Heated Rivalry's Alexei Rozanov: Ilya's difficult choice

Allegorical Character - Part 2

Andrei’s insignificance in the book, “Heated Rivalry”, Tierney spun Alexei into a character worthy of analysis and discussion in the series. (Thought let me be clear that I’m sure he had a specific purpose in the book. I’m just not great at interpreting subtext in novels.) He’s not my favorite side character but he can tell us more about Ilya.At one point Tierney said Ilya was his favorite character in the Game Changers Universe created by Reid. Considering the amount of subtext Tierney wove into this show for Ilya, I believe it. I haven’t found as much for Shane. Though I promise to return to him soon enough as there is more to uncover for him.

Filmmakers leave clues

Filmmakers are masters at hiding information about characters and even whole story lines within their films. I once saw someone say in an interview that most of us think TV shows were a natural progression after movies. But, really TV shows naturally evolved from radio programs and movies naturally evolved from paintings. When people listened to the radio they were usually doing something else with their hands. So, the TV shows of the late 20th and early 21st centuries were based on the idea that people would be busy with other things while they had the TV on in the background. It was less of a visual media and more of an auditory one. But, movies evolved from paintings which require the viewer to give their undivided visual attention to a piece.

Painters fill their work with visual metaphors and covert (or not so covert) messages through color, textures, light, sound, perspective placement of objects, people and animals. And, most movies follow this same code of visual story telling. As someone more analytical in nature, I can appreciate a painting but not always detect the intention of the painter. Or, at least, not all of the meanings being conveyed. I’ve never been interested in the practice of analyzing paintings and have never learned what to look for.

And, I can confidently say that until about 3 years ago, I was not interested in film analysis either. It just took one good show, one good teacher, and a gaggle of unlikely online friends from all over the world to change my mind.

Today through the new streaming platforms the TV show and film media are merging. The new version of a 6-8 episode season on pick-your-preferred streaming platform is based more on the style and motives of filmmakers. Except these “movies” are carefully designed to exist within multiple episodes.

My wife and I just finished the 6th season of the Hands Maid’s Tale. Each season was a visual feast. I dared not work on side projects lest I miss a breathtaking shot filled to the brim with symbolism. My crochet project to create Rocky from the Project Hail Mary movie for my wife can attest to my lack of interest lately. Along with the beautiful cinematography, that show brims with subtext.

I believe Heated Rivalry fits into this category. It’s not a TV show dotted with laugh tracks and studio-audience gasps. It’s a show you can’t take your eyes away from, not necessarily because every shot is packed with symbolism that leaves you gutted like Hand Maid’s Tale. But each scene, line, blocking, prop, costume, lighting choice, and character tells a story that gives the viewer more information than on cursory glance. You have to pay attention. These articles are a direct result of me paying way too much attention. But, you’re here too. So, we’re in good company.

For my regular followers and my gaggle of film analysis friends much of what I’m about to say is old news. But, newcomers might need a little bit of explanation about how I (and you too) can find the subtext in film.

When I analyze film like an Art Historian studies a painting, I’m looking for subtle signals given to us by the filmmakers which tell a story in the story. In the article about Grigori, we discussed the curious change of listing the countries Ilya would play against and shouldn’t lose to when Grigori switches out the word “Canada” for “him”. This odd choice of switching out a country name for “him” was meant to clue us into something else that scene was designed to convey. The audience and Ilya both knew that “him” alluded to Shane. But, why switch a country name out for “him”?

The scene really seemed like a throwaway scene. We don’t have a need to see Ilya’s father berate him. We know from Grigori’s introduction how much disdain he has for Ilya. Filmmakers don’t waste time on screen. And, from what Tierney and his production team say about the budget of the show, their budget was too tight to waste on unnecessary fluff. Time is money. That scene was not fluff. It was designed for a specific reason and “him” was the clue to us, the viewer, to delve further into the true meaning of this scene.

Each of those countries Grigori listed is a man that Ilya is attracted to and Grigori, representing Ilya’s internalized homophobia, is disgusted at each match Ilya lost against that country’s team. Each loss means a moment of weakness in Ilya. Moments that reveal to him his attraction to men when he has been conditioned, whether from society, family, or his own doing, to only have desire for women.

That “him” was the key to unlock that scene. But, it was also a clue to the purpose of Grigori in the whole series. So, while little clues help in uncovering subtext in a scene, I also look for big picture ideas. Because filmmakers really do think about how they can convey underlying ideas from the first page in the script to the very last. They embed clues revolving around a core idea whenever they get the chance and then do that again with 15+ other ideas weaving them all together in a magical story brought to life. Actually, the last time I checked my “Write about this” note on my phone, 34 topics filled the white screen with others that I think of almost weekly.

So, when analyzing film we have to look at all of the similar details; Form a theory about what we think that character, prop, idea or concept on screen represents based on those details; And, then we test our theory by going back through each of those instances to make sure it fits everywhere.

If you begin to analyze film, may I suggest you start here? After watching a film-for-TV series or a movie you can return to, look for scenes that don’t seem to further the story. Those are often the scenes where filmmakers hide the keys to unlocking the subtext.

I have written several articles in this blog where I started out with one idea and as I painstakingly held up my theory to the evidence on screen, it didn’t fit. Sometimes the ideas weren’t mine (I credited the original creator appropriately) and I ended up disproving their theories to my disdain. I very much want to support and uplift other creators. But, if their theory doesn’t work, I’m going to state otherwise.

Other times, they were my ideas and they didn’t work either. And, for the most part, if there is a lull between articles, it’s most likely because I’ve started off in one place in an article, had to walk away from my work in frustration at my wrong take, and, then, come back after mulling over the problem for a week or two with, hopefully, a better theory. So, unless you have the ear of the filmmaker for that particular show or film and can ask them outright if your theory is correct, you’ll just have to muddle through the process one line and one scene at a time.

One of the reasons it took me so long to put out the Grigori article is because I worked out Alexei while nailing down Grigori’s purpose too. (Besides the fact that my wife had her knee replaced and I was occupied with her recovery.) I had to make sure I was confident in them both because they are so interwoven in the show. And, I have my film analysis friends as a spring board for my ideas too. We discuss them together sometimes. Sometimes we’re right and sometimes I realize we’re not once I really start digging into the evidence. In one instance, I was also originally wrong about Grigorl’s purpose which conflicted with a friend’s theory about Alexei. It was a mess.

The point is don’t get discouraged if you start to try to unravel subtext and his a dead end. It happens to us all.

I usually structure my articles by discussing scenes from the beginning of the series and work my way through each scene that includes the idea we’re analyzing. Somewhere along the way I can’t fathom dragging you all through any more details without giving my idea away. So, let’s start at the beginning. Wait, I think I already tried that earlier when I introduced the actor above. Let’s try again.

Alexei’s Introduction (for real this time)

How does Tierney first introduce us to Alexei? Alexei calls Ilya six months after Ilya and Shane have been drafted by the MLH. Ilya and Shane flirted heavily in that gym with Ilya experimenting a little with some dominance over Shane. He seems very confident and direct with Shane. He’s giving nothing but “You’re hot. Let’s have sex.” vibes. Shane reads the signals well enough but isn’t sure what to do about them because there is no gay sex in hockey. In screen time though, six months is just the next scene after Ilya makes Shane drink water in the gym. And, let’s not forget what water means hereeither. Ilya feels something for Shane but between what we see on film and what we know in the subtext, it’s very confusing feelings.

Take a minute to look at that scene. It’s in the “Rookie” episode 1 around the 9:30 minute mark. The title card says “Six Months Later”, then “Ottawa, Ontario” and lastly, “International Prospect Cup”. Ilya lays on his hotel room bed watching what looks like the countdown on New Year’s Eve. Pretty boring and standard hotel room with Ilya lounging on the bed alone on this celebratory night.

But, I’m mostly annoyed by the mirror image of the TV. We see two countdowns because of the mirror that perfectly reflects the image on the screen. The mirror is visually distracting for me and seems to take over the whole shot. Our minds are automatically drawn towards motion. But, which side of the screen do we focus on? It’s a visual tug-of-war between the TV screen and the mirror image of it.

Did your subtext spidey sense go off yet? If you’re new here and even if you have read the article on Grigori, you probably didn’t catch it. You should stop here now and read this article on mirrors so the rest will make sense.

But, if you did catch it, you know mirrors are very important clues to help us detect what’s happening in the subtext. As I lay in bed awake thinking about this small scene, I thought “that mirror is placed exactly where Ilya’s head and upper body are beyond the wall”. There are other places in that hotel room that Ilya could have been positioned to watch the ball drop. None looked more comfortable but it was a choice for him to be on the bed behind the position of the mirror in our perspective.

No other place in the room could a camera stand and give us that same perspective: mirror positioned so that it perfectly aligns with Ilya’s head and torso that we know logically exists behind that wall. Even if the camera was positioned 50 cm higher or lower in that same location, we would not get that shot. (I did talk about taking the time to really think about how scenes are shot in the Mirrors are a Metaphor for Hiding article.)

And, we can sit here debating whether or not that camera-to-mirror shot is intentional or not. It’s likely some fans have already done so. But, if you’ve ever been in a hotel room that tiny, usually the only mirror is in the bathroom. That mirror is there on purpose and that shot from the door of the room to include that huge mirror is definitely on purpose.

I talked at length in the Sasha article about how the characters in the main story are sometimes seen in a mirror with a minor character, like Sasha, if that minor character reflects something about the main character. I even used a ridiculous picture from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” to show how one character can impersonate another: the young, beautiful, thin, socially-acceptable looking woman disguises the evil, ugly, large, old sea witch. (Listen, don’t come at me about those characterizations until you read the other article. I briefly touch on how wrong I believe those characterizations are.) They are two bodies but one person. One of the bodies is the reflection or ‘fake’ version of the character in question. The illustrators wanted us to know whatever the new version of the witch represented the original version in a different body. Ilya joins Sasha in a bathroom full of mirrors and we know immediately Sasha is some version of Ilya.

But, Ilya is the only character in this dark hotel room. There are no other characters in the shot to fill a mirror with Ilya that would grab our attention. How are we to know that who he is about to talk to on the phone is mirroring him if there isn’t a mirror there? I mean we could use our subtext skills eventually to figure it out but a mirror is a filmmaker’s mark to pay attention. That we must.

So, that mirror should make you sit up and ask “what or who is being mirrored here?” If you watch the whole scene through you’ll see that Ilya takes two phone calls: one from his brother and one from his dad. Considering the mirror placement and lack of any other characters in that room, we are to understand with those mirrors that the people he interacts with on the phone are who we should be paying attention to: the one (or ones) mirroring Ilya. Because both of those characters don’t move the story forward. Their purpose alone gives us information about Ilya. Grigori and Alexei are not characters in their own right. Yes, they are named characters with lines and story arches. But, they don’t move the narrative in any measurable amount for them to be part of the show’s purpose.

To begin, the shot is dimly lit. The only light coming from the TV itself. We curiously only see Ilya’s legs at first. Then it cuts to a shot from Ilya’s point of view and we see Ilya shaking his foot in an action we can all probably relate to which is nervousness or jitters. So, the filmmakers want us to see that Ilya is nervous about something.

Well, he’s about to be on the ice with Shane again and the last time they were together Ilya was sure that Shane was interested in him in that sweaty gym scene. Then the focus is pulled to the phone screen and his feet blur in the background. Notice what disappears from view. The mirror. We see three missed calls from “Colonel” and then an incoming call from Alexei.

When Ilya takes the call from Alexei he sighs heavily and his tone is nothing but impatient with his brother. The shot pulls back to the original location where we see Ilya and the mirror. Ilya commences a conversation with Alexei with that mirror on blast in our face.

So, we’re already pondering that Alexei mirrors Ilya but we should look for more proof. Now, you might be taking out your handy-dandy Mirror Character identification list I proposed in Rose’s article. And, most of the time I’d congratulate you on remembering to see how many ways Alexei mimics Ilya. However, I think we can toss that list out at the onset because the filmmakers already set us up for success with the mirror placed in front of Ilya’s upper body. A cursory trek through that list doesn’t provide me with anything similar to Ilya besides a shared last name. But, that’s to be expected as they are siblings. They don’t have a shared story arch, similar clothing, characteristics, goals or status. The physical mirror is our initial clue to Alexei’s purpose in the show,

Let’s take a look at the dialogue in the scene to find out more:

Translation here by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr and Archive of Our Own. Apologies if I misrepresented any of their translations.

Ilya - What the fuck is going on? Why is Dad calling me?

Alexei - Oh my God! Happy New Year, little brother.

Ilya - Happy New Year, Alexei, but…

Alexei - How’s it going, handsome boy?

Ilya - What is up with Dad? What’s with him?

Alexei - What the fuck are you talking about? Dad is fine.

Ilya - He calls me all the time.

Alexei - Because you, idiot, lost the damn match.

Ilya - What the fuck do you want from me, Alexei?

Alexei - Listen, here’s the situation. Can you toss me a little bit of money? C’mon, please.

Ilya - I have no more money, Alexei! My bonus is done, man. You snorted most of it!

Alexei - Wah-wah, you pathetic faggot, Ilyushka

Ilya - Go fuck yourself.

Alexei - Oh, just screw you. Unbelievable.

So, we see the ball dropping in the TV and the mirror (I mean, how can we not?) and the first thing Alexei says is “Happy New Year, little brother.” Then, Ilya mirrors it back. Bingo.

There is the second piece of evidence that Alexei is a mirror of some sort of Ilya’s because of his mention of the New Year from both of them. Of course that is a very normal thing to say to anyone on New Year’s Eve. We have to remember Alexei is not a real person. Tierney wrote that line on purpose with that intentional shot of the New Year’s Eve celebration on the TV and mirror reflecting it. (Yes, I know a version of this scene is in the book too. But, Tierney puts it to good use as you will see later.)

Also, we eventually know Alexei is an ass to Ilya. He could have said a host of other things to rattle, condescend to or attempt to manipulate Ilya. That line, along with that physical mirror, is the key to connecting Alexei as some sort of Mirror Character of Ilya. We just don’t know yet what Alexei is mirroring.

If you watch the scene fully, you’ll see Ilya at one point stand in such a way that he can be seen in the mirror while Alexei is still on the phone. But, when he talks to his father for the second call, Ilya moves to the bed. The camera zooms in so that we no longer see the mirror on the right which to me indicates the scene with the Mirrored Character ends.

Even if Ilya is talking to his father on the phone, his father is not who mirrors Ilya. That was exclusive to Alexei. Overwhelmingly we see the mirror when on the phone with Alexei but no mirror when talking with Grigori. So, Grigori isn’t a mirror for Ilya but Alexei is. (And, I always breathe a sigh of relief when the evidence I’m considering for a current article corroborates theories in my previous articles.)

Sasha mirrored a portion of Ilya’s life, his younger, wilder self. Rose was a whole character mirror I think. She gives us insights into what Ilya thinks and feels right now in her dialogues with Shane. The challenge here is for us to determine what Alexei mirrors back to us about Ilya.

Let’s continue with the dialogue now that we know Alexei mirrors Ilya in some way. Ilya shares his concern about their dad’s cognitive stumble because he’s not yet sure what Grigori suffers from even if he has a small inkling. Alexei doesn’t seem to notice or care if he does notice. So, Alexei doesn’t seem to notice or care about Ilya’s internalized homophobia. Nor does Alexei seem to care about the shame Ilya harbors about his more pressing attraction to Shane.

Frustrated with that line of thinking, Ilya changes the subject to get to the heart of the call. Alexei asks for more money and ends by calling Ilya a gay slur. (Not a great introduction Alexei. You’re not winning any Brother-of-the-Year Awards here.)

Let’s rewind though. Alexei without any specific reason brings up the fact that Ilya lost his most recent match, which he determines is the reason Grigori called Ilya. Alexei figures that Grigori called to berate Ilya for his poor performance.

What an interest jump. Why would Alexei bring that up when it wasn’t a discussion point prior and in which he believes is the only possible reason why Grigori would call? Alexei has been paying attention to Ilya’s hockey failures. He deliberately calls attention to the fact that Ilya lost a match which really is, again, a failure on Ilya’s part to deny his sexual attraction for a man. And that Grigori, Ilya’s internalized homophobia, might have a thing or two to say about it.

Now, intellectually, do we think Alexei knows what Grigori represents for Ilya? No. Alexei is an annoying and entitled brother created by a writer of books, fleshed out by a writer of scripts, and brought to life by Rogozine. He doesn’t think anything unless Reid or Tierney tells him to think it. And, he doesn’t have to for the sake of either of those mediums.

Alexei’s purpose is a screenwriter’s tool. A hammer is a tool. It doesn’t think. Alexei’s purpose is to create layers for Ilya by interacting with him in a way that makes sense to our world like a hammer’s primary purpose lodges nails into something. A brother in real life can be annoying and entitled when they interact with their siblings. A fictitious brother on screen can do that AND provide us with more information.

Tierney intentionally scripted that line for Alexei to say to Ilya.

Without addressing that comment about losing the match, Ilya switches subjects to get to why Alexei is calling him in the first place. Ilya does not want to consider that line of discussion about his inability to stop thinking about men.

Take a look at the lighting in this scene. Both Ilya and Alexei are in the dark. In my version, at least, Ilya can barely be seen at all and Alexei moves in and out of the shadows in an already dark room. Sometimes the shadows completely swallow his face.

While a dark introduction isn’t something that specifically reveals much to us at this moment, this is the first time we meet Alexei on camera. Introductions to characters usually set the tone for their role in the film moving forward. If we can’t see a character’s face, we already subconsciously feel uneasy about them. Seeing a face allows us to read the emotions crossing their face which allows us the knowledge of what is happening so that we feel as if we are in a position of power. The power of knowledge. We are powerless when we can’t see a character’s face and it makes us not trust them.

The filmmakers present Alexei as a character we are all supposed to dislike. We know that, throughout the series, he remains unlikable even to the little hair adjustment in the last scene.

As a quick reminder again, when do we meet Alexei in the larger narrative of this first episode? In the scene prior, even though it’s six months earlier, Ilya and Shane just swapped spit with that single water bottle. And, after Alexei’s introduction Ilya lost to Shane in the second Prospect Cup. So, Ilya’s desire for Shane begins to unfold and he’s losing the battle against this same-sex attraction towards him sandwiched around Alexei’s introduction.

Alright. So far we learned from that scene that Alexei mirrors something of Ilya. And, whatever he represents already knows about Ilya’s proclivity for men even if Ilya tries not to entertain those thoughts.

Alexei’s and Ilya’s second phone call and blocking trick hiding in plain sight

The next time Alexei joins us follows Shane’s interview. You’ll find it at about the 30 minute mark in “Rookies” episode 1. Ilya looks quite pouty about Shane’s interview in “perfect fucking French.” Why in the world would he be so sore about that? It’s ridiculous. Why would the filmmakers present this seemingly insignificant scene?

In the text, or what is literally presented on screen, we know that Ilya struggles with English and that Shane’s bilingual skills are more advanced than his. But, is that really why he is so ornery? Or, is he mad at himself for thinking Shane is hot and ‘perfect’? This works at both the text and the subtext level. He’s mad that Shane is hot in the text because they’ve already had sex once, they are rivals but thoughts of Shane don’t seem to want to get out of his head. He keeps meeting him on the ice during games and it seems to rattle him a little each time they do.

In the subtext, Ilya is mad at himself for still being attracted to Shane. Those feelings haven’t gone away and he’s quite frustrated about them. He’s been trying to deny his attraction to men for some time now. It’s been almost two years since he first spoke with Shane and felt a spark and Ilya still can’t get Shane out of his head? He’s having a harder and harder time with these same-sex feelings especially towards Shane.

And, wouldn’t you know it? The next scene is a screaming match over the phone with Alexei. Tierney just throws us right in there with Ilya’s anger.

While this next analysis only confirms our assumptions that Alexei is a mirror for Ilya, it is an interesting filming technique that I’ve never noticed before but I’m sure has been employed. Then, we can dig into the dialogue. If you have an example where you have seen this type of blocking with two characters, please feel free to tell us about it in the comments.

When two characters talk on screen such that we only see one character at a time, the faces will usually turn in such a way that we recognize they are talking to each other. One face is usually towards the right of the screen facing the left (or forward). When the camera switches to the other character, their face is to the left of the screen facing the right (or forward). Or, at least one actor takes up one side of the screen and the other actor takes up the other side of the screen even when the actors are not in the shot together. Editors splice together the film in such a way that our eyes track to the left and right of the screen watching their dialogue like watching the ball that tennis players hit back and forth across a court. We literally don’t even know we’re doing that or even that the filmmakers create that blocking and editing technique for us to follow the dialogue that way. But, they do.

If I haven’t explained yet or if you’re new to stage directions, blocking is the instructions on how an actor moves through the dedicated space on stage or on a film set. Most actors have very specific and detailed directions of where their body has to be even down to a hand placed on a leg in a certain way or their head bent in such a way to catch the light perfectly.

Most notably in this show we can see this tennis court blocking when Ilya calls Shane while huddled in the tunnel and with Shane in the stairwell on the other end of the call. You can probably envision it in your mind right now just by closing your eyes. Ilya’s body is usually on the left side of the screen and faces to the right and Shane’s body is usually on the right side of the screen and faces to the left.

This show does this with texting as well. It’s everywhere in this film and others too.

But…here. Take a look at this scene again while only looking at the character’s blocking. Go as far as to mute the scene and remove the subtitles if that is a possibility for you.

What do you see? They face the same direction at every shot and turn together. Their actions mirror each other. Each scene begins and ends with the actors facing the same direction. Storrie moves around quite a bit in each scene but always ends the scene facing the same direction as Rogozine.

These are not two characters talking to each other tennis-court style. We are shown again, by their mirrored blocking, that Alexei mirrors Ilya.

Before we leave this discussion about blocking, can I ask you to actually watch the scene on your own if you didn’t do it the first time around? What else do you notice that makes their blocking resemble a mirror image?

Did you find it? Take a look at their hands. When you look in a mirror your right hand becomes your image’s left. If you touch your right eye with your right hand while looking in a mirror, your reverse image peering back at you will touch its (their?) left eye with its left hand. Even though it’s on the right side of the mirror, the action happens on the left side of their body.

Alexei uses his right hand to hold the phone the entire conversation. And, Ilya uses his left hand the entire time. Neither switches hands or nestles their phone between their ear and their shoulder. They hold their phones and their actions track together as if they are mirror images of each other. You could even imagine a mirror placed in front of their faces for these two shots and they would be perfect (ish) reversals of each other.

I’d say Rogozine has a much easier job than Storrie for this blocking as most of the time his hand is on the other side of his face from the camera. He doesn’t have to work quite as hard for us to see his face. Storrie’s hand blocks a portion of his face for most of the shots.

Directors and actors don’t usually like this. Anything blocking an actor’s face from the audience prevents us from seeing the expression on their faces which makes it hard for the viewer to follow their emotions through the story.

This interesting blocking choice only proves to us further that Alexei’s role will reveal more to us about Ilya if we know where to look.

One other thing that I think the filmmakers used to help us remember that Alexei mirrors Ilya is how Ilya presents in the first two scenes with Alexei. Ilya watches TV again in a dark hotel room by himself when he takes a call from Alexei just like the first phone call. The difference now is that Alexei clearly has a child and, maybe, a wife. Or, at the very least, he’s coparenting with the mother of his child.

Here is the dialogue translated by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr and Archive of Our Own.

Ilya - Twenty thousand bucks?

Alexei - Yes, twenty thousand dollars. Damn it. I’m glad everything with your hearing is in order.

Ilya - For what this time?

Alexei - To fuck you.

Ilya - This is the last fucking time.

Alexei - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, alright.

Ilya - But, I won’t send it today.

Alexei - Why the fuck not?!

Ilya - Here… here it’s midnight here, Alexei!

Alexei - Oh, please. You always have some dumb excuse, Ilya.

Ilya - How’s Dad?

Alexei - Oh, for fuck’s sake. What’s the problem now? What do you mean ‘What’s up with dad?’ Dad’s fine. We’ll manage without you. Go fuck yourself, Ilya

Ilya - On the phone yesterday, he asked me to bring home some bread.

Alexei - Well, he’s stupid.

Ilya - Good night, Alexei

Alexei - First thing in the morning.

This time the scene impresses upon us that Alexei wants money now to support a family and not just his drug and party habits. Though, the dialogue doesn’t explicitly point out the specific reason for needing more money. We’re led to believe it’s for his family because of who shares the screen with Alexei and how he turns to his new family at the end of the scene. But again, we actually don’t know why Alexei wants more money.

If we consider the beginning of the scene again, Ilya yells in exasperation at Alexei for demanding more money. Alexei doesn’t seem to think demanding money from his very highly paid hockey-player brother is a problem. After all, Alexei is just a police officer whose public servants wages only get him so far in life. Alexei is none too happy that Ilya doesn’t send money that instant. (Alexei, you should know by now there are time-zones in the world.)

Regardless, the conversation turns to Grigori. And Alexei, again, does not seem to be concerned about Grigori’s health. Adding insult to injury, Alexei even tells Ilya that “We’ll manage without you.” Whatever Grigori suffers from, Alexei knows that they can get through it together without Ilya. (Alexei, my boy, you couldn’t survive a day without Ilya’s financial support. What are you doing dude?) Ilya continues to insist that something could be wrong with Grigori by bringing up the bread request but with another dismissal by Alexei.

I think the line “We’ll manage without you” stands out above all of the other lines. It doesn’t fit with Alexei’s earlier assertions that Grigori is fine. With that line, he just as much admits that Grigori is going through something and that Alexei will be by his side while Ilya’s presence is unnecessary. He loudly communicates that Ilya’s only worth in their family is based on his ability to send money. Alexei will figure out the rest.

Let’s look at one more Alexei mention before I do the big reveal. Then, we can check out the funeral dinner and monologue to inspect my theory. We’ll go back to some of these scenes as well.

All-Star weekend

During the All-Star weekend Ilya receives a call from Alexei right after the beach scene and before Shane walks into the hotel room. He and Shane are at an impasse. Ilya says “We get together. We fuck. Is simple.” Shane returns with “Bullshit” because he knows something significant between them happened during the Tuna Melt scene. As Shane opens up more about his sexuality and his feelings for Ilya, Ilya tries to stop Shane from admitting them. He tries to deny that Shane has these feelings for Ilya.

Without saying anything further about his own feelings from Shane, Ilya answers with “I wouldn’t be able to go home again. Ever! Do you get that?” Ilya has been thinking about the possibility that they could be in a relationship and at this point no logical option of how that would work lies before them. So, he wants to be closer to Shane (per the happier parts of the Tuna Melt scene), to include Shane in more areas of his life other than just sharing a bed every few months and this statement reveals that to Shane. While their cards aren’t all out on the table yet, they get closer to sharing their desires for a future together.

But, Shane being Shane doesn’t entirely understand what about Russia prevents Ilya from living his life truly happy and out with Shane even if they are not out to the world. He wants to understand, so he asks “Because, your family?” “Because Russia! I would not be able to go back to Russia.”

And, here I think the conversation could end. It’s enough that Ilya can’t be in a relationship with Shane because of the homophobia in Russia. If we consider how Russia is presented in the show as a bad place for queers, we assume Ilya isn’t sure what would happen to him if certain officials in Russia found out about his sexuality upon his return to Russia. He could be tried and jailed, his passport could be revoked, and, if this fictional Russia is anything like the real one, he could meet his untimely death by ‘accidentally’ falling off a balcony from a very tall building. So, why do we need to continue to talk about Ilya’s family? Shane doesn’t really know anything about Ilya’s family and I’m sure that Shane wants to make sure that he fully understands all of the reasons why Ilya hedges. But, is that information really necessary for us?

Also, if Ilya starts a relationship with Shane, Ilya knows he’s not going to be able to walk back into the internal homophobia cage he built for himself. The plans that he created in his head who he should be with, a woman, and not Shane, can’t ever be put back into that box. He can’t return to ‘Russia’, or this metaphorical place in his head that holds that internalized homophobia and whatever Alexei is.

I didn’t answer the question yet, “Is that information really necessary for us?” above. Well, it is if we’re reading subtext. Ilya knows that not only can he not return to Russia but he implies here that both his brother and his father would not accept Ilya’s relationship with Shane and, therefore, his sexuality either because of their own personal misgivings or because of their profession (or both).

Ilya reveals that Grigori is “Old-Fashioned and sick”. Even though ‘old-fashioned’ can mean a wide variety of characteristics depending on the context in which it is mentioned, it definitely stands for homophobic in this instance. We know that Grigori represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia. And, ‘sick’ means dementia which we know represents the shame that Ilya has for his love for Shane.

Shane tries to help Ilya along here by suggesting ‘crazy’ or ‘cancer’. In most cases, both of those diagnoses can be treated with medication and other interventions. Not all, mind you. But, dementia has an inevitable end. There is no hope to reverse the effects of dementia. The patient will eventually die and not ever be what they used to be again.

I think that’s why Tierney chose that horrible end for Grigori. The dementia methodically kills Grigori and the meaning of both of those dies with his dad’s demise. (Grigori=internalized homophobia and dementia=shame of loving Shane.)

As Ilya breaks down, he aplogizes. The text shows us that Ilya is sad about his father’s decline. We can assume Shane also thinks Ilya is upset that Ilya can’t tell his family about his sexuality. Though that conversation between them hasn’t happened yet.

Shane just started to realize that living authentically is important. The one person he cared enough to reveal on his own that he is “100% gay” also isn’t living his life authentically. Shane understands that part, at least, is difficult. But, he doesn’t understand having a parent die at a young age nor having one slowly losing their reality to dementia. He’s lived a privileged life up to this point.

Ilya doesn’t want Shane to see him upset about any of it. They haven’t done this yet, let down their walls for the other one to see all of their hurts. And, this conversation certainly didn’t start out about Ilya. It first began with Shane’s coming out and demanding Ilya fess up about their shared feelings for each other. Ilya is also probably apologizing about how the conversation seemed to take a turn he wasn’t intending especially since it became about him instead of Shane.

But, since we know that Grigori’s dementia is the shame Ilya holds about his feelings for Shane, he’s apologizing in the subtext about his shame. He knows he shouldn’t be ashamed of his love for Shane but he is nonetheless. Shane holds and comforts him anyway.

Does Shane know the apology is for the hurt about not living authentically while losing a father to dementia or for the shame of loving Shane? I think it’s the former but the effect is the same. Ilya understands that Shane cares for him and will support him through it all.

The scene cuts to Shane clothed and about to leave the hotel room. Ilya chuckles but gives no explanation as to why when Shane asks. If we think about the beginning of that scene, Ilya ignores a call from Alexei. Ignoring that call in juxtaposition with Ilya’s and Shane’s plans to have sex represents more than just one brother choosing not to engage with his demanding brother.

If you think collectively about those three scenes, Alexei pops up every time Ilya thinks about Shane. In the first scene Ilya will play against Shane in the Prospect Cup which is why he is in that hotel room and, in the scene before, Ilya heavily flirted with Shane in the gym. (I see that nervous foot jiggle, Ilya.) His thoughts are consumed with Shane even if Shane isn’t on the screen or in the scene with him.

The second scene Ilya turns on his pouty face while watching Shane interview in French which then cuts to the shouting match with Alexei.

And, this third scene during the All-Star Weekend ends in sex. While a fourth previously unmentioned scene where Ilya and Shane have sex in Boston off-screen, Ilya also ignores a phone call from Alexei.

Now, Ilya finally does take a call from Alexei after a game even after the scene in Boston and Ilya is absolutely livid about Alexei contacting him. While Shane is nowhere to be found in this scene, I very much have a theory about why this scene does have Shane in it. But, that is a different metaphor for a different day.

Alexei does not go away when Ilya is thinking about Shane.

You’ve waited long enough….

Sometimes when trying to understand subtext in film, it helps to ask “When does this thing not happen?” Alexei never calls or texts Ilya when Ilya is with a woman. Because being with a woman isn’t the problem. Being with Shane is the problem. Alexei only reaches out to Ilya when Ilya is with Shane or thinking about Shane. He reaches out to Ilya often and at the most inappropriate times. So, whatever Alexei represents for Ilya happens to be when Ilya can’t stop thinking about or is with Shane.

While I don’t think Alexei is a real character (he mirrors some version of Ilya), think about how often he contacts the part of Ilya that IS living his authentic life. Alexei does not thrive in this forced role in Russia as a police officer now worrying about a growing family. He reaches out to his queer side often and persistently. He copes with his miserably confining life with drugs, cocaine, specifically. So, Alexei lives in a prison of his own making and it seems to sucks for him.

Bear with me as we go back through some of those major scenes I outlined and lock in some puzzle pieces of subtext analysis.

In the scene where Alexei asks for money for the second time, with his family in the background, I want you to remember Grigori represents something other than their father. Grigori represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia. Alexei’s role is aware of this allegorical representation.

Well, he doesn’t really know because Alexei doesn’t really think. He’s a tool. So, this Mirror Character of Ilya interacts with the concept of Ilya’s internalized homophobia. And, this Mirror Character admits that he is fully aware of Grigori’s inevitable demise and would very much like Ilya to bugger off. In the very scene Alexei tells Ilya to leave them well alone for this particular issue, Alexei looks at his new wife and baby.

Since Ilya and Alexei are brothers and they have the same father, Grigori, can we assume that they were exposed to the same sort of upbringing? They were conditioned to both fit into a very narrow definition of a man: One that can only be attracted to women. However, Alexei IS Ilya. But, this Ilya has a wife and child.

If you suffer from internalized homophobia, and are secretly queer, there is a potential to follow two extremely different paths: one where you accept yourself anyway, embracing your queerness, and one where you don’t. (Although, there are some less-worn paths between these two extremes that are always possible.)

One path provides peace that can include loving, full relationships with the right person, or persons, despite their physical bits. For Ilya, this path can only be realized once he banishes the internalized homophobia (Or, it dies from dementia (which is the shame of loving Shane). So. many. layers.)

The other path is a path of internal turmoil, forced relationships with the opposite gender based on half-truths and, maybe, even outright lies. You’re constantly plagued by thoughts in your head that you feel make you weak and less of a man (in this particular instance as women can suffer this issue as well). You reach for bandaids like drugs to help you escape from the queer thoughts. Some iterations of this result in abuse of the people around you because you abuse yourself inside. You can’t show up fully for your partners or family members even if you love them. They realize this, demand more of you, and you lash out or turn within furthering the cycle of isolation and self-hatred. It’s not a pretty picture.

Now, it’s canon that Ilya is bisexual. So, while Ilya could have fallen in love with a woman, he didn’t. He fell in love with a man. One can be bisexual and also have internalized homophobia. (I’m talking about you, Ilya.) And, maybe if Ilya fell in love with a woman, he wouldn’t have to address his internalized homophobia so ardently. He could have probably bumbled through life with his lovely wife and, maybe later, addressed his more complex sexuality. Hopefully his wife would accept his new, more realized, identity. And, they could still lead a beautiful life knowing and loving each other more fully. But, that’s not this show. And, Ilya doesn’t fall in love with a woman. Which means he has to very much address this issue right now.

If you haven’t read any of my other articles, you might think from this statement that I don’t think Ilya could be happy with a woman. Or, that I am against heterosexual relationships. You would be wrong. Alexei and Grigori are a part of Ilya’s story and I’m only reading the subtext as I see it.

The text shows us that Ilya is bisexual and enjoys romantic and sexual relationships with women and men even if he never labels himself bisexual. He most definitely could be happy with a woman but he admits later that he is in love with Shane.

The subtext tells us that he’s doing his best to accept his feelings for men. Eventually he comes to the conclusion that a life without Shane would be miserable, not necessarily that a life with a woman would be so.

And, my opinion of his desires are mute. Everything that I’m writing about is taken from the text and the reading of the subtext.

Hopefully, I’ve kept most of my bias out of my readings of the subtext. However, I am bisexual and can also see myself romantically with a woman or a man. But, like Ilya, my life would be miserable without my wife in it as his would be without Shane.

Back to that sad-sack of Alexei.

I AM implying that Alexei does not seem like a happy man in this life. He’s scrabbling for money from Ilya, his baby is crying throughout most of that scene and the mother of his child seems annoyed or frustrated with her responsibilities. And, while babies cry sometimes that baby was meant to cry for most of that scene.

That crying seems to indicate that something is amiss. He also has the ever looming possibility that his father will need more intensive care soon. Grigori’s decline is going to take up his time, patience and, maybe, quite a bit of money even if he chooses to ignore Grigor’s fate for now.

Here’s another self-explainer so you don’t think I’m heartless. I have children. I love kids. I have also once been a tired mom of two babies who wished she didn’t have one more responsibility on her plate. (Side eyeing the dog shedding fur all over my clean couch that my wife insisted we get that she can’t even take on walk anymore because she is still recovering from knee-replacement surgery AND she has a job that requires her to travel sometimes which leaves me with this dog responsibility I never wanted.) I do not judge this young mother at all. I was her albeit probably a decade older when we started a family.

My observation of this tableau is not a judgement of her or her ability to care for her child, it’s a realization that Alexei started checking the boxes of the heteronormativity game of life and it’s not going as he planned.

You need to understand that the filmmakers wanted you to see that Alexei’s life is not ideal. Things in it are not what he expected (Alexei, you sound a little bit like your baby crying over there). While it’s a brief scene, if we wanted to understand the subtext, the filmmakers had to show us as realistically as possible that his life was not what he thought it would be even though he followed the rules.

If Grigori fathered two sons who are raised in an environment flush with homophobia, yet who lead two different lives by choosing two different paths in which one is eventually happy and the other one is not, the filmmakers gave us the opportunity to see into both of those outcomes. Ilya could have become Alexei had he made different choices in life. Ilya could have checked all of the boxes a heteronormative society told him to. He might have been on that path for a moment there. But, he eventually made different choices to include Shane in his life.

Alexei represents an alternative outcome that none of us would wish on him: a life always scrambling for happiness but just out of reach. If you recall, this is the scene that highly choreographed Storrie and Rogozine’s blocking to match identically. Until the very last shot. Ilya looks down and slightly stage-right of the screen whereas Alexei looks stage-left of the screen.

I think that’s why Alexei’s and Ilya’s blocking diverts in the last scene. They took two different paths: one of the deconstruction of the internalized homophobia and one bowing to it. And, maybe this is the moment Ilya decides he has to take the path towards Shane.

So, what exactly does Alexei mirror for Ilya? I think Alexei represents a life of heteronormativity. A life that predetermines, restricts and confines someone along a set pathway with no option to exit. Alexei represents a life for Ilya had he not accepted his sexuality and actively fought against it at every turn. He chose to suppress his queerness and embrace only his opposite-sex attraction. He fell in line with the stepping stones to the quintessential heterosexual life. For bisexuals, that choice can be very attractive if you’re concerned with society’s acceptance of you in a highly heteronormative community.

Remember though, Russia is not really a place, it’s metaphorically Ilya’s thoughts in his head. He’d never be able to escape this unhappy place inside as represented by Alexei. That is no life to live.

Another possibility is that Alexei could represent the future Ilya had planned for himself after the end of his hockey career. This Ilya would eventually be stuck in Russia for the remainder of his life. He would have a thankless low-paying job that doesn’t allow him to meet what he thinks are his basic needs, a miserable wife (because of how he treats her), a life with children but one in which he can’t enjoy being their father and where bullies and berates his brother for being better than him (in his eyes). Because that is where Alexei is right now, in Russia.

I like this reading less because I’m partial to seeing Ilya choose to decide, in that moment when their blocking diverges, to deconstruct his internalized homophobia. But, it’s something for us to consider as we continue to pick apart this show one metaphor and allegorical character at a time.

Recall that line “We’ll manage without you”? Alexei recognizes that he doesn’t need a queer brother. Ilya’s queerness isn’t acceptable and they would be better off if he just left them all alone. Of course, this is really just an alternate Ilya trying to convince himself and us that he doesn’t need his queerness. He swallowed the heterosexuality pill society expected of him. This Ilya can manage just fine without those thoughts of men.

In the first scene outlined at the very top of this article is our introduction to Alexei. We see Ilya jiggling his feet nervously on the bed. What is Ilya nervous about? Ilya is nervous in the New Year’s Eve hotel scene because he continues to have thoughts about Shane that have taken root. And, the call from his internalized homophobia and the call from a life denying his true self show up to remind him that he should repress those feelings. But, he can’t no matter what.

The reason why Alexei is never really concerned about Grigori is because he doesn’t have to be. Alexei’s character is the emblematic portrayal of living his life in harmony with internalized homophobia. He chose the wife-life and repressed everything else. And, if Grigori’s dementia is Ilya’s slowly deteriorating shame for loving Shane, why would Alexei even recognize that? For the sake of self-preservation Alexei should very much ignore that condition. Otherwise, he’d have to look inward to dissect his true feelings. He never recognizes Grigori’s decline until the very end. He even calls Grigori “stupid” for asking Ilya for bread. Alexei thinks Grigori is “stupid” for having this shame.

And, if you agree with my theory from the Grigori article that, even in “Rookies” episode 2, Ilya wishes for the end of his shame for loving Shane by asking for this premature death in Grigori’s request for bread, Alexei also thinks Ilya is stupid to want to get over his shame. My apologies, that sentence was a pasta salad. Essentially, when a confused Grigori asks for the bread, and bread represents the last meal in the mortal world for the recently deceased, by asking for bread, Ilya is not asking to die early. He is requesting the shame he has for his love for Shane to die (all of the way back in episode 2).

Since dementia doesn’t go away and can’t be cured, the patient has to die. And, this patient is internalized homophobia. Alexei thinks the idea of his internalized homophobia dying is “stupid” at the same time he looks at his wife and child. Upholding his internalized homophobia is the only reason why he exists in the first place.

Alexei also mentions later how difficult it was to care for Grigori. (I bet Alexei. Especially if you’re not willing to address your internalized homophobia, it was probably really tough to think about how much Ilya loves Shane. “We’ll manage without you” - indeed you probably think you will.)

I think one could interpret Alexei’s actions in the short scene as just a new father trying to make sure his wife and new child are taken care of. But, taking into account what Ilya struggles with, how Alexei knows that he will alone have to manage Grigori (internalized homophobia) and his dementia (shame for loving Shane) none too soon and how two sons came from the same father, or two paths came from the same internalized homophobia, I think my read is correct.

Checking the theory:

As Ilya struggles to come to terms with his sexuality and his feelings for Shane, he’s confronted with Shane’s public, very heterosexual relationship with Rose. The montage in the beginning “Rose” episode 4 shows us that over several years, their intense schedules and off seasons divided by an ocean are punctuated by desperate trysts. Their usual interests satisfy them less, most notably Ilya’s interest in women.

But, Ilya is in Russia in his off-season so he has to be very careful there. Until you remind yourself Russia exists within Ilya. His disinterest in women could represent the diminishing hold heteronormativity has on him.

Shane publicly showcasing his relationship with Rose, reminds Ilya that this other life exists, one (represented by Alexei) in which he doesn’t embrace the full spectrum of his sexuality and in which he is married to someone he doesn’t appear to love with a child he doesn’t seem to want to pay attention to. His life is miserable. But, it’s the life he’s been told he has to build and one he convinced himself he will eventually lead. I’m sure Ilya really has to ponder if the alternative is worth it anymore.

Then this man, Shane, in “I’ll Believe in Anything” episode 5, waltzes back into his life forcing him to confront his sexuality and his internalized homophobia. In this soft moment in the All-Star weekend hotel room, Ilya glimpses a life he wants even if he doesn’t know how to get it yet. And that chuckle, while Shane exits the room, to me indicates that he understands the irony of his conundrum and the fact that he’s falling in love with this man even if that was never the plan. He struggles with these thoughts as he pinches the bridge of his nose at the close of the door. He’s in so much trouble with himself now that he doesn’t know how to get out of this spiral of loving this man while clinging to this expectation he has created for himself.

After the All-Star weekend their teams meet again in Boston, Ilya invites Shane over. Remember, they had an emotional breakthrough during the All-Star weekend. They are individually considering whether they want their relationship to grow even if they have only shared that implicitly with each other and there doesn’t seem to be a way to do that in their current lives. We all know now their relationship is no longer about just their physical attraction. The story now moves through how they communicate outside of their sex life. Regardless, sex is part of most adult romantic relationships, so that isn’t going away. That part of their life is stable now and no longer pushes the narrative forward for the sake of this TV series when it had in episodes 1, 2, and 4.

But, we know they just had sex because they are in Ilya’s bed in a state of ‘just-finished’. Ilya ignores a phone call but admits to Shane that the call is from his brother. We see Ilya say “fuck” under his breath. Shane assures Ilya he can take the call but Ilya is very much not interested in talking to Alexei at this point. Shane asks how his father is doing and if everything is okay at home. Ilya deflects Shane’s questions.

Not addressing the questions about Ilya’s father and his dementia while acknowledging his brother seems to show that maybe he’s come to terms with his sexuality and the shame of loving Shane no longer weighs on him quite so heavily. But, that life Alexei inhabits, the one where he’d imagined living with a wife or planned living in Russia after he retires, a heteronormative life, still haunts him. That thought will not go away (because Alexei won’t stop calling him for goodness sakes). How is he supposed to live with these two contradictory realities at once? The initially harder short road to a happy life with Shane and the much more socially acceptable, but in the long-term, more painful path within the confines heteronormativity. He has to pick one.

Am I sure about that last paragraph? Not really. But, if my theory is right, I think it’s a possible read of that scene.

So, if he’s come to terms with his sexuality and continues to meet Shane when he can, having to constantly tell this nagging idea of heteronormativity in your head to go away is exhausting. When Ilya says “What the fuck do you want?” to Alexei after one of his games showcases how little patience Ilya has with this notion this far into the season.

Bi-erasure

You may or may not have heard of bi-erasure. It’s simply when a person identifies as bisexual but they find themselves with a partner of one gender, their attraction to the other gender seems erased by the community. One is perceived as straight if they are in a relationship with the opposite sex or they are perceived to be gay if they are in a relationship with someone of the same sex. No matter who you are with, one part of the person’s sexuality seems to disappear.

There are times when this can be convenient. Being in a relationship with an opposite-gendered person allows one to be able to navigate safely in spaces that aren’t for queer people. They lie by omission for their protection which makes complete sense. (But, I wonder at what costs to the individual, their partner or the community?)

Could Ilya also wrestle with the issue that if he returned to Russia and married a woman, never came out completely, he would not be happy even if he was in love with his wife? Because, she would not know him fully. His desire for men, even if he only ever eventually desired his wife and never sought any sort of same-sex relationship once married, would never see the light of day. He would lie to her day in and day out, forever partially stuck in the closet. Would he ever be sure that she loved him for every part of himself even if Russia thinks that part is unsavory? Would he ever risk telling her? I’m not so sure he would.

Funeral Dinner Fight

Let’s take a look at the funeral restaurant scene around the 30 minute mark in “I’ll Believe in Anything” episode 5. After Ilya gets up from the dinner table and walks to a side room through those beads, good ole Alexei follows him. And, those huge mirrors really work hard in this scene. Those mirrors should send us all into a state of subtext heightened awareness if we didn’t catch them in the first scene with Alexei on the phone.

Alexei: Stop fucking avoiding me.

Ilya: If only.

Alexei: So?

Ilya: So what? Don’t fucking touch me.

Alexei: Then tell me the fucking plan.

Ilya: Jesus Christ. I don’t know yet, Alexei! He just died. Can I get a minute to breathe?

Alexei: And me? What about me? Do I get to breathe, too? Or, is that just something reserved for rich faggots who abandon their families?

Ilya: Abandoned? Who’s money do you live on, you piece of shit? Who puts food in your mouth and coke up your nose?

Alexei: I have a child, Ilya! And, a fucking wife! And me, I’ve spent the last five months taking care of our dying father every fucking day!

Svetlana: I thought I heard singing.

Alexei: Great. Now we have to listen to this whore run her mouth.

Svetlana: Stop, Ilya! Stop. He’s not worth it. He’s not worth anything.

Ilya: You can have my apartment. And there will be a trust for my niece. She can have it when she’s 18. And you will never, ever contact me again. If you do, I will use every piece of my fame and money and notoriety to make sure that you can’t show your face in this fucking city without someone wanting to break it open. So take what I offer, shut your fucking mouth and walk away.

These lines are taken from www.opensubtitles.org.

(I’ve omitted the remaining lines between Ilya and Svetlana as I don’t think they are relevant for this analysis but will be in another article.)

In the text, a desperate Alexei appears to be whining that Ilya has not spoken enough to Alexei about what will happen next. Interesting considering that Ilya has been in Russia long enough to have phone sex with Shane and drink something (Water or vodka? Does it matter if you know about what they each represent?) while looking out of the window. Alexei is having a Stage 10 meltdown about “the plan”.

What plan? Well, we’d probably infer Alexei is asking for money again. Alexei feels like he is not getting enough information about “the plan”. Maybe Alexei needs money to cover the funeral costs or Alexei wants to remind Ilya that Ilya can’t cut financial ties with him now that their father has passed. Alexei still seems to want compensation. (For what, Alexei? Existing?)

Alexei is that alternative Ilya who does not know what to do with his life now that Ilya doesn’t care about upholding some sort of heterosexual façade. This version of Ilya will quickly disappear from his consciousness and Alexei very much does not want to disappear. And, that expectation tries to roll right over Ilya now that Ilya sees an alternative future for himself. Ilya can’t even breath for a second in his new mindset before this forced life of exclusive heterosexuality comes right up to him violently to demand Ilya to “tell me the fucking plan” about Alexei’s future, about whether or not Ilya will continue to tread the path toward heteronormativity.

Nice little trick there filmmakers. The dialogue and desperation appear to be about money but Alexei never explicitly demands money. This dialogue means something very different than what most people assume it’s about.

This line by Alexei “And me? What about me? Do I get to breathe too? Or, is that just something reserved for rich faggots who abandon their families?” basically outlines what I just proposed.

The literal reading of this line says that Alexei demands that Ilya not abandon the financial commitments Alexei assumed he would continue to provide based on past events. Alexei, his wife and child are the ‘family’ here. And, why not throw in a slur there for good measure.

But, the subtext says something different. Ilya decides to abandon his previously held belief that he has to fall in line with heteronormativity, deny his same-sex attractions, and marry a woman to start a family. He literally did just abandoned the idea of that future ‘family’…for Shane. (No Alexei, you don’t get to breathe anymore actually. Not if Ilya has anything to say about it.)

While the slur was unnecessary from a brother, it’s half true. Because Ilya is queer. And, Ilya did abandon that nebulous future wife and children to follow the ‘gay’ side of his sexuality for Shane.

Alexei goes to such length as to actually try to physically restrain Ilya in this scene when he knows Ilya is much stronger than him. This proves how desperate Alexei is to get Ilya to fall in line. Or, Ilya sees how aggressively this confining lifestyle does not want to let go of him. Heteronormativity’s power is seductive. It would be so easy to abandon everything he’s worked hard to overcome just to make his life less messy. But, Ilya is done with all of that. He must draw the line in the sand now that Alexei can’t cross because loving Shane and honoring his true self feels right for Ilya.

Ilya offers Alexei a portion of his wealth in a trust fund for his niece and his apartment, which he would gladly never see again if it meant Alexei is gone. Ilya never wants to be plagued by these thoughts of fitting into this narrow definition of a man that he believed he had to be. And, that apartment seems like an awfully big metaphorical heteronormative closet to me.

Ilya basically responds with “I’m the one who’s been funding your life.” Or, “That was me creating you and your life in my head; this vision that I no longer hold dear. And, now you need to go away.”

Considering that we know Grigori represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia and his dementia represents his shame for loving Shane and Grigor just died, Ilya is no longer tethered to this narrow idea of how he has to live his life. He’s free now. He can love Shane without any internal restraints. He finally figured out how to accept his sexuality and his love for Shane and he’s going to do whatever he can to give himself fully to Shane even with the fear of losing their hockey career hanging over their heads. For now, he probably thinks he can step into loving Shane with his whole chest, admit this love to Shane eventually, and continue to live separately for as long as their hockey careers keep them employed. What fortuitous timing that Scott outs himself with Kip in just a few short momentous scenes later.

But, why is it important for us to know that Alexei took care of Grigori’s last few months on this planet? Well, Alexei watched Grigori’s slow decline. He saw Ilya methodically deconstruct this fear that held him from fully realizing his true self. Alexei witnessed that demise which is why he was ready to corner Ilya in the restaurant and demand a plan. Alexei was afraid of what else might come to pass. Just because the internalized homophobia was gone doesn’t mean Ilya can’t still abide by the strict rules of heteronormativity. Ilya is bisexual. So, even if he doesn’t hate the half of himself that desires men, he could still just date women and eventually marry one. He doesn’t have to honor and explore that side of him just because he doesn’t fear it. That would be easier considering his profession. Alexei now has one last chance to root himself back into Ilya’s consciousness before he too is expelled. As we saw, that failed miserably.

I love to think of Ilya telling Alexei to take a hike is one of the last connections with Russia. Once Alexei’s gone and Ilya reveals his love for Shane, Ilya never returns to Russia. Technically, there isn’t time in the series to go back because why would we interrupt anything at the cottage?

What I love even more is how forcefully Ilya tells heteronormativity to get out of his life. He leaves no room for interpretation that this path no longer suits him. He threatens heteronormativity with every power in his capacity to never, without any doubt, make an appearance in his head again.

I wonder if “someone” in “you can’t show your face in this fucking city without someone wanting to break it open” refers to Shane. I bet it does because when they are at the cottage Shane does everything he can to convince Ilya that they can be together by developing a plan for their future. One where they are no longer rivals to the public, but friends, and in which Ilya can obtain a Canadian passport. So, Shane is now part of the plan to help Ilya stay mentally healthy. To keep at bay the destructive thoughts (Russia) that make him hate himself.

Maybe Ilya will confess to Shane eventually that he struggled with these thoughts and if Ilya ever seems to hesitate about their shared life or feels uncomfortable about his sexuality again that Shane has permission to metaphorically “break [his face] open” over it.

Confession or not, Shane will be an integral part of Ilya’s journey of maintaining a healthy mental state from here on out. And, I think the monologue proves that.

The Monologue

When Ilya calls Shane in the tunnel, Ilya says his “family is at their worst”. Ilya is in Russia and his family are all of these competing ideas inside Ilya’s head. He mentions how terrible Alexei is and how that makes Ilya terrible too. Makes sense. The seductive ease of living a heteronormative life despite the long-term harm does not always easily retreat in your mind even if you desperately want it to.

Ilya also says “Maybe I’m upset about the wrong thing.” In the subtext, “Maybe I’m upset about the wrong thing” sounds like he should not be so worried about telling heteronormativity to ‘get out!’ If you think about it, it is an antiquated and restrictive lifestyle that does more harm than good. Why be mad about letting that framework go if you no longer fit into that mold? Be mad about losing so much time with Shane or at the hockey culture preventing you from living proudly bisexual.

Shane wants to know if Ilya is upset about his dad dying, or his internalized homophobia dying. “I wish it could be different. I wish he could know me.” On the surface we can analyze how Grigori was an aloof father only noticing his son when it benefitted him or when Ilya made a mistake. We can assume Ilya also would have wanted his father to see the good in him too; Take interest in his life beyond hockey. Maybe he wishes Grigori could have been a more compassionate husband to Irina. One could read a myriad of different possibilities Ilya wanted from his father that are now lost to him.

In the subtext, he wishes he hadn’t for years wasted energy on an ideal he would never achieve. And, think about what that means to have his internalized homophobia “know me”? Homophobia is an unnecessary fear. And, so much fear for nothing. Why do we do that to ourselves or let others do that to us? That fear stifles us, hides us in closets, and warns us to make ourselves smaller to be more palatable for the world. So much joy lost to pain. So much love hidden or rejected. So many opportunities for community turned to isolation. Lifetimes of pain endured for what? Fear? Yeah, I’d say you’re truly “upset about the wrong thing.”

When Ilya switches to Russian, he talks about how he never wants to come back to Russia. Or, he never wants to visit this horrible space in his head anymore. The thoughts that occupy this space only harm him. Considering the two family members we know most, Grigori and Alexei, are actually ideas that consume him, he alludes to the fact that there are other members of his family that also take from him because Alexei is the only one of those two still alive. It doesn’t matter what he does for these thoughts, they just want more and don’t give him anything kind or helpful in return. Well, when you allow yourself to be consumed with self-hatred from many fronts, it is hard to feel good about yourself in any capacity.

He said “I have nothing for these people.” Could this be that no matter what he does for these thoughts, he is never good enough. He’s never good enough for himself? And, he eventually feels empty from all of the giving to these thoughts. What good has all of that gotten him?

“My brother ... he always hated me. And, I know why, but it kills me. And, it kills me that he took care of my father and I didn’t. But I couldn’t! I wasn’t here. I still paid for it all. And he will never forgive me. For any of it. For existing.”

On the text level, Alexei could hate Ilya for many reasons: better looking, more successful, given more attention by Grigori, perceived to be loved more by Irina, pissed that Ilya found Irina dead, mad that Ilya’s hockey prowess as a child took resources away from Alexei, and on and on and on. But, we know why Alexei hates Ilya. Ilya refuses to fit into the box Alexei stuffed himself into.

When Alexei took care of their father, it was really the idea of heteronormativity taking care of internalized homophobia. Heteronormativity is the prevailing idea that everyone in that particular society are heterosexuals. There is no deviation from women having attractions to only men and men having attractions to only women. We all know that there is no society in which all members of it are heterosexuals. A society that lives under the umbrella of heteronormativity erases whole communities of non-heterosexuals. In a society that doesn’t recognize homosexuals, bisexual or transgendered people, fear and hatred of the people who don’t fit into the rigid binary of straight female or straight male, leads to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

How well could queer Ilya who slowly deconstructs his own fears take care of internalized homophobia? He wouldn’t be able to. “I wasn’t here…And he will never forgive me. For any of it. For existing” means, “I left those thoughts behind because I didn’t want them anymore and Alexei doesn’t understand how I can’t continue to live under these constraints. He’ll never forgive me for turning my back on my upbringing of internalized homophobia. That thing which created him in the first place.”

“I have no one now” means “I have kicked all of the thoughts that I once clung to and don’t know who I am without them. I have none of the structures that held me up for so long. I’m lost now because there is no road map now of how to live. I have to forge that path on my own.”

If you’ve ever deconstructed anything in your life that you were brought up to believe but later realized was not right for you like religion, racism, patriarchy, homophobia, political party affiliations etc. learning a new way is hard. There are no longer the same rules and expectations in your life you used to follow. You have to create new rules for yourself that work within your new moral code.

So, you are free but that freedom comes with a cost. The cost of choosing every day how to live outside of that cage that was built for you and by you. It can be scary to navigate a life where the people and communities that built and support those cages walk away from you as you forge your new life. They stay stuck and you move on and they don’t know how to support you since you no longer share the same values.

The only thing that is constant in his life is Svetlana. She is a positive force in his life who loves and supports him no matter who he falls in love with.

Ilya ends the Russian part of his monologue admitting that he loves Shane and doesn’t know what to do about it. We have arrived folks! He has ‘killed’ his internalized homophobia because losing the shame of loving Shane overcame that self-hatred. AND, he kicked out of his head the restrictive forces of heteronormativity. He’s essentially free to live his life on his terms and love who he loves (at least to the person most important in his life) …… up until the point the cultural expectations of hockey remind him he has more hurdles to overcome.

Let’s check in with Rose

Now that Ilya is free from the expectations of heteronormativity and his shame for loving Shane is six feet under, there is one more little piece of subtext from Rose that can tell us more about him internally processing his feelings for Shane. This scene happens late in “I’ll Believe in Anything” episode 5 after Ilya’s monologue and while Shane recovers at his parents cottage.

Ilya has just visited Shane in the hospital having spent the whole night probably awake and completely in the dark about Shane’s injuries. For the sake of maintaining appearances for the hockey world, he hasn’t shared with Shane or anyone else (Looking at you Svetlana) that he loves Shane. So, he wouldn’t be privy to Shane’s status in the hospital. Who would he call? Showing up that night of the injury isn’t possible. It would raise too many eyebrows. He doesn’t know Shane’s parents to get updates. He seems to think even visiting Shane in the hospital the next day could possibly alert the most astute of hockey fans to their feelings for each other.

He’s clearly shaken the next day when he visits Shane because he’s going into that room completely blind of Shane’s injuries. Could Shane’s body be beyond salvageable for play indefinitely? Worse? While all of the moments leading up to this one show Ilya just how much he loves Shane, nothing like your loved one being injured in an accident crystallizes that sensation more aggressively. There is no going back for Ilya at this point. And, how ironic that at the very moments that Ilya is free, in his mind, to love Shane, Shane may have almost been taken from him. (Soul-crushing.)

But, I would argue that Ilya still finds his love for Shane confusing. Ilya, in this scene above as Rose, complains that it would be so much easier to be kidnapped again. She laments that she should never have gotten cast as a shapeshifter. “This movie makes no sense.” Or, “loving a woman would be easier. Loving a man makes no sense.”

This is a much more kind way to question why he fell in love with a man and not a woman than with thoughts overshadowed by fear. He’s gotten over his internalized homophobia (Grigori died) and now no longer feels the need to find a suitable woman to marry (Bye Bye, Alexei). But, he still sees the challenges ahead being in love with a same-sex partner while both enjoying famous hockey careers. He doesn’t fear that type of love but he sure doesn’t get it. What are the chances he’d fall in love with a man that has been pitted against him since Rookie season? Not many. It “makes no sense.”

If that discussion of Rose blew right over you, definitely read that article on her role as a Mirror for Ilya.

Ilya’s progression in a snapshot:

1. Ilya starts to deconstruct his internalized homophobia with the possibility of still falling in love with a woman. (This begins in the second Alexei phone call.) To….
2. Completely dismantling internalized homophobia while honoring his desire for a man (Grigori’s death.). To….
3. Releasing the expectation of heteronormativity from his life. (Telling Alexei to never contact him again.) To….
4. Admitting his love for Shane while also trying to forge a new path for himself (The monologue). To….
5. Accepting his love fully for Shane even if it “makes no sense. “ (Rose’s musings after Shane’s injury). To….
6. Fully embracing a life with Shane after admitting their love for each other at the cottage with a plan to cut all ties to “Russia”.

What a journey! And, we are part of the few who now know how difficult this path to Shane has been for Ilya throughout Season 1.

How are we feeling about Season 2? Gulp.

Back to the beginning (almost)

We’re near the end here but I can’t help but take one more stab at Alexei now that we know how pathetic he is. Because I can. This is my blog.

Remember when I said that Alexei reaches out to his queer self often as his life is miserable? Take a look at this screen shot. What two identical things frame Alexei? It’s a dark shot and hard to see. Many apologies for that.

Do you remember what Ilya and Shane drink at the bar together at the All-Star Game weekend? Two beers. In the article about the meaning of drinks throughout the show, they drink beer to appear heterosexual (because alcohol minus vodka represents heterosexuality) in the bar but the shape of those bottles has none-too-subtle shape to indicate exactly what they are thinking about.

This isn’t the only spot where double beer bottles appear. They are seen in the “I’ll Believe in Anything” episode 5 held by two extras at Ilya’s house see Scott and Kip kiss on the ice (along with the rest of the world).

Here beer bottles appear again. At this moment Alexei says “Because you, idiot, lost the damn match” as he turns to his two male friends at his house party. Every time Ilya’s team loses a match we know that Ilya lost his ability to deny his sexual attraction to another man. (Oh, Alexei, what are YOU thinking about, sir?) Here, I believe that Alexei continues to have fantasies about men despite committing himself to a heteronormative life.

How do other elements in this scene reinforce that? The men are turned away from the camera and are both in the dark. This could represent how ashamed Alexei feels about his desire for them. He wants his same-sex desire to stay in the dark and not be known. If they were facing the camera his desire would be revealed to the audience.

Because the next time we see a clear shot of Alexei’s guests at the party, two women have joined the table and are much easier to see with the lamp positioned between them. Their faces are towards us and the lighting highlights their prominence in the frame compared to his two male guests.

It’s almost like Alexei was thinking about men he desired then placed the women in a more prominent position in this life (in the shot) while the men faded into the shadows as if hiding. (Alexei, it’s not as easy to deny your feelings for men as you thought it would be. Is it?!)

Parting thoughts

Well, that’s about all I can think to say about his Alexei and Ilya’s call towards heteronormativity right now. I had promised in the last article that Svetlana was next. But, I seem to have uncovered a metaphor about Russia throughout these two articles that should probably be addressed in a following article. I have no idea how long it will be either because I think I tapped into many of the ideas about the meaning of Russia for Ilya already. It’s possible I will just repeat myself and no one wants that.

So, Russia next (possibly). Then, Svetlana (definitely). Then maybe more metaphors or Shane subtext. Or….?

If I missed any scenes or lines about Alexei that you think are significant, please add them in the comments. I tried to include them all as it seems the less evidence I have about an idea, the more words anxiously pour out of my fingers to try to prove my theory.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for hanging around. There are a few other thoughts I included below that banged around in my head while thinking about Alexei but didn’t seem to fit in the article or were, eventually, unnecessary.

Does Alexei know about Ilya’s sexuality?

The fans are divided about whether or not Alexei knows about Ilya’s sexuality. In particular, the gay slur “faggot”, from the restaurant scene is the most obvious line in the debate of “Does he or does he not?”

Many real life Russian fans have explained how that slur would be used in that context in Russia and how they believe Alexie and Grigori would be repulsed by the idea of Ilya being anything other than heterosexual. So, they would never use it if they had any inkling about him OR they would shun him/turn him in for his ‘transgressions.’ I’ll have to take their word on how that works in real life. This show is not real life.

I happen to think Ilya’s monologue confession that he knows why Alexei hates him “For existing” is a subtler yet more devastating line. Many queer people have been subject to this rhetoric that their existence justifies death. It is a line my wife heard as a child from her immediate family whenever queer people were highlighted in the media, with phrases like “line them all up” and “shoot ‘em”. This was before they knew about her sexuality but she remembers it vividly. In her young mind, her family, the people who claimed they loved her, had already sentenced her to death. Most have softened in time and some are quite the ally now. However, words matter.

But, our perspective in this world is irrelevant. What does the subtext show?

First, we should remember that Alexei doesn’t think about anything. He is a filmmaker’s tool. Second, this tool represents Ilya’s life had he bowed to the seductive ease of heteronormativity. And, this representation, actively fights against his desire for men. He knows Ilya has this same “issue” desiring men because Alexei mirrors Ilya. But, Ilya chooses to deconstruct the constraints of internalized homophobia because of Shane while Alexei does not. If a character thinks anything, the filmmakers made sure Alexei very much knows who Ilya is attracted to and we know with “You, idiot, lost the match.” That’s Alexei reminding Ilya that Ilya caved to his homosexual desires.

If Alexei didn’t know about Ilya’s bisexuality, where would the tension come from between those two? It could come from Alexei’s jealousy of Ilya’s success in hockey. But, how does that really add to this queer love story? It doesn’t.

Does Compulsive Heteronormativity play a role in this discussion?

Something I played around with while writing this article is the idea of Compulsory Heteronormativity. I saw Alexei as a man who had to deny his sexuality. Right away I thought “Ah! Compulsory Heterosexuality!” Here’s where my sociology expertise severely lacked before the completion of this article.

To make sure I aligned my theory of Alexei with the correct terminology, I did some reading because I really didn’t know that this idea is not a choice made by the person but for the person.

The original theory states that women are conditioned in western society to participate in heterosexuality. Women are believed to have sexual desire only for men.

While Compulsory Heterosexuality (comphet) was coined for and primarily used to describe women’s experience in a heteronormative world, the assumption that everyone is heterosexual hurts men too. It especially hurts anyone who is queer. Queer men are also victims of this restrictive construct along with queer women.

Then, I went down the hegemonic masculinity rabbit hole thinking it was the male version of compulsory heteronormativity. I don’t think it is. Let’s just say that rabbit hole detour did not end where I thought it would.

Someone smarter than me in this space, feel free to add more educated thoughts below.

But, the comphet idea conveys that women are conditioned and, unwittingly, subscribe to heterosexuality before having even looked within to see if that actually makes sense for them. Once they’ve examined their sexualities and identities, they look back through their life at how many assumptions were made about them from others and that shaped how they perceived themselves. They assumed they were heterosexual until they realized they weren’t. If men can fall into this same pattern of assumption, they too are subject to compulsory heteronormativity.

However, I don’t think that is the purpose of Alexie’s character. He actively chooses the heterosexual life as a foil to Ilya’s questioning and exploratory queer one. He even demands that Ilya conform to just his heterosexual attraction after Grigori dies.

I began with that theory in mind but edited it all out so that a better explanation of Alexei could prevail. So, I stuck my bad take here to show you that sometimes one path of analysis is a dead end especially if you aren’t educated enough about that specific concept.

Russian culture for New Year’s Eve celebrations and bias in the subtext.

Somewhere, someone made a post about or commented under a post about how Russia’s largest holiday is New Year’s Eve. (Maybe Reddit?) It’s larger than Christmas which is probably the largest celebration for most Europeans and North Americans, irrespective of one’s Christian faith or not. However, I’m a humble soul. If you know more about this please feel free to chime in. I dare not even speculate about the importance of any other holiday in any other country besides Japan in which Golden Week eclipses any other holiday of the year.

I really don’t remember much about the post or comment other than it was news to me. If you know where to find it, please link it in the comments below.

This is where I think subtext reading can go awry. If one were to watch the scene with Ilya in his hotel room alone watching the ball drop in the context of this Russian tradition, a much different analysis might unfold. We would assume Ilya was sad that he was not surrounded by his family or by a large community in which the festivities would occur. We might expect him to be receptive to calls from family and friends. We could make a myriad of assumptions that are not supported by the dialogue or blocking based on our knowledge of the importance of New Year’s Eve in Russia. This assumption about Ilya would take us down a rabbit hole of film analysis that would lead to a dead end.

The text, or what we see on screen, doesn’t tell us anything about Ilya’s mood until he receives phone calls from his family members. I wouldn’t call Ilya’s conversation with Alexei or Grigori comforting or celebratory at all. He’s truly all alone.

This scene is in the book “Heated Rivalry” and in most of it, if memory serves (but it usually doesn’t for me), Ilya pouts about avoiding the other hockey players who are watching the countdown specifically because Shane is in the group celebrating down the hall. In this show, we don’t know how any of the other players from the Prospect Cup celebrate New Year’s Eve. We could assume they are celebrating the arrival of the New Year together or, separately, elsewhere in the hotel or in the surrounding city. But, we don’t have any idea. We can’t even tell from the subtext what the other players are doing.

Tierney changed this scene by adding those two phone calls. He added important information about Ilya but nothing about the other characters because, honestly, those ideas don’t move the narrative forward. From those two phone calls, and if our reading of the subtext is correct, the subtext tells us he was indeed thinking about Shane (just like the book). Because his internalized homophobia attempted to contact him three times before this scene as well as in this scene. Also, the appealing call of heteronormativity makes an appearance as well. Those negative and destructive thoughts would not be knocking around in his head unless he was thinking about “him”.

So Tierney kept the heart of the scene intact by telling us in the subtext that Ilya is thinking about Shane but through those two self-destructive ideas specifically related to how he feels about himself while he’s thinking about Shane.

If we had worked through that scene heavily considered the New Year’s Eve tradition in Russia, would we have been able to connect the reading of that scene with the other scenes with Grigori or Alexei? We might feel like we understand Alexei but this one scene wouldn’t fit with the rest of the exclusively heteronormative messaging. So, we’d have to go back to the drawing board to try a new theory. However, nothing will ever work with the bias of the Russian celebration because bringing outside information into your analysis skews the information provided about the ideas the filmmakers want us to pursue and consider.

While I’m Definitely Still an Amateur in this subtext analysis space, I know enough to ignore enthusiastic content creators who are using their outside lenses to analyze this series. They give meaning to character motivations where there isn’t sometimes because of how they perceive the world instead of how the characters do. That’s not how film works. You have to just use what the filmmakers give you to make connections within the film.

Although, I know that I can see some of my bias sneaking in throughout these articles with the knowledge of the queer community. But, this is a queer show. So, I think my take is correct despite my own personal experience. And, I guess this blog constitutes content creation. I see the irony. Okay?

Lastly, I checked in with this paper to make sure I wasn’t just spouting off nonsense about heteronormativity. I wasn’t. But it doesn’t hurt to share that I checked in with actual facts from, what looks like, Fossey Evan’s Undergraduate Thesis. It’s a download, not a website. So, click only if you want to download their paper.

Good job, Fossey. You got mentioned in a film analysis article about two dudes who can’t help loving each other and the whole world is obsessed with.

Heteronormativity and Its Impacts on the Identities and Life ...CU Scholarhttps://scholar.colorado.edu › downloads

See you at the cottage!