“You’re not a commodity to me. Hugh Dancy as Cal Roberts, Emma...”
@kronette I don't think he wants to be touched at all. Notice he never allows her to touch him. And his aversion to intimacy ( physical and emotional) has damaged his relationship with Mary. She doesn't think she matters to him. So asking her what she wants is a huge step for him. He's putting her needs first. Which he's never done before. Even when he was trying to do the right thing with Sean back in S1.
@brushstrokesmcgee I agree with your reading of how his distance has affected Mary and how important it is that he, for the first time, is putting her needs first.
But I disagree with the interpretation that Cal doesn’t want to be touched. I think he very much wants to be touched, and to touch.
But because of what Steve did to him (and his father, through physical abuse), he needs to feel in control of that touch.
Hugh’s spoken of Cal being basically celibate in the years leading up to S1. What changed that? I think part of his inability to keep himself away from Mary in S1 was entirely that longing for touch, something he’d denied himself, something she offered to him, something Sarah would not.
I can’t stop thinking about the contrast between the masturbation scene in 104 and this scene.
There, Cal used Mary talking about someone else touching her, forced her into the performant role she’s always had to play, doing whatever the man in power tells her to do. Feeding into that sense that she’s just a commodity to him, something he can use when he needs to, regardless of her needs and wants and feelings.
Now, the complete opposite. He lets her know that he needs her. He asks her to guide him in how she wants to be touched. He makes it clear he wants touch her, not because he can, but because he wants to please her and comfort her.
I like that his move back when she laughs can be read in two ways. Yes, he’s embarrassed that he’s opened himself to her and her response is to laugh. But he’s also giving her space to respond as she needs to.
I think the scene was pretty perfect as it was, cutting as we see them in a tender hug.
