#AYOOOO new overanalyzation of five minute scenes just dropped

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

idk about u but i nEEEEEED to know more about hobie & miguel's relationship. cus like. it's clear that hobie REALLY distrusts the society, right? from the second miles and him start interacting he's trying to push miles out from it, right? AND YET HE'S STILL THERE !!!!! and you could argue that that's because of gwen, right, and i'm sure that plays a part, BUT !!! him and miguel are STILL ON GOOD TERMS. they BANTER !! he, in some part, likes miguel, despite distrusting the society he leads. WHY !!!!! WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THEM i gotta know.

I KNOWWWW!! It's such an interesting dynamic!!! And I have a little story in my head of maybe why

Also this is SO LONG sorry

Hobie and Miguel's (working) Relationship -

[a breakdown of my interpretation of Hobie's experience and ranking within the Society]

First for context let it be known that according to the wiki, there are only 280 members of the Society - 90 of which are named so far. 280 out of millions of universes is a SMALL number - Gwen wasn't lying when she said it's a small team, technically that's the truth.

So that could be why the society is so varied - Miguel genuinely only picks Spiderpeople he considers to be either trustworthy, unique, talented, or all three.

He had to have specifically picked Hobie and said 'okay we have to recruit him' KNOWING who Hobie was. So already from the get-go I'm assuming Miguel knew what he was getting into with Hobie but he did it anyway!!!!

Which - is completely understandable. Objectively speaking on-screen we've already seen Hobie display:

Loyalty, Forethought, Technological Ability, Stealth ability, Planning, and Emotional Preparation (of Miles) and Communication.

[Like, his emotional swaying of Miles throughout the movie is..really impressive. I could write a whole thing on that. All I'll say rn: He could have broken Miles out himself, but he didn't. He let Miles free himself. He did that for a reason and that detail shows a lot about his fight against oppression and views.]

I mean - If Hobie is sent on a team mission with people who like him, he is very good at managing team dynamics, encouraging others, mentoring/teaching teammates, and leading others along plans, without being a 'leader'.

(And need I remind you - Hobie also broke a barrier 3 other spider-people couldn't take down, even with their collective strength.)

That implies Hobie is really valuable and really worth the stress to Miguel. Even moreso, knowing about Hobie's beliefs and doubts. Miguel probably knew he was a risk, but saw his work as too good to pass up.

So that means - Hobie had to prove his worth to Miguel at one point!

Which is really interesting, considering the show I've been watching lately (bear with me - pun intended)

So I've been watching The Bear on FX - and there was a scene in the last episode I saw that I think sets a good example:

Long story short - A new trainee chef named Sydney becomes the leader of the kitchen line, and an old time employee, Tina isn't happy about this and tells Sydney to fuck off. Tina's been there decades, and Sydney is now her boss. So the whole episode Tina is cold to Sydney, but she ends up taking on too much work, stressed with Sydney and her new work procedures that seem 'uptight'. But a sauce gets fucked over, and when Tina comes back from putting it in the trash, she sees Sydney has already started the sauce again for her, knowing this would happen when Tina didn't work with Sydney's work flow. And even worse, when Tina puts the sauce in the mash potatoes and tries it, she's like 'Fuck. This is good. This kid is good.' Not only did Sydney think ahead, but she also backed it up by improving the outcome, not just fixing it. And in that moment Tina has to check herself and accept that Sydney is on her shit, even if she's young and a bit abrasive at times.

Do you see what I'm getting at here????!!!

Hobie is Sydney here! The forward thinker!

I could absolutely imagine a situation where everything is going to shit, the society has exhausted all options - even Lyla has no clue what to do. And Miguel opens the floor up to anything, any solution someone can come up with.

And finally Hobie is the only one like 'You have to do X,Y,Z'.

Miguel may ignore him at first, or tell him he can't do Hobie's plan for whatever reason. But in the back of his mind he knows 'shit, that plan is airtight and it's all we've got'. And in the end it just works.

Super realistic to think that maybe the society had an issue or bug at one point with the watches, one tech was trying to fix for weeks. Only for Miguel to find out that not only did Hobie find a solution, but he'd fixed the problem weeks before it'd been on Lyla's radar.

Why? Because he deconstructed the watch the moment he got it. Why didn't he tell them he fixed it? Because Miguel didn't ask.

And it's not because Hobie is smarter than any other Spider-person, they're all smart as hell, it's just he thinks different. Especially in a way Miguel needs.

Maybe sometimes he plans against Miguel, which sucks, but when he's planning FOR Miguel, it's such a valuable asset to the society.

And Hobie doesn't even need thanks because he's fine knowing Miguel knows he's simply that good.

And I think it's pretty known in the Society too.

Interesting side thing: In the scene where Miles gets trapped. The people standing within the circle - Miguel, Jess, Hobie, Gwen, and Peter B. Gwen and Peter B. are there because they know Miles. Miguel and Jess are there because they're the Society administration. Hobie - in contrast, has only met Miles maybe an hour or two before. Why is Hobie there, and why no one is like 'why tf is he in the circle?' - My guess is that no one questions Hobie being there the same reason they don't question Jess being there. They see them both as high ranking, seasoned members, members who are use to putting in input to some degree, unlike say Ben Reilly who is kinda just there as administrative muscle. I think that says a lot about how valuable Hobie is seen - not just by Miguel - both in the field and in the societies ranking.

After a while Miguel probably realized that he needs Hobie and his thinking. He needs someone different. That's why he chooses people like Pavi or Jess, or seemingly random additions like Lego-Spider-man.

Cause they're unique and offer something that the Society could use and out of all the Spider-people out there, Hobie is inarguably one of the most unique - hands down.

I love that at the very least there seems to be a sort of respect there. Miguel isn't all rage. He's a planner too, he manages a whole multiverse and society. He's dedicated to keeping order, and he can see that Hobie is just as dedicated to keeping disorder.

Miguel knows that Hobie may not always do what he wants, but whatever Hobie does do - goddamn he does it fucking well