#i triple checked this one if it's also inaccurate i'm going to eat a small stone

[eyesteeth]

love the diner scene in episode 5 so much. on the surface it's hysterical, hayward just dumps this rant about his wife (soon to be ex-wife) onto carpenter, someone he fully believes to be involved in the deaths of five men, with barely any prompting. and carpenter cringes through the whole thing and it's so awkward to listen to. it's four minutes of an incredibly realistic rendition of the worst conversation possible.

and then later you learn that there is no ex-wife. hayward just said that shit off the cuff. and it's so fucking funny on a second listen. all that awkwardness, to a stranger, about something that didn't even happen.

when he mentions his wife again in episode 14, something's clearly off - his speech about the good man running, it feels more like him talking about himself than describing what someone said to him. then, when he says his wife knows he's at the party in episode 18/S2E3, we know he's been on his own for a while. finally, it comes out in episode 27/S2E12 that she was never real. and this knowledge completely recontextualizes the whole encounter in episode 5.

him talking about fear and apprehension, that mounting feeling, desperately wanting something to be over but not wanting to make it be over, feeling like you're giving more than you're taking, it's very clearly him ranting about his job and his associated insecurities. he goes into feeling like he's going to lose himself if he pulls away from this "relationship" or come out the other side worsened from the whole ordeal.

and then carpenter pipes in, and says that there's another option - he can destroy the other party. and that's where this scene really clicks and comes together, because the thoughts hayward is having about his job are the same thoughts carpenter is having about her faith.

she also doesn't want to be here, both in the sense of being in this town and being in this position. she's tired of gods and the problems they cause for her and everyone, and she's struggling with leaving. hayward and carpenter foil each other incredibly in this regard. they even have similar forces pushing them to make this choice in the first place - hayward got into the police because he didn't want to let his mother down, and carpenter got into the church because of the fear surrounding her brother's death. it's guilt and family for both of them.

then, in season two, we get to see them both existing outside of their respective "bad partners" - hayward abandoning his job and working with paige, and carpenter traveling alone to bury the body she's given. (the similarities diverge here - carpenter spends this time alone reflecting and ultimately decides she needs no higher force in her life, while hayward feels directionless without a higher authority and so goes all in on the new god - they both go in very different directions with the momentum they're given)

now, with season three six days away, they're both being pursued by that same "bad partner" from before - hayward was already on the run from the police and making a god isn't going to put him in any better graces, and carpenter has the forces of the river faith coming after her for a double-murder she didn't do. when their paths converge, which is very likely, maybe they'll foil each other again. only time will tell.

#tsv #the silt verses #yes im making another post. i need to exorcise the hyperfixation to a manageable level #i triple checked this one if it's also inaccurate i'm going to eat a small stone #analysis #sister carpenter #hayward