#robert marshall

First off I gotta say I formally apologize to Donovan for originally headcanoning him not knowing Spanish. It's clear he does but he's just a bitch about it.

Really funny how Lincoln points out how weird Marshall is and it even is something Donovan has to acknowledge, not like Donovan also has a few screws loose but I guess Lincoln's more used to him.

I really forgot how brutal the aftermath of the massacre is at the Cuban restaurant. Aldridge really is fucked up, how tf you end up so bad that someone like Marshall had to leave that line of work for good??

Kinda felt bad seeing Donovan dissociate a little bit when Lincoln was looking at the dead bartenders cut up hand :/

Driving to the CIA safe house is funny cause Donovan is so fuckin angry and Lincoln's like "you need to get some lovin or something because you're so wound up" and Donovan's reply/line delivery "That may be true-" like he's so mad, you can almost hear the veins bulging outta his forehead.

I like how when they're going through the safehouse you can almost hear Lincoln side eyeing the CIA and even Donovan for the fact they look over the citizens of New Bordeaux's mail. Also its not lost on me that the safehouse is near the Hollow.

ALSO RAAAHHH I LOVE NUMBERS STATIONS THAT LITTLE PART IN THE SAFEHOUSE WITH THE RADIO LISTING OFF NUMBERS IN SPANISH IS SUCH A COOL LITTLE DETAIL!!! I have a weird fixation on them but I wish I could understand them. I like the visual of Donovan trying to smack wave Lincoln away from the radio. Lincoln didn't do anything wrong he just leaned in! ...I'm sure nothing bad will happen.

U think Donovan feels some smug feeling of superiority when it comes to the other agents at the safe house? They're all kinda nerdy and weak and seem kinda older (at least to me their character models look it) so he's like ">:3 I'm the coolest one here" even tho he's also a freak loser in his 30s :V

• Ivy Nicole thinks that Marshall can be so incredibly boring sometimes. He likes to do the same thing over and over again.

• She doesn't like the bars he likes to go to. Not a fan of his friends. She likes when they get to hangout just the two of them.

• She likes afternoons where she can lay her head in his lap while he pets her head and they get to just talk or watch TV together.

• Honestly, she just likes being around Marshall. He's so laid-back and relaxed that she can't help but also feel that way.

• It's really helpful for her to just hang around him when she's buzzing too much and feels like not herself.

lincoln (trying to track down a lead): kurt seeing anyone currently?

marshall: whoa, i didn't know he was your type.

lincoln: nah, he's too skinny. a man needs something to hold onto.

With really any military-based job, including whatever he was doing in the CIA (I’d assume bounty hunting of some kind), there’s not exactly a whole host of choices in how you respond to certain things. If your job is to kill, that’s what you do. You kill. There’s no option to show kindness, no option to show empathy or even emotion. It’s just a machine of “kill and move on”. So, with this lack of choice, Marshall (whether he wants to admit it or not) feels trapped into being a machine and not human, and he can’t reconcile that within himself. It’s not the brutality that gets to him, it’s that he can’t be ‘human’ while doing so.

Fast forward to post-Stones Unturned, we see Lincoln aiding Marshall in some bounties. Marshall says something that catches my eye when talking about the naked protester: “sometimes, you gotta do fucked up things to stop the really fucked up things from happening”. Marshall cares about this guy and sees his pain and desire to make America a good place for all people— it doesn’t matter that Marshall is an ex-CIA agent and Vietnam vet, he knows that this guy’s intent is good. Hell, Marshall mentions how he’s going to show up to court with that guy to make sure he’s treated fairly. Marshall cares about people, and he wants to have the choice to show that care.

So long as Marshall can choose how he handles things, he’s more likely to choose kindness. A weird brand of kindness, but kindness nonetheless.