Needlessly close reading and long commentary on chapter 57 and how the audience actually has an extremely limited view on what Marcille has been like over the course of her life.
I am once again thinking about how pre-dungeon Marcille is so quiet and stoic that she seems like a completely different person. How jarring chapter 57 is for the audience. Like you have Marcille, who has been just the most blindingly expressive person with resting baby face
And then the chapter drops a title page of Marcille hearing from Falin for the first time in four years and it's like.
Who is that. Genuinely. Would you even realize that's Marcille without the context clues?
And then the chapter just keeps coming in with the sucker punches.
We have SEEN Marcille meet strangers. It was never with this understated of a smile.
literally who the hell is this. the few times the audience gets to see some Signature Marcille Faces that they're used to is when she finally gets to see Falin again
when she's testing out her new spells
(and when Laios and Falin are fantasizing about her being their damsel in distress, funnily enough)
And then finally. Finally you get to a fully recognizable Marcille when she fucking DIES and comes back to life to geek out about necromancy.
We know she loves magic. We know she loves Falin. So it's not so surprising that she wouldn't be able to keep a mask up when thinking or talking about the things she loves. But why the mask in the first place? Where does it come from? It's tempting to think that, maybe, Falin's departure just hurt her so much that it turned her into a quiet person.
But that's only half true. If you go back, the first instance you see of this incredibly mild personality is actually introduced much earlier, in chapter 17.
What if she was always like that. What if her default after her father died was to hold people at arm's length, to never really emote past being polite and friendly. What if Falin was the first person who was able to bring her out of her shell, and when she left, Marcille just went back to how she was.
And when comparing her detached demeanour with someone else...
It's not exact, but wouldn't you say there's a resemblance? Wouldn't you think she might be trying her best to imitate what she saw of her own mother working as an accomplished mage?
It would certainly explain why she's hiding behind her portrait in her nightmare, at least.
We aren't told that Marcille has been distancing herself from everyone around her using a mature and dignified personality she modelled off her mother. But we sure as hell are shown it, I think.
quotes from @junocandraw 's first time watching saw 2004
"One hand's got cocaine on it, one hand's got poop on it. What's a better way to spend your Friday night?"
"That's Lawrence's apartment? God. Does he live in a PF Chang's?"
"Got any more dust I can cover my pants in?" (she was quite enthralled with the dustiness of Adam's side of the bathroom)
"Don't get mad...Adam looks like Elon Musk."
"I want to play a game...It's called Fortnite." (yours, truly)
"Why's there a giant white horse statue outside my door?!?" (Allison Gordon on her home being converted into a PF Chang's)
"Why are there customers??? They keep trying to take my order!" (Allison continues being distraught while her home is being broken into)
(zoom in on the diorama; Trump's voice) "I love my trap so much. I call it the PF trap."
"IT'S THE MANAGER!!!" (Kramer enters PF HQ)
"What if instead of Saw, it's just...Chang."
"Amanda works at the Cheesecake Factory and Adam works at...OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE." (We continue the plot line of feuding mall restaurant employees)
(Outback comerical man:) "Welcome to the red room. This is where we cook the beef. Everything is hung vertically because everything in Australia is upside down."
(Jigsaw on the phone to Lawrence at the hotel:) "Your wife wanted your house to look like Olive Garden."
(20 minutes left in the movie) "So when does Slenderman come in?"
"I don't want unlimited breadsticks and salad!!!" (Diana while Allison and Zep duke it out)
don't wanna make this post too long, but i have to for the sake of the lore on this shit. we basically dubbed the whole movie.
just to make everything clear:
-Lawrence and Allison move into their apartment, but once he starts seeing Carla, she slowly changes the interior to look like a PF Cheng's. Allison is confused but pays no mind.
-The [redacted] Mall headquarters is Jigsaw's little work room. Jigsaw is the manager
-Amanda works for the Cheesecake Factory. She kidnaps Gordon because of the competition PF Chang's poses. Cheesecake Factory = Saw apprentices
-Adam works at outback because haha leigh is australian, and also because its right in there with cheesecake and pf changs
-Allison always wanted to own Olive Garden. Diana doesnt care for either. she's just a child of divorce (Several jokes about breadsticks and the parmesan cheese grater were nixed on this post; ex: adam wants the cheese grater to create more legal dust for his pants)
-subplot of every time lawrence was on the phone with his family, he was pleading for them to not touch their food until he got back. he'll be out in a minute guys, just wait.
-there was a relatively small subplot pertaining to fortnite and dead by daylight
there's probably sm im forgetting but god that was funny. can't wait to see what kind of shit show saw ii turns out to be