tony sucks so much pre-afghanistan in such a specific way and it is so interesting to me
every year i make it like 10 minutes in and then i have to pause. sigh
like pre-afghanistan tony is like,,, deeply apathetic. floating through his own life, terrible to himself and the people around him not by intent but by just not really giving a shit, not paying attention, he does Not care about the awards ceremony he's missing he does not care if he's late anywhere he does not care where his money goes he's got his hands off the wheel with his company because obie's driving and pepper drives everything else.
pepper is one of the most important people in his life. he does not know when her birthday is. he has the most advanced digital assistant in the world. he could have Jarvis remind him. he could set up a calendar reminder. he doesn't.
rhodey is one of the most important people in his life. he lets him eat shit on stage because he's too busy Working A Crowd & Gambling and he doesn't even care if he wins or not or goes home with any of the women hanging off him he could be anywhere he could be doing anything. and sure he's quick with the empty platitudes oh rhodey i'm so sorry but he Does later make rhodey wait for him for three hours at the airport and everyone around him's like yeah he's just like this. deliberate distance
but the interesting part!!!!!!!! is that there are cracks. it's like 100 surface layers of Who Gives A Shit Whatever until you press him on it, like with christine everhart. he has his 100 justifications at the ready, and then when she doesn't buy the rehearsed obie & howard line's he's selling, suddenly he's whipping off the sunglasses like okay well we're killing people but we're saving them, too, on paper, is anyone going to ask me about That? is anybody going to pay attention to That? where do you think that comes from? how do you think that happens? all those breakthroughs? military funding, honey. and then he's redirecting onto something else
and then afghanistan happens and the whole thing is blown wide open and he's like okay ACTUALLY, i DO give a shit actually i gave a shit the WHOLE GODDAMN TIME actually i CARE and i can do something about this and it no one will help me i'll do it myself and i have an obligation and a purpose and a reason to be alive
it's just so compelling to watch that fire get reignited in this guy who's maybe been like completely checked out since his parents died & only doing What He Wants as a footnote side project with military funding that needs to be okayed by obadiah stane for 20 years like oh my god
