The relationship Clock has with Lucas is so extremely fascinating to me Idk how to word it
Clock is not a creation of Lucas, she existed before Lucas, they are not, or were not, the same individual. But Clock relies on others to exist, both in the way he needs contestants to serve her purpose, the way they’re on a literal time limit, AND in the way they’re reset and???? Rejuvenated by other people??
Lucas seems to maintain his identity in some way, independent sentience. At least in the way it’s framed after No-Way points out the balloon. Clock does have a visible reaction to the name, she seems to space out and then we immediately cut to Lucas in what I can only assume is Clock’s mind in some way. They’re freaked out for long enough for the contestants to notice and get annoyed, and she immediately makes a huge distraction.
However the initial mention of Lucas in 1:00 flies under his radar, as far as we know anyway. Until 10, they didn’t seem to acknowledge the identity at all. Maybe it has something to do with what Mars mentioned about Clock “getting weaker” as the day goes on, less power, less control, more susceptible to the person powering them’s influence?
And now for the elephant in the room, the ride scene. Mars seems dead set on reminding Clock of Lucas, pushing that identity onto them, and it doesn’t work! Not initially. Because they’re separate people, and Clock seems to know that, or at least is in insane denial about it. Something interesting I’ve found is that Mars not only pushes Clock into being Lucas, but Lucas into being Clock as well
When the ride starts, despite every other detail being about Lucas, showing Lucas’ silhouette, and REFERRING to her as Lucas at the end, they call him Clock. All the other information presented, we can only assume, adds up except for the intro. He’s smudging their identities, pushing Lucas into being called Clock, and Clock into Lucas’ life (their information doesn’t add up at all! ITFT takes place during August, Clock’s self proclaimed birthday, but according to Mars; Lucas was born in February, yet its Lucas that we always saw the birthday imagery associated with before now)
Clock is confused the entire ride, “is this still about me?”, it takes until Mars starts the “To experience time in this world, isn’t it wonderful?” Speech for her to react otherwise. And it’s because they call him Lucas. She HIDES, he’s cowering, and from there both Clock and Lucas are shown separately. Side by side.
Clock’s hallucination (flashback? Vision???) depicts Lucas as this ghostly figure trying to escape, trying to take Clock away. They’re scared. Everytime they acknowledge one another, they’re scared
And Mars keeps pushing, going so far as to completely vandalize the card. And call me crazy, but I don’t think the “2 hours left” warning is for Clock
I think it’s for Lucas, or maybe it’s just another example of Mars forcing the other identity onto them. But Lucas seems to be more aware, present, in Clock than ever. Why would Mars be reminding Clock of an event she can do nothing about, has already been reminded of at the end of the ride, for kicks? He seems logical and apathetic from everything else shown
It might be because of the replacement thing, this is your last rerun so make it count. But again, why push Lucas onto Clock?
Perhaps it’s in an attempt at repurposing her, turning him into something new, not a host. Maybe a normal object identity will give them enough “permanence” to be used for something else after channel 57 is rebranded, so to speak. Or maybe Lucas is capable or trying to do something since Clock is weak, and Mars is telling them to hurry whatever it is up ? Especially since the evidence is imploded right after and Clock is missing in future 57
I am soso very happy that this plot didn’t end up being a cut and dry “Lucas is just past Clock” plotpoint, cuz tbh that was always the most boring route to go imo. 10 was so good I’m on flonow life support please help