Charles My Love - Tumblr Posts

I've talked a little about how desperate Charles is to please the people around him, but even more heartbreaking, I think, is how hard criticism seems to hit him.

After the case of the Lighthouse Leapers, Charles is at an absolute emotional low. Fast on the heels of the Devlin house, he's been forced to relive his trauma in real time, and when he acts to protect himself and Edwin, he's met with what he perceives as condemnation from the people he's closest to.

He's an absolute mess, here. As he reveals in the next episode, he's busily beating himself up because he doesn't think he's anything like a decent person.

And then we get this tiny little exchange that says so much in just a handful of seconds.

It's possible that the comments from Edwin and Niko here aren't meant as criticism at all. Certainly Edwin at least is usually much sharper when he wants to be. Here, he almost seems to catch himself; as soon as we see Charles' reaction to the first comment, he's quick to add that they're happy with a satisfied client. It's as though he realizes just a second too late how Charles is going to take that and makes an effort to soften the blow.

And then Niko chimes in, and Niko seems to be commenting more on what a disaster the night was all around, rather than pinning blame. But interestingly, Edwin seems to realize right away how it's going to go over with Charles; his smile just disappears as soon as she adds the "I guess."

And look at Charles' face here.

This boy is absolutely certain that they're telling him what a bad job he did.

This is 100% the reaction of someone who's spent his life with everything being his fault, scrambling to make it better so that his father didn't hurt him.