#beth x fitzpatrick

[bensonstablers]

2x04 // 4x02

[foxmagpie]

so when are we gonna talk about beth hesitating and briefly short-circuiting after fitz asked her what it's going to be like after rio's gone

[apocalypto-sane]

RARE SALMON

[pynkhues]

So far looks like hitman's gonna be in love triangle bt gotta be honest if that's the case then for me feels less like love triangle & more: Rio/Beth & Fitzpatrick who makes her uncomfortable. Like it'll be hard for me to see her get interested in that man. I don't wear heart tinted glasses, am aware that Rio ain't innocent, crime & so on. Bt SUPER hard seeing him beat up a chef over food. Like Rio ain't giving off Murder Karen vibes that Fitzpatrick does, that ain't attractive. Dark triangle?

Oh, I definitely agree that if (emphasis on if! I’m still not convinced, haha) the love triangle is between Rio, Beth and Fitzpatrick it’ll be less a ‘love’ triangle than a dark and blurry obsession triangle. 

I don’t see Beth becoming interested in Fitzpatrick at all – even before the scene at dinner in 4.02, the show hadn’t teased any interest in him on Beth’s part outside of the job that needed doing, and I can’t see that changing, especially after Fitzpatrick assaulted the chef. Beth’s a lot of things, but even when she’s been established as being attracted to Rio being violent, it’s never when that violence is aimed at a person.

She got off to Rio smashing the car windows at the end of 2.04/start of 2.05, a scene that’s also tied to Rio re-entering her business, and, importantly, still respecting her wishes when she asked him not to tell Dean about the affair when he clearly wanted to. That, to me, is as clear an indication as any about the sort of grey area that Beth and Rio exist in together – she likes his violence only when it’s symbolic – the corvette being Dean’s ego, her bedroom decor her old life – and likes it best of all when it’s tied up with basic respect as well as their powerplays and games.

It feels different with Rio, because on the whole, it is different. Rio, for all his faults – which are many – has only been depicted as behaving badly when the stakes are high, and that violence has had a purpose. I broke down the different types of male violence on the show here if you’re interested, but I’d add to that that in some ways, Fitzpatrick represents the antithesis of Rio.

His violence is meaningless, frivolous, and purchasable, and he can’t even respect Beth enough to do the job she’s paying him for, or her taste with not wanting to eat the radish.

It’s potentially an interesting area to explore given it could really force a bigger distinction in Beth’s head as to her relationship not just with Rio, but crime and violence in general, something I think we already saw in 4.02 with Beth calling Mick off Dave.

[nbcgoodgirlsdaily]

so, do you miss [crime]? would it matter if i did?

[caption: 4 gifs from good girls, emphasising how bored beth is with her normal life. 1 gif is from 1x08, of beth pushing one of her daughters on a swing, speaking to the other pta moms (off-screen) with obviously fake enthusiasm, with her face going blank as soon as she stops talking. 1 gif is from 2x10, of beth taking a deep breath and looking exasperated as she shops with the other pta moms (off-screen). 1 gif is from 2x10, of rio asking beth (off-screen) “so, they suck your soul out yet or what?”. 1 gif is from 3x10, of beth telling mr fitzpatrick “i was just bored.”, after he asked her how she got involved with a guy like rio.]

[foxmagpie]

Please tell me that the writers weren’t trying to send a message about how Beth feels towards Rio with her speech to Fitz. After that the pool scene feels yucky. Help talk me out of this.. 😭

I’d have to rewatch the scene to catch exactly what Beth says to Fitz, but I don’t think it translates to Rio at all. Beth and Rio’s romantic and sexual relationship has been initiated by Beth, not Rio, and we’ve never seen her feel pressured to engage in any personal or intimate way with him in order to get what she wants. 

Both times were pretty clear that Beth didn’t need anything from Rio; in 2.04, she was under the impression they’d severed ties until he came to Boland Motors; in 2.09, Beth had Rio’s cut, and Rio didn’t offer to help her the way she’d asked him to until he had that cut, at which point Beth rejected the offer. Their relationship was a blurring of business and pleasure, but not in the same way that Fitzpatrick has been trying to do with Beth because Beth’s feelings for Fitzpatrick have never been genuine.

Rio puts pressure on Beth in a professional sense, but he has never crossed those boundaries in a personal sense. In fact, the only times that Rio has ever really openly hit on Beth were times when he knew she would say no, and he dropped it immediately after she expressed disinterest too. 

I don’t think Beth finds them comparable at all.

[foxmagpie]

also like how delicious is it that in all the times rio has broken into beth's home she's never been anything more than mildly annoyed and the second fitzpatrick does it she goes absolutely unhinged

[foxmagpie]

obsessed with the fact that beth did The Most to dress up for her date with fitzpatrick and then did not bother to try for even 0.0000001 seconds to pretend she felt anything besides disdain for him and immediately shifted the conversation to business at the first opportunity