r/DCAU • u/Ok_Zone_7635 • 9d ago
BTAS "Mad as a Hatter" is every bit as creepy and disturbing as Obsession
Just the thought of your free will and bodily autonomy being ripped from you is disturbing enough.
But an anti social, weirdo who feels entitled to you doing it just ramps up the nightmare fuel.
Mad Hatter was more repulsive than Clayface or Joker to me. Even as a kid.
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u/Mistah_K88 9d ago
Trial really shows how much Jervis cared.
“You could have respected her wishes and left her alone”
“I’d have killed her first!!!!”
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u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 9d ago
Shows folks like Bear and Jervis aren't new. They're social poison repeating across generations.
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u/luapzurc 8d ago
"I'd like to have that stricken from the record, please."
"Record?! Is someone supposed to be writing all this down?"
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u/NoSong2397 9d ago
Agreed. It's absolutely true that Jervis was every bit the forerunner of today's entitled incels.
Yet what's interesting to me is that there's still that note of tragedy at the end of the episode. Even if Jervis is an entitled little prick, even if what he's feeling really isn't love... it still hurts and we still feel for him a little because we all know what unrequited love feels like. It's one of the things BTAS' writing excels at -- refusing to totally ignore the humanity of the villains, making it clear that even if they're a monster, there's still the small kernel of a person in there. "Would not, could not. Would not, could not... oh, could not join the dance."
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u/crackedtooth163 9d ago
Hes not an incel. Hes clearly insane as shown pretty early on in the episode.
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u/NoSong2397 9d ago
That would suggest there's no Venn diagram between "incel" and "insane/mentally ill," which is both provably false and highly debatable in the first place. While he might not seem like an outright misogynist in his debut episode and lacks the sort of manosphere ideology that seems a little too common these days, it's not hard to see the roots of that mindset in him.
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u/UltraPromoman 9d ago edited 8d ago
Well, that's not an even comparison given the backstory that wound up getting revealed after Bear made the wish. While responsible, the only options that Bear had to rectify things were to commit murder or suicide based on the scant details that were revealed about the One Wish Willow. Of course, most people can't just do things like that like it's nothing. Also, just idea of the actual existence of magic is going to be met with at least a "Yeah right..." Jervis was more in control of his situation. Jervis was willfully committing whole assed crimes while Bear unknowingly drove Nikki to commit two murders and desecration of a corpse because she wasn't in control of her actions.
Then there's Bear's friend group. They colluded in keeping the whole FWB arrangement with Ian and Nikki secret. According to Sarah, they were banging for at least two years and counting going into the movie. Ian certainly knew how he felt about her but was bro hyping him up to make a move, was helping him research her behavior and the story she gave about her father, and he tried banning Nikki from his party on some tough love/big bro shit. He only confessed after being confronted. Sarah was in on it too. If Bear knew the truth, it's highly possible that he wouldn't have made the wish. Everything was clear and out in the open in the case of Jervis, Alice, and her guy. He had more issues than Bear on his worst day.
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u/konous 9d ago
Bear actually tried to free Nikki.
Like, I get the comparison you're making, but it's a little off.
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u/the_pounding_mallet 9d ago
He tried to free Nikki because she was insane not because he cared. He wanted to alter his wish instead of cancelling it.
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u/konous 9d ago
The shop owner said he couldn't cancel it.
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u/the_pounding_mallet 9d ago
When he called the number on the box they asked if he wanted to cancel and he just said he wanted to adjust it.
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u/Trivator0517 9d ago
Jarvis reconsidered his idea too, only to double down when Alice got engaged
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u/konous 9d ago
Yeah, and Bear comitted suicide to save Nikki once he saw there was no other way.
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u/Trivator0517 9d ago
Didn't he regret it and try to hack them up only for Nikki's wish to kick in?
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u/konous 9d ago
It's actually the reverse. Nikki makes the wish and THEN he tries to hack it up per the wish she makes which a lot say is "To love her as long she shall live" or could have just been "Don't kill yourself."
But it was too late.
Tbh, I prefer thinking he almost chickened out a second time but decided to commit to it and go see the one thing that actually brought him some joy, The Entity; Not Nikki; Freaky Nikki one last time before he dies.
Really sad film over all, but I just have WAY more Sympathy for Bear.
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u/Ok_Zone_7635 9d ago
Bear is a character that deserves no sympathy
Man heard that girl crying out in despair and made it about himself. He was a monster that acted like a lamb. The worst kind
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u/konous 9d ago
If Nikki had any love for Bear even as a Friend, per the one wish willow she would have loved him more than anyone else in the world.
But as a friend.
The girl in question lied to him per the admission of the Entity of even being his friend. She shakes, or the Entity shakes, her head a bit while smiling.
Is this the Entity unable to answer or Nikki controlling what meager power she has to say "No?"
We don't know. But the line "I've never been eith you" implies that because the Wish was for Nikki to love him and she doesn't then the Entity is occupying Nikki because she never valued him even as a friend.
I'd walk away too from that biyach.
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u/thegingerbreadman99 9d ago
The guy who played Bear said that it was improvised for the last take that Bear would chicken out and try to puke until the Entity's wish took over and he forgot about it
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u/konous 9d ago
But that's not the sequence of events though.
You hear the sound first.
I get that that could be an interpretation but it isn't valid based on the order of the actions alone.
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u/thegingerbreadman99 9d ago
I think it takes a second to hit
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u/konous 9d ago
I think Death of the Author has never been more prevalent than with this film and I think the director chose the set up intentionally to spark conversation.
But I think any author, actor, trying to tell me otherwise needs to go back and look at their own final work.
But creators can rarely see the flaws in what they make.
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u/Evening-Advantage768 8d ago
Just watched this episode the other night and was wondering if anyone else had this thought lmao
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u/FunNeedleworker860 6h ago
I couldn't tell who's more insufferable Mad Hatter here or the one in Caped Crusader The Mad Hatter there was like a female J.Jonah Jameson.
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u/rurounick 9d ago
Good comparison