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- “What do you think will happen when we get back? Hm? [...] All I ever hear is how great of a leader you are. God, it's so annoying. But, now... What do you think will happen now when we get back? Everything you and I worked for in our lives. Accomplishments, changes. None of it will matter. [...] It's not just me, is it? You were supposed to be the one who had everything under control. You said so yourself. This ship, this crew, everything that happened here... This was your responsibility, Captain. That is what you'll be hearing for the rest of your life. Or this can all be remembered as a tragedy. Despite what must have been the best efforts of its acclaimed captain. The Tulpar crew was never found. No one survived to tell the tale. You're standing at the top. Feet in cement. I get it now. Right? [...] I'll take care of it.”
- ―Jimmy talking to Curly before crashing the ship.
Jimmy is the main protagonist of Mouthwashing, a 2024 first-person psychological horror adventure game developed by the Swedish team Wrong Organ and published by Critical Reflex.
He was originally the co-pilot of the Tulpar freighter and second-in-command to the captain, Curly, However, after the freighter’s operator, Pony Express, went out of business, the Tulpar crashed into an asteroid, initially assumed to be caused by Curly’s actions. However, it’s later revealed that Jimmy, driven by jealousy toward the captain, feelings of inadequacy, personal pressures, and a lack of accountability, had orchestrated the crash himself, shifting the blame onto Curly.
Biography[]
Little is known about Jimmy's life before the game's events. What is known is that he was once a poor, unemployed man and a close friend of Curly, a successful captain in the Pony Express. Curly valued their friendship and used his influence within the company to secure Jimmy a job as his co-pilot on the Tulpar spaceship. Although Jimmy should have been grateful to Curly for giving him work, he secretly harbored envy, feeling he deserved to be captain instead. Sometime before the crash, Jimmy also non-consensually impregnated the crew's nurse, Anya.
Under the pressure of potentially losing his job and grappling with both his assault of Anya and her resulting pregnancy, Jimmy attempts a murder-suicide plot by steering their ship toward an approaching asteroid. Curly partially succeeds in averting the collision but is left severely maimed in the process. With Curly incapacitated, Jimmy seizes command as the new captain among the surviving crew, placing the blame on Curly to conceal his own involvement in the incident.
Throughout the game, Jimmy tries to atone for his actions by administering Curly’s medication as needed. When food supplies are exhausted, they turn to the ethanol-based mouthwash they were transporting. Eventually, Jimmy drives Anya to suicide through relentless belittlement and the lasting trauma of his assault on her. The intern, Daisuke, is severely injured while trying to save her in a situation instigated by Jimmy, and the mechanic, Swansea, is shot while tied to a chair after a rage-fueled attempt to kill Jimmy. Curly is left maimed, mutilated, abused, and in permanent agony. Despite all this, Jimmy insists he’ll somehow make things right, even after Swansea, and even his own hallucinations, try to make him see the miserable and irresponsible man he has become.
In a final, desperate act, Jimmy amputates Curly’s leg with a knife and forces him to eat it. Then, in a final moment of relative clarity, brought on by guilt-induced nightmares, Jimmy, claiming he has "fixed everything," places Curly in the cryogenic pod before ending his own life.
Personality[]
Jimmy is a morally reprehensible character whose jealousy, insecurities, and refusal to accept accountability drive him down a path of irrationality, selfishness, and cowardice. He envies Curly's success, increasingly deflecting his own inadequacies onto others. Rather than addressing these feelings responsibly, he drags everyone down with him. His breakdown culminates in sabotaging the crew's mission, leading to the psychological downfall or death of everyone aboard.
Throughout the game, he repeatedly envisions himself as the "hero" or victim, with his overbearing narcissism preventing him from recognizing his inability to withstand pressure, his disregard for the crew's concerns and advice, and his tendency to make everything about himself. He often projects his issues onto others; a clear example of this is when he scolds Curly for intending to leave the "dirt" behind while framing himself as the hero upon the dissolution of Pony Express—exactly what Jimmy does for the rest of the story.
Yet, deep down, Jimmy senses the reprehensibility of his actions, though he remains delusional. Over time, he devolves into a madman, haunted by hallucinations that urge him to take responsibility. While he attempts to apologize to Curly and places him in the cryopod, he never truly confronts his issues; he refuses to acknowledge that he hasn’t "fixed" anything and selectively ignores what he did to the other crew members aside from Curly.
Physical appearance[]
Jimmy is a tall, Caucasian, adult male with straight brown hair slicked into a mid part, along with brown eyes and a stubble with a soul patch. He wears a dark blue Pony Express jumpsuit, a white long sleeved t-shirt underneath, and black sneakers.
Trivia[]
- Wrong Organ has stated that Jimmy's favorite Pokémon is Mega Rayquaza.
- Jimmy’s name was inspired by Lana Del Rey’s song “A&W,” which includes lyrics about rape culture and directly mentions his name.
- The name Jimmy means “he who supplants,” referring to someone who takes over another’s place, symbolizing his role as the forceful, de facto captain after Curly.
External Links[]
- Jimmy on the Mouthwashing Wiki
- Jimmy on the Villains Wiki