#it's such a saturated movie. seeped and soaked in tension and gut-wrenching dread

[subsequentibis]

going a little bonkers bananas about hw plainview therewillbeblood. like implicitly or explicitly it's been impressed upon him his role is to stand there and look cute. on some level he knows he acts as a prop for daniel, right, he knows that the father-son thing is a big draw. but it seems like his understanding is that they're leveraging something that actually exists, that daniel does love him and cares for him, and that even if they play it up to get investors, it's real. the first cracks in that show with the accident, when daniel leaves him hurt and confused and terrified, restrained by a worker, so he can watch the earth's blood shooting up in a geyser catch fire and cheer his good fortune. how much does hw know or suspect about daniel's motives once henry shows up? hw tries to warn him with the fire, a line drawn between them, and he sticks around to see what the aftermath will be, only running when daniel chases him. he must suspect that's why he's sent away, and when he's brought back henry is gone. but would he necessarily put the pieces together himself, that daniel is trading one supposed family member for another, just bolstering his image? it's fascinating how genuinely furious and unstable daniel gets when his family man image is threatened. it's not actually about hw of course, it is the IMAGE of it that he relies on - not how dare you tell me how to raise my son, but how dare you see through my painted disguise. anyway. so years and years on, and hw gets married. to someone who genuinely loves him it seems. and he goes to daniel and expresses that he still wants him in his life, but he doesn't want to be his business partner, he wants to be his son. he wants the truth that he thinks lies under the artifice. and he can't have it, he finds out, because it was never there. and he still acts like the prop, right, he's affecting the version of himself he thinks daniel wants to see, he's collected and calm and speaks kindly to him, even acquiesces and speaks out loud when it's demanded, and it doesn't! matter! because what he wants isn't there and was never there and you see that pain written so plainly on his face even though he barely twitches a muscle, and then that final catharsis comes: i thank god there is no part of you in me. he can sever that tie now, he can leave this empty mansion and this artifice behind and he can go live his life with people who care about him.

but he CAN'T!!!! he can't go live a good life can he!! because he's going to drill fucking OIL the corruption is IN him it's all down to the core, he was literally baptized in it, he's tied to it forever, there IS something of daniel in him, it ain't blood, it's OIL and it's never coming out!!!! GOD!!!!!!!!!