Jimmy

Jimmy is the main protagonist of Mouthwashing. As the co-pilot of the Tulpar, he was in charge of navigation and taking the captain's mantle in the event of an emergency. Jimmy is a thin adult man with straight, shoulder-length brown hair. His hair is parted in the middle and is shorter in the front, with sparse grey hairs. He has brown eyes, unshaven stubble, and noticeable wrinkles. He appears to have a scar on the left side of his lip. He wears a Pony Express jumpsuit, with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath and black sneakers.

His appearance becomes more haggard after the crash, with dark circles beginning to form under his eyes.

Personality Jimmy is shown to feel very little guilt for his actions, being more likely to block out things than to feel bad for what he had done. He tends to act bitter, spiteful, passive-aggressive, and in some cases actively manipulative. It had been mentioned that Jimmy experienced difficulty back on Earth; this was most likely the reason why he felt some comfort in his role as co-pilot — he likely felt as if his life was out of his control. Even then, Jimmy still saw himself as "climbing the [corporate] ladder" while imagining Curly as "already [being] at the top". Because of this, Jimmy is envious of Curly's position as captain; he desires the authority that comes with the job, but fails to consider the numerous responsibilities and duties that someone in Curly's position would have. This failure to consider is what overwhelmed Jimmy, and he expresses disappointment with the other crew members — Anya in particular, when she asks for his help with Curly's painkillers. Ultimately, he realizes that he had always been unfit as captain, and that Curly should have retained his position.

Jimmy tends to act impulsively with little thought behind his actions, exemplified by causing the crash of the Tulpar which left Curly grievously injured and fully incapacitated. Prior to the crash, he also immediately begins to panic over learning that Anya had become pregnant after he had sexually assaulted her, running away from the conversation instead of assuming responsibility for what he had done. After the crash, he made an empty promise to take responsibility, yet failed to acknowledge that his actions were what caused the crash. Instead, he accused Curly of causing the crash, and redirecting everyone's misguided hatred onto him. He tends to twist the meaning of other people's words without understanding their meaning, applying them to himself to justify his actions. As a consequence, he becomes an unreliable narrator.

His status as an unreliable narrator is exacerbated by the disdain he feels for those around him, meaning he tends to amplify their negative traits. Jimmy often jumps to conclusions and is accusatory of those around him. He lashed out at Curly at his birthday party after he had told the crew of Pony Express' imminent shut down, stating that he believed Curly wanted to just leave everybody behind. Jimmy often projects his own insecurities and traits onto others, such as when he assumed Swansea wanted to keep the only working cryostasis pod for himself.

Jimmy also takes advantage of people for his own gain; he manipulates Daisuke into climbing into the damaged vent by telling him that Swansea would be proud of him, despite Swansea's previous warnings about the danger. When Daisuke was subsequently injured, he tried to use the mouthwash as a last-resort disinfectant, despite Anya's warning that it was useless as one. Jimmy berates Swansea for mercy-killing Daisuke, despite Daisuke being in extreme pain and mortally wounded.

Despite everything, Anya herself never appears in his hallucinations except once at Jimmy's "birthday party", as a self-serving extension of Jimmy's desperate need of approval and control, as well as his desire to be seen as an authority figure to others. Despite this, her baby within her appears often, usually as a twisted, nightmarish form of the Pony Express' mascot, Polle. Daisuke haunts Jimmy's psyche after his death, perhaps as a reminder of his own guilt. He's everywhere in Jimmy's mind, from his personal affects, to a grave or casket, sometimes even appearing in the form of a lone hibiscus flower. Swansea, however, is shown as aggressive, with Jimmy either defending himself or hiding from Swansea in some way.

Jimmy also chose not to take the Pony Express-mandated psychological evaluations seriously. At one point, he expresses that he experiences a sexual attraction to cartoon horses, intending to make Anya feel uncomfortable with his sexually harassing comment. In Anya's words, Jimmy thinks the exams are unnecessary.

Jimmy was described by Curly as having "struggled back on Earth", especially financially. This is suggested by developer content where Jimmy is said to have been so poor that he couldn't afford real hobbies, taking up weightlifting as his only option. At Curly's suggestion, Jimmy got a job with Pony Express,[1] and had been in their service for several years prior to the events of the game. Potentially as a result of nepotism, Jimmy began to climb the corporate ladder, but continued to feel inferior and less-than in comparison to Curly, which began to fuel resentment. Prior to the crash, it is indirectly implied that Jimmy had raped and subsequently impregnated Anya.

Mouthwashing Under the pressure of the imminent loss of his job and the prospect of consequences for raping Anya, as well as her pregnancy, Jimmy attempted to commit murder-suicide by disengaging the autopilot and crashing the Tulpar into a nearby asteroid. As a result of Jimmy doing this, Curly had entered the cockpit almost immediately before impact, which left Curly mutilated and incapacitated. With Curly no longer able to object, Jimmy declared himself the new captain, shifting the blame for the accident onto Curly. He spent the next several months attempting to fix his mistakes, as well as administering painkillers to Curly. After the crew ran out of food, they could only turn to the ethanol-based mouthwash they discovered they were transporting. Over time, in the midst of rising tension, Anya was driven to suicide by Jimmy, with Daisuke sustaining severe injuries by Jimmy's push to supposedly save her, and Swansea was fatally shot by Jimmy. Despite everything, Jimmy showed very little remorse for his actions, continuing to believe that he could still fix what he'd done.

Later, Jimmy brings his deceased crew mates together for a mock birthday party for himself, where he then carved off part of Curly's leg, serving it up in five pieces. Jimmy had eaten his own serving, and force-fed Curly's serving back to him. In a last attempt to fix everything, Jimmy placed Curly in the remaining cryostasis pod, speaking to him one final time. He claimed that "[he]... fixed it", before turning the cryopod on and walking out of view, where he then committed suicide by gunshot.

Relationships Curly Jimmy seems to harbor both a profound jealousy and an admiration for Curly. His resentment is evident when he accuses Curly of leaving everybody behind after he had relayed the news that Pony Express had shut down. Jimmy seems to fear that he is nothing but a temporary amusement for Curly who will abandon him at the slightest provocation, symbolized in the sequence of himself and Curly about to eat a cake. At the same time, Curly is a victim of Jimmy's aggressive manipulation, being mentally beaten down by Jimmy's comments about his job and himself. Curly also tends to shut down around Jimmy, fawning and agreeing with him to please him and make him happy.

Following Curly's incapacitation, Jimmy tends to torment him further by force-feeding Curly his painkillers and physically abusing him. His behavior towards Curly is extremely cruel, and Jimmy tends to view himself as some kind of savior, considering Jimmy believes he really is doing all he can to care for Curly and refuses to end his life. Curly features prominently in many of Jimmy's hallucinatory sequences, most notably his lidless eye, often seeming to symbolize Jimmy's feeling that he's always being watched or judged. Ultimately, Jimmy experiences a total breakdown, and begging Curly for his forgiveness, which eventually results in Jimmy's suicide.

Anya Jimmy, simply, does not respect Anya as a person. He tends to disregard her qualifications as the sole nurse on-board and mocks her with demeaning and often sexual comments. Jimmy shows a disdain for her, like the rest of the crew, but uniquely refuses to acknowledge her or even blocks her out entirely within his hallucinatory sequences, be it from his own lack of guilt or from an overwhelming guilt he does not want to acknowledge. Subtext reveals that Jimmy was the one responsible for her pregnancy, as he had raped her. Anya acts submissive to Jimmy, sometimes fawning to him, much like Curly did, to make him less angry and is easily startled by his presence. She had feared Jimmy to the extent of hiding the only firearm on board from him.

Daisuke Jimmy sees Daisuke as immature and believes that Daisuke was perhaps even spoiled, thanks to his parents; despite this, Jimmy is relatively friendly to him. However, Jimmy does take advantage of his naïveté later, manipulating him into working with him to spike Swansea's drink and climb in the vents to supposedly save Anya, which had resulted in Daisuke suffering mortal injuries. Jimmy tries to save Daisuke, disregarding (or perhaps forgetting) that the mouthwash was useless as a disinfectant due to its sugar content, which only furthered Daisuke's suffering. When Swansea puts Daisuke out of his misery, Jimmy is enraged, blaming him for Daisuke's death.

Swansea Post-crash, Swansea is openly mocking and chiding towards Jimmy, calling him names like "Capitano" and "Jimbo". It's clear that Swansea doesn't see Jimmy as a leader figure and looks down on him. This opinion only grows stronger when Jimmy roofies him using the isopropyl alcohol in the first aid cabinet to gain access to the Utility room.

Like Curly, Swansea is in some way a parallel to Jimmy; however, instead of being consumed by his past, he had made the decision to actively improve his life and become a better person. This is addressed in his last speech, where he mocks Jimmy and points out his failed and hypocritical attempts to fix everything. Swansea openly admits his faults and past mistakes, and feels guilty for failing Daisuke.

Trivia A drawing of Jimmy called 'Yimpy' was drawn by Daisuke and can be found on the wall in the medical office. It is a drawing of his face close up on a sticky note. Looking at the sticky note for ten seconds unlocks an achievement. Jimmy's line about cartoon horses wasn't intended to reference Bronies. It was directed at Polle, and the development team didn't make the connection until Mouthwashing was released.[2] Jimmy's favorite Pokémon is Mega Rayquaza.[2] Jimmy was named after Lana Del Rey's song "A&W".[2] Parts of the song discuss rape culture and explicitly mention the name 'Jimmy'. Early in development, the player was meant to question whether they were playing as Jimmy or Curly more, but that quickly became more frustrating and confusing than compelling. Because of that, this idea was disregarded.[3] Jimmy was a difficult character to design because he was meant to remain an "everyman" to a degree while still having enough of a strong visual character concept to fit in with the rest of the cast.[3] One year, Jimmy and the rest of Curly's friends on Earth made him a birthday cake out of chocolate and caramel whey protein powder, which collapsed under its weight and tasted like a chalkboard. It became one of Curly's fondest birthday memories.[3] Jimmy was the one who broke the Polle statue in the lounge. Swansea, drunk off of mouthwash, thought it was hilarious. When asked about what hobbies the crew members have, it is stated that Jimmy is only into weightlifting like Curly is, because "Hobbies are for people who can afford them." This provides insight into Jimmy's previously mentioned struggle back on Earth, as someone below the poverty line. His full first name may possibly be James, seeing as Jimmy is usually a diminutive form of James.