saw another 'cannibalism as a metaphor for love' tiktok and it made me think of nick and troy, specifically this scene:
i know the scene isn't really about cannibalism (they're basically eating human brain but it's from the infected so?? idk. cannibalism.), it’s about the drug use. but my point is, i'm absolutely insane and my brain started over analyzing this whole part of 3x14 and how it can be seen as a metaphor for troy accepting his sexuality. allow me to elaborate:
nick takes the drug almost instantly, without any hesitation = he’s comfortable with his sexuality
on the other hand, troy doesn’t like the idea of taking the drug and he tries to convince nick to leave (which i honestly think is really sweet, it shows how much he cares about nick, but i’ll talk about that in some other post) = troy has internalized homophobia
however, when he notices that everyone in the room, including nick, is watching him and waiting for him to take the drug, he just goes for it. he allows himself to explore a part of his identity that he was too scared to accept until now. troy was finally away from the ranch and from his father. he felt safe with nick at el bazaar.
after that, we can see that troy is finally truly happy, probably for the first time in his whole life. happy with nick. they’re both smiling and laughing together in the next scene and are just being themselves. troy even says that he’s grateful to nick for that night (in 3x15, when he’s talking to madison) and i feel like that’s something we need to talk about more. it’s beautiful :( <3