I’ve been really busy at work for the last few weeks so it’s been a while since I did one of these, but I’m back with episode three! For the Isak and Matteo version, jump in over here, and you can find the previous ones for Even and David here: episode one and episode two.
One interesting thing about the comparison between Even and David in the third episode is the difference in timing when they first enter the episode. Even appears roughly halfway through the episode on Wednesday, while David comes along a lot earlier, on Monday (roughly quarter of the way through). The scene is the same: the dancing girls and Isak/Matteo is having an uncomfortable discussion about homophobia with his Jonas. But for Even, it’s taken a lot longer to get to the point of approaching Isak. This makes sense, of course; he’s had a much larger issue to overcome. Even’s had to deal with that really awkward meeting of Isak and Sonja and so he’s much more likely to have withdrawn. That’s something he’s having to work out in his head, the mess of having both of those people in the same place at the same time with all the complexities involved there. He’s going to have needed some time to compose himself and readjust. He’s not stupid; there’s no way he missed how uncomfortable Isak was when Sonja arrived. So he finds the hat Isak was wearing and makes a grand plan to ‘casually’ give it back to him and make contact. Either it took til Wednesday for him to find a moment, or he was too worried about potential reactions and ended up paralysed for a while. We do know from later that Even has a tendency to withdraw when things get a bit real for him, and it’s possible that this is one of those times. His approach is quite studied and cool again, too. You can almost see the thought process: ‘I’ll go and see how it goes and if it’s bad I’ll just leave in as cool a way as I can’ … and then he did. Isak looks terrified and caught out, so Even quickly covers for him and then slopes off all jean jacket and swoopy hair. For him, it’s reasonably successful. Isak, while looking like a deer caught in headlights, isn’t hostile or dismissive. There’s something almost pleading in the way he looks at Even, like they’re in this together and can only get out of it together. There’s something there to work with and Even is probably relieved even if the encounter wasn’t long or particularly satisfying. It’s enough to give hope that Friday hasn’t totally damaged their burgeoning connection, and therefore Even is happy after this to resume his plans to get better acquainted with Isak.