#tcl asks

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

Look the fact he said “we”. WE’LL find another way. Thony lock down the hot mob man, team anti Marco

LISTEN. One of my favorite otp tropes is when someone has had to be SO strong for SO long and someone completely unexpected starts shouldering some of that burden.  "We'll find another way"...THAT’S ROMANCE BBY.

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

your posts & tags on thony/arman are killing me, man. the way that he keeps making a point of SEEING her and recognizing her because he knows how invisibilizing this kind of life is and he knows how poorly his own parents were treated and he wants to be an answer for that somehow. even when it's a stupid choice! even when he has other things to think about! the spirals of loyalty/obligation/connection here!!!

Oh my god hi, YES! I am right there with you. 

I love how clearly both of their motivations have been set up to coincide with each other. In one corner we have Thony: full of drive and determination and heart, loving mother and sister, skilled doctor, willing to sacrifice everything for her son, who through necessity and design is living a life of invisibility.  Her son’s life literally depends on her not being noticed/deported, but that same invisibility has left her easy to ignore, belittle and discard by the very people she needs help from the most.

And in the other we have Arman, the violent mob lieutenant, who at first seems like the second to last person (other than ICE) that Thony would like to be perceived by AND YET!  Arman — as someone who wanted nothing more than for his overworked, underappreciated mother to be happy, who has pursued his station in life as a means to protect those he loves in ways his family was and wasn’t protected — is THE only person who makes the deliberate choice to SEE Thony and has the power and importantly the desire to help her.

Even though Thony has the love and support of her family, she desperately needs actual actionable assistance and has been stuck in a purgatory where she’s been struggling and sacrificing unnoticed.  Arman notices. By the end of the first episode he has seen her dignity, her competence, her bravery, the lengths she’ll go to and the love she has for her son. He recognizes in Thony the chance to figuratively repay the sacrifices of his own mom, and help someone in ways no one ever helped her. 

And Thony, a strong and capable woman who was used to “commanding respect” but has been continually dismissed or demeaned in America, suddenly has someone in a position of power that sees her as a PERSON.  It’s not just about what she can do for him. He wouldn’t have raced back to the warehouse to save her if all he valued were her cleaning skills.   

And what kills me is that because Arman sees her so clearly, he wants HER to see HIM. I never expected this archetype of character to be so actively vulnerable/open like this. The show didn’t need to show Thony this side of Arman, they could have just shown the viewers.  BUT THEY DID.  And like you said, it has created all these threads of connection between them that are weaving into something stronger, like obligation and loyalty.  Add onto that them physically saving each other’s lives, and the accountability they have to one another?  

Because what might have started as a vague idea of offered assistance from Arman, has been increasingly cemented into something much more binding by Thony repeatedly holding him accountable. I love this about her so much. If she has to risk her life for Arman, by god he’s going to have to back up his words with actions.  Again and again, she is forcing him to make a conscious choice of whether he will honor his promises to her, even when it’s not convenient, even if it’s detrimental to himself. Yes, there’s a complicated power imbalance here, but when you look at everything going on underneath there’s a clear attempt at evening out the scales.  Arman may have turned her world upside down but she’s already such a disruptive, transformative force in his.  In seeing her, and allowing her to see him, whether he realizes it or not there’s already been a transfer of power.

“When you’re in, you’re in.  Do you understand?” Do YOU, Arman? Because I think you’re about to!

This connection between them is only going to get more complicated and tested and intertwined and I cannot wait.  Thanks so much for the message!

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

What are your thoughts on why Thony was so upset this week with Arman when he killed someone last week too? And what was up with him kissing Hayak’s daughter?

Hey there anon! Here's what I'm thinking - In 1x02 when Arman killed someone: 1) Thony didn't have to see it happen and 2) she was only spared by Hayek BECAUSE that guy was caught/killed, so she was all up in the moral quagmire right there with Arman. In 1x03 she saw Arman drowning the guy in fryer grease  (side note: *vom*) right in front of her and I couldn’t help but notice that she (interestingly/coincidentally) didn't bust out with the "you're not the man I thought you were" until the second part of your ask: once she'd seen Arman kissing the bride. Did that contribute to Thony being so upset? MAYHAPS.

The rest of Arman’s scene with the bride set up some story beats (Hayek thinking of Arman as “the help” back then while Arman thinks/hopes he’s part of the family now; further aligning Arman and Thony by Nadia referring to Thony as “just the help” earlier) but I kiiiiinda think they mainly included the kiss so Thony would see it? IDK.  What do you all think?

Anyways, as for Thony and Arman’s conflict this episode, when you metaphorically get in bed with a mobster, it's with both the good (protection, favors) and the bad (violence, intimidation). Now the next time Thony goes to Arman for help, she is going in eyes wide open and making a capital-c Choice knowing just what Arman's help really entails.  I think that could get really interesting and introduce some shades of grey.  (And might just get her closer to literally getting into bed with a mobster instead of metaphorically ifyouknowwhatImean.)

Thanks for the message!

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

thinking about how arman and thony are already intertwined more than they realize but then I think back to Luca’s drawing and like!!!! is that going to be on a cork board in the office next? In his wallet? What if Luca makes him MORE art? Or a friendship bracelet???? The possibilities of Arman keeping these things close to him in ways that he can’t Luca and Thony close to him? I’m spiraling.

LOL Arman is like what’s a guy gotta do to get another drawing? Kidnap a guy for his bone marrow?

But yes, the thought of him having that drawing as tangible proof that at the end of day, no matter what else he’s done or who else he is, he’s also a man capable of healing rather than just harming, he’s a man Thony came to in her most desperate hour and not only shared her burden but lifted it, that’s he’s a man that saved a child’s life??? LISTEN.

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

your gifs of the cleaning lady are the best thank you for making them!! seeing them is what got me into the show in the first place

Thank you so much!! ❤️❤️❤️

[mymostimaginaryfriend]

hi i love your work! i don’t know if you take requests but on the chance that you do, could you make a gif set of arman telling thony not to ask him for help and then the scene from the promo where he asks if she wants his help lol. ty if you can make the time! :)

Thank you!  And lmao Arman in 1x03: Next time you need help don’t come running to me! 😡😤 Arman 10 seconds into the preview for next week: .....unless?👀🙃

Here you go!