#aa...ggghI hope this makes sense...

[bumblingbabooshka]

I love Milchick...I love how he seems incapable of not lying and manipulating other people (Sending Irving the 'You're gonna get murdered if you keep getting cozy with Burt' painting without informing Cobel beforehand is when he first got on my radar) and how he wants the innies to be treated better but it seems like he only wants that so they'll be more complacent and productive and everyone on every conceivable side (Innies, Outies, Families, Kier himself) hates him for whatever he's doing or not doing and no one respects him and yet he persists even when it's pretty clear that whatever he's doing isn't even effective anymore because I don't think he knows what else to DO. It paints a picture of someone who's dedicated himself to Lumon and who knows how Lumon says it would like him to act and has no backup in case that fails. What is Milchick's personality? Though we see him outside Lumon, we never see him not working. Really the only thing we can say for certain about Milchick is that he is an extremely hardworking, persistent, and (forcefully) patient person. (Forcefully = It's implied he has HAD to be patient with others in order to advance. Think of how comfortable Drummond was with disrespecting and belittling him.) I know some people want him to be a 'Good', Kind, Benevolent Guy who sees the Innies as his friends because of his Kindness Reform thing but I'm wary of that mentality bc I know if he's not a paragon of virtue it's going to lead to a lot of negativity because black characters aren't thought of as being complex and Human in the way white characters (think Cobel, Helena) are. I really do wonder what his life looks like. You could argue that the character he most closely resembles (other than Natalie, who at this point is more tertiary) is Helena - not in her enormous privilege but in her enforced emptiness. Cobel's life was consumed by Lumon-Business work but she also had the Religion-Kier and that horrific slight working to pull her away from it all and keep going when all was said and done. I separate Lumon & Kier because...in my opinion, though they're deeply intertwined, they do seem like two different heads on one beast. Cobel had a Kier shrine, not a Lumon one. Think of how much Cobel mentions Kier as opposed to Milchick. It's of COURSE different but I think of those who leave the church while still believing in God as an example of deeply intertwined yet still different. Both Helena and Milchick are shown to be emptier than other characters. They're alike in their total lack of...displayed personhood, despite Helena's assertion that she IS a person, not Helly. How much of what she says and does is through her own will? Then, Helena sees (through Helly) her body being daring and loved. This is when she splits away from Milchick, she has found Something Else. Milchick has nothing to divide him. There's the racism and disrespect he experiences at Lumon but he's lived under that for maybe his entire life. Does he even believe in Kier? What I'm saying is that there's no other grass he can see. Cobel can dream of burning Lumon down for what they did, Helena can dream of a romance with Mark, Milchick has NOTHING without Lumon as far as we know right now. I've seen some people be of the opinion that "Milchick chose this, if he hasn't pulled away by now then let him suffer" but I don't think that's correct. I don't think it's incomprehensible or indicative of him being Evil. Think of Miss Huang, who in one episode says they shouldn't treat the innies as Human and in the next apologizes to Dylan, near tears. Think of Cobel who treats Mark like a science experiment/stupid child yet also says she cares for him. To me Milchick is a very mysterious character. Friendly and frigid, polite and unsettling. I want to know about him!! I want to see a bit of his true face and I'm sure it'll be ugly in the way many Severance characters are. And also beautiful, in the same way.