This voice line made me think about something. Apologies for the ramblings I’m not a talented writer.
Coyle is one of the only prime assets that isn’t used to being ostracized in some way or another. Gooseberry was abused by her father her whole life and even in his death he haunts her. Franco was always looked down upon and mocked for his physical deformities. The Kress twins were hidden away from society because of their conjoined nature. And for the first 13 years or so of liliyas life she was treated like an animal and even for a time was picked on by the other girls her age in the orphanage.
Of course Coyle had a fucked up childhood like all the other primes but unlike the others he was loved and respected as an adult. (I’m not counting Liliya because yes she was idolized by her followers but she wasn’t treated as a person but instead as a symbol or messiah, so in a way she was still dehumanized.)
Coyle was loved by his small town of Blackwell. Nobody even batted an eye or intervened when he beat the shit out of Clyde Perry in that diner, probably assumed there was a good reason for it. Nobody bothered to look into the dubious circumstances of his 3 dead wives. Any issue with him was swept under the rug because, “that’s just our lovable cop Coyle looking out for us!”
I think this is why he seems genuinely shocked in some of his voice lines when the reagents retaliate “Hey you tryna hurt me?” Specifically comes to mind. He’s used to being respected and liked in spite of being violent.
But all of that brings me to this point: Coyle has always felt alone, but now more than ever he can’t ignore it.
Even when he was surrounded by people who liked him they didn’t like him for him you know? The violent deranged asshole. They liked the charming friendly mask he wore.
Something I wondered about Coyle is why he kept getting married. I don’t think it’s a matter of having someone to do housework, I mean if he wanted someone to exploit for household labor surely he’d keep his wives around longer right? I don’t think it’s a matter of sex, He tells The Snitch that he reminds him of his second wife who “got him as hot as Missouri asphalt” but then in the new prime time lines he says “The second missus Coyle might as well have been a mannequin” because she wouldn’t really react when he had sex with her, something that seems to have disliked and disturbed him. So it seems he didn’t even like having sex with the woman who got him as hot as Missouri asphalt. I doubt it’s a matter of appearances because nobody in that town cared if he beat someone’s ass in broad daylight. And I don’t recall him mentioning any attraction to his other wives to don’t think it’s about having someone to sleep with. So why’d he marry them? The first wife maybe was a mistake he made when young, maybe he believed that getting married was just part of being an adult or something, wanted to chase the idealized nuclear family. The second wife had a family to extort I suppose. The third one??? It just begs the question what exactly is he trying to get out of these marriages?
I think that he wants someone he can be vulnerable with, someone who will love him in spite of all his flaws, someone he can be the worst of the worst with and still be adored. Which is why he kept getting married, to find that person. But the idealized image of that domestic woman to love him unconditionally kept getting shattered because among other things; his wives were people and not just mindless housewive robots. They probably didn’t turn a blind eye to his faults just because he was “the man of the house” or the beloved town Sargent. If anything the more and more his mask slipped the more and more horrified they became of him.
The idea that someone would love him for him is something he craves desperately but he can’t reflect and realize that who he is as a person is not someone anyone could love.
And now here he is in the Sinyala facility where he doesn’t have that charming mask anymore, his worst qualities open to the world. He got everything he thought he wanted, power, control, fear. But he has even less of what he truly needed, genuine human connection.
And now he’s lonelier than ever. So he grumbles to himself about lovebirds and how he’s not jealous of them.
Or something idk thanks for reading my bullshit I’m going to throw bricks at his head now