SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LIGHTNING BOLT

[as if emerging from underwater] fuck. I need to rewatch last life. I miss my terrible early scottpearl when they were always together because pearl had no other friends. I miss that unhealthy codependence. scott always wants an all-consuming relationship but he’s never had one more successful than pearl because in pearl he found someone who was strong enough to fight on his behalf but malleable enough to give him what he needed to get ahead. I miss that transactional affection. that moment where pearl gives him a life and scott immediately crouches at her to say I love you so much, you’re my best friend and I love you so much is never going to leave me

beyond the “jimmy’s no use to me” comment when scott’s seeking out an ally with lives to spare, I don’t think scott would have intentionally compared pearl to jimmy—during last life, that is; he certainly has in later seasons—but in many ways his relationship with her was an “improvement.” pearl has power she can give him. pearl listens: when scott says build it this way, she builds it this way; when scott says go there, she goes there; when scott says kill joel for me, she kills joel for him. they’re always together. they have their own secret code. pearl is, in some ways, scott’s most successful and productive and useful relationship. he got everything he wanted out of her, from the companionship to the multiple lives she gave him to the convenient motivation bolstering his win. he won! what more could he want?

if you asked scott whether he thought he and cleo were married in double life he’d be like ew no I’m gay we’re just besties. if you asked cleo whether she thought she and scott were married in double life she’d laugh in your face. but the answer’s yes, isn’t it? soulmates and marriage are the same thing for both of them.

if you asked scott whether he thought he and cleo were married in double life he’d be like ew no I’m gay we’re just besties. if you asked cleo whether she thought she and scott were married in double life she’d laugh in your face. but the answer’s yes, isn’t it? soulmates and marriage are the same thing for both of them.

one of my absolute favourite moments of double life is in ep 3 when scott’s having an argument with pearl about being reckless and starts to say, “yeah, but if I die, you die, cl—like—pearl.”

the reason cleo and scott work so well is because they both view relationships as absolutes and they can both give everything to each other. they can see each other at their worst and still love each other. scott decided his relationship with jimmy in third life was a marriage and applied that same label both to grian and scar and to cleo and bdubs, and grian balked at it but cleo accepted it without issue; later, in double life, cleo specifically told bdubs they were divorced, and implied that a soulmate relationship was equivalent to marriage. meanwhile scott views all his relationships as requiring the same level of commitment; he repeatedly compares jimmy (husband) and pearl (soulmate), and refers to all his former teammates as exes: pearl, cleo, martyn, and jimmy, all of them. where scott and cleo differ is in their sense of obligation and their feelings of guilt. cleo wouldn’t betray a teammate, but scott has no issue with the concept—although he usually either won’t do it or will ensure that the rules allow for it. scott doesn’t place much value in sentimentality, but cleo cares deeply for symbolic gestures. it’s fun when they have those rare moments of misalignment, namely because they’re in lockstep almost all of the time.

remember when people got really mad at jimmy for leading joel to kill impulse as though “I’ve got a treat for you in my base” isn’t the hottest thing he could possibly have said in that situation

obviously I’m a jimmy apologist first and foremost so my perspective here is admittedly biased but there are two things people need to know before getting upset that jimmy “betrayed” someone in favour of joel. first of all jimmy can do whatever he wants forever. and second of all. anyone who thinks jimmy would pick them over joel deserves exactly what’s coming to them