“he looked tremendous, his yellow hair shining like the sun itself. he said, “we are as gods, because if we are not gods, then how else will the world be made?””
simon is by far my favorite character in all of fiction. in even the worst adaptations of lotf, he shines because his source material is so strong. jack thorne improves upon it in this show. because i had my issues with certain expansions of other backstories, i was skeptical at the introduction of a significant relationship between jack and simon. any fear i had dissipated in the first 2 minutes of his episode. it’s like we see simon torn between two near reflections of himself: christ (belief, compassion, acceptance of himself and of his fate) and jack (humanity, connection, a belonging he wants to believe in but can’t). with this inclusion, simon becomes more human. though he is peace and love incarnate, he’s capable of the same fear, longing, and shame as the others. he saw the humanity in jack when no one else did, and that subsequently leads to his animalistic death, albeit accidentally. the addition of this relationship makes up for the white washing (imo) of ralph’s character in terms of his effect on jack. instead of his dynamic with ralph, it’s jack’s care for simon that keeps him relatively grounded to reality, and we even see moments of love and vulnerability from him like the “worried warrior” scene. it’s only after simon’s murder that jack becomes something entirely different. in the first episode, jack denies the pilot a proper burial, agreeing instead to a burial at sea (which he abandons halfway from a lack of energy). this writing decision irked me at first and struck me as unusually cruel since jack is not innately bad but is instead corrupted over time. when simon led a prayer over the man’s body, i wrote the decision off as an early attempt to connect simon to divinity. but as simon’s body washed away in a natural burial to a voiceover of his final diary entry about jack, my entire perspective on these characters i love so dearly changed. jack was never a reflection of ralph. he was never the fascist alternative to ralph’s democratic utopia. he is the alternative to simon’s strength and love. he is far too weak to accept himself and it drives his insatiable thirst for power. shame drives him, not violence. we have to give our boys the room to love themselves and others unapologetically. i have so many more thoughts but this one’s the most important. ilysm simon
“he looked tremendous, his yellow hair shining like the sun itself. he said, “we are as gods, because if we are not gods, then how else will the world be made?””
simon is by far my favorite character in all of fiction. in even the worst adaptations of lotf, he shines because his source material is so strong. jack thorne improves upon it in this show. because i had my issues with certain expansions of other backstories, i was skeptical at the introduction of a significant relationship between jack and simon. any fear i had dissipated in the first 2 minutes of his episode. it’s like we see simon torn between two near reflections of himself: christ (belief, compassion, acceptance of himself and of his fate) and jack (humanity, connection, a belonging he wants to believe in but can’t). with this inclusion, simon becomes more human. though he is peace and love incarnate, he’s capable of the same fear, longing, and shame as the others. he saw the humanity in jack when no one else did, and that subsequently leads to his animalistic death, albeit accidentally. the addition of this relationship makes up for the white washing (imo) of ralph’s character in terms of his effect on jack. instead of his dynamic with ralph, it’s jack’s care for simon that keeps him relatively grounded to reality, and we even see moments of love and vulnerability from him like the “worried warrior” scene. it’s only after simon’s murder that jack becomes something entirely different. in the first episode, jack denies the pilot a proper burial, agreeing instead to a burial at sea (which he abandons halfway from a lack of energy). this writing decision irked me at first and struck me as unusually cruel since jack is not innately bad but is instead corrupted over time. when simon led a prayer over the man’s body, i wrote the decision off as an early attempt to connect simon to divinity. but as simon’s body washed away in a natural burial to a voiceover of his final diary entry about jack, my entire perspective on these characters i love so dearly changed. jack was never a reflection of ralph. he was never the fascist alternative to ralph’s democratic utopia. he is the alternative to simon’s strength and love. he is far too weak to accept himself and it drives his insatiable thirst for power. shame drives him, not violence. we have to give our boys the room to love themselves and others unapologetically. i have so many more thoughts but this one’s the most important. ilysm simon
