There’s this one section of the game “Thank Goodness You’re Here!” where the salesman is sent off by Jasper to fetch some “spirit level bubbles” for him and his crew. I always found this part of the game to contrast the rest of the game pretty heavily, because for the majority of the game you never have any quarrels with townfolk, nor do they ever try to trick you; they only ever ask for help.
You can clearly tell that Florence and presumably Jasper are setting up the salesman for some sort of prank, which is odd to just suddenly happen out of nowhere. But what I think is more important is the outcome of this all.
If you’ve played the game—or at least watched a playthrough—you know that the spirit level bubbles really are in the back, and then the salesman catches one and flies through the roof into the sky. What I want to focus on is his expression as he floats up, away from the town.
There’s this sparkle in his eyes that has never appeared before in any previous scenes. This may just be me looking too deep into the game, but I think this highlights exactly the conflict that the salesman truly has with Barnsworth. From everything before this, he’s always been seen smiling, though lacking that little speck of light.
This moment in the sky, the moment where he is finally away from Barnsworth, away from the folks who never seem to have enough help, is where he finally shows happiness; it all builds up to this almost unusually beautiful moment in the game, accompanied by a one-time track that steadily settles in: This is peace.
That joy is soon eclipsed, though, when he falls back down and once again is dragged into another situation with the town. Bootleg Bill, assumed to be captured for good by the salesman, slowly escapes as the salesman watches him from a sea of cheering people.
The only time this glint of light is ever seen again is when he finally shuts the door on the town and severs himself from their world.
Now, I know, this may just be a lot of speculation. But I just wanted to talk about something ok
