bobsfries

Bonus

bobby

godddd yeah now that you pointed it out i can't stop watching it. full disclosure i went to a training today abt emotional development and now i'm in such a whumpy mood and i'm gonna just ramble. so. bob is running and then alexei grabs him and he freezes. not because alexei is holding him still but because it completely jolts him. i say that because you can see when alexei lets go and turns, bob's hand remains in the same place and it's still there when he screams. he doesn't just stop because alexei is restraining him, he goes into full fight or flight mode and freezes. his face stops. his hands stop. he completely shuts down. even when the chicken runs at him, he shields himself but stays put. and the way he tenses??? like obviously he's already scared shitless but when alexei grabs him he tenses so bad his shoulders are at his ears.

i'm actually so grateful to have an excuse to stare at the scene in slow motion because it reinforces my headcanon that bob's fight or flight response is freeze (and if you want extra angst, he really, really hates that that is his instinct). in my mind this is because he learned at a young age (probably under 4 years old) that the "best" thing to do was stop fighting and take the abuse from his dad. probably because it was over sooner or "not as bad" if he just let it happen. rather than try to keep running or even fight alexei's grasp, bob completely gives in because that's what he's been conditioned to do since childhood. i'd go so far as to say there's an element of dissociation here because of how aggressively bob freezes and the fact that he doesn't respond to alexei at all until the chicken hits alexei with the sign. but what's really killing me is his hands!! his hands barely move at all after alexei grabs him!!

his left hand does some floating but his right hand really doesn't move. and what's really interesting is that he kind of looks like he wants to help alexei after he gets hit but he can't bring himself to unclench his fists so he doesn't. now going back to my point about bob's fight or flight response, i think his natural or born instinct leans toward flight. he tries to run in the vault. he tries to put distance between himself and valentina. he runs from the incinerator. but when alexei grabs him it puts him into this state of overwhelming fear that just completely shuts his body down. and it's hard to tell because of the way the scene is cut but can i add also that HE DOES THE SAME THING WITH HIS DAD.

in the first shot bob is steps in front of the wall. then it cuts to his dad for a few seconds and when we see bob again, he's fully tensed in on himself and backing up behind the wall. from this extreme over-analysis into what probably means nothing, i conclude that as a child bob would try to run and hide from his dad but ultimately froze and covered his face the best he could while he took whatever abuse his dad forced him to endure that day. thank you for coming to my bob ted talk.

Ignore the fact that this is a day late…

Thank you @thehyperfixationistlass for the inspo!