#fxglvtalk

[f0xgl0ved]

she is a fox to me

[livesonaloop]

Hunter Zolomon, 2x13 & 2x14 Analysis

2x13 and 2x14 (welcome to earth-2 and escape from earth-2) are arguably two of the most interesting episodes in season two in regards to Hunter's character and his relationship to Caitlin/being a hero. This will be in two parts! Sorry that this is word vomit.

2x13: Hunter starts the episode off by giving Barry a piece of advice for venturing out into the multiverse-- "do not let yourself get sucked in emotionally." Immediately after, he dives to save Caitlin from getting smashed by one of the breach stabilizers. Interesting...another thing to keep in mind is that Hunter is aware he has hours left to live, and that the very thing is tasked to fix is what will facilitate his death. Not only that, he is working on it with Caitlin, the person who convinced him to stay in the first place. And, sure, back then it might have been phony---but this episode is where I believe he begins to realize the actual depth of his feelings and the gravity they hold. He's already agreed to die but I think this is the episode where he feels real, genuine humanity for the first time in a long, long while. And I think it scares and confuses him, to the point that even he needs an outlet for all of this. Remember, he is a low functioning sociopath, so the fake-sane acting persona crumbles under pressure (will prob expand on this in a later post dedicated to all the moments I believe he slips up). . He even says it later on in the season. Playing Jay is exhausting.

Thus, my personal favorite scene from 2x13 when Caitlin follows Hunter after his argument with Joe. He virtually confesses to being Zoom, in his own way. He has an entirely different conversation with Caitlin than the one she believes they are having (he does this quite often in the show), possibly so his brain can physically handle the mental weight of years upon years of lies in the face of imminent death (even if he may not value his own life as much as he does winning). "Caitlin, I like the way you look at me. With warmth and pride, and I'm not---I'm not worthy of those. No, I did a terrible thing, Caitlin." is an entirely true statement. I'll do a full translation later, but with a few tweaks, he tells what is almost the full truth to Caitlin in this conversation. Maybe this helps stabilize him, her continued vows of support even when---in his mind---she knows that he has committed monstrous crimes. "You have something now that you've never had before. Me. And I'm gonna figure this out." And then she takes his hands, and it is something like forgiveness. (This is where I think the absences of Barry, Cisco, and Harry are impacting his mindset. The MAIN reminders of his overarching plan and what he wants + his main obstacles are gone, leaving him with his lover...and Joe, I guess. Like I mentioned before, Caitlin is the only person I believe he ever truly (figuratively) 'unmasks' to throughout his time as Jay, so I believe he feels more comfortable. I head canon Caitlin as autistic, so they sync up pretty well. Basically, he is able to express what he is thinking, project onto her, and plan without fear of adversity or her finding out, whereas when the whole team is around, the Jay Garrick persona is locked in TIGHTLY.) Of course, much of earth-1's section of the episode revolves around Hunter returning to the role of the Flash (or the Crimson Comet lol). Obviously, knowing that he's a serial killer in sheep's clothing, his hero persona is childish, cliche, and one dimensional (much like his initial Jay Garrick persona). My lord, he looks so proud of his performance. It's also interesting to note that he puts himself in harms way to save others more often in this episode. He's a real, authentic hero who save the day and gets the girl. I think that is genuinely what's running through his mind when he returns home. He could have this life, couldn't he? Someone else to sanitize his road rashes and concoct his speed serums? Maybe, deep deep deep deeeeeeeep down, he is a little jealous like Barry implied in 2x6. Then, Caitlin reminds him he must fix the breech. And he's reminded of his imminent death. And it IS imminent, isn't it? Well, maybe not. He didn't have to stabilize the breech. Not really. And THAT is what I believe the basis of his internal conflict in 3x14 is...that desire to go against his plans and throw it all to the wind.

[f0xgl0ved]

(This is a very disorganized rant I apologize) I think a good example of "The Flash treats its female characters as disposable" and "The Flash consistently has cool ideas but executes them in the most boring way possible" intermingling is found in 2x16. TRAJECTORY/ELIZA HARMON SHOULD HAVE HAD A BIGGER ROLE!!! Holy shit she was so cool. A speedster scientist faster than not only Barry, but Zoom and Reverse Flash? Unabashedly ruthless and cruel to get her fix? Sign me up!!! We also see very little of her and Caitlin's friendship, which makes me sooo sad. I wish we'd gotten to see them interact, even just in that little bit in 2x1 where we see Caitlin at Mercury Labs. A lot of people complain about Caitlin's character being male-centered in the early seasons, and I think this could've quieted that noise just a bit. The female friendships are so underbaked and underutilized in the show, and this would've been a good chance to flesh out Caitlin's character AWAY from the group. it also would have just been FUN!!! We were already robbed of Iris/Caitlin scenes so perhaps I'm being greedy but come onnnnnn. Forget just being coworkers, in my mind Caitlin and Eliza were college roommates!!! They were cringey about science with each other!!! Also, I think having Eliza show up early in the show would have fleshed out Jay/Hunter/Zoom's character as well: 1. Eliza/Trajectory is a parallel to Hunter/Zoom. We actually do not get to see the "speed-junkie" side of Zoom all that much, despite Eobard Thawne's quips about it in the finale. I think seeing subtle signs of Eliza deteriorating and becoming more shallow in her interactions with other people as her dark side took over would have acted as a red herring to the viewer for Jay/Hunter's dark side AND allowed a looking glass into his headspace. Not only that, in a universe where Eliza was a character that showed up every few adventures like the Golden Glider, in the short time before his fake death I wonder if he would notice another Velocity-9 junkie? Food for thought! She also parallels Zoom in the way that she takes advantage of Caitlin's kindness in order to gain access to the speed serum. 2. Speaking of taking advantage of Caitlin....Eliza having a bigger part in the story would have allowed a glimpse into Jay/Hunter's true nature. I think cutting the scene where Caitlin opens up to Hunter about Ronnie was really unfortunate, because it is a rare instance where I actually think the writers properly communicated that Caitlin is STILL in a vulnerable position and that Hunter is taking advantage of her grief in order to further ingratiate himself with Team Flash (this is not to say he didn't have love for her, that is a whole other post waiting to happen). Point being, I think Eliza's character existing as a support for Caitlin OUTSIDE of Team Flash would have given the writers another way to breadcrumb that Hunter's intentions with her weren't exactly pure. It would also have allowed for really thoughtful commentary on how real life abusers often isolate their victims. Okay this is really disorganized and I repeat myself a few times. I just really like Trajectory (minus the cornrows. what are you doing white girl)

[f0xgl0ved]

also why the HELL did they make Iris stand next to him lmao…Cisco needs to be next to Harry, and Caitlin and Iris need to be behind him wtf 😭

[f0xgl0ved]

"Tell me a story about how it ends--where you're still the good guy, I'll make pretend. Cause I hate this story where happiness ends and dies with you." the way both her father and her partner faked their deaths just to come back and reveal both their evil identity and that they wanted to change who she was at her core to fit their perception of her...

[f0xgl0ved]

so I have many, MANY AU's focused around them. because im mentally ill, a favorite of mine is one where they are similar ages (~16) and are both sent away to catholic boarding school sometime in the retrofuturistic 1940s similar to earth 2 society. Hunter still has the same backstory and sociopathic urges, Caitlin still has mommy issues. They have a codependent sociopath4autist relationship. Chaos ensues

[f0xgl0ved]

While I like writing smut with him, I do think that Hunter is asexual. sex is a tool for him to get what he wants 🫡 he just happens to have sexual tension with everyone

(I actually do think his relationship to physical affection and intimacy is a really interesting topic that I’ll probably talk about more later on in the context of snowlomon)

[f0xgl0ved]

hello I started a sideblog for fanfics in progress so if that's what you're here forrrr @defloweredandlambish