Work Text:
Knifecase analysis yay
Summary/TLDR:
Knifecase is literally SO good, I love how their relationship can't be fit into just one trope, and that their story expands into so much more. They're not PERFECT and maybe they don't have a definite title for what they are, but they've shown that you can be so much more than you are. They broke out of their stereotypes BEFORE they discovered the whole "you're mephone's imagination thing," and even after they found out, they were still able to escape their own FATES!!! And it's because they had eachother, and because of the other, they brought each other up. Knife showed Suitcase that you were supposed to gain in a friendship, Suitcase showed Knife that you were supposed to give in a friendship.
It’s why in ep16 mephone says smth like “Suitcase just STABBED another friend in the back” and “Knife was CARRIED into final two” because they literally COMPLETE EACH OTHER!!
Full thing:
What I notice is that throughout the show their relationship isn't super ‘linear’ and that during the last few episodes, Suitcase starts to not trust Knife as much as she did before, and it's because of the truth or flare ep. I believe that's something both Knife and Suitcase struggle with: choosing a decision that will preserve one group/person but will harm the other. Knife COULD’VE told everyone about Mic and Taco, protecting himself and everyone’s trust for him. However, because of Suitcase’s whole “random act of kindness” motive, he chose to preserve Mic’s presence in the game JUST for her. Knife has done selfish things before, and has done things for other people with just a lick of self preservation… but in THAT moment, he benefited absolutely nothing from saving Microphone. Nobody even applauds him for “protecting” her, they only see that he lied about the whole thing.
Meanwhile, for almost the entirety of Season 2, Suitcase is challenged with this decision of either standing up for Balloon, or sticking with everyone else’s opinion on him. However, if she were to go with option 1, she’d gain absolutely nothing… except maybe for Balloon’s friendship. Which seems so small compared to what seems to be option 2’s prize: everyone else’s validation. Suitcase DOES stand up for Balloon (cuz she's sweet like that) but she continues to waste her time by trying to prove to Nickel and Baseball that Balloon IS a good teammate. Then it gets to a point where she's so desperate to raise her friend to a higher pedestal that she ends up being stepped on by Nickel and starts doing everything for him while Baseball watches it all happen. Then when the dock scene happens, where Knife tells her to “make her presence known” and she realizes that she's basically being manipulated and if she continues to let it happen it won't do any good for her OR Balloon.
Around ep 17 when they get to mecloud, they both agree that they have opposing views… but I don't think that's true. Maybe in the big picture, there are some HUGE differences, but overall, they both have the same purpose and goal: to win, and to protect their friends. Well, even if they are basically opposites, their contradictions contribute growth to the both of them. That shows in MULTIPLE episodes. When they get locked up in the prison ward thingy, Suitcase starts to get a panic attack (? Sorry I’m not good with medical terms) and Knife tries to bring her down to earth. Then when he concerns about her, she closes him off and replies with a very vague answer. Why? Because she's still questioning his motive. She doesn't know if he lied about Microphone because there was a deal of some sort or something he could gain from. (remember, he never got to explain his reasons) and to be fair, Knife has a very frequent pattern of selfishness and self preservation. He basically says that he was okay with killing Marshmallow over and over again because there was no direct consequence to his actions, and that she could just come back again and again. That IS until he sees the consequences from a 3rd point of view, when he saw that there were major consequences from Nickel’s actions, when Nickel was JUST manipulating Suitcase. If that much could happen just from words, imagine how much it had hurt for Marshmallow when Knife would PHYSICALLY harm her for NO REASON AT ALL except for like a bit of entertainment.
During the fake fight in front of Steve Cobs, they start spewing out insults towards each other while pushing and pulling each other around. Yes, this was supposed to be an improv thing, but I believe that what they were saying to each other was also an actual confession of what they've been holding in. I mean, they knew they were about to poof in a minute, so why not vent while you're at it, right? They dress their words up in a way that seems like they’re mad at each other, but if they were having this conversation privately, it would sound more like a casual discussion about how they feel.
When Knife says “stop pretending you're innocent” I believe that's an indirect way of saying “stop trying to hide yourself whenever Balloon or Nickel or anyone else is being an asshole” as a nod to their earlier conversation in the hot air balloon. (Ex. Suitcase saying she didn't wanna go back after because of Balloon and Nickel)
Then, when Suitcase says “just give in to the aggression, you’ve killed before, why stop now?” she's basically asking WHY he would do something so selfless (keeping Mic’s secret, standing up for Suitcase herself, etc) if not to gain something out of it.
AND THEN when Knife says “We have no choice” and Suitcase replies “There is always a choice.” That is when their beliefs work together. It seems like they're disagreeing, but really, it's just their whole relationship and lessons learned summed up. Knife is saying “we have no choice” as in self preservation isn't even another thought anymore. And Suitcase is saying “there is always a choice” as in even if the situation seems hopeless, you’re always going to have to make a decision. They make it sound like they have opposing views, but they're literally MAKING THE CHOICE to try and stop Steve Cobs for once and for all.
(Side note, during this scene, they were paralleling each other, and Suitcase crossed over to his side. Showing, visually, that it was all fake… and I guess Knife saying it was fake was also a clue.)
On ep 18, when Suitcase meets Box ALIVE for the first time, and Box says smth like “You sacrificed for a whole species but now you're dead. It was worth it, but you paid a price.” And Suitcase replies “doing the right thing doesn't mean the right thing happens back to you. But you give yourself a better chance when you don't go through life alone. When you find someone that earns your trust.” And I get that Box would feel that way, because how can we hold it up to someone (Box) to make selfless decisions when Box herself hasn't had a self for her entire life until that point? People do good things when they experience external love, how can we hold it up to them when they don't? I feel like during this conversation, it was an indirect parallel to Knife, when he was just holding his anger in during season 1. It's not that Knife wasn't aware that he was being incredibly aggressive, but it's because he had NOBODY except for his Dora doll, which was definitely a coping mechanism. His Dora doll was the only outlet he had.
So, during Mephone4s and Knife’s conversation when Knife says “were those even my own thoughts?” He starts to think that his decisions to kill Marshmallow and all that assholey stuff were mostly because of what Mephone wired him to do. But Mephone4s tells him smth like “Anger is our passion, our sense of justice in a stupid world. I was angry and tried to murder Mephone4, but ended up saving him. Life comes at ya fast, huh?” And we all know that's foreshadowing to Knife’s death.
OKAY, during the race thing, Knife was presented with a decision to either fend for himself, or save Marshmallow. And he chose the latter. The decision to save Marshmallow was his MOST selfless decision. The whole thing with Suitcase made sense because he felt bad, the whole thing with Mic made sense because they were kinda friends, but him SAVING the girl he doesn't have a slight positive relationship with for the purpose of just protecting her doesn't make sense. There was no gain out of saving Marshmallow because they don't even become friends after that, Knife becomes a ghost and never gets to touch or get out of the manor again. He saved Marshmallow because he had finally received external love from someone. Which was Suitcase. She showed him that he wasn't this selfish monster Mephone carved him to be, that he didn't have to cut everyone off. And Knife showed her that she didn't have to be a baggage for everyone’s and her own’s distress, that he could carry some of it too.
Some people were definitely angry that Suitcase won, but if Knife ended up being the winner, their whole relationship wouldn't even matter. I mean, if they kept Knife alive and killed Marshmallow off, who would care? Cuz if Knife went through all that just to preserve himself again—it would be a huge waste of development, and also terrible writing. The same with Suitcase, if she ended up just letting someone else do kill Cobs because they’d “do it better,” her whole character wouldn't even be important.
Anyways, to end this, I’d like to say: whether you like platonic Knifecase, romantic Knifecase, or you don't even like them… you just HAVE to admit that they helped improve each other. Knife and Suitcase are for life bro.
PS. If my words sound weird or if I keep reusing words its cuz I wrote this all in one go without checking or anything except for after I posted)