Thiff

she ends up doing a lot of impulsive things as she chases game glitches because of this, leaving her and her partner, five, alone with no backup to face a high level game monster that they’re under-qualified to fight. miko also breaks her gauntlet in the process and this makes her think that her mother is right. that she isn’t good enough and can’t focus and can’t do anything right. she thinks she’s going to lose her job, just like what her mom said. their boss calls five and miko tells him to speak the truth, so miko can suffer the consequences alone

miko is shown to think of five as someone who can focus and who deserves to keep his job, who can do his job properly. throughout the day, in her attempts to be focused, she mirrors five and copies ‘focused’ things he does. five takes down notes copiously while their boss briefs them? miko tries to do that too, writing random things she think might be important on her arm. she thinks of five as someone with good plans, someone who loves plans, and someone who’s not as big of an unfocused mess as she is. she admires that too, because miko loves to go by her instincts, but she’s been forced to associate such traits of her as bad

miko also sees five as a source of validation, someone who believes in her, more so than her own mother. she hugs him when he expresses confidence in their ability to do well together on their mission, outright saying “you believe in me,” and this is very important because five continues to display this belief in miko. he straight up lies to their boss in order to protect miko and to give them a chance to solve their problem. he doesn’t let miko shoulder the blame for landing them into their situation, and believes in both of their abilities to get themselves out of their mess

“look, you didn’t drag me into this. we got into it together. so let’s just get out of it. new deal baby seal?” miko proceeds to look to five for a plan, of which five tells her HEY, things you said earlier? are correct. and they proceed to make a plan TOGETHER and miko finds their solution, which she realizes involves her and a gauntlet—but her gauntlet is broken—and before she can even finish five HANDS her his own gauntlet. he trusts her! without question! “you’re not a fail fish, miko. you can focus when it counts. so make it count.” he gives her his CONFIDENCE in her and a WAY to prove to herself that she can focus! even if she can’t focus all the time! even if the kind of focus in question here is a little different from the kind of focus miko’s mom wanted her to have!

and i just think that’s a very good message to send to people with adhd, to kids with adhd. because miko succeeded, with five’s help, with five’s trust and belief in her, and she did it without having to change who she was! and that’s what adhd folks should have, you know. people who believe in us, people in our lives who know that we ARE good enough, and we do things in our own special way. also, towards the end of the episode, miko’s mother praises miko for working hard at her new job, and tells her she’s proud of her. she even approves of miko secretly playing video games at night, and tells her she’s earned it. it just kind of comes full circle at the end, and i think it’s really nice