn't realize? But also they definitely aren't a man, they know that for sure. So fuck it, they're just Jim. Everyone can deal with that, and it feels right enough, and it's fine.

And that's how they end season 1, more or less, because they're too fucking busy getting shit done to worry about their gender right now thank you very much.

#This feels kind of unfinished but also I don't have anything else to say #Ofmd #Ofmd s2 #Jim Jimenez #Once I'm on my laptop I'll hyperlink my other Jim post so they can be a family #I accidentally saved this as a draft instead of posting 🫣