I know it's been a while ago, but I would really like to know your thoughts about the lodge scene and what you think both of them were going through in those scenes. I really like your analysis of Robron.
Thanks I’m glad you like the analysis - even if it is just inaneramblings most of the time! This will be no different! In fact, I’ll put this under a read more, because I’ve written a short essay.
I love this topic, andI’m gonna preface this with two points:
1. I didn’t watch these scenes live and in real time, so Ididn’t go through the wringer when it came to the shock of it all and the (Iassume!) devastation of thinking they couldn’t come back from it. By the time Iwatched these scenes I think they were in the midst of Diane’s stabbing andthere were hints there that they were coming back into one another’s orbit, soI was able to see a future for them despite it all.
2. I am completely aware that this is not a healthy way for acouple in love to be - I don’t ship Robron because I want my own relationshipto be like theirs (!!!), or because I would advocate anyone in real lifestaying in a relationship which could reach that level of toxicity. I ship thembecause their characters fascinate me- separately and together - and they are complex and interesting because of scenes like theLodge, and because of the way their characters are able to be who they are nowwith the history that they have.
So with that in mind, I have to confess:
I LOVE THE LODGE SCENES.
There, I said it.
For me, the Lodge encompasses so much of who Robron are -broken, damaged, fraught, desperate, and so tragically in love that it’ssometimes dangerous.
I love so much about these scenes, and I’d go so far as to saythey are some of my most rewatched (second only to pre-affair/start of theaffair era). First off, I love the build up - the way Robert and Aaron look ateach other in Lawrence’s office when they realise they’re gonna get an allexpenses paid hotel trip together?? Just finish me off right now! If I had alist of favourite eye contact scenes (I don’t, but one can be arranged lol),this would be number 1. Yes, above the wedding-standing-at-the-alter scene.Their chemistry is INSANE in that scene. Has Robert ever lookedat Chrissie like that? Nuh-huh. Nope. Never.
Can we spend a second thoughto just mention canon versatility? I mean, ahem. I like to find the silverlining amongst the grey clouds. How nice it is to have that little factconfirmed ;) And that little tickle of Aaron’s neck is so soft, and Robert’slittle moans as he devours Aaron’s neck, telling him how much he’s missedhim. Call me petty, but damn if that doesn’t just make me a little weakfor half a minute (until what comes next….).
Obviously, Aaron’s excitement turns sour a little (but I do lovehow desperately he wants Paddy to be wrong in that scene by the side of theroad, and how he defends Robert even then,despite Paddy telling him Robert tried to kill him), and he’s so devastatedthat Robert has done it; that he has to face up to what Robert is capable of.He still wants to see the best in him – and I’m convinced that even up until whenthe words leave Robert’s mouth in the Lodge, that he doesn’t want to believe thatit’s true. Aaron’s so shifty and uncomfortable up until when he confrontsRobert, because this type of deception and game playing is so alien to him, andhe can’t stomach it, and it says so much about Aaron as a character. I likethat they had Aaron stand up to Robert though, and to finally hear the truthabout Katie, and to face Robert at his worst and to tell him he wasn’t scaredof him.
But,the way I see it, the reason the Lodge is so important as part of their storyis because of what it says (to me, at least) about Robert Sugden. Aaron ishonest – he has always worn his heart on his sleeve – and his intentions andemotions are so much easier to read than Roberts, throughout their relationship.Robert is much more of a closed book – yet here, he is at breaking point, and Ilearnt so much about his character in those scenes that I still have in mindwhenever I rewatch their story up until that point. Robert had lied, throughouttheir relationship, and it can be hard sometimes to trust what 2015!Robertsays. But in these scenes, he is literally at breaking point. He has no reasonto lie, and what we hear from him when he talks to Aaron is all he has left –it is his truth.
Hewishes money was all he cared about? Falling in love with Aaron was the worstmistake he ever made? That he meant it, he loves him? All of the talk aboutKatie, and Andy? Robert is desperate to remind Aaron that he’s supposed to lovehim, and his devastation when Aaron says he doesn’t (which, btw, I don’tbelieve for a single second. He may have wantedto not love him, but we know he never actually stopped) is so clear to see.He’s breaking down, not only because his lies are crumbling down around him,but also because the one person who has always managed to see the good in him,and to try to understand him, is now turning his back on him too.
Robert’sso panicked when he finds the recording – he goes from relief that Aaron’sstill breathing (that little sigh of relief and the hand on Aaron’s shoulder,sorry but that is so telling of the way he loves him, as fucked up as it is),to outright panic, and he spirals so quickly he can barely breathe. He’sgrasping onto this life he’s built by his fingertips – the life that he builtto make his father proud of him – and it’s all crumbling down around him. He’smade mistakes, and they’re catching up with him, and it’s not just his lifewith Chrissie that’s threatened, now, of course – but he’s also losing Aaron,and that may be his greatest fear of all. He’s also just having to face what heis capable of, because I’m convinced he scares even himself with that. When it’salmost over – when he breaks down crying on the kitchen floor of the lodge – hesays that he’s not a bad person, and it’s just like his whole façade hasdisappeared, and he’s just a broken man who’s struggling to cope with therealisation of who he’s become.
Aaronwas always the one to save him – to bring him back from the brink – and now he’ssure he’s lost Aaron, and lost a part of himself alongside it.
Ona side note, it’s also one of the reasons I would so welcome seeing a Robertbreakdown in the current storyline. I justthink it’s wild how much Robert is dealing with, and has been dealing with, andthere’s only so much one man can take.
Andcan I just add, Ryan Hawley absolutely smashed these scenes. Someone let thatman win some kind of award, please!
Oh god the lodge scenes well that's ultimate angst! I hope you get something good this year:) lol in the past I've had Chrissie/Robert reunion 1 million and something after the HF robbery argument with Lachlan stuff(ewwww) and then last year I had everyone accussing Robert of killing Gordon, so you know, yay ¬¬ this year I think Robron will probably arrive home on my b-day but she will be there of course to piss everybody off.
yes, thank god i met them a year later after the lodge scenes (even tho that was the time i fell in love with robron and rob - well it was powerfull and painfull but it showed how in love they were and how hurt they were).
and tbh, you’re not lucky in that department. gosh. maybe you’ll get cute scenes on your bday before all the drama. they are doing stuff you could never imagine they would do so who knows if they don’t appear with their clothes swapped again? :D
