Grumi

Do Y'all think Crackle had already limitated the capacity of the baton to only stun in this scene? Or was death waiting for Devineaux on this corner?? It's a pity that he never specified when he changed his weapon when he talks to chief...

Crackle gets spotted by Devineaux in the museum and proceeds towards his original escape—he could have very easily disappeared from there (as operatives do) but he allows Devineaux to follow him. He leads him deeper into the tunnels where Devineaux would be difficult to find, only to lose him at a crossroads once again. From there he could have escaped without a trace once again, instead he pulls out his Crackle Rod for an ambush. He's prepared to take out Devineaux, turns up that Crackle Rod further than it had to be FOR A NORMAL STUN. You can see him preparing for what needs to be done in the exact same way he did in Morocco

If Crackle wasn't looking to kill Devineaux, those series of events wouldn't have taken place. When he says "it's your lucky night flatfoot" it's because Devineaux is lucky he didn't die.

And in regards to him limiting his Crackle Rod at all, it would make sense for him to do that prior to the confrontation with Dark!Carmen. He still has to act as an operative (he wasn't supposed to get as involved as he did). He has a part to play still but he wouldn't want to hurt anyone in fulfilling it.

But the whole crackle rod thing still feels off, I don't know if it makes sense, but Crackle limiting it permanently, when he thought himself to be only the one capable of using it, looks weird.

This extra-precaution doesn't seem to make a practical difference, because changing his weapon to be non-fatal instead of leaving it as it is and simply not killing people with it, feels more like some kind of personal subjective resolution instead of a rational precaution...

And I have no idea of what this could be, because we only see him being determined to save Carmen, and this doesn't seem to affect her directly... so I have no idea of why he would have chosen to do that, I only feel that doing something as drastic as this without a precise reason looks pretty akward... I don't know.

The purported "real" reason the Crackle Rod was inhibited was probably just so the showrunners wouldnt be explicitly killing Gray on screen, both because the show is for children and to curb outrage from the fans (he IS a fan favorite, its why he was kept around in the first place after S1E2)

It's also the easiest way to give him a a kind of redemption, "oh here's a random six month time skip and Gray is good now so he almost dies for Carmen!!"

A two birds with one stone situation

Beyond that my next best justification is it was really just a thematic choice in the show

Gray's disposition in The Dark Red Caper is a complete 180 from that of The Himalayan Rescue Caper

The Himalayan Rescue Caper is where Gray CHOOSES to return to VILE, he acknowledges that he and Carmen are on opposing sides which will not change ("I know you won't come back to VILE. We've had that chat, on the train to Paris"), he does not want to hurt Carmen but is not yet unwilling to ("But I'm begging you, give up trying to stop us, because I don't ever want to be put in a position to hurt you again"). He asks Carmen to disregard her own righteous goals for the sake of his own peace of mind, so she won't force his had in having to go through with what VILE demands of him, so he won't have to fulfill the expectations that come with the life hes returned to.

Gray is still Crackle, he is still choosing VILE. He may be reluctant to cause harm to Carmen (and her specifically), but he still refuses to stop for her.

Gray still wields the Crackle Rod against Carmen, and while he may lower his guard it does not change what he's willing to do

This is where the shift in The Dark Red Caper comes in

This time, Carmen and Gray are on the same side, and instead of putting himself and his life of crime first, for once he chooses Carmen completely. He turns himself in, he betrays his comrades, he accepts what is to become of him after everything is said and done. This is his CHOICE just like it was before, and his Crackle Rod reflects it

That thing is his rock, it is the very symbol of his connection to VILE. Every time he gets pulled back in its there, and every time he powers in up to a lethal level hes pledging his allegiance to their cause

The fact that not only is Gray actively choosing not to cause harm with it, but effectively getting rid of that possibility entirely cements his shift away from VILE. It is meant to be how his character is rounded out in the end, with the rejection of what made him a VILE operative through the inhibiting of his Crackle Rod.

Do Y'all think Crackle had already limitated the capacity of the baton to only stun in this scene? Or was death waiting for Devineaux on this corner?? It's a pity that he never specified when he changed his weapon when he talks to chief...

Crackle gets spotted by Devineaux in the museum and proceeds towards his original escape—he could have very easily disappeared from there (as operatives do) but he allows Devineaux to follow him. He leads him deeper into the tunnels where Devineaux would be difficult to find, only to lose him at a crossroads once again. From there he could have escaped without a trace once again, instead he pulls out his Crackle Rod for an ambush. He's prepared to take out Devineaux, turns up that Crackle Rod further than it had to be FOR A NORMAL STUN. You can see him preparing for what needs to be done in the exact same way he did in Morocco

If Crackle wasn't looking to kill Devineaux, those series of events wouldn't have taken place. When he says "it's your lucky night flatfoot" it's because Devineaux is lucky he didn't die.

And in regards to him limiting his Crackle Rod at all, it would make sense for him to do that prior to the confrontation with Dark!Carmen. He still has to act as an operative (he wasn't supposed to get as involved as he did). He has a part to play still but he wouldn't want to hurt anyone in fulfilling it.

But the whole crackle rod thing still feels off, I don't know if it makes sense, but Crackle limiting it permanently, when he thought himself to be only the one capable of using it, looks weird.

This extra-precaution doesn't seem to make a practical difference, because changing his weapon to be non-fatal instead of leaving it as it is and simply not killing people with it, feels more like some kind of personal subjective resolution instead of a rational precaution...

And I have no idea of what this could be, because we only see him being determined to save Carmen, and this doesn't seem to affect her directly... so I have no idea of why he would have chosen to do that, I only feel that doing something as drastic as this without a precise reason looks pretty akward... I don't know.

shit. they’re in dangerous territory now, ‘cause when sasuke’s this deep in his head it’s almost impossible to pull him out. there’s that old adage, suigetsu thinks, the one that practically every kid in kiri knows; you can’t save everyone that’s drowning, even if you want to. ‘cause sometimes people are too far gone, and there’s too little air in their lungs, and if you or anything gets close they will claw and fight and push you down trying to keep their head above the water, and you’ll both die. 

they could stuff that, though, cause suigetsu’s made of water, and there’s no fuckin’ way anyone’s drowning him by accident.

he deflates a little, tension leaving him the more and more sasuke talks. some of it’s hard to hear; some of it, not so much. suigetsu knows sasuke’s not the type to get into the weeds about it, but he does love, even if he thinks he can’t. hell, the guy was a total fucking mess of emotion, but suigetsu can tell he cares. no one would be trying this hard if they didn’t care, suigetsu knew that for a fact, ‘cause he’d never tried at anything until he met sasuke. and if he couldn’t express love as long as he lived, so what? who cared? suigetsu wasn’t some needy little bitch, right?

the mahjong tiles clack against the table one by one, as sasuke sets them right. putting it all back into place, himself with it. cleanup on aisle breakdown.

suigetsu wishes he got it, really, wishes all of this wasn’t so far above his head; sasuke could jump from point a to point b and suigetsu would have no fuckin’ clue how he got there. selfish? how the hell— suigetsu had only led ‘em down this path ‘cause he was upset sasuke was being too selfless. because suigetsu wanted to be a little selfish, and he wished sasuke would partake with him. how did a guy who’d given his life to a cause think of himself as selfish? orochimaru, now there was someone selfish. kabuto, in his own way. people who shamelessly did what they wanted, went to any length, hurt anyone, ‘cause it was what they wanted. maybe sasuke’s made a point with this whole i need a cause thing, but suigetsu doesn’t think so. 

maybe he is too stupid to understand. whatever. all suigetsu knows is, even if what sasuke’s saying is true, he doesn’t really care. at least, not in the way sasuke does. suigetsu would be happy just to bitch a little bit about it over some drinks, get it outta his system, then get the hell back to work at sasuke’s side where he belongs. he doesn’t care if he’s used. if anything, it’s better that way, ‘cause at least sasuke knew what to use him for. suigetsu’s never known. 

❛  … you think too much, man. you’re… going in circles. s’not good for you. ❜

sasuke needed people, suigetsu needed to be one of those people. that was simple, wasn’t it?

❛  you don’t want me to leave. i don’t wanna leave. can’t we just leave it at that, sasuke? karin told me about this cool thing, uh, “occam’s razor”. there was a whole fancy explanation for it, but basically, the gist is that you cut out all the bullshit, just go with the most obvious option. which is that nothing changes. yeah? all that other stuff, look, sasuke, it really … doesn’t bother me. you’re saying it’s fucked up, but, i mean … isn’t everything? we ain’t perfect. so what? it’s still … good. i mean, i think it is. whatever you wanna call it, fucked up, abuse, a spade— whatever this is, i don’t want it to end. ‘cause i don’t think of it like that. no-one does. you’re just … you’re stressed, that’s all. ❜  don’t send me away, don’t send me away. there’s literally nothing else for me out there.

maybe it was safer to just stay quiet. suigetsu’s pretty sure anything he says at this point will make things worse. but how the hell was he going to get sasuke out of this thing otherwise? he got them into this mess, he had to get them out of it. had to try and make a barrier between sasuke and how much the dumb idiot hated himself. how the hell do you protect someone you care about from himself? ( fuckin’ unfair, man. this wasn’t in his job description. )

exhaling softly, suigetsu takes the risk of sidling up beside sasuke, closing the distance between them again, placing one of his hands over sasuke’s where it clutched the last awry tile at its proper place. ducks around a little, tries to get a look up at sasuke’s face. he couldn’t fix this like sasuke wanted him to, but maybe he could distract long enough for it to go away.

❛  you … d’you want me to take your mind off all this? ❜

avoiding and delaying problems is all suigetsu really knows how to do.

sasuke, like most people he knew, was immensely guilty of underestimating suigetsu. sure, he wasn’t a particularly skilled statesman or strategist or researcher or orator, but for what he lacks in the intellectual disciplines, he more than makes up for in an unnerving ability to cut to the heart of the matter as accurately as he had decapitate a man with kubikiribocho. suigetsu is a man intelligent enough to be a masterswordsman, exceeding the ability of anyone else sasuke knew in his mastery of such a wide range of blades. sasuke often forgets this, although he shouldn’t. suigetsu is a man intelligent enough to become the emotional backbone of otogakure, mitigating and minimising damage from the emotional fallouts of its trifecta of leaders. sasuke often forgets this, also, although he shouldn’t. 

suigetsu really notices everything, even if he doesn’t necessarily know how to contextualise and synthesise all he observes. suigetsu knows him. 

sasuke fiddles with the game piece a little longer, rubbing his fingers over the design engraved in it, the same design engraved over his family’s quadrant of the uchiha compound. he shores up his courage, something he’s unused to doing, because he usually acts before he can overthink what he’s doing and chicken out. he turns to suigetsu, twisting his hand around so that he can tangle his fingers together with suigetsu’s. a gentle hold, just the soft pressure of their knuckles against each other, the rough tips of suigetsu’s fingers catching on sasuke’s calluses. 

“ you’re right, ” he says, looking into sui’s eyes, giving him a little smile. “ you’re really smart, y’know? you’re good at this stuff. emotions. reading people. much better than me, anyway. ” he darts forward, warmth filling his belly thinking about suigetsu, and how much suigetsu just fucking cares for him, and uses his courage to press his lips against suigetsu’s cheek, a peck at best, a soft kiss to show suigetsu that he also cares, that he also wants him here, even if he’s bad at expressing it. 

“ you’re right. we want the same thing – we both want to be here, with each other. stupid to try and push that away, right? you’re right, we’re not perfect, but perfect’s a stupid goal. we’re good, y’know? you’re… you’re really good to me. it’s training, it’s never finished, you just have to keep trying and improving because there’s always room to do better. i don’t want you – or anyone else – to be okay with me being shitty. like, there’s a difference between being strict and being a dick. it shouldn’t be a fucking zero sum game, where you either have to put up with me being a shitheel or leave otogakure. i want you to tell me when i’m being shitty, and i want to remember to not be such a fucking asshole all the time.”