I feel inspired to talk about the end of the movie and our favorite spies' first mission as UNCLE. Caveat that these are all just my interpretations/headcanons, and aren't the only ones out there! I've been thinking about this recently because of Hard to be Soft, Tough to be Tender, which I set very early in their partnership. Namely, we get this moment, where they all look, as @heytheredeann always so accurately puts it, entirely victimized by the news that they have to keep working together:
Now this comes not long after this little moment, where Illya allows his fondness to slip out in that tiny smile, and then realizes what he's done and immediately hides behind his glass of Scotch.
They're having a moment here, one where they both let their shields down just a little, precisely BECAUSE they're sure they're never gonna see each other again. There is little risk in letting that fondness show, because the other person is unlikely to have a chance of exploiting that in the future. Then Waverly comes in and says surprise! We're keeping the team together! Which is frustrating to Napoleon and Illya especially because they were ready to go back to working alone and put this whole experiment and these feelings out of their minds. Now they're going to have to deal with them, or more likely shove them deep down where they can't be a problem, and I can see both of them initially closing themselves off again a bit more because of it.
By the end of Istandbul, though, I think we see some opening up, at least on Napoleon's part, in part because of the first of these two photos from the credits:
Obviously Napoleon and Gaby are getting along swimmingly by this point. I may prefer them as besties to romantic partners, but it's clear that they are relaxed and affectionate around each other. I guess you could argue maybe this was a cover for the mission, but the body language speaks for itself. Napoleon has a lot of masks, but for the first time he's letting little glimpses of himself show to his partners.
Now as for Illya's role in these shots: most of the credits photos don't really have a particular mood or feeling, by which I mean they're pretty much just standard covert shots, maybe taken by Waverly (except the one of him, obviously). But these two are so different. I headcanon that Illya took these photos, and probably he didn't intend anyone to see the negatives or prints but him. That one of Napoleon alone is so artistic and practically oozes longing. I can just imagine Illya seeing him there like that and thinking about how beautiful he looks, lit up by the sunset, and needing to capture it only for himself. I guess I see Illya as super conflicted by the end of this mission, maybe aware of his growing feelings and maybe not, and probably actively convincing himself that they're not those kind of feelings either way.
More about how the team relates to each other post-canon below the cut.
As to growing pains they might have as a real team in Istanbul, well, I'd say some are inevitable. I actually think Gaby's betrayal is a much bigger deal for her than it is for the boys. She clearly feels guilty about it in her last scene with Illya, and I imagine that guilt stays with her despite the fact that they don't seem to hold it against her. For Napoleon and Illya, though, I'm pretty sure they forgave her pretty quickly. She may have betrayed them, but she was acting as an agent for another country, and as Waverly says, it was the only way to keep the mission going. (Side note: It took me a while last night to realize that the reason that Gaby had to betray them to stay in the game was because Rudy & Victoria knew Illya wasn't just a Russian architect after he took his anger out on the Italian guys in the bathroom. Smoothly done, Peril, as Napoleon would say.) Napoleon and Illya have been in the spy game for a lot longer, and I'd wager they each spent the entire time in Rome expecting the other one to betray him. Gaby's betrayal was upsetting to them at first because it was unexpected (and, I'd argue, ego-bruising), but as soon as they know she's also a spy, it's understandable to them.
That brings me to Waverly, which I'd been thinking about while watching because of this ask. One would assume the same leeway applies to him, and I think it does, to an extent. I'm going to focus on what happened to Napoleon, because while Waverly all but apologizes to Illya for selling him out, he never says a peep about Napoleon's near-death experience. To Napoleon, I think he'd see this as business as usual. Of COURSE his senior officer would leave him to die. I don't think anyone doubts that Sanders would do it in a heartbeat. Napoleon had to become the CIA's most effective agent to save his own goddamned life. So Napoleon would neither expect any acknowledgement from Waverly about that, much less an apology, nor would he expect one. But that of course leaves Waverly as no better than Sanders, and I don't think many people in this fandom are fond of that idea. I think it takes Waverly a while to win any measure of real trust from Napoleon, and Napoleon is definitely the last of the three to give it. Beyond Istanbul, even. Maybe in Istanbul it starts, Waverly does something unexpected that makes Napoleon reevaluate things, but I don't think he's going to be taking kindly to any figure of authority any time soon. Napoleon is definitely the type to have issues with authority, unlike Illya IMO (the duality of Illya as the Good Soldier who disobeys orders based on his own sense of justice is an essay for another time, though).
What I think is interesting is Waverly's role in the Istanbul mission.
Maybe he's just there smoking hookah and giving them a run down on the mission, like Sanders and Oleg in Berlin, but maybe he takes a more active role. He was in the field in Rome, after all. The idea that this team is a foursome and not a threesome is an intriguing one, though, and not one I can remember seeing explored (though I read almost exclusively napollya fic, so if it's in one tagged with another relationship, I'd have missed it). I feel like Hugh Grant might have had a bigger role in the sequel movie, so it's possible that at least for this first mission they have a different dynamic in that as well.
Anyway, if you've read all of this, thank you for indulging me! And feel free to send asks with headcanons or aus or questions or if you want my thoughts on anything, because I am raring to talk about this movie lol.
isnt napoleon supposed to be the one who dresses more traditional and illya is the more daring one? (well, at least according to that one tumblr post who talk about the 60s' fashion) anyway do you think illya really thought napoleon has no taste or he just said that out of spite lol
I don't think I've seen the post you're talking about, and at first I was trying to figure this out when Illya wears a black turtleneck and slacks for 75% of the movie... took me too long to realize that the post is probably talking about their choices for Gaby, lol.
Ok, so here's my headcanon for that scene: I don't think that suit that we see Gaby trying on is a representation of what Napoleon, personally, would choose for her to wear. Maybe he had specific instructions on the type of outfit to get her from Sanders and he didn't really feel like it was worth fighting. Maybe Gaby herself chose it because she's more used to wearing coveralls and pants and wasn't really interested in fashion, because she thought it was what they wanted her to wear. I know we see her in endless cute dresses for the rest of the movie, but I could believe Illya picked those out, lol. Maybe Napoleon picked the suit out because he knew he was supposed to be dressing her as a "Russian architect's fiancé" and thought Illya would be the boring conservative one who would want his woman dressed like that. Napoleon clearly has Opinions about fashion, though, since they end up arguing about it, and IMO Napoleon wouldn't have chosen that for Gaby under any other circumstances. He definitely would be putting her in more daring couture. And it would MATCH.
(Did I put these two gifs in here just because? Yes, yes I did, lol.)
I don't know enough about men's suit fashion in the 60s to comment on how conservative or not Napoleon's suits are. He definitely has some subdued ones, but I'd argue that's because he's a spy and knows when he needs to blend in. I've always loved that blue-grey windowpane one he wears to Victoria's party, though, and I feel like it's on the flashier side of formalwear. I do always headcanon him as a bit of a clotheshorse, because someone who has that many bespoke suits has to care deeply about what he's wearing.
As for your latter question, I absolutely think Illya was just saying that out of spite. Maybe at first when he got there and saw what Gaby was wearing he questioned Napoleon's taste, but I don't think he could have missed that Napoleon himself was extremely well-dressed. PLUS—and this is the part that really seals it—we get that moment where Napoleon tells him the bowtie doesn't go with the suit and he LISTENS and changes it. So clearly he does respect Napoleon's fashion sense, in his own way, though he'd never admit it in a 1000 years, lol.
the last chapter of your figure skating au (which I'm enjoying very much, it's excellent) got me thinking: out of gaby, illya and napoleon, who's the most likely to be affected by their emotions when skating? well, obviously not illya, but if you (or somebody) pissed of napoleon right before practice how would it affect his skating? would he do better out of spite or just mess up his jumps because he's too distracted and angry?? same questions for gaby.
thank youuu!!!
Hello anon, I'm so glad you're enjoying the AU! It's been a real blast to write!
The question of Napoleon showing his emotions while skating is an interesting one, and something that I've been trying to balance in the story. Because of course in canon, and certainly in most fanon interpretations of his character, we see Napoleon as someone who's very buttoned up, never lets himself get ruffled, wears masks that keep his true self from the world. But I like to headcanon him as someone who is also deeply artistic, who would let himself and his emotions show through art (and maybe, in most circumstances, no one gets to see that art). So basically in this AU I've set him up as still wearing masks and such off the ice, but while he's performing is when he lets himself go. So as to your question, how would he react if someone pissed him off right before he went on the ice, I think that the anger would affect his performance but not necessarily as messing up per se. I think he's still quite good at controlling his emotions, so what you'd see is that the artistic performance would suffer because he wouldn't really be able to let himself go, as it were, but I think he'd still be able to land jumps. Maybe a bit sloppier.
I know you said Illya obviously wouldn't be affected (in this AU anyway), and I agree... to a point. I think if you shattered his calm and composure enough, he'd fall apart. It would take a decent amount to rattle him, but when you did you'd get the skating equivalent of him trashing a room. I always headcanon Illya as someone who normally keeps himself and his emotions tightly reigned in and controlled (yeah, he knocks people out in the movie, but you know, relatively he's got a decent amount of control, especially compared to what he could be*), but this pesky American keeps getting under his skin in a way that he hasn't really dealt with before, and that's what's happening in this AU too.
As for Gaby, I see her as someone who as a lot less experience controlling her emotions in the face of things that perturb them (both in this AU and in canon... e.g., her storming out of the clothes shop in Berlin), and thus is more likely to be rattled. However, I also can totally see her funnelling a lot of anger into performing well out of spite, lol, that seems very Gaby-ish to me.
That's probably a longer, more rambling answer than you wanted, but it's a bit of a window into how I'm thinking about their characterizations in this fic! Thanks so much for the ask!
*As a somewhat unrelated side note, I think about the time he sent the Italian boys to the hospital, and I know with the whole "locking the door and removing the camera" bit is supposed to imply he goes berserk or something, but I actually think it's more likely that he just, like, twisted Count Lippi's arm behind his back to move him out of the way and managed to fracture it—he really did have soft bones—hence the visit to the hospital. Not a true loss of control, just Illya being too strong for his own good.
Heya! I saw you post quite a lot about TMFU, so I thought you are the right person to ask. I recently watched the movie and I really liked it a lot, but there was a scene that felt strange to me, so I wanted to ask for your interpretation. I'm talking about the bit where they are in the helicopter and Illya is surprised by the aircraft carrier and then Waverly tells him "For a special agent you are not having a very special day, are you?"
First, I find it kind of strange that Illya doesn't know about aircraft carriers and that he looks so alarmed at seeing one. Were the screenwriters trying to make him look like some inexperienced country bumpkin?
And then Waverly's quip. Maybe it's just that Waverly in canon is a bit more asshole-y than my parental/protective headcanon Waverly, but it still seemed kind of unecessary for him to say that. Was it just for the sake of a puny joke or am I missing some meaning? (English is not my first language, so it's totally possible that I'm misunderstanding something).
Sorry if this is annoying and thanks!
Taking a break from AU craziness (and believe me, I still have a bunch of them in my inbox lol) for this one. Thanks for writing anon, your question is definitely not annoying, and I'm always happy to chat about the film!
So my interpretation of the scene is that it's not meant to imply that Illya doesn't know what an aircraft carrier is. He does know, but when he asks "what is that?" it's him asking something more along the lines of "what the hell is that doing here, I thought we didn't have any military support?" as well as a bit of "who is this guy [Waverly] that he can just pull an aircraft carrier out of nowhere?" And I think Waverly knows this is what he's actually asking, but Waverly is a bit of a snarky ass, so he answers the question literally. I'd argue his line is absolutely there for the punny joke.
Waverly as the team dad is a super popular headcanon/view in this fandom, and don't get me wrong, I love it too! I write him that way all the time. But sometimes I think people forget how sarcastic and smug he is, lol. Given that he'd just told Illya that he knew he'd get away from Vinciguerra's dogs/guards when Gaby gave them up because he's so exceptional, I think it's clear Waverly does think highly of him. Illya spends most of the movie insisting that he's the greatest spy ever, though, so Waverly's just taking the opportunity to playfully rib him a bit on his mistakes.
Of course now you've got me thinking about how I don't think Waverly ever really acknowledged what his orders really meant for Napoleon. 🤔 I'd have to go back and watch the scene again. I mean, in the end I think they're both of the mindset of "no hard feelings chaps, that's the spy game for you," but still. There's definitely the potential for a LOT of growing pains with this team in that Istanbul mission.
Hello :) I have a TMFU-related question, if that is okay. After the events in the movie, they went straight to Turkey, right? But who took care of Udo Teller's body? Like, do you think there was a proper funeral and that Gaby was allowed to attend it or did the body just hush-hush disappear? Thank you! :)
Hello anon! You can always send me questions and headcanons, it makes my day to get random asks about fandom stuff. 😊
Honestly, that's a really good question, and not the kind of thing that movies tend to consider. I am guessing that there was a lot of hush-hush spy stuff that went on with the cleanup of that whole situation. Maybe Waverly was the one who organized it, since he seemed to be the de facto leader at the end? I'd like to imagine that Waverly quietly arranged for Udo Teller's body to be buried somewhere (Berlin? Do they have a family plot somewhere? But if it was East Berlin Gaby might not be able to visit since she defected?). Considering that I think Udo Teller was "officially" supposed to be dead, having a public funeral probably wouldn't be in the cards.
I think it's really interesting to think about Gaby's state of mind regarding this going into Istanbul and the future. She just lost her father for real after being reunited with him. One could argue that he'd been "dead" and out of her life for a long time, but I still think that would likely fuck with your head. I mean, what if Waverly had even originally recruited her on a promise that she'd be able to be with her father again, after it was over? I can imagine her burying any feelings about his death deep down, and brushing off any attempts to discuss it with anyone, but it still weighs on her. Maybe she only lets anything out after Istanbul, when she finally visits the cemetery (alone, because she doesn't want anyone to see her like this), but Napoleon and Illya find her and offer their quiet support. I like to think of Waverly as being concientious of all of this and doing what he can for her because of course I love good-guy-dad Waverly taking care of his team.
Thanks for the ask! I'd never really thought about it before but it is such a neat avenue to explore. They really are all so damaged going into Istanbul, and it's so interesting to think about how they might have come together as a team (and as a family).
What if the events in the film took place around 10 years earlier? I don't mean historical stuff, but more like: how would the interactions btwn the characters change? I imagine both Napoleon and Peril would be pretty inexperienced in the spy business and they'd be somehow more raw - like their demons would be closer to the surface - with the war being fresher in Napoleon's memory and Illya's psychotic epsiodes more out of control. I also imagine then being more reckless and naive (not yet worn down to be so cynical and distrustful by years of spy work). And Gaby would be less level-headed too. And Waverly could then lead and shape the team without having to counter so many of Oleg's and Sanders' evil influences (I really like the idea of Waverly being kind of a dad of the team).
So, well, what do you think? What would change if it all happened 10 yrs earlier?
Btw, your The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret is such a masterpiece (like, don't get me wrong, a your fics are amazing, but for some reason I like this one the most).
Ooh, what a fantastic AU idea! Honestly it feels like SO much happened to them in those ten years, they'd be very different people! This got crazy long, because it's so interesting and could go a lot of ways, so the majority of my thoughts on their individual characters are under the cut. The tl;dr is that I absolutely agree with you on them being more fresh and less jaded and experinced, not to mention with a lot fresher trauma that they haven't learned to bury so well yet.
I think we'd have all these young, hotheaded fools trying to make their way around each other and save the world, and tbh it sounds like kind of a mess, lol. I feel like initially they'd be even more distrustful of each other, because as much as Illya and Napoleon disdain each other at the beginning of the movie, I think there is a base of respect because let's face it, they're both very very skilled, and they've been briefed with enough of each others' track record to know that the other one is actually a formidable agent. Ten years earlier, neither of them would have that record, so they'd really think that the other was a joke. That said, less time with the KGB and CIA might mean that, when they do get a look at what the other can do, they're more willing to be impressed.
Then, you put them in these situations where they save each others' lives, and I imagine them forming even tighter bonds earlier because, as you say, they have this freshness and naïveté where something like that would mean so much to them, not to mention they have a lot less reason to be loyal to their respective agencies without the history. I LOVE the idea of Waverly seeing potential in them very early and poaching them to shape them into a team! We never got to see the UNCLE team as a real TEAM in canon, but I feel like the dynamic in Istanbul would be very different earlier in their lives. I mean, they wouldn't have the time to really develop that "I work better alone" attitude, or at least not to be so completely entrenched in it, so I think they'd come together faster once they got over their initial reservations.
I feel like I could go on forever about this but I will stop now, lol. As I said, my thoughts on where they'd each be individually are below the cut! Thank you so much for sending this ask in, I had such fun thinking about it. And thank you for your lovely comments on Lost Art! That was a difficult fic for me to write, actually, because the dynamic had to be different than what I'm so used to, so I'm so thrilled to hear how much you love it!
Ok so, on each of them:
IIRC ten years would put Napoleon right after he'd been "recruited" by the CIA, and oh man, I can just see him chafing under the new restrictions, constantly getting into SUCH trouble and testing the limits of Sanders' patience. He's not yet "the CIA's most effective agent," still more of an art thief than a spy, and most of the rest of the agents probably feel like he's more of a liability at this point. Maybe the mission to extract Gaby would be his first big test, and Sanders would have backup plans because he'd be expected to fail. I agree about the war being fresh in his mind, too; I kind of like the idea of after the war, he'd like to leave guns and killing behind, but then the CIA recruits him after he's arrested and he's forced back into it, and it's psychologically rough for him, especially at the beginning. So, for instance, during the extraction, Napoleon never takes a fatal shot at Illya because he still can't quite bring himself to shoot someone down like that again.
And oh, Illya... He's supposed to have been special forces before becoming the youngest KGB agent, so if we do go with him as being a KGB agent at this time, he'd also be so new at it. The KGB would recognize his (near-inhuman, lol) skills, but I think they'd see him as such a loose canon. Constantly sending him on crazy, impossible missions that should have killed him, but somehow he always survives. I've headcanoned in fics in the past that the KGB was responsible for teaching him self control, at the expense of his emotional health, so at the beginning of that time I agree he'd have an even shorter fuse, but also wear a lot more of his feelings on the surface. We get glimpses of Illya's emotional side in canon (I mean beyond his outbursts), and I think those would be more common. He hasn't learned to bury everything so completely, so maybe there's even more romantic/sexual tension between him and Napoleon, and Napoleon initially thinks he'll exploit it but he doesn't count on his own feelings for Illya getting in the way.
As for Gaby, she'd be so young! And I can imagine the trauma of losing her father would be so much fresher. I acutally feel like she'd be even hungrier to do something about it when Waverly comes calling, recruiting her as a sleeper agent, and possibly less able to keep her real role in the whole thing a secret from Napoleon and Illya. I can see her as less willing to be used as some kind of pawn by these two spies, who don't have much more experience than her, but ironically that might give her away faster.
“Dont you wish you had a piece of this ass Peril” describes Napoleon’s whole attitude the entire duration of that scene. Meanwhile Illya’s like pffft until he realizes “oh no. He’s a dumbass” *sigh* *unzipping his pants*
YES. The whole sequence at the shipping facility is just too amazing. They both spend the entire time preening and showing off endlessly, each of them trying to impress the other with their various skills. Of course it's very spy-vs-spy and all that, one could argue that it’s just two dudes trying to one-up each other with various feats of strength, which it is, but I like to think that it is also an elaborate courtship ritual, lol.
It starts out small with cutting fences and picking locks, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t that impressive for a spy, though Napoleon manages score points right off the bat with those sweet lockpicking skillz.
Poor Illya can’t help but be impressed, straight from the horse’s mouth (so to speak):
Then it’s just “let me show off my talents that you can’t possibly have.” I mean, the ridiculous Kiss that’s honestly completely unnecessary except it “takes years to master” so Napoleon should obviously be super impressed by how skilled Illya is. Also: Plz to be watching my amazing form, Cowboy, I’m definitely not gratuitously bouncing up and down for no reason.
Then we have the safe, which is what spawned this post in the first place. Napoleon goes on his long explanation of how awesome he is immediately after Illya does literally the same thing with the Kiss. It’s one long back and forth of... “but can you do THIS??”
Then we have the dramatic chase through the facility, which I once read an amazing dissection of where the author pointed out how Illya always puts himself between Napoleon and the gunfire. But of course I don’t seem to have a link for it now, annoyingly. THEN a dramatic escape: of course you look super impressive swan diving out a window... until you don’t land in the water as planned. Good thing Napoleon didn’t check before he followed, lol.
Once they make it into the boat Illya can’t wait to show off his power boat champion skills. He actually says, “Shut up and watch me work!” Which, so dramatic. (And then he proceeds to lose his Cowboy... I know he was circling to try to find a way out, but I also like to think he did some of that circling looking to see if he could find Napoleon in the water).
Anyway, they are completely ridiculous but the thing is, they come out of this little excursion with a (perhaps grudging) appreciation of each other’s skills, far more than they had going in for sure. This is the moment when they become partners for real, when they realize how well they work together, and when (if I can put my shipper goggles on) they both realize on some level that they do, in fact, want a piece of that ass. And that is not even considering Napoleon saving Illya’s life and the vespa ride back to the city. I think it’s not a coincidence we get protective back touches immediately afterward.
Anyway this got long and at the end turned into a somewhat more serious discussion of their relationship than I intended, lol, but I couldn’t help myself. I love the entire shipping facility sequence so much.
I just realised that Illya’s affinity for cool new gadgets might not only be a representation of Russian inventions but also his much higher inclination to use new and modern stuff than Napoleon who’s traditional in a classy way.
