#arghhhhhhhhh

A happy new year with Lynn and Nick

Static version under the cut!

like, outie mark is an asshole. for understandable reasons, of course. but he’s super abrasive and has major issues with alcohol and honestly it’s so painful to watch him lash out Over and Over at the people in his life who are literally just trying to help him. and it makes me want to rip my hair out, because with the way he acts sometimes it’s a wonder people even try to help at all.

innie mark is literally the complete opposite of that. he’s meek and polite and his actions aren’t tainted by grief (that he’s aware of) every waking second of the day. but he’s only that way because any and all of the fight has essentially been abused out of him. He mentions how he threatened to kill the disembodied voice when he first woke up but now he’s quick to admit to any wrongdoing before he’s been caught because he’s painfully aware of the what the alternative could be. when he and helly are about to go up the elevator that final time in S1, she asks if he’s scared and he says he’s scared /of being caught/. He’s mustered up all of this courage to rebel and he’s still scared shitless of the consequences.

Not to mention (if I’m remembering this scene correctly) that one of the earlier times he kind of “talked back” to Cobel, she proceeded to fling a mug at his head, and his immediate reaction was to people-please by asking if she wanted the office door closed or not. Jesus christ man. Slides my hands down my face

Innie mark is objectively more likeable for some of us but it’s because he’s been treated like absolute garbage. For a good chunk of S1 he’s just in this constant state of anxiety because who wouldn’t be?? And even in S2, (SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASNT YET WATCHED S2E1!!!!) when he barges into Milchick’s office and grabs the speaker his hands are fucking shaking, both from the adrenaline of his plan working but I’d also imagine that barging into his ex-bosses office and attempting to communicate with the Board directly goes against literally all of his conditioning and that’s gotta be terrifying.

It’s been great seeing innie mark become way more defiant than he used to be. I think it’ll be interesting continuing to root for him as the story goes on, because I know full well that as outie mark’s personality starts to shine through he could very well become more unlikeable, even though that change would be an objectively good thing. Arghhhh severance mark you make me sooooo mentally ill