#and consequently kicked from the southlands

[faerygardens]

Idk who needs to hear this but Skizz dying a couple times this session doesn’t mean the canary curse is broken, Jimmy always dies for the first time after session four (and if you wanna point to double life, it was technically Tango’s death in session one, with Jimmy being the one to die session four), the canary curse would only be broken if someone other than Jimmy is the first to die permanently

[seralyra]

Grian is an enigma in the Life Series. He’s playing to win. He’s ruthless. But he’s also fiercely loyal and the dichotomy of those two aspects messes him up so bad every time.

He is the victim of his own nature. Grian forges alliances out of necessity. Because that’s what he needs to succeed. But he stays because he’s growing attached to his allies every time. No matter how hard he fights against it. How much he rebels against the bonds he creates. He always ends up staying. And he always ends up alone.

The most obvious is Scar. Grian is his ally in 3rd Life. He bonds with him out of obligation and stays because he can’t find it in himself to leave. And in Double Life he tries to get away from Scar, but let’s not forget that he is the one to seek Scar out in the first place. And He’s not the one to use that golden apple. It’s Pearl. Even though he was the one who suggested creating an item to break bonds.

He’s the one to talk Scar into basing together. And while he is secret soulmates with BigB he always comes back to Scar. In Limited Life it is obvious, too. Grian never really attacks Scar without being provoked first. Whenever the two are alone together they just talk and tease each other. And while Grian desperately tries to keep his distance, to make sure they are not allied. He ends up becoming family anyway.

Last Life was a bit of an outlier. But Mumbo was in Last Life and Grian will always fixate on Mumbo first. And even then Grian still couldn’t help but go to Scar after he turned red to give him his stuff back and comfort him.

Jimmy is another case. Whenever he is allied with Grian there will always be an attempt at kicking him out of the group. But it never feels too serious. Grian is used to teasing Jimmy. And ultimately Grian tends to be the voice of reason in the groups he ends up in. The Southlands fell apart as soon as Grian turned red and was kicked out. And the Bad Boys would have died of stupid stunts much earlier if Grian didn’t give them a few things to focus on instead.

Grian is constantly in denial. Yes, Grian, this game as no rules. Now who are you bending those rules for, hm? Oh, allyships don’t matter? Then why are you chosing to stay when all you do is complain about your partners?

It’s because he can’t decide what’s more important to him: Winning or friendship.

His very nature kicks him in the butt every time. He’s so lovely undecided in what he wants. He’s a bastard. He loves chaos. He shoves people off bridges and pushes buttons and is surprised when people die because of it.

He also hates betrayals. Grian doesn’t much care for accidental deaths, but he won’t stand for any backstabbing. And so he’s ruthless in his judgement. He kills Mumbo for it. And Jimmy. And he would have killed Scar for it in 3rd Life, too, had Scar not proven to him that he had not betrayed him.

They are all their own curse. Jimmy and Joel and Grian. They fail because their nature always gets the better of them. Jimmy picks fights he can’t win and let’s himself be strung along crazy missions. Joel falls for his own funny, but oftentimes dangerous ideas and let’s panic consume him once he’s confronted with his consequences.

And Grian is always the downfall for his partners because he can never decide whether he wants to go or stay and just has to cause mayhem wherever he goes.

I think all of that shines through so clearly this season because they are all more careless. They can die more often and that, funnily enough, makes them all have more time to actually act on their nature.

Of course, I know in the end they are just a group of friends having fun playing a game. But in a narrative sense this tickles my brain so bad.