Project Hail Mary inspired me to rewatch my other favorite high-tension high-laughter Ryan Gosling movie with great relationships and no romantic subplot: The Gray Man, and I love it so much that I have to inflict it on the world. In rant form, obviously
I absolutely adore how Six’s character behaves. Normally government assassin type characters are portrayed as having little attachment, no morality, no loyalty, and being very jaded and bitter. Instead of that, Six took what little he’d been given and made almost a life with it. His loyalty to Fitz borders on filial (and he directly talks about how they’re basically family), he doesn’t hesitate to add Claire to that picture when he meets her, and Margaret Cahill is almost like a matriarchal figure to him I feel like. His life is weird and violent and unpredictable but he has his couple of people that he’s unfailingly loyal to, and that’s so lovely to see
I also love how he just lets people be what they are. When Margaret Cahill says she doesn’t want him to be sympathetic, he doesn’t try to contradict that (though the way he put his hand on hers was adorable). When he’s trying to pull Claire away from Fitz for her own safety and she’s kicking and screaming and running away, he never tells her to stop or be quiet or anything. He doesn’t let her stay with Fitz bc he wants her safe, but he also doesn’t expect her to act like anything except what she is: a grieving and upset child. And with Miranda, he doesn’t seem upset at her at all for literally tranqing him and locking him in the trunk of her car even though most people would be. He doesn’t expect her to trust him without proof, or even necessarily with it, and he still tries to keep her safe. He’s so incredibly hyper-competent and somehow sort of submissive at the same time. Like he really lets the people around him dictate the tone of any given interaction, possibly as a way to compensate for how powerful he is? Idk I love him as a character
Similarly, he puts the safety of any person who can reasonably be called “his” (Claire, Fitz, Margaret, Miranda) so far above his own, it actually makes me crazy (the bit where he shields Margaret with his body while they’re being shot at comes to mind, and then again with the grenade). And not even their safety, but their emotional well-being? At least with Claire; in the final standoff with him and Lloyd, she runs over to hug Six when Lloyd lets her go and he hugs her back really tight even while he’s involved in a pre-fight stare-down with Lloyd. He’s so protective and caring and kind in spite of all of the ways that the world has tried to beat that out of him and I love him so much for it
Last thing bc I’m getting tired of typing: the symmetry between Six saying “the white pants, the trash stache, it just leans Lloyd” and Lloyd saying “if it weren’t for your childish sense of morality and $8 haircut…” like the way they describe each other is just so fun to me. Lloyd freaks me out, that man is insane, but there is a symmetry between their characters that’s really fun
Actually I thought of one more thing: Six is so not flashy in everything he does, it’s so fun. The people fighting him will be showing off and then he’ll do the bare minimum efficient thing to take them down and then move on, or even use their flashiness against them, like, it’s so delightful. He’s so competent that he doesn’t need to rub your face in it. He doesn’t ask for any acknowledgement for how he helps others but always acknowledges when others help him (his quiet “thanks” to Miranda after the train(?) scene is adorable). I just love him a lot ok?
(Also he’s hot. Like, he’s loving, protective, violently competent, submissive, good with kids, and hot as hell. What more could a person want in a character?)