Let's talk about...Pat's Salome t-shirt
I've already partially written about this shirt (and its connection to my all-time favourite of all of Pat's shirts) - in that it could have been used to connect Pat with Ink through the shared colour of the t-shirt print and Ink's mustard yellow top (to offer the subconscious implication that she's might be a 'love interest' for Pat)...
...of course, the choice of this t-shirt could also be completely arbitrary...
...but I've always been curious as to whether I could find a deeper meaning/reasoning behind its inclusion here (even if it's just a complete coincidence). After re-watching ep 4 last weekend, I finally decided to do a bit of googling...
And what I discovered is that the name "Salome" and the picture don't seem to originally go together...at least not that I could find...so I wonder if they made this shirt themselves...and therefore why (or maybe someone else made it and they just found it 🤷🏽♀️).
I'll begin with the picture. It is a painting called Portrait of Sabartes, by Pablo Picasso in 1939. Jaime Sabartes was Picasso's lifelong friend, secretary, and chief "legend-monger" (he basically sang Picasso's praises to whomever listened). Sabartes asked Picasso to paint him as a courtier to Philip II...
"Portraying Sabartes as [such] is amusing as this was the role he played in the court of Picasso; that of the loyal servant following his master from Paris to Antibes to Royan. Although Sabartes was often represented by critics as a pathetically faithful dog, Picasso no doubt respected and returned his loyalty - albeit in his own fashion."
I know this is a very very tenuous link...but I couldn't help jumping on the fact that we see Pat as a faithful puppy... Yes, it's really a stretch to think Aof/the costume designer might have meant this with the use of this picture...(*she whispers* but what if they did?). Another less tenuous link is just the fact that Picasso and Sabartes were born in the same year and were lifelong friends...just like Pat and Pran 🤷🏽♀️ (I also like that Pat also wears a couple of other Picasso-esque shirts in the series...although I haven't been able to discover if they actually are Picasso prints yet.)
Anyway, onto "Salome" and this is a little more concrete, I think.
Salome is "commonly identified with the daughter of Herodias who, according to accounts in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew, danced for Herod Antipas" in exchange for the head of John the Baptist. Salome has been depicted in many forms in paintings, literature, films, sculpture, music...you name it...often as a "lascivious woman, a temptress who lures men away from salvation" - or a femme fatale.
In episode 4, Ink is introduced as a kind of femme fatale - or faen fatale as @absolutebl would say: "This is when the story introduces a character whose sole purpose is to drive a wedge between the main BL pair." Luckily, in Bad Buddy, this trope was one of many that were subverted and it became clear quite quickly (in the most delightful way!) that Ink actually wasn't a 'traditional' fean fatale character. But having Pat wear this t-shirt in this episode, in a scene where it was implied that Ink might be a love interest for him...well, whether planned or not, I think it's genius.
But, along with the above, as I was reading the wikipedia page (I know, not always the best source🤷🏽♀️), I came across this:
"Salome is shown in the mystery play as a personification of Carl Jung's pleasure in The Red Book. [...] Through interactions with Salome, Jung learns of how he neglected the emotional feeling side of his personality and the difficulties of accepting that part of himself that he suppressed."
Now, I think this really is just my brain making connections between the above quote and posts I've read recently about Pat...BUT I just love that people have recently been writing about Pat's character growth...and about his repressed emotions and his realisation of them. Others have written so well on this subject that I'm not going to attempt my own words...I'll just link them here for you to read if you're interested: this post by @scarydeul; this one by @grapejuicegay; and this by @goldenmorningglory.
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Whether planned or not, this shirt is SO GOOD - I love that I can find all these connections to the characters and the story - and I feel like it should actually have an honorary spot in my top ten of Pat's shirts from the series. 😂