thinking about jake's final lair kiss again because his phantom is leroux inspired confirmed and i'm trying to sort out the thought process because i always find it interesting when phantoms choose to kiss back and with jake especially the kiss is so. gentle. he doesn't startle or do the airplane arms it just kinda is and i think there's so much leroux erik nuance to him tweaking out so much for all the other unmasked scenes (stydi, down once more, start of final lair) to the point where it's almost zombie-like but then being so mellow during the actual kiss. it just reminds me of leroux erik crying when christine kisses his forehead and also him kissing HER on the forehead and saying she let him do it. idk it kinda reconfigures all of jerik's past behaviour because at first you look at his horrible emotional regulation skills and his dry heaving and you think oh he's erratic and insane but then you see how much he wants to kiss her and you realise all that is him just being desperate to be seen and loved and so obviously he'll take it when he's given the chance. him pulling her back in for the kiss wasn't so much eager as it was just longing and i could catch hints of that longing leading up to it like. during christine's verse in point of no return he's sitting down and she stands behind him to take the glass away from him and even when he's no longer holding it his hand kinda follows in her direction like he's subconsciously reaching out to her. and then at the start of her chorus is when she realises it's him and he grabs her arm and it's a bit rough but also pleading like he's silently begging her not to run away and i don't remember how i could tell but it was so palpable. and obviously the staging change where he's on his knees hugging her with his face against her stomach during the ponr reprise is the most obvious and devastating example
