i love how quietly both svetlana and rose figured ilya and shane out, and how softly they both let them know they knew.
svetlana knows ilya is comfortable with his sexuality, but she also knows how he feels about love and his capabilities when it comes to it, she knows what it means to him and also for him. so she pokes delicately, but in a language ilya is used to, letting him know she knows about jane while always mentioning men in tandem - sasha says hi - and then that doesn't work so she starts discussing shane in general and subtly highlighting that ilya's reaction is weird, it's not how he reacts to other players. you know he's good and you know he's handsome has the connotation of you would be able to admit it if there wasn't something more here, and if it wasn't serious you'd tell me
and THEN - it's very clear that ilya imagined his life with svetlana, when he pictured a future and some form of love that would be bearable and safe, it's clear that she is that soft place to land for him and it's clear that he could be in love with her, he just isn't. and when his grief and self loathing is at his highest he looks at her and says "i don't deserve you" and she doesn't only reassure him but she just so kindly says:
i hope jane knows how lucky He is
saying, not only do you deserve me and not only will i always be here, but you deserve the love you won't allow yourself, you deserve to have what you want, in the only way ilya can hear it in that moment
and it means so much that ilya reaches for shane
AND THEN ROSE - she's known shane for a very short period of time and when she figures out he might be gay and very uncomfortable with it she approaches it in the best possible way, in a way that makes him feel so accepted and normal that he can't even deny it and we watch in real time as her acceptance makes him accept it more and more.
and the big moment there honestly isn't her saying it's okay it's:
are there gay hockey players? i mean obviously there are but, are there any that are out?
and we see that register with shane, the thought that other people may be going through what he's gone through just never occurred to him and as soon as it does he opens up just a touch and rose just asks him all the right questions so softly "have you ever been with a man before?" "have you ever told anyone that" "was it different?"
and as soon as shane can conceptualize that this isn't some terrible thing that's just happening to him, it's actually a very normal, common experience - 80% of my boyfriends left me for men, not everyone in hollywood is out - he melts and shifts into something that is more himself and it's so beautiful because there's so much unspoken self acceptance like a dam broke - and as soon as he has that self acceptance he immediately starts joking about it
and then he leaves the conversation and starts showing ilya he loves him and talking about it relentlessly because he knows how to do this now and he wants ilya, even when ilya can't fully tell him he feels the same, he's now accepted that it isn't just men it's ilya and he no longer see's a reason to deprive himself of his instinct to care for him
their interactions with both women really are so incredibly beautiful and in their different ways they both are just continually telling them "you don't just deserve fine, you deserve the love you want, the love that is different"
and it's so moving i get choked up every time i think about it because it's such a big deal - especially when both ilya and shane seemed to be bracing themselves for svetlana and rose to be the most upset by this but instead they just embrace them
