My thoughts on Chapter Four of Project Hail Mary! Spoilers ahead (duh) :3
-> "Oh my god I am so going to die-" // "One... two... This isn't working, I'm going to DIE." YOUR HONOR HE'S JUST LIKE ME!!!!
-> Ahhh this might sound insane but I love how emotional he is. He's already cried like 3 times now and it's so normal and human and real!! Like, this is the reaction anyone woukd be having!!!!
Just because he's incredibly smart, and just because he's a man, doesn't mean he's emotionless!! And I absolutely LOVE that, we need more of that
-> Also I'm still curious why Ryland is the only one still alive? If those robots were taking care of his friends the same way they were taking care of him, why did they die?
And they died at different times too, so it's not like one event happened or smth
Idk somehow thay just feeds into my name theory with him, being able to thrive when you're not "supposed to"
-> His reaction to being a guinea pig is "dang it, thata not cool!" LMAO?? Oh he's spent a LOT of time teaching kids hasn't he
Learning to be upset in a non-threatening way, I mean
-> Aghhh, just... he was ALWAYS meant to be expendable, wasnt he :(
Yes, he had the theory that life doesn't need water to exist, but that theory is already written down and can easily be given to other scientists if need be
It's not necessary that it HAS to be him, bc he's certainly not the only one who's ever had that thought
"Tell me what they're made of, then we can give them to other scientists." Sorta confirms that
-> Awee he sounds so sad about it being mostly water :(
Also jt doesn't mean you're completely wrong, just... this time
It's still reasonable to think theres OTHER life that doesn't require water, is it not?
It's much less likely now, yes, but still not impossible
-> Okay first I LOVE the algae example, putting things into much less scary, easy to understand terms for the kids
Second: godDAMN they work fast
Although I guess we already knew that
But I can't help but be intrigued that Grace doesn't get any credit here, but I guess that makes sense too
They want him to be able to focus on his work without being bombarded by people asking him about it
The only reason his kids asked is because he's their beloved science teacher, and surely he'd know SOMETHING right? It makes sense
-> "If I had a nickel for every time I wanted to smack a kid's parent for not teaching them something-" I love it. I love it bc it's SO. REAL.
As someone who occasionally works with kids, the amount of parents I've had to hold myself back from openly glaring at is... a lot lmao
But I also love it bc he's not blaming the kids, as some adults tend to do
"Why don't you know this?" Gets asked a lot, instead of "Why did no one tell you this?" - which Grace does!! It makes me very happy
-> "Human suffering is an abstract concept to most kids, but animal suffering is very real." YES!! I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THIS MYSELF
If you want kids to care, just involve animals
It's why "save the turtles" was so popular for a while
But also I DONT THINK YOU CAN LEAVE???? Lmao????? Not that I blame him. He cares SO. MUCH.
He wants so badly to protect these kids. All of a sudden it's real.
-> "I get it. You spent your whole life believing something, and all of a sudden you're wrong. That's rough. Shake it off, get back to your life."
That's exactly what he's trying to do!! He doesn't care about being wrong!! It stung, sure, but he'll live!!! But these kids might not
He has the opportunity to actually do something to help them. He knows how to study them, and he has a real, tangible reason to do it
-> "This is about my children!" // "You don't have children." // "Yes, I do. Dozens of them."
THIS is the difference between them. THIS is the reason Grace was chosen as a guinea pig
Not just because of his intellect and experience, but because he's considered "expendable"
In this world, if you're a single, childless adult, people perceive as sad and lonely, or as "less than"
But he wasn't. He has people he looks after and loves more than anything, he has a very fulfilling life as a teacher that he is actively trying to protect
Stratt doesn't see that. She sees someone theh can use because, he "won't be leaving people behind."
-> "I get it. I'm not laughing, but I get it." WELL I AM LMAOOO
That wasnt gone over in the movie, I just assumed he named them that himself
Knowing it was other people makes me giggle
Theres so much humanity here, even if Grace is the only one on board
-> "Volunteered" oh... baby....
Even if I hadn't seen the movie by this point, I think it would be pretty clear he didn't do this voluntarily
All that "guinea pig" talk, and "you don't have kids." makes it seem fairly obvious this wasnt exactly his idea
That's another reason why it's so hard-hitting for Grace
Not just because of the amnesia, but because he's subconsciously remembering his forced sacrifice, even if the picture isn't clear to him yet
Okay that's it for this chapter :3
Now that I've seen the movie, it's gonna be very fun comparing the two and seeing what's different
I already have thoughts on the opening sequence, but I'll save that for a separate post
