Can we just talk about Bucky’s reaction in this gif for a second? I saw it in a different post earlier, and something caught my eye. He’s so upset and curious and flustered at the start; he’s clearly still trying to figure out where he knows this guy (Steve) from. But then they push him into the chair.
And everything changes. The moment his back hits the chair, his face goes from frustrated curiosity to placid compliance. Seriously, in the time it takes for his hair to shift in the breeze, his entire demeanor changes. From everything I’ve read about a Pavlovian response, this is it. He feels the temperate compress of the leather chair at his back, and instantly he’s completely docile for them.
It’s heartbreaking to see this shift in Bucky, but it explains so much. It explains why, even as the world’s best assassin, he still believes there are people who can control him. That even though his heart is racing, and he’s so clearly scared, he willingly (almost gratefully) takes the bite guard for the obviously painful mind wipe he knows is coming.
So many fics have written the idea of a formalized chair as a place of anguish (think a barber’s chair), and this completely explains why. As Bucky’s worked to break down what was done to him, he’s realized that the association to these types of chairs is a place of agony and pure, unfathomable suffering.
And now I’ve made myself sad.