Hi! Just a personal opinion, donβt u think that episode 51 of wolf 359 is very hypocritical of Hera and Lovelace? It just gives me that feeling, cause itβs entirely rational of Eiffel to be scared of an alien after everything heβs witnessed, and heβs never been a jerk about it at all. And as for Hera, Iβd say Eiffel is her closest ally after all. In the beginning he was the first to treat her like another member of the crew, and he was always the one backing her up. Maybe not right away, but they canβt expect him to have interacted with an AI like that before. I feel like only Minkowski had a valid point, but even then itβs really rich considering the way they treat him every single day.
β¦ iβm about to either blow your mind or hurt your feelings. or maybe both !! justβ hear me out
the way that eiffel claims the crew treats him? like heβs supposedly a useless idiot who canβt do his job and who no one takes seriously? thatβs entirely made up. he came up with that perception of himself all on his own, and no one actually thinks of him that way. and even when people ARE wary of him being able to handle something with efficiency? itβs because he has repeatedly proven that they should be through his actions.
think about it. REALLY think about it. any time someone on the crew criticizes eiffel for anything, is it anything to do with his intelligence? his ability? his necessity to the mission? spoiler alertβ itβs not. what they ARE criticizing is his work ethic. his responsibility. his professionalism. which, unfortunately, are ALL things they are completely valid in questioning, because eiffel himself has proven time and time again that he doesnβt care about those things. he repeatedly blows off tasks heβs assigned (star charts, pressurizing the tanks from extreme danger bug, cleaning the wiring panels that were discussed in the paranoia game, etc), he wastes resources for selfish reasons (he literally poisoned the water supply trying to distill whiskey in space. not to mention the toothpaste.), and heβs constantly dismissive of his crew mates any time βboringβ work is involved (i.e. routine maintenance tasks).
in eiffelβs defenseβ¦ he has his reasons for behaving this way. heβs here practically as punishment, and doing these menial tasks only acts as a reminder of what he did. avoiding that responsibility is practically his own means of revolution, of taking back the little bit of autonomy he has left. HOWEVER. he is not the only person on that station. minkowski, hera, hell, even HILBERTβS lives depend on him doing the job he was sent there to do, of his own volition or not. those people donβt deserve to be even more miserable or at risk just because eiffel doesnβt like where he is.
thereβs actually a quote in the finale that proves this point (no spoilers i promise):
a lot of eiffelβs actions are driven by self hatred. heβs never forgiven himself for what he did, and because of that he never allows himself to take credit for anything good. heβs resigned to believing himself as an evil, selfish, undeserving person, because he refuses to disappoint the people he loves ever again. because of this, any time a member of the crew criticizes him about something he genuinely deserves, he uses it to prove his own point that he will never be good enough for anything and that heβs just a terrible person, something NO ONE has EVER said to him. itβs just harder for us as the listeners to pick up on that because the story is told through his point of view.
as for eiffel being the first to regard hera as a personβ thatβs not true, either. in fact, the first person we see doing this (at least chronologically in canon) is minkowski (something i think is explained in the finale so i wonβt elaborate on it too much). when we hear eiffelβs first impression of hera in the day one mini episode, he talks ABOUT her before he even talks TO her. in a way that she can hear, too! it isnβt heraβs fault that she is the way that she is, and for her first interaction with someone she was planning on treating with respect to be them talking about how theyβre weirded out by and afraid of her? that would hurt ANYONE, human or not. and then for him to CONTINUE reminding her of how heβs put off by her and how he doesnβt see her as an equal by referring to her as things like βwind up girlβ and βclippyβ? it doesnβt matter that theyβre just jokes to him, HEβS not the one those βjokesβ are at the expense of.
as for lovelaceβ think about what sheβs going through for a second. she had JUST learned that the last several months of her life had been a complete lie. that she was supposed to be dead. and she only LEARNED this by getting SHOT IN THE HEAD, and just. coming back! she had to feel ALL of that in a matter of days. she doesnβt know WHAT she is, or WHO she is, or whatβs going to HAPPEN to her when and if she gets back home. NO ONE is more afraid of that than she is. it doesnβt matter if sheβs biologically human or not, she HAS those memories. she HAS those feelings. and for someone like eiffel to continue to undermine her authority and refuse to treat her the same only serves as a reminder of all of that shit sheβs dealing with. everyone else is coping with the fact that sheβs an alien, too, but eiffel is the only one on her side making it glaringly obvious that he sees her differently now, despite nothing about her actually changing.
my phoneβs about to die so iβm gonna try to wrap this up quickβ i LOVE doug eiffel. heβs the character i hold closest to my heart because i see myself in a lot of the things he thinks and does. heβs one of my favorite fictional characters in the entire world. but that does NOT make him perfect, and he DID deserve the wake up call given to him in shut up and listen, because once he gets it? he immediately becomes a MUCH better friend and person overall, something he was ALWAYS capable of being.
