Can we talk about this dialogue from Taco? Oh? Oh, this is my blog, and no one can stop me? Excellent.
This is peak Taco-being-manipulative actually!!! Because it ties into what Mic says when she breaks up with Taco in s2 ep14. After her iconic "Is that what you said to Pickle?" line, Mic says:
Taco *is* making Mic think she doing what *she* wants and that she's being heard. With the excessive praise she's giving Mic here, and Taco claiming to be "very impressed" with her strategy... it's doubtful.
This is episode 11 of season 2. They meet in episode 9, and Mic accepts Taco's offer of "help" in episode 10. Taco doesn't start calling Microphone 'Mic' until episode 13, and just prior to the start of the challenge in this very episode, Taco is scolding Mic for not going along with what she wants. So Taco complimenting Mic like this? Very low chance that it's genuine. Taco *knows* how much Mic wants the approval, praise, and recognition of others, and she's using that to her advantage here.
Not to mention, "manipulation that functions inside the rules of the game" is NOT something Taco "didn't know was even possible." She did manipulation that functioned inside the rules of the game for 17 episodes straight. Very successfully! She only broke the rules when she dropped her act and went to steal the money. Taco very much knew that it was possible. But by acting all impressed and by saying these things to Mic, pretending she did something novel that Taco hadn't even *thought* of before, *so* impressive and such, Taco is making Mic feel appreciated and giving her the approval she wants so badly, which is not something that could be said for anyone else at this point, since Soap is long gone.
This bit of regard from Taco serves to keep Mic loyal to her as well! As I said, no one else is giving Mic this approval and recognition for her efforts at this point. Taco saying this to her (even if it isn't genuine, though Mic wouldn't know this) makes Mic more likely to look at Taco as someone who will give her the praise she wants. She'll go to Taco for positive attention. She'll do more and more things she isn't comfortable with because Taco is the only one giving her that attention!!
And then Knife comes in and starts snapping her out of it, she works with everyone, gets along with all of them (except for Test Tube obviously) in episode 14 and suddenly she's not willing to put up with as much pushing from Taco anymore and breaks up with her. It's not worth it anymore. But that's not what this TacoTalk was about so.
