Whatever is happening is happening so that the current Timeline’s (timeline2) Great + Tyme are bonded closer. Whatever resulted in other timeline’s Great to the brink of death (will call this Timeline1) has a lot to do with the fragmentation in timeline1’s Great/Tyme’s relationship going to shit.
If we are seeing this and all of these events are playing out from Great in timeline 1’s mind (dying one), then Great in timeline 2 (what we as viewers are seeing play out) , he needs to be pushed to Tyme. He needs to redo the choices he made in timeline 1 in order to have Tyme’s love, friendship, trust!
I also think if all of this is from Timeline1’s Great’s perspective, it explains why episode 3 was so strange?
1. Tyme knowing which College Great attended, what class he was in, what was Great’s favorite drink. In a way, I think he’s being fed this information so that he feels like he’s being directed to get closer to Great (outside of his own personal ulterior motive). Everything leads to Tyme and his relationship with Great. For timeline2’s Great to survive, his relationship with Tyme needs to be resolute and strong.
2. Great in timeline 2 does find Tyme in timeline 2 to be a little strange but he doesn’t necessarily find him off putting. I think it’s because Great in timeline 1, since these are events from his perspective re-happening, he’s removing a lot of the red flags since Great from timeline1 needs to expedite the relationship between Tyme/Great in timeline2. He can’t have Great questioning Tyme’s stalkerish tendencies because that isn’t conducive to his end game, which is for the relationship between the two to be formidable, in order to prevent the death of this timeline’s Great (timeline 2)
3. The claw scene at first watch, for me, felt so off and just happening so fast? But I think , after rewatching and analyzing it differently, the claw scene was a crucial moment in timeline1’s Great/Tyme’s relationship. Maybe in timeline 1 it happened much later after they met but it was something that really bonded the two. Great from timeline1 pushed this event to happen sooner in timeline2 because we see what the claw event date & the resulting car scene’s impact - they are bonding on a very intimate level by revealing their childhoods and their inner conflicts. They connected and that was crucial.
Also, do we think the visions that Great from timeline2 has where he’s holding Tyme’s hand is actually a memory that happened with Great/Tyme from timeline1?? Hence he tries touching Tyme’s hand in the car?