I don’t know whether I’m a minority in thinking this or not, but this kind of really frustrates me actually. Like, Terry is a threatening person. He’s scary. He’s a nazi, he’s ruthless, he fucking forced his son to be raped at gunpoint (probably traumatizing not only Mickey but Ian and Svetlana as well), he pawned his kids off on social services to go run drugs, he tried to kill Mickey when he came out, etc etc. We know he’s a real bad fucking dude. And with just those few little bits of information, we can extrapolate that there’s more and probably worse stuff that he’s done not only to Mickey but probably to his siblings as well.
In that first scene above, Mickey looks genuinely terrified. Like, actually totally scared of being murdered by his father, not kidding or exaggerating at all. He is dead serious when he says Terry will kill him. He chooses juvie over killing Frank; I think part of that is for Ian but also it’s a way to be out of reach in case Terry does find out. And then we have 3x06 which is just the actual worst. Point is, Terry is scary and threatening and the scenes that feature him make good on those threats.
And yet in this season, we see Mickey all chummy with him and then this scene Now, I could understand Mickey being chummy with Terry or going to him for info/advice in a sort of “grew up with an abusive and manipulative parent” type of way, but it’s not played like that. He just casually goes to Terry for advice when he probably has many other connections in Chicago that could answer his questions, just from the luck of being a Milkovich. But he goes to Terry and they have that “Milkoviches marry vaginas” conversation that just sounded like one big joke. Terry sounds like a drooling grandfather spouting bullshit. And then it’s followed up with this scene, which is supposed to be threatening, but “faggy faggot” just sounds fucking stupid and even the actual confrontation part seems light. Again, I could understand if this was some sort of example of Mickey being an adult and not being scared of Terry anymore, but I don’t think it is. Because Terry’s bullshit during this confrontation sounds like empty air, but that graffiti and his burning down the venue is definitely not empty air.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a glo up. I think it’s bad writing. A glo up would be Terry making threats or moves to Mickey’s face as scary as his threats and actions in the earlier seasons and Mickey not reacting, or Mickey not being as scared, or even Mickey retaliating (something he never really did; even in the coming out scene it’s Terry that makes the first physical move and Ian that headbutts Terry). But this scene and the one at the Milkovich house just declaws Terry completely in a way that’s completely at odds with Terry’s actions burning down the venue and graffiti-ing a threat on the wall. Again, he sounds like an old man spouting bullshit. I know he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed but violent, hateful idiots still say some really damaging and awful stuff, things far worse than “faggy faggot”. Even his death threats sound off, especially because he stays to have a conversation with Mickey, which his past actions have shown is not his style. His “don’t say I didn’t warn you” sounds so lame because the entire scene has almost no tension. They’re both so relaxed. If Mickey walked into this entire situation that relaxed, it would only rile Terry up more and he’d get more angry and more violent. That’s how people like that work. He wouldn’t stand there and have a calm chat. He’d be spitting angry, like, literally. Again, I can understand Mickey being calm during this situation because he’s not a 17 year old kid. He’s an adult and he can handle himself now. But that doesn’t mean Terry’s not going to be the same violent hateful asshole that he’s always been because people like that don’t really mellow out until they’re so old they’re literally unable to do anything. I dunno, I think this scene and the one in the Milkovich house just really, really disappointed me because it felt like all the other scenes in which Terry was referenced (Mickey’s monologue) or implied (the graffiti and burning venue) and all his scenes in past seasons built him up as this terrifying, violent, ruthless, terrible, abusive person and then this confrontation scene and the one in the house just deflated it all so much. And yeah, Mickey’s an adult now, but that doesn’t make Terry any less threatening or scary if he’s the type of person to actually make good on those threats (which past seasons and other scenes in S10 show he is), plus you don’t grow up in an abusive household and then magically feel totally calm and fine around your abuser once you’re an adult.
2087
titsay
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
stormborns
yousharknotpass
janainaart
