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I really wanna see ur current state of scottho analysis because I was thinking about last episode and how both bdubs and scott think they're the one Etho will stay for, and how almost forced "you wouldn't leave me though right?" Felt, like scott had been waiting for an excuse to put Etho on the spot and demand his loyalty, especially since Etho seems to have figured out every single button to hit to make Scott miserable.

And this episode with Etho telling Sk*zz about Scott being boogey and how upset that made scott (and I'm not saying scott spending the rest of the episode with Martyn/Cleo and Pearl is a direct result of Etho doing that, but I am saying it is kinda funny that after that Scott stopped talking to his team about boogeying.)

I even wonder if there's anything there with The Villys make Etho a bedroom after the secret society > Cabin crew point out how it seems like Etho isn't loyal to them > Scott goes to the Villys base, reaffirms their alliance and Etho puts down a bed for him > this episode Scott spends the second half of the episode with the Villys and continues to reaffirm their alliance.

Does Etho know that he is psychologically tormenting Scott, does he

every time scott has a conversation with someone I make a mental note to check their pov later to see what he actually said. this is annoying as hell but unfortunately it does endear him to me

what is the current state of scott and etho? well they’re not doing too hot!

👆 that’s the tl;dr version. the more detailed version:

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honestly my overall opinion of their relationship has not changed much¹ since the beginning. they would be so compatible if only they weren’t so incompatible. unfortunately however there is bdubs, and I think I genuinely underestimated how weird etho and bdubs would be about each other... scott’s conversation with cleo (which he cut out of his own episode) demonstrates that he at least understands the silhouette of what he’s up against:

guy who got in on a decade-long relationship as their third like a month ago: oh that’s just how they are! 🥰

even cleo is the third wheel with ethubs, and cleo actually knows how to handle both of them! scott has no chance here lbr. one time I compared jimmy solidarity to helen of troy and I wasn’t even being sarcastic (mostly) but I think I can top that by saying scott smajor is kind of like the titanic looking at the iceberg and deciding that, not only is he capable of ploughing right through it with no damage to his person, but also he CAN fuck that iceberg if he wants. have I mentioned lately that this is my favourite character

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to your point specifically about how ‘both bdubs and scott think they’re the one etho will stay for’: there’s a really funny exchange in episode 4 right after scar’s boogey kill (which killed both etho and bdubs) which features scott asking for reassurance from etho in a very sajiao way. scott is not usually this overt with asking for, nay demanding, reassurance that he’s not going to be abandoned. at least not in public and onscreen.

you may notice that etho’s side of this conversation has some pieces missing. this is because etho did not include this exchange in his video. either it didn’t register as important to him (lol lmao) or he’s deliberately not thinking about it because he wasn’t being sincere, or because he’s more focused on bdubs,² etc.

scott gets uncomfortable if no one needs him in the right way. that’s why he was trying to prove his usefulness to etho (the mushroom stew... telling his team about the boogey situation... etc.). he wanted to team with etho specifically in episode 1, and bdubs and scar are in his mind mostly just obstacles to deal with (although I do think a scott/scar teamup would go hard. double entendre intended. I love to see those guys get put in situations). scott doesn’t care about bdubs whatsoever, and he’s wary of scar at best because he’s seen firsthand how dangerous scar can be when unchecked. scott also knows full well that, if grian of all people couldn’t check scar, then he has absolutely no chance. I’m thinking also of this fascinating mini-edit from 3L:

this makes me feel insane. why did he do that!

scott edited out a single line of dialogue of grian asking for scar’s opinion on whether they should ally with scott and jimmy. in practice this is because the way scott views relationships is as something fundamentally tilted: one person is in charge, and the other person follows. grian and scar, who are play-acting their power dynamic in 3L, do not fit this model, so scott has to selectively alter how their interactions go in order to slot into his worldview.

you can also see this in episode 1 of PL when scott looked at the ethubs dynamic and decided that etho was the one in charge. one could also say (and tbf I have said) that this is why he told bdubs they could ‘share a saddle’ 😭 he thinks etho’s the top in that relationship and he’s willing to let etho top him as well (cf. the discussion he and etho had about how one person mines and the other holds the torches, with scott’s emphasis on how they can switch between roles). this is ofc a great concession on scott’s part OBVIOUSLY and it’s not HIS fault if etho doesn’t recognise how much scott is sacrificing for him. lmfao.

anyway! tragically for scott however he’s very much going to be the third wheel on the ethubs velocipede forever even if he did manage to hook up with etho in the hot tub or something

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that’s the majority of my thoughts on the situation. I got really mad at scott for a couple of days because his control freak nature (which is relatable tbc) reminded me of 3L scott and how terrified he was all the time and how weird and uncomfortable he felt about the concept of death and dying and how it related to jimmy in particular. 3L is the only time that, nisi fallor, scott has specifically been scared of death in and of itself, at someone else’s hands. there have been times since when he’s not enjoyed it, obviously, but his final two deaths in 3L in particular—which also happened to be very close together—were really the only ones that were entirely out of his control in a way that frightened him. comparing scott’s deaths in 3L against superficially similar deaths like when he’s been killed by someone else, or even environmental or trap-caused deaths, is really fascinating. and it made me really mad at him. he doesn’t like feeling as though he’s going to lose someone.

this is relevant because of the following:

And this episode with Etho telling [Skizz] about Scott being boogey and how upset that made scott (and I'm not saying scott spending the rest of the episode with Martyn/Cleo and Pearl is a direct result of Etho doing that, but I am saying it is kinda funny that after that Scott stopped talking to his team about boogeying.) I even wonder if there's anything there with The Villys make Etho a bedroom after the secret society > Cabin crew point out how it seems like Etho isn't loyal to them > Scott goes to the Villys base, reaffirms their alliance and Etho puts down a bed for him > this episode Scott spends the second half of the episode with the Villys and continues to reaffirm their alliance.

scott’s been shopping around for replacement alliances pretty much since the beginning, which isn’t unusual for him—he typically tries to make as many people as possible like him or at least tolerate him because he’s useful, which is a good strategy—but there’s definitely some genuine desperation present that I’ve not really seem before. this is also the largest team scott’s been part of,³ tied with his WL team (pearl, cleo, and impulse), and I think that’s contributing. previously he’s been with one person (3L jimmy, LL pearl, DL cleo, LiL martyn) or two people (SL gem and impulse). being trapped with three other people is rough for him. he probably wouldn’t do much better with the villies (also three people), but at this point I don’t think he’s going to go for cleo unless martyn’s dead. which might happen very soon, depending! and besides, cleo and martyn got married to ren and impulse last episode, I think?? so that’s. probably not something scott wants to get involved in. all things considered

honestly the thought I had when I saw that pearl was hanging out with scott to do their boogey kill was like, oh this is probably making her feel more kindly towards scott because he's being so nice compared to gem and grian (who have been genuinely horrible to her so far), maybe DL wasn’t that bad! etc., which is always the vibe I got from WL to an extent as well. pearl missed the good parts of being with scott and cleo, and was more willing to overlook all the awful things they did and said to her in DL, because she missed the camaraderie and friendship they shared in LL.

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to your final question, about whether etho knows that he is psychologically tormenting scott:

etho is a very perceptive character who tends to have a generally good idea of different people’s relationships to each other, even if he’s often awkward or misjudges how to personally approach something. the fact that etho’s edited out certain things scott in particular has said to him (e.g. saying he wanted gem to lose the fight with etho in episode 1, asking etho to reaffirm he wouldn’t leave scott in episode 4, etc.) makes me think that etho has some degree of awareness that scott is unhappy with the current situation.² whether he cares enough to do anything about it is a different question entirely.

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¹one thing I did not expect is for bdubs to have a canonically extramarital affair with jimmy. and dgmw I am STOKED that jimmy with one deft action managed to divide ethubs, however temporarily, in a way scott hasn’t managed (despite his tryhard approach with ‘we’ll have to huddle for warmth’ and ‘we can share a saddle’ in episode 1). get fucking dunked on!! god what a situation for scott to be in. not only are you struggling to stay afloat after becoming a married couple’s third, but then your own (ex...? not that I think they’re still together but they’ve never actually mentioned divorce)-husband gets in there and does it better than you. helen of troy, I’m telling you!!

²I’m also thinking of that post that said etho and bdubs edit their videos like their target audience is exclusively each other. etho cutting out part of a conversation he had with scott where etho 1) implied that bdubs might not be loyal to the team and 2) said he wouldn’t leave scott, no matter how insincere he was being on either count, certainly seems to support this.

³excluding one-off episodes. I don’t usually look to those for characterisation purposes (with the usual disclaimer: unless it’s funny, or hot, or both), although I do think it could be argued that scott’s alliances in those—going back to the ‘safe’ friend group of pearl and cleo in RL; being mostly solo and then halfheartedly tagging along after joel and grian in SiL—are indicative of how his usual strategy (lovebomb someone into being dependent on you) takes time to work properly and he can’t really pull it off in such a brief timespan. and also like. to be explicit here. this strategy is not inherently Bad or Evil, especially given the context (necessity of survival) and setting (death game). I don’t think scott is Bad or Evil for figuring out an effective way to play the game. he infuriates me at times ofc but not for this reason, mostly.

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