The fandom has been rightfully in uproar after episode 7. And I’ve seen a lot about Yuuri’s crying in particular. We pretty much all agree that it was a ‘good’ thing, but there is some disagreement concerning Viktor’s role. It’s funny because Yuuri is actually my favourite character in the whole show (ever?), but I’ve loved Viktor more and more each week, and I keep finding myself defending him, so here it goes again!
I’ll start by saying that Yuuri’s tears had nothing to do with Viktor’s harsh words. He didn’t start crying because what Viktor said was mean (which it was gdi Viktor). He cried because of the words’ intent.
Yuuri knows Viktor isn’t leaving him, he says (yells, yes) as much, and more importantly he knows Viktor doesn’t want to. He has enough trust in their relationship to be certain of that much. He understands that Viktor will go down with their ship until the end, no matter what Yuuri does.
That’s why he’s so nervous about representing Viktor, because Viktor would never abandon ship, even if Yuuri scored badly and caused them to sink. So as captain, the pressure’s on for Yuuri to do well and keep the ship afloat for both himself and for Viktor. Although, it seems what matters most for him is making sure that Viktor stays afloat because he’s used to sinking (my dear sweet Yuuri).
What caused Yuuri to cry was Viktor’s intent. Viktor was clearly worried as frick for Yuuri. He was worried Yuuri would self-destruct from nerves as he’s no doubt seen in last year’s GPF.
He had been pretty calm, taking Yuuri somewhere private to get ready, but when he notices that Yuuri is listening to the audience’s applause for another skater, and he sees his absolutely petrified reaction, he freaks.
He clearly doesn’t think, he leaps forwards and smacks his hand to cover Yuuri’s ears, shouting at him not to listen. Wouldn’t a calm ‘hey, don’t listen to this. Here, let me help you put your earphones back on, it’s fine’ have been more like Viktor? He had been so calm at the beginning of the episode when Yuuri had bags under his eyes, tucking him in bed with words of consolation.
He’s been in tune with Yuuri, steadily getting more and more upset as he watched Yuuri get more and more petrified.
For crying out loud, please look at his devastated expression as he tries to think of where to bring Yuuri so that he can be calmer. Yuuri’s pain is hurting Viktor because he cares.
And Chris’ thoughts underline how Viktor is trying to protect Yuuri. Chris as an outsider who’s known Viktor for a while, and we can assume Yuuri for at least a year, this is what he sees, he sees Viktor protecting Yuuri. It also hints a bit at there being more to Viktor leaving the rink to coach Yuuri than his own agenda (I’d love to see more of that revealed).
It hurt to watch Yuuri suffer and not know how to make it better. And at this point, Viktor’s clearly struggling.
Deep breathing is so basic, but Viktor tries anything here, and his face and hands show that he’s floundering.
After he covers Yuuri’s ears with his hands to block out the sound, his hands remain there. Heard of a dear caught in headlights? That moment of panic/fear/what-am-I-gonna-do, where you freeze up.
Viktor is still panicking, not knowing what to do.
Let me say something. I like to bring in some psychology, and I want to draw attention to how Viktor holds the back of his neck as he ‘lies’ to Yuuri about leaving him.
It’s probably a gesture you’re all familiar with, and it means that Viktor is nervous. People instinctively rub at the glands in their necks to reduce stress, it’s an actual thing, so when a person is nervous, they’ll twist their necklace, loosen their tie, or rub their neck.
And as Viktor waits to see what kind of impact his harsh words will have, his hand remains there (with the added sweatdrop and tense face, it’s even clearer he’s nervous), but might I remind you of that ‘deer caught in headlights’ element again? He’s frozen in place by nerves.
And when Yuuri reacts with silent tears, as though his emotions have leaked before he’s even managed to process the words, Viktor is surprised, and upset.
He did not expect this kind of reaction from Yuuri, it wasn’t his aim to hurt him like this, and his face shows he’s clearly upset that he’s made Yuuri cry (tbh it more than broke my heart to see it too- Yuuri my child)
So why did Viktor say what he said? Those words were obviously harsh, and he knew it seeing as he was so nervous and (well I’ll quickly address that when he says ‘let’s see if we can shatter it’, he’s talking about the fragility of a skater’s heart and not the heart itself. He hasn’t decided to break Yuuri’s heart, but to break through its fragileness. Tough love, ya know?)
So the reason he said those words was because he was trying to add incentive. Sometimes, people can be motivated to act because of their own desires, and other times because of external rewards. A positive incentive is when a person is motivated with a reward. For example, we’ve seen Yuuri is quite responsive to positive incentive when katsudon, which he only got whenever he’d win, was used. A negative incentive is when someone is motivated because they want to avoid a punishment or threat. Simply put, you’re gonna run faster if a tiger is chasing you.
So Viktor thought that it might have been a good opportunity to use some negative incentive on Yuuri to get him motivated. I’ve no doubt he was calling on his own experiences with his coach Yakov, as from what we’ve seen of the man, he’d be the type to do that.
However, the incentive–the threat if you will– was false, as Viktor was never planning on leaving Yuuri. And Yuuri knew that, and completely saw through it.
The fact that Viktor would try such a trick on him was what hurt. Not that Yuuri ever believed Viktor would follow through on his words, but that he decided to use that method on Yuuri, something that played to all his previous insecurities, something that made a mockery of their current close relationship and trust…that was what hurt him.
And as we know, all Yuuri really needed from Viktor was a steady support. He didn’t need Viktor to give him incentive! He didn’t need a negative one–
–or a positive one either!
All he needed, all he’s ever needed, was for Viktor to be Viktor. To just be by his side and believe in him, even when he doesn’t believe in himself.
After all, that’s what Viktor has been doing so far. He saw something in Yuuri, in the video online; he’s the one who’s believed in Yuuri’s talent all this time (and it meant more than coming from Yuuri’s family, because Viktor didn’t need to believe in Yuuri, he didn’t know him, but he still did). He’s been confident in Yuuri when Yuuri himself hasn’t been, and the security in that knowledge has been what Yuuri draws strength from!
Do I even need to list any examples? Like I said here, Yuuri skates at his best when he thinks of Viktor– Viktor who’s been the one pushing him forward because he believes Yuuri has the talent, the will, the music, the skill! And all Viktor would give him was the confidence!
Just Viktor believing in him was giving him that confidence he needed. No matter how he’s behaved before a skate, that belief that Yuuri will do brilliantly has never changed. So to have that, to have Viktor, falter here, when Yuuri was feeling at his worst…it was too much. And that resulted in tears.
But in a roundabout way, this couldn’t have happened any differently.
Because even after his poor choice of motivation, Viktor is still floundering! It was painful to watch (not as painful as watching Yuuri cry) but in a way, also refreshing. Because here comes the big spoiler, guys: VIKTOR IS HUMAN!
He’s a person. He’s never been a coach before, he makes mistakes and he tries his best. I know I’ve written a whole thing on Viktor being a newbie coach, and I ended it on the note that Viktor teaches Yuuri who in turn teaches Viktor. And this is another example of that, because Yuuri is teaching Viktor exactly what is needed from him!
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