americankimchi:

the most fascinating part of today’s episode was the fact that caleb absolutely left EVERYTHING they did 100% up to fjord

all he said was “i’m always curious” when prompted by fjord, and that’s an extremely noncommittal answer. yes, he’s interested, but interest does not exactly equate to action, and note how caleb does not make a single move to spill blood until he has the go-ahead from fjord

every single step of the ritual they almost completed was spaced out in between with caleb stopping, turning to fjord, and asking “what do YOU want to do?”

i find that absolutely fascinating, because even though fjord made all his choices 100% of his own free will, caleb was still 100% manipulating him at the same time

i don’t mean that in the way that liam was manipulating travis ofc i mean this in the context of the story; caleb went into that whole scene with an end goal: he wanted fjord to agree to help him with a task later on if he, caleb, right then, risked his life to indulge in fjord’s curiosity

caleb is ALWAYS curious. this is obvious to anyone who’s seen his character in the show for ten minutes, but he’s also, by consequence, learned to temper that curiosity with practicality. he’s always weighing the risks and the rewards and anytime he does anything that could place him or the team in harm it’s ONLY because he thinks that whatever he might gain by doing so tips the scales in favor of profit and not loss. the scene by the ritual table was him asking fjord that very same question: how far are you willing to go in your quest for knowledge? where does your priority lie? in risking it all, or in choosing to forego that all and remain as you are, with the tempting promise of new knowledge just out of reach?

and caleb got two things out of that bargain: he got a favor from fjord, and he also got a deeper understanding of fjord’s motives. fjord is new to power, and deeply curious about it, he’s got a hunger for understanding that caleb finds mirrored in himself, but fjord is also at his core a good person. he’s got morals that guide him far more strongly than any eldritch being ever could. and now caleb knows that fjord can be pushed to explore things far outside his comfort zone, to spill blood in the name of discovery, but fjord won’t (or won’t right now) take that final step to true power if it means risking the lives of those under his protection. and caleb is smart. he’s spent his whole childhood training under someone who molded him into the type of person who can pull at people’s strings and push their buttons to make them do what they want, and caleb knows that a good man’s promise is a more tempting reward that any risky blood ritual could ever deter him from.

GOD I LOVE THIS DYNAMIC. it’s just so ENDLESSLY fascinating to me.