I desperately need jacob tierney and jackson parrell and anyone else who had any part in this to win every award possible for this show.
(if you’re anything like me, your last ep 4 rewatch was at most 5 hours ago so of course you do.)
I will definitely be taking all of this far deeper than I need to be but I fucking love big beautiful metaphors in film/tv so please bear with me.
ilya’s place is very modern. boxy. lots and lots of straight lines and symmetry. and it’s not just his design taste. in a show like this, it’s safe to assume everything is intentional until otherwise confirmed. we know the abstract art on his walls is being used to symbolize certain things. but also, what if the entire goddamn house is a piece of abstract art?
in that first scene, we’ve got shane and ilya on one side standing against the backdrop of all those straight lines and simple shapes. this is the easy part. it’s easy because it works, because it’s what they’ve always done. no rocking the boat required.
on the other side, we’ve got floor to ceiling windows looking out on all that lovely greenery. nature is chaos. it’s not exactly predictable. it’s scary. in hand with that, it can also be incredibly beautiful and freeing. question is, who’s being boxed in away from it? it’s all right there and yet we feel so separated from the rest of the world.
in the next scene after ilya’s phone call, we get what’s still my favorite shot of the whole show. the world’s smallest ilya rozanov, some framed abstract art, and guess what? more straight lines! I believe the most important of these is the windowsill. it’s what separates ilya from the outside world. every time I see this shot, I can’t help but see that line as the surface, with ilya being buried below it. man’s getting suffocated by Life Events ten times over. add what’s actually happening in this scene and yea, this shot breaks me every time I see it.
now for the best part. spoilers for ep 5 ahead!
do you see this? do you fucking see this? THE PLANTS HAVE MOVED IN. REPEAT. THEY HAVE ACCEPTED NATURE INTO THEIR HOME (hotel room whatever). even the bed sheets are GREEN LEAVES!!!! and forget what’s outside that window! nothing matters out there anymore!! fuck that city!!! fuck florida!!!!! (I’m kidding I love you florida friends xoxox)
I couldn’t be more insane over this if I tried. and the thing is, it’s not the fact that they did it. it’s that they did it, and it’s this show. the fact that we get to have a show that’s queer in this way and cared about to this extent. that’s why I’ll never be normal about this.
so, yea. thanks to the folks who cared this much.
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
izzy806
