Harley is Not Lazy Compilation
Of all the many allegations levied against Harley, I decided to start with the most minor and inconsequential, as well as possibly the only allegations we can actually truthfully say are false.
Number 3, From Lockharte:
Number 4, From The Prototype:
"You beat us. Burn us. Tear at flesh. Do you feel it?"
While Harley did not have his Miranda Rights read to him before acknowledging on the record that he did in fact cut, burn, and tear at the flesh, it is accurate and does show that-proving Harley not guilty of laziness by pointing out a much worse crime! *Sigh*
(Personally would rather be guilty of laziness then of beating/burning/tearing other people, but...)
Number 5: Harley was so adamant that he do some specific surgery by himself that it made its way into the BBI Proposal document.
Number 5, From the ARG:
Harley, internally resents the idea of merely sitting idly.
While I can see Harley grandiosely absorb himself into something and overvalue his important (another strong potential indicator of mental unwellness)
One example is when he tells the executives, "When I look at this company we've built"
He has only been at the factory for a few months when he says this, and the company is six decades old.
Note though that he says this directly to people who know better, and he doesn't appear to be "patting himself on the back", after inserting himself into the history of the company being built, he follows up with, "I do not feel proud."
This statement is far too transparent for Harley to be coldly stealing credit (like Bruno does later on). Making it feel like in Harley's egotistical (possibly grandiose or narcissistic, but I won't label anything) mind, he has built this 60 year old company alongside the executives...somehow. So I can see Harley overvaluing his work, and Chloe disliking that, but he wouldn't just, stand by and do nothing. That's what about her phrasing angers me.
It's why in The Doctor Cinematic Trailer, Harley mentally categorizing The Prototype along with the BBI experiments as "MY CREATIONS" might not be a continuity error. If my speculation about Harley suffering from grandiose delusions is correct, then he might actually have decided that the Prototype is his creation, even though he literally has to rip apart Prototype's flesh to try and figure out how he works, and even if Elliot is the one responsible for Prototype, and even if he wasn't working at the company when Elliot resurrected Oliver as the Prototype, the prototype is his creation now, logic be darned.
This is a very common grandiose delusion, to sort of "absorb" yourself or see your achievements as slightly exaggerated or inaccurate. But I will refrain from diagnosing Harley.
So I can see what she might have been trying to say, "he gives himself more credit then he should" but that's NOT what she said. She implied that he did nothing and just forced others to do all the hard work while he kicked back his feet and stole credit! That's NOT who Harley Sawyer is. He is horrible, but he is one hard working guy.
He wouldn't simply be "letting" other people "break their back" implies he wasn't part of it.
Furthermore I note that, despite Chloe being at the factory for a few weeks, it appears she doesn't yet know about the orphan experiments yet and hasn't actually worked with Harley in his area of work when she wrote this.
Why can I say this for sure? In the first letter where Chloe slanders Harley as lazy...she says the scientists are sad, but she doesn't know why.
Next letter, it's made pretty clear she has in fact found out why they are sad:
If she's never seen Harley in his domain of horrific orphan experiments, then she would only have seen him, likely standing around looking self-satisfied without knowing who he is or what he does, and concluded he does nothing and is simply looking pleased with himself over others hard labor.
I also notice she doesn't mention Harley again after this letter. She probably wouldn't have liked him much still, given he wasn't one of the regretful scientists, and she was part of the rebellion, which is full of people who seem to like to focus on how outright bad he is, to make themselves feel better.
It's also sad and ironic that if Chloe met the Brain Trust, she would also have met Bruno, the real leech of the bunch, but because Harley is socially awkward enough to sit around and posture for people who he is forbidden to actually tell them about his work, and Bruno seems charming, kind, and doesn't blurt out achievements that have been grandiosely distorted, he slips by.
I'll share a skit I posted in PPT discord for a bit of very very dark comedy:
Chloe on Harley before she sees what Harley really does: "Eh. paper pusher who coasts off our hard labor."
Chloe after she sees what Harley really does: "OH SHOOT. OH NO. THIS IS MUCH MUCH WORSE THEN THAT."
Harley: covered in blood "I'm so happy I can finally share my own labor with you! Did you think I was merely sitting idly?"
Chloe: "I WISH YOU HAD BEEN."
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