i like that jack's big, bold strategy for getting robby to listen to him in that last episode essentially boiled down to a full hour of staring intently at robby until he orbited his way back to him (because of course he would eventually, because he always does) and then once he had his attention, proceeding to following him around until he gave up trying to escape and let jack aggressively emote in his general direction until robby gave in and listened.
i'm dying to know if this plan was born from experience or instinct. has jack deployed that strategy on him before? robby knew he was being handled and tried to shake jack off for two full episodes before he gave in, so this is clearly not brand new behavior. how did jack discover this was the way to break through robby's defenses? how many times has robby tried to be emotionally distant with jack and jack just flat out refused to let him. it's like the fight leaves robby entirely. he lets jack care, unapologetically, in a way he does not (at least that we've seen) let anyone else. even with dana, who gets the closest to any other person on screen, but still he tries to be strong for her in the end, but with jack he resists and resists and resists and resists but then he gives in, and somehow jack knows that's how it's going to go, that he just has to tread lightly until he can wage a full on emotional attack, where robby will let him in and then he has to talk fast and show that he cares so much because he knows that when he finally wears robby down that's the only time he has a chance to make all of it land.
there's something very funny to me about the idea the jack has poured hours into coming up with a plan of attack with robby over the years, like the 'break glass in case of emergency plan', but it's basically just the jaws theme playing in his head while slowly encroaching into robby's personal bubble and his big finisher is somehow just him yelling "you're a fucking dumbass and you are so loved! let me love you, you stubborn asshole!!!!" paired with as much physical affection as robby will let him get away with. how many years has jack had to study this ridiculous man to have a "robby is being an idiot and thus i need to Act" plan just waiting in the wings, ready to deploy?
2087
janainaart
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
