Let’s talk about VegasPete
Particularly the scene where Pete wakes up to Vegas bandaging him after lashing out with the belt. The multiple layers of trauma going on here are deep. Vegas hit Pete in response to his father hitting him. Pete admits in this scene that he was also the son of an abuser, establishing a bond with Vegas over this shared situation. So Pete has been abused and is both similar to Vegas while simultaneously being the victim Vegas is placing his anger on. Pete can still manage to have empathy for the person hurting him, probably because he had empathy for his father when he was younger.
Pete and Vegas both had similar violent upbringings yet grew up in astoundingly different ways. Pete trusts people. Pete is loyal and kind. He makes friends easily and garners people’s love with no hesitation. Kinn trusts him the most (although he also forgot about him and didn’t mourn either of his bodyguards so clearly we all show love differently but I digress). Pete is self-sacrificing, he believes in a higher power and lives his life according to his values.
Vegas on the other hand trusts no one. He’s smart, selfish, manipulative, abusive and deranged. He took all the hurt his father gave him and made it everyone else’s problem. He rather lie and cheat and make his entire life about hurting and outsmarting Kinn instead of thinking about what Vegas wants. Who is Vegas when you take him outside of his role of pathetic cousin of the major family? What is his ‘beach shack/singer’ equivalent dream that he’s had to harbor for years? Instead of gaslighting Tawan, dipping his pant legs in the pool to “impress” Porsche and apparently boning Ken, who is he interested in dating/loving? To Vegas, he has never had the ability to choose for himself and live a life sans comparison.
The way they express their rage is also exclusive to their character. Pete has found an outlet through his job. In episode 3 when Kinn, Pete, Ken, and Porsche go to shake down that guy that owes Kinn money, Pete has no problem exerting physical violence on this stranger who has beef with his boss. He even glances one more time at the man before escorting Porsche outside to have a smoke. He gives Porsche some life advice, telling him that there are no good or bad people, showing that as smiley and happy as he seems, even Pete has been through enough shit to understand the grayness of morality.
Vegas is very hands on with his anger. Like a child throwing a tantrum, he wants to tangibly feel his anger materializing out of his body. So he lashes out and physically hits both inanimate objects and people any time he is frustrated or angered. He probably grew up seeing his father hit his mother, only ever understanding parental care through violence and pain. Vegas also grew up in the mafia world while Pete entered it (probably) willingly. Pete is able to compartmentalize occasionally beating up and murdering people because the money he makes pays for his grandmother’s living expenses and medical bills, the person he loves most in the world. Vegas never had the choice, so his anger is always misdirected.
Also judging from their conversations and the little insight we have into Pete’s life, it seems he’s worked through some of his trauma as he tells Vegas that what his father did to him has nothing to do with him and everything to do with his father’s own perceived shortcomings. Vegas takes this as a revelation, having never perceived his abuse as anything other than deserved.
All in all, I see their similarities being what brings them together, but their differences ultimately being what makes it work.
