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JIMMY
Jimmy is perfect. Perfect in every way, I mean despite the fact that he has a mother complex, runs away from his problems, isolates himself from real or painful emotions, attracted to women he knows he can't have a future with, impulse control problems, self-esteem issues, mild depression, flashbacks, tends to solve problems with violence. Guns possibly an outlet for sexual frustration but other than that, perfect.
Thanks to the ladies on the
Express Station board who so thoroughly analyzed His Jimmyness’ character.
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My theory is that his dad sent
the family to live with an uncle, to keep them safe or something. The mother
had an affair with this uncle while dad was away being an abolitionist. And
it is this uncle who beat his mom and that's why Jimmy wondered why she
didn't just leave (his words to Sarah). Strange theory I know,
but it explains some of the inconsistencies. This way he could respect his
father's beliefs but still be disappointed in him as a father. |
SAM 99
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Here's my take on Jimmy's
situation. When Jimmy has the dream about his mother being pushed around, that
very well could have been his father, especially in light of what he says to
Sarah about why she didn't leave. I don't really know, and I'm not going to
spend a lot of time analyzing that.
However,
in Kansas, when Jimmy says his father killed himself...I don't think that
necessarily means he took his own life. I think Jimmy meant that he put himself
in such a situation where there was imminent danger, he knew it, he didn't
avoid it and so I think that's why Jimmy said he killed himself. You could also
look at it as he got himself killed. His father could have avoided the
situation that got him killed and chose not to. Jimmy mentions that his father
loved the Abolitionist cause more than his family, so it would stand to reason
that he would place his own life as a lower regard than the cause. Nothing
matters so long as he's working toward the cause and if he's injured or killed,
then he sees it as all part of the greater good.
When
his sister and brother-in-law get on his case for being gone six years, that
would put Jimmy as somewhere around 10 to 12, depending on how old you think
Jimmy was when the Express started. I personally think he was around 17 or 18,
one of the older ones, so that would mean he was 11 or 12 when his father was
killed and he left. When he states that his father died in his arms, I don't
find an inconsistency with the time line. Probably about that age, his father
felt that it was time Jimmy come join the cause. Jimmy probably resented the
heck out of the "cause" considering that he felt his father loved it
more than his family.
So
his father takes him to an abolitionist meeting, Jimmy's about 11 or 12, and
either in the meeting or afterward his father is stabbed. His father dies in
Jimmy's arms. That's a bit of psychological trauma for a youth. Jimmy decides
that he just can't stick around. He's angry at his father because of his
mother, he's angry at his father because of his father's fanaticism for the
Abolitionist movement, (it's never stated, but I somehow get the feeling that
Jimmy never measured up in his father's eyes-probably because he didn't show
the same passion for the Abolitionist movement) and so now that his father is
dead, he decides to take off. There's too much anger, too much resentment to
stay and even pay proper respect to put his father in the ground. So that's my
take on what Jimmy meant when he said he couldn't be there for the funeral.
Now
as to why he was with the Judge. Look at the age Jimmy took off. He was young
when he left. He's not really going to be able to get a job and a place to stay
and feed and clothe himself. Think of him being around Jesse's age or even
younger. Yeah, he might be able to find some meager job, but he's still not
going to be able to fully take care of himself. Now, we don't know when exactly
he fell in with the Judge, if it was before or after the crooked sheriff from
"The Road Not Taken." I think it might have been after.
The
sheriff (I think his name was Dobbins, 'cause the guy who got killed was
Leland) caught him stealing eggs, I believe it was, and so "took him
in" much like Teaspoon did with Jesse. Jimmy probably swept the jail, ran
errands for the sheriff, and then unwittingly helped him set up an innocent man
and that man died. So Jimmy takes off once again. Now, he's a little older,
he's wandering around, probably getting into trouble. Fights, stealing, etc.
and somehow, somewhere he runs into The Judge. The Judge is looking for young
men to train to be his hired hands and enforcement. He finds Jimmy and Brad and
starts training them. In the flashbacks, it appeared that they were trying to
make Jimmy look like he was 14 or 15 years old.
So
at first it's fun to have a gun and be taught to shoot it. Then he realizes
that The Judge is a bit off his rocker and if he continues to stay there either
he's going to be killed, or he's going to kill his friend Brad. The polish has
worn off, and Jimmy leaves. He could have gone straight from there to the
Express, or he could have wandered around a bit. But both Clara and Brad knew
where to find Jimmy. Brad, I believe, says it's because the Judge had been
keeping an eye on Jimmy, which is another reason I think it was after the sheriff
that Jimmy hooked up with the Judge.
So
when Jimmy first joins the Express, he's wearing his gun "a mite low"
and it has a hair trigger. He's full of swagger and bravado, because he just
came from the Judge who taught him to shoot, to fight and that if he'd stayed
with the Judge, he would have been a man to be feared and reckoned with because
of who the Judge was. Think to when Brad shows up, he's wearing fancy clothes,
he's drinking whiskey and he chides Jimmy for giving it all up to join the
Express. Brad carried himself with an air of self-importance. Jimmy would have
been the exact same way if he'd stayed.
Anyways,
those are my thoughts. Not saying I'm right and everyone else is wrong, it's
just those are the impressions I got while watching the show.
Lori
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Electra's complex ?
I like Hickok, but he's so twisted the story (or rather the
stories) 'bout his father changes every time. Today I was lookin
"Kansas" again and he told his father killed himself;when he saw his
sister, he went blamed for being away for six years, and for not being there
for his dad's funeral;then, in the ep. end, standin' before William Alonzo
Hickok's grave (Hickoks must be very miserly) he apologises for being mad at
him for such a long long time...
Nothing strange..... but then why the hell did he say (in other eps) his father
was killed by an anti- abolitionist and fell dead right between his arms ????
And if he had such a father why did the Judge raise him up. Still have some
troubles with his real age, or the supposed one he would have had... And the
"domestic violence" question is even more absurd. Maybe italian
dubbers were stoned, or the authors were dealers....
FLO
What’s your take? mail@theyoungriders.com
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