#phm thoughts

We NEED to talk about this scene because it shape-shifts when you watch the movie a second time???

On your first viewing, when Grace leaves the party to join Stratt on the deck, you’ve been following Grace's POV for the whole movie. You can feel how he's trying to break the ice and connect with Stratt via humor: "Permission to come aboard, captain?🫡"

And Stratt being Stratt kills the joke immediately: "You’re already aboard." And by killing that joke she also kills his attempt at connecting with her. That's her thing. You feel it in the knock-knock scene and you feel it here because Grace is feeling it. He stammers and he's nervous ("Talk too much, that's my problem, like right now"). His attempt at human connection is painfully unrequited (again).

When you finish the movie, you learn, however, that that is not true at all. You hear Stratt's voice crack when she has to do what she has to do, and you realize how her carefully constructed armor fractures because of him. He is not nothing to her.

And when you (inevitably) watch the movie again, and your POV is not limited to Grace's anymore but you can shift your view to Stratt ever so slightly, then suddenly the whole connecting-via-jokes business drops away to make room for the metaphorical meaning of "coming aboard".

"It is okay to be in your space? Am I allowed to be closer to you?"

And her answer?

He is already in her space, behind her defenses, and he doesn't even realize it (blissfully unaware about SO many things in fact). He is asking to be allowed inside the house while standing in the damn living room.

Of course watching a movie a second time will always deepen your understanding of the characters, but it's remarkable that Stratt's answer does not just gain a more differentiated level of meaning. Instead, it is transformed into it's opposite, from a very clear "I am not letting you in" to an equally clear "You've come in uninvited a long time ago", and both can be true at the same time!

I can't remember where I first saw this information, but apparently Rocky's aim was to make the wall to the tunnel out of many different materials to find out which one Grace is able to see through easiest, not based on opacity - like a human or something that evolved to see light does - but based on acoustic impedance. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's a way of measuring how easily sound passes through a material - usually used in ultrasound scans. Therefore, for a species who uses echo-location, he's working out which material is easiest for Grace to see through - and from what I can tell he just got lucky with the clear Xenonite. I'm also fairly sure that he was completely unaware about species that see through light waves rather than echo-location, based on his reactions to Grace in the movie.

Basically, Rocky wanted to make things as accessible as he could for any alien that he could come across with the limited knowledge that he had of how different species see things. He is essentially setting himself up to be as accessible as he can for anyone he could possible meet out there. Whether its due to desperation for connection, or just because he's Like That, that's why I think he's so neat. His first interaction with Grace is just him trying to make Grace as comfortable as possible.

It’s an interesting way of exploring the presentation scientific research, you may not be correct 100 percent of the time, but the research that you conduct can pave the way to expansive thinking. While the main hypothesis might be incorrect, if methods and procedures are utilized properly, the ideas and research that results from the experiment are not wasted! They can be repurposed for future research or be used as evidence to support the prevailing line of thought. This aspect of half truths felt like a tribute to the practice of academic writing, and added a lovely layer of realism.

The Project Hail Mary credits list Ray Porter as one of Rocky's "rejected" voices from the tunnel scene.

That's the same guy that narrates the audiobook!

(Unless there are 2 Ray Porters who've worked on this franchise)

Of course Rocky's gonna insist on Grace being watched for the rest of forever even though he doesn't need to be. One day Rocky is busy with an important work thing and asks Adrian to watch Grace sleep like:

babe I HAVE to go to this meeting and the human is asleep please will you watch my creepy sleeping thing for me please please please #MyThing

—i know there's a popular headcanon or it's natural to think that grace might've gotten some kind of tattoo on his arm (or taken his scar from rocky on his arm as a similar symbol) to symbolise the bond he has with rocky sometime into his life on erid.

may i suggest that sometime into his life on erid, adrian, of course, inevitably grows very fond of their mate's unlikely alien friend and the saviour of their entire species and everything that lives and everything that will live on erid.

and one day after rocky and adrian have had a Serious Discussion and decided that they very much hold grace with the same significance as of a mate, they inform grace that they would very much like to engrave something that represents him on their limbs with his blessing.

come the question of whether grace would like to partake in marking his skin too.

he would LOVE to, i'm sure, but maybe there are no pigments on erid that the engineers can certify to be 100% safe for alien skin and so maybe... maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to risk it. or maybe, grace knows he can't deal with a tattoo gun and suggests alternatives! or maybe, he goes aights sure let's do it but he passes out at the sight of the tattoo-gun-like-thing that the engineers manage to put together and everyone panics and he has no choice but to suggest alternatives!

ultimately, the interim solution (which ends up being permanent anyway) is to change up his shoelaces. they've seen him wear those beat up converse for so long it's essentially part of him anyways. one to represent rocky and one to represent adrian. rocky's on the right foot cause he's his rock, his right hand man, the platonic soulmate he'd give up his life to save. grace chooses the fabrics based on their traits too (e.g., the silvery one seems to have little grooves, kind of like metal wire - engineer???, and maybe the teal one is something like cotton???) (i can't clearly tell this from the screencaps but let me dream). grace explains the symbolisms in further detail, making things up along the way of course but finding it all oh so fitting and apt and true:

shoelaces that come in a pair to start, like how rocky and adrian have been mates for hundreds of years so far until he came along.

shoelaces that both need to be in place at all times for him to walk well, like how they're always going to be with him for as long as he lives on erid, and how grace has inextricably become dependent on them for joy and comfort and life.

as grace weaves the new threads into his shoes, he explains how it symbolises their paths crossing and the memories made along the way.

and as he goes on to tie the knot (!!!) he promises to love and care for them as they do for him for eternity.

rocky stops him, though. says that eternity is a long time, and that they don't need grace to promise them an eternity,

'for if you ever change your mind and want to go home.' 

they bicker about it, of course.

grace doesn't knot them in the end, not because he wants to go back to earth. he no longer does, and hasn't entertained the thought in a long time. he just lets rocky win the arguments sometimes, and besides, he can work out some alternative symbolism in his own heart, can't he?

so if you see saviour grace walking around erid with his shoelaces untied, it's only because he doesn't need to knot them.

why would he, when he isn't going anywhere? why would he, when he no longer needs to dress for leaving, or for running away?