This review might have gotten away from me a little bit. Honestly, it’s less a review (excellent, sexy, heartbreaking episode with absolutely insane music choices, oh my God) and more analysis where I tear things apart with my teeth. And maybe go through certain scenes beat by beat.
Oops.
Like I said, this episode is absolutely amazing on pretty much every level. There is nothing here that I dislike. At all. Whether it’s the music, the lighting, the acting… this is one of the most enjoyable hours of television that I’ve watched in a long time. A lot of things happened, and they took place in an episode with relatively few scenes, which means that each scene is really rich and that makes it a lot of fun for me to dig into.
When we last left Shane and Ilya, we were in Vegas and Shane decided not to text him that they didn’t even kiss. We pick up that summer with a five minute montage set to “My Moon, My Man” and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched those five minutes. It does a great job of showing not only the routine that they have settled into, but also how they’re growing more and more attached to each other as the years pass.
Even putting aside the obvious example of Ilya starting the montage by getting drunk and hooking up with women at the club only to end it by refusing to even engage with one, it’s their phones. By the summer of 2016, they cannot put their phones down. Ilya is on it at the club, Shane has it hidden under the table at the Pike house and gets in trouble for looking at it during a photoshoot. Even when they’re working out, the camera focuses on their phones.
They’re texting each other almost constantly. This is not just a casual hook up. There is something more, something deeper that is brewing beneath the surface. And yet, despite this, they still don’t know how to effectively communicate how they feel. Or at least, they’re on the same page but reading different translations of the book.
Really, the center of the episode, of which everything else orbits around, is the Tuna Melt scene. It is also where their communication styles and their areas of comfort actively work against each other in the worst way.
Right away, this hook up is immediately different for one, simple reason: it takes place during the day. They are not in some dark hotel room. It is the middle of the day in full sunshine. It’s also the first time that Shane has been to Ilya’s house. They’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, but it has never been here. In Ilya’s home.
Ilya very clearly has a plan, too. He has Shane’s favorite drink that is perfectly chilled for him. He has a meal prepared so that he can feed him. He has clothes immediately at hand for Shane to wear. This man went into this meeting with a very specific, detailed plan to find out if Shane wants to take the next step and have an actual relationship.
Ilya never asks Shane that. That would be far too easy! No, clearly, it’s better for him to talk about the women that he sleeps with, specifically Svetlana, and how nice it is to have a regular person to go to. He describes Svetlana in terms that make Shane (correctly) note that Svetlana sounds perfect for him. Ilya then follows up by saying how he could easily find another woman to sleep with him regularly, but he’s too lazy to.
Like. Dude. Honey. Babygirl. What are you doing? I know that Shane saying that he doesn’t know Ilya to be lazy at all is a very nice callback and contrast to his father insisting that Ilya can be very lazy, but there’s also the implication that since Shane doesn’t think that Ilya is lazy, there’s now this idea that Ilya can go find someone more convenient whenever he wants.
Ilya tells Shane that he’s not really seeing anyone else anymore, and that he enjoys being able to spend time regularly with Shane. Shane hears that Ilya can go find women whenever he wants once he decides to put in effort.
Ilya tells Shane that he likes girls and that he likes Shane. He also makes a joke about how he only likes Shane for his mouth. Shane plays along with it, throwing back that he’s too “boring” for Ilya, but there’s still the undercurrent of what is being said and what is being heard not fully matching up.
And despite how nice it is to actually see them spending time together, I can’t help but be a little sad the entire time. Ilya is trying so hard to get a read on Shane, and defaults to what he is most comfortable with: talking about sex. That has always been Ilya’s comfort zone. It has never been Shane’s. So asking about it and continuing to prod at it only puts Shane more and more on alert.
Which, to be fair, happens the moment that he is actually holding the ginger ale. Ilya is changing the rules of their situationship drastically and without any warning, and Shane very clearly doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react to this. They’re off script, and he has never done well when that happens.
Ilya steps away to take a phone call with his father, which really just shows how much he has degraded since the last time that we saw him. When he returns, Shane asks if everything is okay with him, because a) he’s a nice guy, but more importantly b) family has always been Shane’s comfort zone. Talking about family is easy for him. It’s how he’s reached out to connect with Ilya several times now.
Ilya doesn’t really respond to that overture, though. Not verbally, at least, which is really what Shane needed at this moment. Instead, they cuddle, which is very cute and soft for approximately thirty seconds before Shane decides that they should both be the opposite of soft.
This second sex scene is the most voyeuristic that I’ve felt in the entire series. I don’t know if it’s the focus on their faces, the fact that it’s still light out, or the little details like spitting into Shane’s hand, but it was almost uncomfortable. It felt like this was something that I shouldn’t be seeing and that maybe shouldn't be happening in this way.
Or maybe it’s just because I know what is coming next. The first names. Shane freaking out. Honestly, who would have thought that Shane was going to be the one who got spooked by the idea of there being actual feelings involved? He was always the one who seemed to be the one head over heels compared to Ilya!
I really need to highlight Connor Storrie’s acting after they say their first names. Just watch his expression when he realizes that Shane is dodging kisses, the confusion and the realization and the panic. He’s just incredible. Absolutely incredible.
The episode, however, is called “Rose” for a reason, and it’s finally time for us to meet her. I’ll admit that I was fully prepared to hate Rose. It wasn’t anything personal. I was primed to hate any character that got introduced as an obstacle or to create a love triangle between Shane and Ilya. It’s a trope that I simply detest, mostly because I very rarely see it done well. The chemistry is just never any good, the third person is almost always a jerk in some way, and we’re all just waiting for the break up so that our main characters can just get back together.
But I actually adore Rose? I actually adore the chemistry between her and Shane? Their relationship makes sense to me on a fundamental level. Much like how, on paper, Svetlana is Ilya’s perfect woman, Rose is Shane’s.
Even putting aside the fact that she likes hockey, she’s sitting alone in a pretty private booth at a party, nibbling on fries. She’s not being a social butterfly or doing shots. She’s just hanging out. She knows what it’s like to start a passion at a young age and for it to grow more intense as you get older. She knows what it’s like to be a celebrity and to be in the spotlight. She has her own high profile job that requires a lot of travel and spending weeks at a time away from home.
And they just make each other laugh. Just by being themselves. By the end of their first conversation, I fully bought into the idea that they both felt a spark and were willing to see where a relationship took them. Especially Shane. It hasn’t necessarily been spelled out before now, but it’s pretty heavily implied that he is fully gay as opposed to bisexual.
The thing is that I don’t think that Shane realizes that he’s gay. Not really. Obviously, he knows that he’s attracted to Ilya, and he knows that he’s definitely not attracted to the women that Hayden repeatedly tries to set him up with, but there’s almost certainly also this internal expectation that eventually, maybe after hockey is over, that he will find a woman that he falls in love with and marries and has kids and all of those other things that you’re supposed to do.
Rose is the first woman that we see him interact with that isn’t his mother or Hayden’s wife, and she’s perfect for him. He clearly likes her on some level. This is just how it’s meant to feel and meant to be.
Which brings us to the club scene. There are a lot of moving parts here, but they echo each other. Even though Shane and Ilya’s relationship is at its lowest possible point, everything that they do is mirrored by the other.
I need to take a quick pause to yet again praise the music in this episode. “All The Things She Said” is amazing, and the second version that it shifts into hit my chest like a physical blow.
There are two specific parts of the club scene that I want to highlight. The first is how Shane and Ilya recognize the other’s friend and immediately scan the crowd. Ilya’s face in particular breaks my heart. It’s just so blank, but there is so much tension in his posture that it’s practically screaming how panicked he is. It’s not dissimilar to how he holds himself in Russia.
Second: the way that Shane and Ilya dance. Shane doesn’t really like dancing, and he’s a little awkward about it, but he still indulges Rose. And Rose seems to have a very good grasp on what kind of physical affection Shane would accept while out in public. They’re not pressed against each other. Even though her hands are under his shirt, it looks more like she’s just messing with it as opposed to feeling him up. It’s all very playful.
Ilya, meanwhile, is making out with a woman and sucking on her ear. While making direct eye contact with Shane. It’s wild! And then he doesn’t even take her home! Ilya, who started all of this by declaring that he needed to find someone to sleep with, ends the night alone. He doesn’t take her to bed.
He’s alone while Shane looks like he’s about to face a firing squad as Rose goes up the stairs to his bedroom, and “All The Things She Said” is still playing, and we end with both of them staring right at the camera, and then I shriek because the episode ends and I’m not ready for it. At all.
Alright. One last thing before I get into Random Thoughts.
Ginger ale comes up a lot during the episode, and it’s clearly used as a symbol in combination with Shane. Now, whether it’s meant to represent his sexuality, his unmasked self, acceptance from society at large… you can argue a few different ways. And by now, a lot of people have pointed out that Ilya is the only one who actually gives him a (perfectly chilled!) ginger ale. It’s super, duper cute and proves that Shane is only fully accepted by Ilya.
I’m more interested in the other times it comes up and the context in which we see it. Hayden is the first one to mention ginger ale, and it’s during their very adorable friend-date to the aquarium. Hayden is Shane’s best friend, and has been for years at this point. They’re clearly very comfortable around each other. Honestly, the repeated chirping about the swear jar made me giggle every time it was brought up.
And like most people, Hayden wants his best friend to be happy. He wants him to find love, and has apparently tried to set Shane up with multiple women if his reaction to this attempt is anything to go by.
Jackie, Hayden’s wife, keeps their fridge stocked with ginger ale for Shane. They both care for him and accept him. But Hayden uses that as a joking, semi-guilt trip. He attaches a condition to its continued presence, that yes, Shane needs to make Jackie happy too and that right now, what would make her happy is for him to look at this yoga teacher’s social media.
Again, it’s a joke. But it still puts this idea out there that it’s not enough for Shane to avoid heterosexual romances or for him to avoid a situation that makes him uncomfortable, he needs to engage with them. Even if it’s just a token effort. If he does not engage, then that previously given acceptance might get taken away.
The second time ginger ale is mentioned is with Ilya. It is also brought up in the scene immediately following that, where Shane is getting lunch with his parents. First, they order wine for him, even though Shane doesn’t drink during the season. He asks for ginger ale, but the restaurant does not have any, and he’s forced to pivot to sparkling water instead.
He is framed very off-balanced in the shot compared to his parents’ more united front. There’s a gaping hole where another person should sit, something that can be directly compared to how a very similar scene was shot back in the first episode and how Shane was centered in the frame.
He is not happy, he is not comfortable, and he does not really want to be there. And to make matters worse, his parents keep pushing him on things. Whether it’s trying to convince him that he can have one glass of wine, or that he should go to Wimbledon, they’re ignoring Shane’s refusals. They’re not listening to him or his wants, and there is the added sexuality pressure as well with the mention of a Swedish princess.
This is the only time that Shane is outright refused ginger ale.
The last time that ginger ale is mentioned is at the party where Shane meets Rose. The (male) bartender is very obviously flirting with him. “Shane Hollander can have whatever he likes,” after all. But when he wants a ginger ale, the bartender acts like this is a very weird request that no normal person would make. They have it. It’s important to note that they do have ginger ale. But it’s weird to ask for it.
This reaction is enough to make Shane change his order to a beer, even though he is still in the middle of the season. Again, they have ginger ale. But the external pressure to conform with what is expected behavior (getting a beer at a bar) is enough to make Shane break a rule that he definitively defended only a couple of scenes ago.
It’s not the only time he breaks this rule, either. At the club, Shane doesn’t even ask for a ginger ale. He automatically orders a beer, even though he is still in season. If we take ginger ale to be a symbol for homosexuality and the acceptance of that, then it’s impossible to ignore that he doesn’t even try to find that while he is in a heterosexual relationship. He defaults to something that is widely accepted and expected.
But that was over 700 words about ginger ale, which is really a sign that I should wrap this up here before I start talking about their clothes.
Random Thoughts
Shane does lose his jacket at the club, though, between one cut and the next. Someone messed up the continuity there.
Seriously, Miles is taking a lot of liberties dancing like that with his friend’s ostensibly straight boyfriend.
I really do love that we get to see Shane and Ilya be peers in a professional sense. Ilya might have won the Cup first, but Shane got it back to back.
Favorite moment of the episode is definitely the cut between Ilya slamming Shane up against the boards and Ilya slamming Shane down against the couch and back again.
Shane has had kidnapping threats against him? I don’t think he was joking when he said that.
I can’t imagine breaking up with your situationship after saying each other’s first names for the first time and then needing to go play a game against each other almost immediately after.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
Wow. An impressive review, Fangirl.
ReplyDeleteTBH, I hadn't put together the ginger ale thing, but you're so right about it being symbolic of Shane's orientation. Ilya has always made the first moves but now he is taking the first steps in trying to change their relationship into something more with, of all things, a tuna melt. The music, the montage ("The Moon and My Man") that opened the episode and the "All the Things She Said" in that powerful nightclub scene, are just perfect matches for what they're feeling.
And I love how important the two women are, and that they're not just there to be discarded. Svetlana is important to Ilya, one of his most significant relationships in life. And Rose is absolutely perfect for Shane.
I really love every episode of this series, but this one and the fifth and sixth are just excellent. I've watched the entire series three times now and it gets better every time because there's so much going on.
I think that my favorite change compared to the book is Svetlana's expanded presence in the story. She's just wonderful, and she continues to be wonderful in future episodes. I adore her.
DeleteI pick up on so many things every time I rewatch. The micro expressions alone are worth it.
And thanks! I had fun writing this! : )