Take a good look at this moment. It’s what we’re probably going to be seeing for the rest of the season. Don’t be surprised if in the next few episodes:
-Ace becomes moody and bitchy toward Nancy
-He starts pulling away from her, both physically and emotionally
-He starts focusing more on his relationship with Amanda
Let’s face it: maybe in the heat of the moment he was, but ultimately, Ace is not mad at Nancy for handing that list over and endangering those people’s lives to save him. After all, it was GRANT who handed it over, and it was GRANT who never even considered NOT handing it over to begin with. Yet, Ace isn’t angry with Grant. He’s angry with Nancy. We need to be asking ourselves what the real reason is.
When Nancy joins Ace and Grant in the back room at The Claw and hands the list back to Ace, he seems fine with her. A little relieved, even, that she was able to get it back as promised. But then—THEN—he hears her make the comment in regards to Celia: “Now I owe her a favor.” That’s the precise moment he becomes distant. If you watch his reaction to hearing that, you can tell HE HATES THAT SO MUCH. He’s known all season long that Nancy has feared becoming like the Hudsons, and now she has just sold her soul to them. FOR HIM. And he doesn’t like that. He doesn’t want to be the reason Nancy loses her integrity. He doesn’t want to be the reason she owes ANYTHING to the Hudsons. Because he cares deeply for her. And because he loves her—whether he knows it yet or not.
Also, Ace can’t be angry with her about the list. Had their roles been reversed in that scene, you CANNOT TELL ME he wouldn’t have done the EXACT SAME THING for HER. There’s no way he would have let her die. And he knows this. HE KNOWS IT. And I think now, after Nancy explains that she did what she did because she couldn’t lose him, he knows there’s something going on between them. He told her in ep 2x01 that he didn’t want to lose her. Now she’s telling him she CAN’T lose him. He sees how upset she is. He feels how tight her embrace is. His is just as tight. But he’s scared to death at what this could all mean, and I’m assuming that’s going to cause him to push Nancy away. Big time.
I just have a feeling there is about to be a lot of angst between them as Nancy (maybe even next episode) comes to a full realization that she’s in love with him and then has to deal with the fact that 1) he’s mad at her, and 2) he has a girlfriend that he seems to like a lot. And honestly, I can’t wait to see it all unfold!
Oh, and other shows take note: this is how you do a proper slow burn!
