As If.

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
raincitygirl76
dat-is-chill-ghafa

jacob's change of showcasing svetlana and ilya's friendship has gotta be, among many, one of my favourite changes from the book holyyyy shit. ep 5 had so many of my favourite scenes but seeing the conversation between svetlana and ilya where they're just reiterating their unconditional love for eacother as platonic (fuckbuddy) soulmates it adds to much to svetlana as the strongest constant and grounding pillar (in a different way to shane) in ilya's life. it provides backdrop to the support he has available within ilya's claustrophobic life in russia, but more than that it expands ilya's character sm. his care and love he shows loudly towards svetlana shows how loyal and compassionate he's capable of being, and that despite svetlana who deeply understands him and reiterates his capacity to love and deserve love, ilya's feelings towards shane are incomparable and cannot be substituted physically OR emotionally... oh how i WEEEEEP

raincitygirl76

I also appreciate that in Ilya’s confrontation with Alexei at the restaurant after the funeral, Ilya took it physical because his brother insulted Svetlana. Not calling Ilya himself a “whiny faggot” yet again, not insulting Shane (whom Alexei doesn’t know), but Svetlana, Ilya’s sometimes fuckbuddy (but more importantly) best friend.

There’s a big table full of people who are mostly biologically related to Ilya, there’s Alexei who’s now his closest living biological relative, since both their parents are now dead. But Svetlana seems to be the only one at that restaurant who actually gives a shit about Ilya in the way family is supposed to. So when Alexei insults her, that’s Ilya’s last straw.

And of course Alexei’s go-to insult for Svetlana is “whore”. Because an insecure cishet white guy with a drug problem would naturally reach for a sexual insult for a woman he dislikes. Especially since he likely suspects (quite correctly) that his little brother cares far more about Svetlana than he cares about Alexei himself. And that now their father is dead, Ilya is about to turn off the financial taps, and he’ll have to find different ways to pay for his drugs.

Yes, the show is a romance. The romantic relationship between Shane and Ilya is central. But nobody can survive on romantic love alone. People need friends and family (sometimes found family like Svetlana) as well. Shane can’t be all things to Ilya and Ilya can’t be all things to Shane.

And I think it’s significant that Ilya finally tells Shane he’s in love with him (although in Russian, which Shane doesn’t speak) after Svetlana basically gives him the okay. She knows Ilya loves her. She also knows Ilya is in love with a man she hasn’t met, who’s in Ilya’s phone under the alias “Jane”.

And Svetlana is basically, “It’s okay. I know you’re in love with him and scared to admit it. I don’t think you love me less because you’re in love with this man. You deserve to be happy with him.”

And that’s when Ilya calls Shane. Because he doesn’t only need Shane’s romantic love, he also needs Svetlana’s support. Someone who isn’t in love with him, but who genuinely wants to see him happy and fulfilled.

heated rivalry
corseque
corseque

romance 101 — it’s not enough to hinge the whole thing on ‘will they or won’t they’ the real interest is the lack the characters have within them, and how they fill that lack with the help of/because of the other person. We’re not looking at two people kissing, we’re looking at the characters getting assistance, guidance, emotional completion, maturation, transformation, spiritual apogee, building new foundations, physical/emotional safety, old wounds healing, becoming a stronger and braver person because they met their love.