it's a very interesting detail to me that roman and janus are labelled as passion and denial instead of creativity and deceit in the trolley problem section of redux.
thinking about it for roman, it makes sense. it was just revealed there's more than one creativity, so it might not feel quite as accurate to use that label without further clarification here. as far as alternate options go, passion has the benefit of being a title he's gone by before (not certain if it's directly used in an episode, but the thumbnail of why do we get out of bed in the morning is "logic vs passion"), plus a fun bonus of it aligning with the initial of his nickname princey.
janus, though. while i can see how it fits as a part of what janus does, especially in regards to maintaining thomas's denial about parts of himself, why doesn't it just use deceit here? in the context just stated, they can be fairly similar in meaning anyway, so the distinction is strange.
i do think it's interesting that this title is in the episode where thomas starts to be less in denial about janus being a part of him and confronts a lot of his beliefs in general. if anything janus is working to shed light on the situation in a lot of this episode, as it isn't helpful to avoid the problem of thomas's mental health in this case, and his main goal is thomas's self preservation.
on the other hand, the title denial is in the scene where thomas has the option to look away and cover his eyes.
so, maybe these titles relate to what is relevant to the trolley problem. the actual concept of there being a selection screen here at all is fun given it's thomas choosing, like he's making the split second decision of who to look to for help in this situation. for the other three, thinking logically about it, going off of morals, making a fight or flight anxiety decision, all their base titles apply.
but there isn't time to be creative. the train is coming down the tracks and there are two choices, no secret third solution to be found. passion makes a lot more sense as the aspect of roman that's relevant here, in the spur of the moment. it's hard to know his own choice in the episode given he's mainly working through patton's, but if it was truly up to him with no other input, i can see him suggesting pulling the lever given passion being the label here. action rather than inaction, technically saving people in a moment of "heroics" despite the moral greyness of the scenario. with him knowing patton's opinion, that might add more internal conflict, but it's not like either option is guilt free.
and there's no lies to tell, they wouldn't do anything here, in the moment the train is coming, so that isn't something janus could offer. so the question is, what is being denied? is it a refusal to take part in this (itself a choice)? a denial of the reality of what's happening, of the choice he did or didn't make? janus is interesting, because i can see him making the choice he thinks is safe for thomas rather than the choice he thinks is "technically right", even if they don't align. it may save more people but you don't want your fingerprints on that lever. you don't want that blood on your hands, the weight on your mind. maybe you couldn't actually have done anything. if you look away maybe no one got hurt. maybe your friends aren't dead. (maybe it's denial as in grief). let's not think about it anymore.
