Deceit is right. But he’s right for all the wrong reasons.
Ever since Selfishness Vs. Selflessness aired opinions have been flying about whether the Sanders Crew made the right decision about committing to the wedding. Personally I’m with the camp that sided (no pun intended) with Roman and Deceit - this is a massive opportunity for Thomas, and if Hitchcoppolucas has even half the clout of any of his namesakes from this Universe, then skipping the callback would be a self-destructive act of sheer madness. Deceit was right in saying he should take it.
However.
We’ve never heard of Lee and Mary-Lee before, so we have no real frame of reference for how close they are to Thomas or how much they want him at their wedding, but from everything everyone says it’s a fairly safe bet that they’d be pretty disappointed if he bailed on them.
Now Roman suggests several times that maybe Lee and Mary-Lee can be talked around to the idea, from a simple “Maybe Lee and Mary-Lee will understand!” to his (admittedly rather forced) conclusion to Patton’s Liza Minnelli hypothetical:
Roman: [Liza] being at the wedding is for me, and if I forced her to be there when she didn’t wanna go then I would be the selfish one.”
Roman’s point, like most of ours, is that sometimes you have to think of yourself before you’re friends, and if you’re friends are really your friends they’ll be open to the idea.
In contrast, Deceit doesn’t seem to consider the couple’s feelings at all.
Deceit: This dilemma is actually between something that serves [Thomas] versus something else that serves him. Between looking and feeling like a good friend and a dream come true. If Thomas wanted to be seen as good friend more than he wanted the role of a lifetime, then I’m all for that. But I just don’t buy it.
Deceit’s line of persuasion hinges on the fact that Thomas is the only person relevant to the discussion, and that the only reason he would do something good for his friends is if it benefited him to do so. Not only does this contradict Thomas’s basic nature (it’s reiterated a number of times in this episode alone that his friends mean a great deal to him) but it’s advocating for an entirely self-centred way of living. Yes, in this instance Deceit is right that Thomas’s overabundance of empathy is holding him back, but his argument reaches far beyond this one scenario.
Deceit: You’re wearing a blindfold right now. You can keep playing with the blindfold on if you like the game better that way. But if you take it off it’s easier for you get that stuff you want!
Take off the blindfold: get rid of you’re empathy. Go through life with thought only to how your actions can serve you and you’ll be more successful (if there was any doubt about the meaning behind the metaphor Thomas himself reinforces it in his outtro: “Empathy is not a blindfold, it’s our ability to understand and share the feelings of others.”) If Deceit had his way Thomas would only ever think about Thomas, and would only ever do something altruistic if it served him to do so, either by advancing his position in life or boosting his reputation.
We’re all in agreement that sometimes a bit of selfishness is necessary, even a good thing. But selflessness is equally important, and that is a line of thinking so far completely absent from Deceit’s personal philosophy.
