This episode was all about being a coward. Afraid. Vivian’s afraid of coming out again, Archie’s too afraid to tell Elisabeth how he feels, or even really talk to anyone except Vivian and perhaps Aster. Aster’s afraid to be in the closet again. Sophie’s seems afraid too – I’m not sure what of yet, but she definitely has problems. In fact, the only people not afraid are the drunk homophobes. Which is perfectly realistic, if you ask me!
Vivian is under a lot of stress. New place, strained relationship, new ‘mom’, reunion with an old friend. Some people respond to stress by reaching out. Others respond by closing up. Guess which sort Vivian is! By the end, she can hardly tell Aster she still loves her, and she can’t ask her honestly to stay. More importantly, she can’t really tell her, can’t make her understand why she’s acting that way. The same things that keep her from coming out to the school keep her from explaining to Aster. It’s a cycle.
This is an unusual sort of characterization. (And one that I identify with – I act this way, very much) We see ’shy’ characters often, but usually only in stereotype. They’re scared of social interaction in general, or scared of asking someone out, or something like that. The solution is always for them to become less shy, more extroverted, whereupon they are suddenly happier. (Think of Willow from Buffy). The other ‘bottled up’ sort of character refuses to share their emotions – the typical male pattern. Their solution is to learn to share, to relate. But Vivian is neither. She expresses her emotions perfectly well, but is unable to… articulate her reasons, if you will. And Aster only sees this as abandonment.
In real life, as in the show, it’s just not so simple as suddenly being more outgoing, or anything like that. For one thing, you can’t just change yourself, and even if you could it wouldn’t necessarily be better!
It’s all just just one hurdle, one decision at a time, and Vivian needs to find her path among them. Hopefully without driving the people she cares about away.
Things I liked:
- Vivian yelling at the surprised bystanders – one again, no problem expressing her emotions!
- The overall realism. Breakups aren’t all about angry yelling and dramatic exits. And sometimes they just drag on and on.
- It’s good to see that the homophobes are out in full force. I was beginning to thing that Viv was overreacting to the whole situation.
Things… not so much
- I’m confused about Sophie. Hopefully, her story thus far will be cleared up soon.
- The scene on the bench. I think it might have been the camera angle, or the sound, or something, but it felt a bit disconcerting and distracted.
The one-off weird bit:
- “Get me another drink?” Really? Really? Loser.
What made me cry a bit:
- Vivian in bed alone near the end, as the counterpoint to the opening of the two parter.
- “Pride.”