Of all of Eva's team, the one she trusts the most would undeniably be Carl.
He's who walks up to stand beside her when recruiting Grace. A seamless team. "I need you to come with us."
He's in the observation room with her and all the other important officials, watching Grace make first contact. He's privy to that pivotal moment. She must think he's entitled to partaking of it. Because this is his mission too.
She trusts him to oversee Grace's experiments with three (and a dead) invaluable astrophage cells. How he does it is up to his own judgment. With an expense account and plenty of leeway for how to use it, no questions asked. He's entirely confident in the authority he wields in her name. "Which government?" "All of them."
He's in the room at Baikonur when they present Grace with his role as replacement science officer. He knows. Of all people she thought would be appropriate to have there, the flight team, the lead scientists who have worked with Grace all this time... he's there. Shaking his head in disappointment. Expressing what Eva doubtlessly feels beneath her ever so calmly presented arguments.
He's doubtlessly the one she calls from her office to let him know they predicted correctly and the final stretch of corralling their wayward savior will be up to him. He'll do it right. He'll do it.
Just... unspoken, implicit trust and faith in his ability to do his part in their greater purpose. She believes in Grace but can't fully trust him. Carl? Zero doubt.
I want to be a fly on the wall during the job interview. Must have felt like two kindred spirits meeting. Sun's dying? Not if we can help it.
Ooh, yes. This is definitely something interesting the movie seems to present—Grace never felt like the whole project’s second-in-command, because we never really see him do anything on the legal/political/management side of the whole ordeal. Grace was clearly the project’s lead scientist and worked closely with Stratt on even the scientific aspects he wasn't personally an expert on (as seen in the centrifuge scene), but Carl was probably the project’s administrative deputy. Grace was Stratt’s #2 when it came to any of the science and engineering aspects, making sure everyone knew what was going on and she knew what was going on with it. Carl was Stratt’s #2 on the legal, administrative, management, and security aspects of the project. It was a huge project, she’s not putting all of that on the guy who’s also in charge of the science, let alone the guy who seems to believe he’s not important and moreover doesn’t want to believe he’s important. She’s making sure the legal and logistical elements are the responsibility of someone whose commitment to the project she has unwavering faith in.
So anything regarding astrophage or the ship or space goes through Ryland, and that means he is constantly working with Stratt to make sure all the many moving parts of getting the Hail Mary in the air keep moving. But it’s Carl who the lawyers and accountants and security report to, whose sphere is making sure payments are processed, supply management and delivery to the ship stays on track, authorization to enter national waters or national airspace is obtained, background checks are performed, security threats are handled, political threats to the project are monitored, and who joins activities like springing useful embezzlers out of prison and Stratt’s copyright trial excursion. She has two deputies to cover different aspects of keeping the project running and she thought she chose them well based on their stated willingness to go all in on the task to save the world but as the project goes on only one of them seems to really understand what they’re all dealing with here.
(And so after DuBois and Shapiro die in that explosion, Carl is the one Stratt sits down with to say, “You know it has to be him.”
Carl gives a long sigh and is quiet for a few heavy seconds before he says, “Yeah, I know. Does he?”
“I hope so,” says Stratt, and she sounds like she genuinely does hope he’ll understand, that he’ll see what has to happen now, but the fact that Ryland Grace is not here discussing this with them belies the true answer.)
Stealing your tags, as well:
#Project Hail Mary #it was definitely ambiguous what Carl's role in the project was. Chief of security? Grace's handler? Administrative management? #It's also interesting to read that ambiguity as an intentional choice on Stratt's part to not leave a paper trail of the project hierarchy #so when shit hits the fan she's the only one who takes the fall #And just like Grace has no official title #Carl is officially on paper employed as Stratt’s bodyguard #So when the ship has launched and the consequences come she can say ‘what? Oh don’t arrest him he’s just my bodyguard. Leave him out of it’ #So until it’s time to break her out of prison there’s someone she trusts free and leading Phase 2 #(Ryland and Carl were supposed to do that together. But. Well.) #long post. lots of thoughts. anyway yes more about Carl.
