Im not convinced that Jimmy [SPOILER]
I'm not convinced Jimmy assaulted Anya.
I've seen this theory a lot, talked about to the point that it seems to be an accepted fact. I had assumed that that element of the story had gone over my head when I played it, but looking at the evidence - nothing seems particularly evident.
The big pieces are that she sleeps away from him, is nervous around him, and hides the gun from him.
Do I think she's afraid of Jimmy? Absolutely, and rightfully so considered what he becomes capable of.
But none of that seems to suggest it was non consensual. Seems more like what I had assumed initially. They had an encounter (they are a man and a woman of similar ages isolated on a ship) and things went south from there. Jimmy's increasingly erratic and demeaning behavior makes her regret sleeping with him, and his reaction to being told she's pregnant terrifies her.
Apropos, I have zero doubt that Anya knew Jimmy was responsible - wouldn't take a genius to piece together that the guy losing it over being made redundant and then blowing up over finding out he's going to be a Dad then went and crashed the ship. I'd hide the gun from him too.
Moreover, I think there's two important narrative elements that make me outright reject what could be a valid headcanon - even if one not based on much.
- Curly's reaction does not gel with this theory. Based on what we know about him and how he "confronts" Jimmy - this is not the reaction of a man who just found out his subordinate SA'd his ship's doctor.
- The point of Jimmy's story is it's a descent. The pressure of losing his job, getting a woman he doesn't seem to like pregnant, and then surviving on the ship piles up and piles up. He goes from making bad choices to feeding Curly his own leg, he gets worse and worse as the situation gets more dire. It's hard to then accept this narrative flow when he supposedly did one of the worst things a human can do before the story started. You cant tell a story of a man being pushed to greater and greater evils when you have him start at the lowest point possible.
I think people latch on to this theory because it is so dark and so shocking, it makes things more dramatic right?
But that's just me. I'm by no means defending Jimmy, he is awful. But I don't think the evidence is there, and its a reading that I don't think gels with the events as we experience them.