yall ever think about how mother gooseberry is considered one of the most dangerous prime assets in the roster and she was a dental assistant / tv show host. like her competition is the policeman, a mafia hitman, the buffalo minotaur, and the russian joan of arc who all had like huge body counts before they were taken to sinyala. and she’s considered equally at their level if not higher. the dental assistant. with a tv show. for children. whose main interests are taxidermy and puppets. that’s the one everyone is scared of and/or attracted to. that’s crazy. she’s kind of my everything tbh
ya know what im going to start posting about my goosemolova agenda #myagenda 🦆
"God save me from talkative women."
(Concept art by Hugo Richard, "The Ventriloquists" and "Puppets, Mannequins” excerpts from Easterman's journals, and a prime time voiceline by the Kress twins)
Dr Easterman himself points out the connection between Mother Gooseberry and Sister Liliya Bogomolova: They both use voices as a form of power over people. They aren't just Phyllis Futterman or Liliya Bogomolova, they are the voices of Dr Futterman and God, and they both were able to develop cult followings with this ability. However, Phyllis presents herself as the puppeteer while Liliya is the puppet.
“leland coyle is so normal leland coyle is just some guy. i dont think hes even mentally ill.”
coyle talking to reagent #10820942 in a pitch black room about how god chooses your fate with a strike of lightning making the act of justice and mercy random and unpredictable. he proceeds to call phyllis futterman “a walking thundercloud” unprompted in the middle of this
I mean realistically speaking we should have known Coyle was one of the more insane PAs (this is something i already vented about 🙂↕️) because while the Kress twins are some of the more obvious control freaks in this game as they use science and politics, or emotional alongside chemical manipulation to control people, you could at least follow where they're going in that department. And on a massive scale too ! The evidence files state that if Otto didn’t insist on being right in the spotlight the twins could have succeeded in controlling New York while remaining in the shadows.
But Coyle is on a whole other level where he specifically desires to control and overpower things that are considered ‘uncontrollable,’ such as the weather, God, women, etc. Like yes electricity is his main thing but I think specifically referring to it as “lightning,” which is something a mere man very much cannot grab ahold of and contort to his own whims, is A Choice.
BONUS Coyle's lines towards Phyllis that I think indicate a correlation between women to 'Thing I Have to Control,' similar to his obsession with acts of nature (I think about Phyllis being compared to "a walking thundercloud" a normal amount)
He wants that power fantasy. Besides the Snitch, his newer scapegoats are a Judge and a Warden who are supposed to be people above him. He wants to live in the reality where he’s specifically in charge of the court, the prison farm, etc. and the people ‘in charge’ are at his mercy.
(“Awww Coyle cares about his widdle scapegoats uwu” I am begging fans to stop attempting on making that man normal or like, empathetic in such a goody-two shoes boy scout cop sorta way. He Would Not Fucking Say That levels of frustration.)
But of course the twins have figured that in order to control the masses, you don’t physically grab ahold of every single individual and make them do what you want - you instead control One Specific Person and the rest will follow, as shown with their backstory and scapegoats such as Tripp Adams and Bob Vanier (these would be the placeholders for a politician or a celebrity that they would typically groom into certain positions of power). Coyle does not follow this logic. He very much needs to know what everyone is doing no matter who it is or where they are at. His first assumption will always be if someone is out of his sight they are doing something they aren’t supposed to. Everyone else must constantly be planning and scheming and plotting on doing something wrong at all times and he's the sole thing stopping them all from doing it. Which could very well be a projection on his part.
A final note I find interesting is that of course the Kress twins infamously got arrested and ended Otto’s potential political career in a dramatic fashion before being shipped off to Sinyala. Coyle however was very much liked and successful within his community. He’s definitely more of the ‘man in the spotlight’ that Otto wanted to be. That in itself isn’t shocking. What I’m more curious about is how he usually isn’t Murkoff’s typical target, which is someone ‘people wouldn’t miss,’ such as the other PAs or the reagents. I’m curious on what made Mr Popular over here stick out enough for them to take interest in, assuming his disappearance would be more noticeable. (The comics state Phyllis “expressed interest” and essentially volunteered for Project Lathe but all we know is that Coyle was recommended for the project by Clyde Perry. I can’t really find anything that states if Coyle volunteered or was, uh, ‘collected.’)
Despite this, the twins assume there is no way Coyle's reign could ever last. "Force alone cannot make a civilization." Similar to Coyle joining the marines after the suspicious death of his first wife, may be he knew time was running out in Blackwell. But that’s probably just me coping and assuming he got scared of the slightest chance of facing the consequences for his actions 🤷
i jinxed the next season being coyle-centered because i literally drafted a post about how the more iconic (/my favorite) prime asset maps are usually more metaphorical, symbolic, dare i say psychosexual in nature meanwhile coyle’s maps are very Literal. gooseberry’s theme park or franco’s docks or the kress twins’ tv studio cant even be compared to coyle’s very literal police station or courthouse.
that being said if we get a western cowboy map like the rumors say I Will Be Intrigued
working on “god save me from talkative women” part two and it has occurred to me both gooseberry and liliya willingly came to the sinyala facility. okay #egregirls
