Glitch Character Study
While not covering
all
the points presented in the post Glitch is not a good person (I believe this has been removed) by
luchia13
on Live Journal, this contains a bit of friendly rebuttal about some points she made after rewatching the series... Please note that I noticed some of the dialogue in familiar scenes is rather quiet, so you may have missed it. I had the volume set to 36 out of a max of 60 on my tv in order to pick some of these up.
While rewatching Tin Man I noticed the following:
In the bird cage, when DG first meets Glitch and he’s hanging from the top of the cage, when he asks her to let him down and she hesitates, he says he can show her the way to Central City but that its kind of hard to give directions as he is... not only tied to the cage, but hanging on - likely due to his fear of heights that we hear about later - when she still hesitates, he points out that her parents are getting further and further away the more she waits, and it’s not like she has a better offer of directions or escape around.
When she
does
let him down and notices his zipper, he becomes lightly insulted at her “What the hell?” comment and retorts that she’s not so hot on first glance either. I think here, he kind of had his feelings hurt with her attitude toward him. She didn’t know him - so they both thought - and didn’t know what he had been through etc. and I think that’s why he’s kind of offensive in his response toward her until she told him that his zipper was undone and he found out the reason behind her reaction to him.
When DG dangles from the cage, Glitch
is
concerned for her safety. He says it’s too dangerous and too far to jump and to come back. When he sees her make it safely across, his expression is mixed. One of relief that she made it safely and sorrow for being left behind. We have no idea how long he had been up there alone so he could have been starved for company. He’s relieved when she calls for him to go with her and promptly drops below the cage as she did, and swings to the other side calling for her to wait for him, ignoring his fear of heights in the light of the fact that she’s not leaving him behind after all.
When they come across Cain’s family, Glitch calls for DG to come back, that it isn’t her fight, and makes the comment of “That’s life in the O.Z. these days; tough and tougher.” This has been used before to claim that Glitch is self serving and didn’t even want to help. I don’t think this is true. I think he’s likely had many dealings with the Long Coats in his time since the war, and ‘seeing’ the weak state of Cain, his wife and his son, likely thinks that they wouldn’t be much help and only get captured themselves. And DG is going after them with just a stick... While I think his winces while watching Cain and his son get beaten prove he wants to help, he’s not sure what they can really do at the time, and he chases after DG to help her when she ploughs ahead with her stick in hopes that he won’t lose his companion and be alone again.
When they meet Raw, Cain is the first one who isn’t too keen on rescuing him. Glitch’s comment when Raw is moping after they regroup and rest after the river is that he’s a basket case. He doesn’t outright reject Raw from their party, its more: Like we don’t have enough to worry about right now. At this point, they already know they are being chased by Long Coats, just not the why of it, and Cain was hurt as well, so its kind of like: One more thing to add to the pile.
It’s also been brought up that in the scenes with the Mystic Man that Glitch didn’t show any concern or anger about Zero entering the room, saying: Oh look, there’s the guy who locked up Cain. I think this was surprise that he both recognized and remembered something after so long a time, and then was more caution in his secondary reaction cause he remembered the Long Coats looking for them as well, not that it had anything to do with Cain... Cain wasn’t there, that was his vendetta, and while it wasn’t like they didn’t want to help him or claim justice for their friend who had left them, they were in immediate danger right then and needed to escape... there were too many people around that could have turned them in - like the waitress Zero asked - or could have gotten hurt in the process.
During all of this, Cain went on his mission to find Zero leaving the others with DG “hoping for the best”, and it wasn’t until after threatening defenseles people that he heads back to where he started and finds out just
who
DG is. So in all of this, it is Cain who seemed more self serving than Glitch.
On the Northern Island, it has been suggested that Glitch was once again self serving while running from the Mobats. He
did
stand up to Azkadellia for her in the room before they got lost and separated in the vast forest of columns in the lower level of the forest, and usually the plan when separated - in the military - is to get out and regroup later. And Raw I think was more driven by fear than Glitch - Glitch kept running, zig zagging trying to avoid capture until the Mobats actually tackled him. Raw was trying to hide, not just escape, and he froze.
We all know just
how
you have to save someone from hypothermia and I’m really not going to touch the truck scene other than to say that Glitch gets snippy with Cain when all he recieves from Cain upon awakening is sarcasm and grumbling - until Cain says he owes him one, and who wouldn’t get frustrated and snippy when not thanked for saving your life?
On the way to the toward the Gap in the Oz when Raw points out the cabin, Glitch says its probably full of Long Coats. But Cain says no, look at the smoke. Glitch - or Ambrose rather - likely wasn’t familiar with the goings on of the Resistance that Cain was involved in, and didn’t know the codes. So he looks at Cain as if he’s crazy and points out that Long Coats get cold too. Then Cain says the smoke is blue and we learn the code when they reach the cabin.
Once at the cabin, when they are talking about the mines, Glitch recalls ‘school days’ explaining what Mortainium is and what its used for and realizes that the ‘weapon’ isn’t a weapon, but a sun seeder. When asked what a sun seeder is at first he says he doesn’t know but that it sound cool. In this scene - I believe - we first know Glitch to tell a falsehood. He then pales and says he invented it, and when asked what it does he says he don’t remember... but he’s still pale. I don’t think that this is because he’s caught or anything, but more realizing that the Witch is turning something he created for good in to something evil and he’s in shock and denial. This is when DG says she can’t wait. I think he kind of blames himself for even inventing something that could so easily destroy them, but that wasn’t the original intent, and they learn just how much he gave up to keep that from happening and earns Cain’s respect - moreso than for saving his life.
Cain gives some good advice.
Glitch finds out who he is and that his marbles are in the tower... Cain finds his heart, following his own advice and not letting his son kill Zero. DG and Glitch help Raw, DG gives peptalks. Glitch finds his brain - though sadly isn’t actually reunitied with it at the end of the film, DG saves her sister... “Good Morning, Sweetheart.” What more is there to say?
