i’m??? going to cry??????????????
this makes a lot more sense now:
i always thought this comment and the cold shoulder yakov gives victor during the cup of china were just about taking jabs at the “i do what i want” part of victor’s personality, but now i can’t help but see this as yakov, the dude who’s taken victor under his wing for years, being genuinely hurt for being walked out on during such a hard time. and we thought he was just being grouchy.
and what does this say about victor as a character? could yakov’s divorce have influenced his decision to go to japan? who is yakov to victor, after all?
we’ve been shown time and time again that victor trusts yakov implicitly:
he’s also one of the two (2) people besides yuri victor has expressed his love for physically:
many of victor’s actions as a coach mirror yakov’s:
and when they don’t, he wishes he’d gone to him for advice:
so there you have it: a coach, a dear friend, a role model, a father figure. these are the things yakov represents to victor.
this matters because as the show kicks off, we have victor going through a motivation slump. skating no longer fulfills him. he’s lonely and has nothing or anyone outside of skating. it’s very clear he’s depressed. then the person he looks up to, the guy whose life victor can see ahead of him, loses his spouse (possibly due to a clash of personal and professional lives, as we know lilia is also a highly respected and sought-after choreographer). watching the divorce unfold from the sidelines must’ve added to victor’s feelings of discontent, fueling his hidden fear of ending up in the same situation, and in that way contributed to his decision of leaving competitive skating. they clearly didn’t have a proper conversation about it - victor did everything on his own terms, as in U-hauling His Ass Across The Globe Overnight To Pursue Life and Love, and even though we all enjoy the Extra™ of it all, it can’t have been easy for yakov to swallow.
i don’t think victor outright disregarded yakov’s feelings when he made his decision. he just reached the conclusion he urgently needed a change and that yakov would support him if he knew how bad his mental state was. he just forgot to, you know, use actual words to communicate exactly that. but then it’s victor, so what did we expect? my url says it all. no tact on my ridiculous son.
this offers me some comfort, though:
i mean look at his face. does this look like a coach who’s happy to get his #1 athlete back, or like a furious parent learning their child is about to make a stupid-ass decision? he might as well be saying, “ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! YOU’VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER, WHAT THE SHIT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE COMING BACK? BITCH I WILL NOT HESITA-”
we died during yurio’s FS speech in ep 12 - when we learned he never wanted yuri to retire after all - and i think yakov’s reaction here is a strong parallel. yurio doesn’t want yuri to retire even if it means having one more challenging contender, and yakov doesn’t want victor to return to competition even if it means losing his greatest asset as a coach. these are two people who, against all pesonal interest, don’t want yuri and victor to make decisions that neglect their happiness.
this means at some point during the cup of china (arguably the point where victor literally jumped yuri in front of millions of people), yakov got it, no words necessary. he understood this was exactly where victor needed to be, that letting go of competition made him better and stronger and most importantly, alive. from then on, he could care less about the circumstances of victor’s departure, as long as victor was happy, he was happy. isn’t that the definition of parental love, of agape?
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