What Grigori Rosanov reveals about Ilya in Heated Rivalry
What Grigori Rosanov reveals about Ilya in Heated Rivalry
Allegorical Characters Part 1
Have you ever been faced with so many choices you were too paralyzed to make that choice? It’s called the Paradox of Choice. The author Barry Schwartz published a book, “The Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less”, specifically about how the overabundance of choice in American consumerism actually reduces Americans’ well-being by increasing anxiety. While I don’t really want to go too far into this phenomenon as it’s really irrelevant to this article, I was paralyzed with what to write next because I have too many choices. Too many things to think about and tell you with this series.
About 10 years ago I happened to be shopping in the US after having lived in Europe for a few years and I had forgotten just how many choices Americans have every day. Walking down a grocery aisle with over 20 different kinds of ketchup felt overwhelming. I left grocery stores cranky and tired. I would wait until my wife got home from a very long day at work to take care of the kids, who were toddlers at that point, so that I could go to the grocery store alone. Battling all of those choices was hard enough without two toddlers in tow.
And, as someone who has lived in both Europe, Asia and the USA in North America, I can attest to you that the paradox of choice is VERY real today as I try to decide what to write and when it comes to physical choices before us.
So, I sat idle for about two weeks thinking about which topic to write about next. I have many to choose from but I didn’t want to start writing about something that felt like I needed another article to support it. Writing the article about Sashabefore an article about Rose wouldn’t make much sense. Rose’s role is much larger than Sasha’s role in the series. Understanding a Mirror Character like Rose would make it easier to spot one in Sasha.
But, now I have two or three articles that overlap each other and might be difficult to explain without the other. I have been able to write articles here before that skated an issue I hoped you wouldn’t notice. So, it’s possible to ignore something in an article for the sake of discussing one facet of the show without diving into another one that would overwhelm the original article. (Though, I do love a tangent.)
This only works if there is a mountain of evidence in the media one is analyzing to really land the point. For these next few articles, it will be much harder to not address certain points related to the topic because they all depend on each other. And, the characters are small parts with few lines or actions to dissect. There isn’t much to support my theory of what they represent so landing on a solid concept while also skating over some of those holes will be much more difficult on my end and, probably glaringly obvious on yours, leaving you with more questions than answers.
I played around with several analogies here to try to describe what writing these next few articles might feel like or look like. The most recognizable analogy I can think of is an archway with a keystone in the middle. Masons build the sides and slide in the keystone at the very top to support the arch and it doesn’t fall, seeming to defy gravity. (If you’re a science geek you might know how otters are keystone species in their habitats.) These next few articles will be based on the idea to try to find out more about Ilya from these minor characters. But, that analogy is not even how I’m thinking of these next few articles.
It’s more like when a structure is made of the same repeating object and the base of one of those objects is the pinnacle of its neighbor. And each subsequent object rests in that fashion such that they all equally support rest on each other. Remove one and the whole structure collapses. Can anyone think of something like that?
Solid metaphor or not, needless to say, I got stuck with indecision about which character would make sense to write about next.
The time comes to make a decision about who or what to write about. And, I fancy how characters reveal more about the subtext than anything else. So, more character analysis coming at you right now and in the near future. Suffice it to say, once we get through this article, the next articles will be about Alexei Rozanov and, then later, Svetlana. That is unless someone pops into the comments to ask for a different idea for me to write about. Finishing those will round out most, but not all, of our discussion of the Russian characters and what they mean for the show.
In the Sasha article, we did touch on Irina, Ilya’s mother. I do believe she can reveal more about Ilya than what was mentioned there but she might have to be relegated to small mentions in articles here and there and not have a specific one dedicated to her. Time will tell! I’m also interested in the short mention of Polina, the Minister, and Alexei’s child too. But, I haven’t been able to crack them all yet.
If you’ve read my previous articles, you’re familiar with Heart and Mind Characters like Kip’s dad and friend, Elena. You’re also familiar with Mirror Characters like how Rose mirrors Ilya. These characters help us see below the text of the film to the subtext where hidden gems about a character’s motivations, feelings or goals can shine when saying them out loud would not make sense or give too much away too quickly. But, there is another type of character filmmakers use too: allegorical characters.
What are allegorical characters, you say?
Let’s start off with something you’re familiar with like allegorical personification. This is a character in common knowledge that represents an idea. Think Lady Justice who is shown as a blindfolded statue. She holds a set of balanced plates when empty and a sword in the other hand. The plates fill with evidence in a court case where someone’s fate is decided by the blind impartiality for the perpetrator or victim (the blindfold). The evidence stacked on the plates decides the outcome of the case, not the status, money or power held by either party. The sword represents the might of the law. Another example is Uncle Sam who represents the USA as a whole or its federal government depending on the audience and message. Or, the Grim Reaper who represents death or something that hastens it.
So, we get the general idea of an allegorical representation of an idea (justice and death), a country (USA), or even a group of people (though I didn’t give you an example of this). That same principle can be applied to a moving character in film too.
In Disney’s 2015 “Inside Out” each of Riley’s emotions are represented as a character: Joy, Disgust (my favorite), Anger, Sadness, and Embarrassment. In James Cameron’s “Avatar”, the people from Earth who are looking for the rare mineral represent colonialists invading native lands and taking everything with little care for the native people (or the environments) who already live on those lands.
Allegorical characters written well are a treat. And, Jacob Tierney snuck in quite a few in Heated Rivalry. They can walk, interact with other characters, and have goals. If you were paying attention earlier, I mentioned a few characters that were Russian, except one, Grigori, Ilya’s father, played by Yaroslav Poverlo. He’s a shining example of an allegorical character, though not my favorite, in the Heated Rivalry series.
I’d like to mention it was at about this point in writing the article and collecting evidence about the character I wanted to write about (not Grigori) that I realized that I had to actually write Grigori first and not the other character I was personally more interested in. The other article was filled with holes and hard to follow because so much of what I wanted to talk about with this other character depended on Grigori’s purpose. So, I had yet another road block to overcome and more time pushing back an arbitrary publishing deadline I set for myself.
(And, if you saw my note, my wife had knee replacement surgery which required a little more physical labor on my end and less energy for creativity for you all in the shape of these articles.)
For the sake of understanding one concept better later, Grigori has to be explored now. While his presence is felt often in how Ilya perceives himself, there are very few scenes with Grigori and little mention of him otherwise. Making a grand statement about him might be difficult to tease out of this series but I think you’ll be able to follow along. And, I hope I nailed his purpose in your eyes.
I like big picture ideas and pattern recognition. So, we’re going to look at when Grigori is introduced to us, what happens in each scene with him, what happens in the scenes before and after scenes with him, we will look at any dialogue that he is spoken about and, lastly, what happens when Grigori dies.
It’s a tedious process: Like finding the right sky blue puzzle piece in a puzzle whose picture is half sky. You have to pick up every piece and turn it around on every edge to see if it fits with the already matched pieces.
Grigori is introduced in “Rookie” episode 1 at about the four minute mark. We see just the top of his head because the rest of him is covered by a balcony wall on the top floor. The camera shows us Shane’s point of view as he looks up at Ilya. Grigori and Ilya’s new coach (team manager?) stand nearby. Shane catches Ilya sneaking peaks at Shane on the floor below while he is also talking to his new manager and his parents.
Since we see Ilya and Grigori straight ahead, the other character has his back to us. But, we can tell from his tone of voice that this unnamed character shares his excitement about having Ilya on their team. But, Ilya’s dad just ruins the whole mood.
Picture taken from: https://heated-rivalry.com/heated-rivalry-season-one/
“He is strong. And, he needs discipline. He can be, how you say, lazy.” Grigori easily insults Ilya in front of Ilya’s new boss. Which is insane! Ilya just got the number one draft pick for the whole hockey drafting thing (I did say I was not versed in hockey culture and such). So, Grigori here is presented as a terrible father.
Ilya does everything he can to keep his emotions in check. But, Ilya has been here before. His dad has insulted Ilya to people previous to this incident and Ilya has learned how to respond in a way that doesn’t disrespect his father but, also, smooths over the gaff to the other people in the conversation. (Children and spouses of abusive people learn this trick quickly.) He finishes in Russian to Ilya “Listen to everything you are told. Did you understand?”
This short translation is by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr (also now on Archive of Our Own with the same creator name). They are a treasure trove of Russian language interpretation, pronunciation, and perspectives. I can’t believe I just found them. What a treat!
That last line in Russian sounds like a parent reminding their child how to behave around an adult who now has responsibility over that child. Clearly Grigori doesn’t think very highly of Ilya. He is young but he is also very capable.
The English subtitles in the show add another line to the Russian dialogue (“Don’t speak”). but I will not include them in this analysis. Because for me, every word counts. And, extra words added later could alter the meaning intended by the writer and director.
In Grigori’s introduction, we see Ilya looking at Shane while Ilya’s father talks to the manager of Ilya’s new team. Right before this scene Ilya and Shane accept the first and second draft places and a little bit earlier than that we see them each watching each other during practices. Following the introduction scene of Grigori, Ilya and Shane sweat it out in the gym with a fair bit of heavy flirting. Whatever starts between Ilya and Shane, Grigori’s presence indicates something happening with Ilya at the same time. And, I say this because Grigori is specific to Ilya. Grigori is mainly connected to Ilya and Alexei as they are a family unit. We only see Ilya interacting with Grigori in the show. If we scanned our Mirror Character checklist, he doesn’t check any boxes of commonality with either of the main characters, Ilya or Shane. So, he means something else entirely different than a Mirror Character and I did already let the cat out of the bag earlier.
However, (I scrunch my nose when I write this) whatever Grigori represents for Ilya is cruel, undercutting and diminishing of Ilya. I don’t like Grigori.
What could Grigori mean for Ilya in this new relationship? We must continue to look for evidence.
We don’t see or hear a thing from Grigori again until The Prospect Cup six months later (which coincidently is right after the flirty gym scene). Ilya watches the New Year’s Eve ball drop on the TV in a hotel. His screen tells us that the ‘Colonel’ has called three times already and it’s implied Ilya purposefully did not take those calls. If he had returned just one of those, that message would not appear. He DOES take a call from Alexei which doesn’t go well. Here is the part about Grigori.
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.
(Translation by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr)
This dialogue continues but it’s not about Grigori and therefore, I believe for this article, irrelevant. Though, it is very relevant for another purpose we’ll discuss in the next article.
From this dialogue Ilya tells us that he suspects something is wrong cognitively with his father. Grigori’s behavior is not normal to him. It’s clear that Grigori does not usually call Ilya but all of the sudden he is calling now and much more often than seems normal for family members living apart and slightly estranged. Any smart and aware person would understand that a change in behavior like this means something is not quite right.
And, right on cue, Grigori calls Ilya. (Translation by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr.)
Ilya - Hello, Father.
Grigori - And, so he answers!
Ilya - I’m sorry, Father.
Grigori - Apologize to Russia. To lose to the Czechs. What a disgrace. Tomorrow…
Ilya - We will do the Swedes, Father.
Grigori - Apologize to Russia! It will be necessary. Otherwise, you will…
Ilya - But, we’re not playing for gold. But, … but we will do everything.
Grigori - I don’t give a damn about ‘we’! You will not lose to him.
Do we think this dialogue is really necessary at its face value? What does it tell us and what does it convey? The dialogue tells us that Grigori knows Ilya has already lost at least one game and demands that Ilya win moving forward. It conveys to us that Grigori is disappointed in Ilya even if there could be factors outside of Ilya’s control.
We already knew both of those things in a general sense. It’s Ilya’s prerogative to win as many games as possible. Also, Grigori couldn’t wait to tell Ilya’s manager how disappointed he is in Ilya. Grigori seems perpetually disappointed in Ilya. None of this is groundbreaking information. So, there is something else going on here that we need to uncover.
What happens right before this scene? It’s the heavy flirting scene in the gym. What happens right after this scene? Shane’s team wins the Prospect Cup which means Ilya loses, again. Ilya takes the loss hard. This additional loss will inevitably disappoint Grigori.
If none of the basic information is new and looking at the scenes before and after it don’t reveal much more, then we need to get into the weeds with this dialogue. Why mention Russia, their mother country, then The Czech Republic, and Sweden? And, Grigori says to not lose to “him”. That is a weird choice. Grigori should have said “Canada” because he doesn’t list players on the other teams, he lists the countries until he lands on Canada where he inserts “him” in for Canada. That’s a direct reference to Shane. Ilya got the reference alongside us. Where did the need to switch out “Canada” for “him” come from? At this point in their careers they aren’t official rivals even if the world knows they are the top two players at this moment. So, that little insert of “him” as a departure from listing the country of “him” should signal to our subtext spidey senses that something interesting can be discovered here.
The easy answer is that Grigoris is just listing all of the teams that the Russian has played and lost to or will play. And, that Ilya should be contrite and ask for forgiveness from Russia. I think Grigori’s mention of Russia here is actually mother Russia, not the team. But, that’s boring. Why waste screen time on that. I can think of much more scathing things a father can say to their son if they are perpetually disappointed in them.
Go back to the beginning again, the very beginning. When we meet Grigori, it is the start of something between Shane and Ilya. And, since Grigori is Ilya’s father, whatever is happening between Shane and Ilya, Grigori represents something happening with Ilya. And, Ilya was ignoring it. Grigori called Ilya three times before Ilya was willing to pick up. When Ilya does pick up, Grigori tells him right away that Ilya has been ignoring him. So, Ilya is ignoring whatever Grigori represents. Ilya apologizes to whatever he’s ignoring which means he’s aware that he is ignoring something. The ‘something’ is what we don’t know yet.
Right after that Grigori says “Apologize to (mother) Russia.” We know this isn’t about Ilya apologizing literally to mother Russia or even feeling bad about his loss for his country because this conversation isn’t really about winning and losing games. Grigori isn’t really Ilya’s dad. He represents something in Ilya related to whatever is happening with Ilya that directly relates to Shane.
Why mention Russia then? Because it IS about Russia. What is the one thing this show tells us about Russia? Russia does not support queer people. The show tells us that hockey doesn’t support queer people either.
I’d like to take a moment here to be very careful about how we interpret information in film. For my friends who dissect shows and film with me, this is nothing new. But, if you are new to film analysis you must caution yourself against using too much of your perspective to apply it to what is happening in the show. I know I have spoken a little bit about my life in other articles and some of the feelings are the same as the characters. However, when looking at subtext and the story being told, we really can only use the information given to us on screen to use it to interpret the subtext.
Say, for example, you were a hockey player and you knew every inch of hockey, your perspective on what happens in this story will be very different from mine. (I know nothing about hockey.) As you begin to pick apart bits of subtext you might lean heavily on your experience of the game, your team members, sponsorships, coaches, workouts, injuries, diets, incomes, traveling to games, and on and on. Or, let’s say you were a therapist and you began to look at the demands of their jobs and the toxicity of their work environments. You might start to think how that plays into their insecurities around performance on the ice, self-esteem, and sexuality. If you’re someone who has read and memorized the books, you’re going to cross-check every line and action to see how it fits with the world Rachel Reid has already created.
These biases could lead us down subtext rabbit holes that don’t exist or blind us to their existence all together. Everyone has a bias. What you have to do is try to remove as much of that as you can when looking at the subtext and use only what the show gives you.
Back to Russia and what the show tells us about Russia and hockey in terms of queer people. It doesn’t look good for them. However, Reid and, later, Tierney, could have used a fictional country like Andalasia in place of Russia. We still would get the same message: Andalasia harms queer people and Ilya absolutely hates going there. He does everything he can do to avoid going to Andalasia even though he has family there who are also really terrible people. The same message is received by the audience.
The difference is we already know about the real Russia and how it treats queer people. Which means we already have a bias about it in the show.
When Grigori demands Ilya apologize to Russia, what is he really apologizing to? There is this spark between Ilya and Shane and then we have this pesky father pop up at the most inopportune times. So, this thing in Ilya that has to do with Shane is demanding that Ilya apologize to Russia, or the place where homophobia rules. Ilya is currently dabbling with a homosexual relationship. Russia and queer people mix like oil and water. We’re getting close here but I want to explore more of that dialogue with you.
Then Grigori scoffs that Ilya lost to The Czech Republic. Grigori says to lose that match was a disgrace. His angry tone leaves no room to interpret anything but mad at Ilya for the loss. Now, we know a little about Russia from the show. Russia, as a whole, is a homophobic country where laws are now in place that can penalize someone for their sexuality. Not every Russian is homophobic but that’s the general vibe the rest of the world agrees on.
So, if we’re leaning on the notion that Russia has a problem with queer people in the show and it tracks with what is in the real world, can we make some assumptions about the other countries in this dialogue? I am side-eyeing myself right now because I just told you not to bring your biases into this analysis but I need you to bring your knowledge of those countries into this discussion to understand where I’m leading you. The show does not give us information about The Czech Republic or Sweden. So, we have to provide that information on our own.
If Russia is a homophobic country, what are The Czech Republic and Sweden? The EXACT opposite. They are two incredibly progressive European countries in terms of LGBTQ+ rights. Could Grigori be mad at Ilya for losing to The Czech Republic because that country supports queer rights? But, wait. The Czech Republic isn’t really a country here. It is something else.
Now, Ilya shouldn’t lose to Sweden either because even if they aren’t playing for gold at this point, Grigori would be mad if he lost. And, then lastly, Grigori intentionally doesn’t mention a country, he mentions “him”. Again, Grigori should have said “Canada”.
If Grigori, who is some sort of constant nag to Ilya, demands he not lose to these queer-loving countries and apologize to the one country that isn’t, what is Grigori saying here?
I think Ilya is Russia and all of those other countries are men. And, if you read the article, Ginger Ale as a Metaphor for Sexuality, we understand that Ilya is Russia because he drinks good Russian vodka. He has lost before to the desire of a man, The Czech Republic, which Grigori calls “a disgrace” and he doesn’t want to lose again to another country, Sweden, or another man. And, the most important one he can’t lose to is “him” or Shane.
It seems to me that even though Ilya has this long-distance-“enemies”-with-benefits relationship with Shane, he might also have at this moment in episode 1 a desire for another man (The Czech Republic) even if it’s only physical. There also might be another man Ilya has his eyes on, Sweden, who he hasn’t lost to yet but might. Or, he hasn’t decided if he’s attracted to him yet but he’s there no less. And, something about Sweden, the man, nags at Ilya. He has to be careful he tells himself.
By Grigori demanding Ilya apologize to Russia, Ilya demands that he admonish himself for caving to his desires for other men and losing the battle each time. He’s trying to convince himself he can’t lose control over his attraction to any more men especially not “him”.
If being attracted to a man is “a disgrace” for Ilya, he’s got some bigger problems to overcome. Logic follows that Ilya has internalized homophobia. Since I proposed that Ilya IS Russia here, what sort of internal crisis about his sexuality does Ilya struggle with?
THAT is new information. No where in the text does Ilya share anything concerning his personal feelings about his queerness. For all Shane and the audience knows, Ilya is completely comfortable with his queerness and his desire for Shane. Because that is exactly how he presents himself. He acts very in control and aware of his desire for “him” without any hesitation.
So, already, by Ilya’s dejected tone, he assumes he might probably lose the battle of physical attraction for Shane despite his best effort and he’s just over the pressure his dad puts on him. Which means Ilya struggles with how easily he is attracted to men and how hard he continually tries not to be. It’s hard to deny those feelings.
“Not playing for gold” here to me means Ilya does not see any of these men as “the one”. He is young after all. It would be unrealistic to expect to find “the one” at this age. And, a man can’t possibly be “the one” anyways. He’s just hooking up; trying to figure out what he likes. “The one” wouldn’t be a man anyway. These hockey matches (men he is attracted to) don’t have to feel so high stakes. If he loses (this hockey match) to Shane, Shane, at this point, is just another man he is attracted to. He isn’t “the one”. Fast forward to episode 6 “The Cottage” where Ilya admits he and Shane weren’t in love from the very beginning. Well, this is the beginning folks. Shane isn’t “the one” … yet.
And, what happens in the next scene? Russia loses to Canada in the Prospect Cup. Shane says to Ilya “See you in October” as he winks at him. Ilya is in the beginning stages of losing the game of being attracted to Shane because did you see Ilya’s smile? He’s definitely not blushing because “Russians do not do this”.
We are not done with “Rookies” episode 1 though. Ilya has another conversation with Alexei over the phone and, no surprise to anyone, Alexei demands more money from Ilya. Ilya had been grumpily watching Shane being interviewed, in French, about his rivalry with Ilya and scoring goals against him in a FaceOff…face off….Face off (?). While watching the interview, Ilya lounges on the hotel bed but then it cuts to him standing already yelling at Alexei about funding (or not) Alexei’s lifestyle. The conversation turns to their father again.
Ilya - How’s Dad?
Alexei - What do you mean ‘how’s Dad’? What’s between you and Dad? Dad is 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.
(Translation by ilyasaysitbetter on Tumblr.)
Ilya, unable to be physically near his father, shares his concern about Grigori’s deteriorating mental health again to Alexei who is near their father. Grigori should not ask Ilya to bring home bread because Ilya has not lived with his father in years. They even live on different continents. So, if Grigori is deteriorating, whatever he represents in Ilya is also deteriorating. Ilya’s reaction to Alexei is frustration. Alexei doesn’t seem to listen or care about Ilya’s concern. I think Ilya is really more frustrated with himself here than anything. He’s frustrated with whatever Grigori and the dementia represents in Ilya’s head. Because his dad can represent one thing for Ilya and Grigori’s dementia can mean something else entirely.
Moving on to “Olympians” episode 2. Ilya and Shane chat in the stairwell of Shane’s apartment as Ilya laces his shoes to leave. They look ahead to the upcoming Olympics. We can assume Shane will represent Canada and Ilya, Russia. Shane asks Ilya if his parents will be there. Ilya says “My father, yes. Maybe my brother. But, who knows?” So, Ilya knows that he will be bringing along whatever Grigori represents for him to the Olympics because apparently whatever that is doesn’t go away.
Did you read the article about what mirrors represent in Heated Rivalry? No? Oh. Well, here it is. Feel free to pause here to catch up but if you’re willing to power through with us, let’s keep going. Physical mirrors in this show can represent two different things. When any character stands alone in front of a mirror, they are hiding something. If they are standing in the mirror with another character (specifically Ilya), that other character represents some part of them that gives us more information about their character that can’t be found in the script or blocking.
Picture from: IMDB
The next time Grigori shows up physically on screen is during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. He pours two (alcoholic/heterosexual) drinks in front of the mirror in what looks like his bedroom possibly. We don’t know this yet but we later find out he is hiding his dementia.
Before I had full translations of all of the episodes, I did claim that Grigori had financial problems, but I can’t find any of that in the translations. I assumed that from what I had seen online. It’s just Alexei who keeps asking for money, not Grigori. Shame on me for making that claim without looking at the translations.
At this point in time my go-to for Russian dialogue translations hasn’t translated this scene in episode 2. I’m not complaining at all. Their work transcends all others. What they’re doing takes time. I will have to rely on the online subtitle translations moving forward in this article and hope other scenes will be translated when I need them.
Here are the subtitles:
Grigori - You need a haircut.
Ilya - Yes, sir.
Grigori - The minister still wants to meet you tonight, despite everything.
Ilya - It will be my honour.
Grigori - You should be honoured. After yesterday. You lose to…
Ilya - Latvia.
Grigori - Latvia. And yet, he drinks. How could you let that happen? How are you not ashamed?
Ilya - I’m ashamed, Father.
Grigori - Not nearly enough. They teach you no discipline in the American league. Your play is sloppy. …. The real shame is squandering the promise you showed when you were young.
Ilya - I am a better player now than I have ever been. Our goalie is hurt. The team didn’t click.
Grigori - Click? What is this American nonsense? What is clicking? You are the captain. You make them click! Always looking for someone else to blame. Since you were a boy….. Who tied this for you? Your mother? She doesn’t know how to do this properly.
Ilya - No, Father. Mom is dead. You remember?
Grigori - I meant your stepmother.
Ilya - And where is Polina? In Moscow? We should go. To the gala. So that I can meet the minister.
Grigori - Let’s go.
Sidequest: Shoutout to my friend Fiona who informed me that websites exist that have all of (most of) the dialogue from all of Heated Rivalry episodes including the non-English translations. I started my analysis of this dialogue from http://opensubtitles.org/
Also, a shoutout to divi who reminded me these subtitle sites exist and that our mutual friend told us about them. She knows my theories are wild but my memory retention short. At the time I started writing these articles, I did not have access to any subtitles for the first four episodes. That’s been challenging, to say the least!
So, in this scene Grigori takes his usual role of berating Ilya. Ilya takes his usual role of receiving the insults with as little pushback as possible. He doesn’t want to upset Grigori. The scene before this Ilya pushed very hard against any interaction with Shane specifically at the ice skating competition. Shane realized that Russia could be a very hard place for Ilya to visit because of his sexuality. So, Shane finds Ilya to check in on him and Ilya refuses any kind of conversation at all. And, the scene after Ilya speaks to his father is with Svetlana and Sasha in the fancy, shmancy bathroom. Sasha represents some dark times in Ilya’s past.
No matter how you slice it, Ilya is having a bad time. Russia represents the worst for Ilya. Or, whatever thoughts bang around inside Ilya’s head are unhealthy and demorolizing because Ilya is Russia. Anything that happens in Russia is really what is happening inside Ilya’s head. In this scene with Grigori, he mentions losing to Latvia. We talk about named countries earlier and how I think those losses are really men Ilya has experienced some sort of attraction to. And, he’s been fighting that war against same-sex attraction for a while now. So, here Ilya sits in shame again at having lost the battle of his desire to another man, Latvia.
Then Grigori goes on about how the American League lacks discipline. The American League in real life includes teams from Canada and the United States. He accuses Ilya of playing sloppy. Is this Grigori saying to Ilya, you are not careful with the men you are attracted to, specifically one man in particular? Because Shane and Ilya are both in this American League. Now, please don’t skewer me if I got this wrong. They play in the fictional MLH. So, can we assume the American League represents that league? You tell me in the comments.
Picture from: https://heated-rivalry.com/heated-rivalry-season-one/
Either way, Canada and the USA are both ‘American’ teams because they are both in North America. I’m not sure it would make sense for Grigori in this dialogue to switch to the MLH name instead of the American League. By continuing to use country (or region) names, we can continue to follow the line of the subtext. Saying “MLH” wouldn’t mean a man here but another country could if we have untangled the subtext correctly.
Does anyone else notice a theme here about Grigori? If what I’m proposing is correct, Grigori is very concerned about losing to all of these teams which means Ilya is concerned about losing his will to not be attracted to these men. I think Grigori is the allegorical representation of Ilya’s internalized homophobia. And, that makes sense considering he comes from a very homophobic country, Russia. Even if Ilya never states that he has shame about that desire in the text, we found it in the subtext. Earlier in this article I stated Ilya is Russia and Russia is homophobic, then Ilya has internalized homophobia. But, what we’ve found out now is that this is Grigori’s role for Ilya. He represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia and absolutely hounds him every time he has any sort of sexual attraction to a man.
I went down this rabbit hole of analysis of Grigori’s characterization but then backtracked when I thought about a line right after Grigori says “The real shame is squandering the promise you showed when you were young.” I will put my own debunked analysis inside brackets to see where I was going. Then, we’ll get back on track after that.
[We can think more deeply of how Grigori’s physical representation reflects in what is happening inside the recesses of Ilya’s mind. Consider the way the actor Yaroslav Poverlo looks. No, disrespect to the actual man, but he was cast perfectly. Homophobia is an old, tired concept that most of us reading these articles feel like should die.
While, I do not relish in analyzing someone’s appearance in a negative way, Grigori casting helps us understand better Ilya’s internal struggle. Poverlo looks really old; he moves in a way that makes him seem ancient; his blue-tinged lips especially add to his deathly palor; his dead eyes make us feel uncomfortable and sad for Ilya in that Grigori only seems to see Ilya’s negative qualities and can’t cherish his son for the delight that he is.
If his father looks that old then think about how long this internalized homophobia has plagued Ilya. That feeling is not a new concept for Ilya. Yes, I know Grigori is old based on the book’s description of him but it is easy to co-opt that characteristic of him being much older than what would be expected for Ilya’s real father for this purpose. A much younger looking but appropriately aged man could have played Grigori without looking so dead on arrival.
And, think about what job Grigori has and how high in the ranks within that government organization he occupied. He is either a high-ranking military personel or police officer. Grigori was entrenched in this system for decades and earned medals of honor for his work in his job. Ilya was a master at his internalized homophobia, he medaled in it, multiple times.
Think about how this character’s physical persona represent Ilya’s internalized homophobia. This internalizes homophobia is not a new state of mind for Ilya nor is it something he has just begun to explore. It took hold at an early age, grew old in his mind, and accomplished great achievements in Ilya’s fight against his sexuality. He’s a master at hating his desire for men.]
While, I like this take, it doesn’t match with the dialogue. It has to go in the subtext analysis trash can. Sigh.
Back in the stairwell, when saying to Shane that he knew he would see his father in Russia for the Olympics, he knew he would be aware of his internalized homophobia in Russia. He would also be highly aware of his same-sex attraction. Homophobia and sexuality don’t end at Border Control in the airport. Those both exists within you no matter where you take your meat sack.
The last part of that line is “The real shame is squandering the promise you showed when you were young.” This to me sounds like Ilya did not always have this same-sex attraction. He realized in his teens of his same-sex attraction. Sasha’s character tells us that Ilya has had a crush on Shane from even before they met at the Prospect Cup in that opening shot of the show. But, his internalized homophobia has been with him for a long time because it is represented by his dad.
Some queer people knew they were attracted to the same sex as early as seven or eight years old. Some don’t find out or realise their same-sex attraction until much later in life. Grigori, Ilya’s internalized homophobia, chastises him for realizing this same-sex attraction and failing to deny it. Because, Russia only supports opposite-sex attraction. So, at an early age Ilya only liked the opposite sex and now he’s ruining his life by having these new desires for men.
Ilya tries desperately to explain himself with “I’m a better player now than I ever have been…The team didn’t click.” My guy here desperately wants to believe he is a better man for knowing his true self; knowing both his attraction to women and men. Next Grigori says “Click? What is this American nonsense? What is clicking? You are the captain. You make them click!”
This “American nonsense” is Ilya losing his battle for his attraction to Shane. Ilya’s internalized homophobia has no patience for this and tries to demand Ilya force himself to stop being attracted to men, and Shane in particular. He has to force away his same-sex attractions because he tells himself he is in charge (the captain) of these feelings. He needs to “click” with women only.
So, then if I debunked my own analysis of the characterization of Grigori, does he need to be so old and medaled? Well, we could apply the concept of internalized homophobia generally as a societal issue that is indeed old and accomplished at boxing men into a very narrow definition of what a man can and cannot be. The patriarchy as a whole does this really well even defining who and how a man can love. It is an ancient societal construct that takes hold seemingly without letting go once established. But, for many, we hope it is on it’s last dying breath.
About that man represented by the Latvia team: Latvia is not as progressive as Sweden and The Czech Republic. Their laws do not allow for same-sex marriage even if the population has tended to be more accepting over time. Grigori’s reaction here doesn’t seem as strong as it did for those other two countries.
This part I’m not so sure about and you’ll have to decide for yourself where you land on this idea. Is it possible that Grigori, or Ilya’s internalized homophobia, is less ashamed of being attracted to a man (a country) that is less ‘gay’ presenting (less accepting of the LGBTQ+ community) as the other queer men he’s been attracted to? Maybe this man presented with more heteronormative behaviors and could ‘pass’ as straight. So, Ilya’s acceptance of his desire for men is contingent on how ‘gay’, or not, a man seems in his, or society’s, perspective.
It’s not uncommon for queer people to have certain expectations about themselves and their partners to not appear too ‘gay’. They don’t fully embrace their sexuality, including the range of how homosexuality can be presented. From personal experience, when my wife heard “Oh, so you’re not even trying to hide it now” as a young person from a homophobic relative, that can stick. As Ilya moves through his queer acceptance journey, does he allow himself, over time, the grace to be attracted to a wider range of queer presenting men?
He does exist in this hyper-masculine world where any sort of femininity is squashed out faster than Ilya can tell Shane he is boring. The idea of only being attracted to hypermasculine, straight presenting men fits right into the theme of how men must conduct themselves in hockey.
This theory is one of those that I just don’t have enough evidence to definitively support at this time but it was my initial read on it. What are your thoughts?
Are we fairly sure Grigori represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia? Yes? No? Let me know in the comments.
But, you can tell by the slider on the side that this article is not over.
What we need to explore now is Grigori’s dementia. Grigori could have existed in Ilya’s world without cognitive decline. Grigori could have died from a car crash or not died at all. But, Tierney added this piece in and continued to show us Grigori’s increased confusion throughout the show. Grigori eventually dies probably due to complications from his dementia.
When does Grigori’s dementia first appear? Ilya mentions his dad keeps calling him in the first conversation on the phone with Alexie in “Rookies”, episode 1. And, when does this occur in the timeline with Ilya and Shane? Ilya has just lost to Shane in the Prospect Cup. We established that when Ilya loses a game to a country, he loses his battle with same-sex attraction. His internalized homophobia swings back into action when Grigori pops onto the screen. But, he can’t seem to shake this particular desire for Shane. And, this particular game was against Shane. In the next scene Ilya reveals he arranged the commercial shoot on his own with Shane on purpose. Which we all know eventually leads them to their first sexual encounter.
Still in “Rookies” episode 1, Grigori and Ilya talk on the phone about Ilya’s losses with nary a whiff of dementia from his dad. Ilya has not yet lost to “him” in that dialogue yet. I established that Ilya believes at this point Shane is just another man he can’t help being attracted to. He is most definitely not in love with Shane here.
Then, at some point off screen, Grigori calls Ilya to ask if Ilya will bring home some bread. Which leads to the phone conversation between Ilya and Alexei about the concerning comment. Between those two phone calls Ilya and Shane, after the commercial shoot, have sex for the first time. Here it is again:
- Grigori and Ilya have a ‘normal’ conversation about Ilya’s team losing.
- Shane and Ilya have sex for the first time.
- Ilya notices some cognitive decline with his dad in an off-screen phone conversation and mentions it to Alexei (otherwise we wouldn’t know about it).
Grigori’s decline starts after Ilya and Shane have sex. Hmmm. There are two other scenes with Grigori and, then, his death. Right?
Because of the structure of this article, I don’t want to drag this out any longer. I’m going to tell you what I think Grigori’s dementia represents and then we can go back through the scenes to check that the theory works.
Grigori dies at about the same time Ilya confesses his love, in Russian, for Shane. So, dementia disappears at the same time Ilya admits his love for Shane. I believe that whatever the dementia represented for Ilya would not allow Ilya to fully accept his feelings for Shane. I think Grigori’s dementia represents the shame Ilya felt for loving Shane, for loving, not being attracted to, someone of the same sex. Once he was free from his internalized homophobia (Grigori dies), he could accept his feelings for Shane even if he couldn’t admit them to Shane yet. This is the moment that Ilya accepted his queerness fully and could accept, even when in Russia, that he loves a man with his whole self. Because, remember, Ilya is really Russia.
Though if Russia is Ilya, the pressure he puts on himself to not be attracted to men is his own making. All of this torture and torment about his sexuality is his own design. The shame that keeps him from admitting his feelings for Shane is his own making, a sickness which would eventually claim its carrier. He created this cage he couldn’t escape until he let go of his shame.
While not universally true, many queer people share these same feelings about their journey through accepting their sexuality. They carry shame for who they are and who they love when faced with a family or community that isn’t supportive. I’m not saying Ilya should have been stronger to not fall to those pressures. But, the fear and shame were of his own making nonetheless.
It just occurred to me that, if my theory is correct, Tierny shoved the allegorical meaning of Ilya’s shame for loving Shane onto the allegorical character, his father, who represents Ilya’s inernailzed homophobia. That’s impressive.
It’s time to check to see if this theory can hold some water.
In episode 4, “Rose” the beginning montage includes a scene where Ilya can be seen taking care of Grigori who is basically non-responsive. Grigori sits on a couch while Ilya moves lithely around him on the phone with someone we assume is Alexei. Ilya’s posture indicates whoever he is talking to is not listening or is being unreasonable. Ilya only has frustrating phone conversations with Grigori and Alexei. Logically, it has to be Alexei on the phone who is also very much not taking care of Grigori.
Overall, the montage itself is a feast. The show creators have to ease us back into this story line after taking us on a detour with Scott and Kip. We see flirting by texting in the summers between Shane and Ilya, hockey, winning gold cups, sex when they can, Shane’s product endorsement video shoots, and glimpses of their life as they slowly lose their ability to focus on anything but the other.
But, we should take stock of what precedes this scene. Up to now Shane and Ilya have sex whenever they can meet up. Ilya more often pursues Shane and is even annoyed when the weather prevents a moment in which Ilya and Shane plan to introduce another … um … act into their standard menu of sexual options. Before the montage, they manage to have sex four times in the series. Some of which were amazing and others not.
So, it’s important to think about where this scene takes place in which Ilya cares for his father who has dementia. That scene in particular happens towards the end of the montage where years have passed. It would be fair to say though that it happens right in the middle of the time in which we see each of them begin to have feelings for each other. What they have now is beyond sex at this point.
In that super short montage scene, Ilya diligently cares for the person who represents his internalized homophobia. In other words, he’s had these thoughts for years now and dotes on them. Releasing these negative thoughts and changing your mindset is hard. But, the dementia slowly takes his father farther and farther away from reality. The dementia erodes the life that holds his internalized homophobia. The shame of loving Shane starts to weaken as Ilya begins to understand how deeply he cares for Shane. Ilya realizes that if loving a man is his current reality and something he wants in the future, then internalized homophobia has no place in his life.
While some people can both be in love with a same-sex partner and have internalized homophobia, that doesn’t seem like Ilya’s fate. Grigori would be alive and well with us into Season 2 if that was the case.
The last time we encounter Grigori alive is during the Tuna Melt scene. Ilya dances around his affections for Shane. But, we know Ilya put a considerable amount of effort into preparing for this meet up.
For the sex scenes in the montage, we are not shown the beginning or end of each scene. The audience is dropped into the act of sex and removed before the end. Their interactions are desperate, intense and consuming. They have waited months to be together and all they want is to be close.
But, we can assume from Shane’s reaction to Ilya in the Tuna Melt scene that asking Shane to stay, their nap, the Tuna Melt lunch, watching hockey together, and just talking about their lives is very new territory for them. They have never experienced these things together. Before now, they communicated only through sex and when that was over, they parted ways. This time though, Ilya planned a different ending.
When does Grigori interrupt with his call then? Ilya shared with Shane that he no longer has a regular sexual partner in Boston and she is most definitely not his girlfriend, Ilya takes their Tuna Melts out of the oven, they eat together and Ilya does his best to tease out from Shane whether or not Shane has any sexual or romantic partners beyond Ilya. It’s clear here that Ilya wants to get to know Shane and is trying to hint to Shane that he wants more out of this relationship than casual hookups. Ilya says motioning toward Shane “But, I also like you…. Not this person. Of course… But, you have a good mouth.” He comes so close to saying to Shane that he wants more than sex and he’s done a fine job of trying to woo him. But, he can’t quite tell Shane what he wants the way Shane can receive and understand. What Shane heard, I think, is what he knows already about Ilya’s feelings. Ilya likes Shane for his mouth or, what they do sexually, nothing more.
Picture from: https://heated-rivalry.com/heated-rivalry-season-one/
Grigori interrupts during a moment for Ilya that comes too close to what he wants but can’t quite say out loud. If Grigori represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia, that message is being delivered loud and clear through that phone call. Ilya can’t seem to get rid of those horrible feelings about himself. Unfortunately, when Ilya answers, Grigori seems agitated and confused on the other line.
Ilya - I did answer you, Father. We spoke yesterday. Father, where is Alexei? … My brother Alexei. Is he there with you? Is Polina there? … Polina, she is your wife. … Father, stay calm. I will call Alexei. I will call him.
The shame he has for falling in love with Shane, a man, seems near a breaking point.
When would Ilya have made plans to stretch out this tryst with Shane? Go to the store to get food and Ginger Ale, think about how he can convince Shane to stay longer, make sure there was a hockey game on at the right time, and broach the subject of romantic interests to understand more about Shane’s feelings for Ilya. It looks like yesterday when Ilya answered the phone call coming from his father. So, as he made the plans to broaden their relationship, he still struggled with internalized homophobia.
But, Grigori is agitated today. He doesn’t remember talking to Ilya yesterday. Grigori’s confusion indicates his rapid decline continues. Maybe some days he is lucid, other days he is not.
In this scene Ilya tries desperately to communicate to Shane through subtle signals that he wants to elevate their relationship to something with more substance but can’t commit to sharing his true feelings explicitly. At the same time, dad interrupts at the moment where he might just spill it all. It’s literally the worst time a parent could interrupt but Grigori isn’t just a parent. He represents Ilya’s internalized homophobia. The Grigori that interrupts is the Grigori with dementia. So, he is aware that the shame in loving a man remains but is losing its hold on him.
We understand that some days Grigori is confused and other days he is not. This, for Ilya, indicates that some days he is full of shame for loving Shane but other days he is not.
Listen, if you’ve figured out what dementia represents just from these bits, you’re a genius. I hadn’t. The scene that helped me understand what Grigori’s dementia represents is, in fact, his death and how Ilya mourns Grigori’s death.
But, before we get there we need to take dip into episode 5 again.
If you have read my first article, Heated Rivalry: Introductions and Cigarettes, you’ll remember that there is no gay sex in hockey. Cigarettes represent gay sex in Heated Rivalry. And, in “I’ll Believe in Anything” episode 5 Svetlana says to Ilya, “when did you start smoking again?” He says something to the effect of “I’m not. Just every once in a while.” In this moment, if you understand the cigarette metaphor, in combination with everything that I’ve proposed here, Ilya had abstained from having gay sex. And, now he’s dabbling in it again.
At the time I had not worked out Grigori’s allegorical representation completely but quitting smoking related to when he and Shane were on a break during the Rose Landry detour works with Ilya’s internalized homophobia and, also, supports this analysis. He started smoking again because right after that scene with Svetlana, he and Shane would begin their All Star weekend which leads to sex.
(What I didn’t think about until now, though, is that Rose is a mirror for Ilya. And, Shane and Rose were having straight sex. Which means, technically, in a convoluted way Ilya and Shane were still having sex but it was not gay sex. It’s a stretch and sort of upside-down, topsy-turvy way to have straight sex between two male characters. Ilya not smoking during the time that Shane dated Rose was because Ilya and Shane were not having gay sex but Ilya (as Rose) and Shane were having straight sex. Ha! No, Ilya and Shane can’t really have straight sex but maybe you can see how I got there.)
During the All Star Weekend hotel scene Ilya tries his hardest to convince Shane that “We can’t be something”. He goes as far to tell Shane how Shane feels for Ilya. But, Shane refuses to back down. Shane had a taste of life without Ilya and with someone he couldn’t possibly love completely. He decided that wasn’t acceptable. Shane was now trying his version of the Tuna Melt scene minus the terrible ending.
Ilya all but admits he wants to have a relationship with Shane too but he doesn’t think it’s possible. He knows that if they begin in earnest to be a couple, Ilya would “never be able to got back to Russia.” Well, if Ilya is Russia, then Ilya is admitting to Shane that he will never be able to return to this place in his head that harbors these homophobic thoughts.
None of us wants him to return to that space in his head that torments him but it’s safe. When you’ve been living within a certain construct your whole life, even if it’s harmful, it’s safe. It’s predictable. Predictability is easier than the unknown. He’s scared that if he takes this chance with Shane, he won’t be able to predict the outcome. No one in his life is queer so he doesn’t have a way to envision that possibility.
Also, in this scene the implications of being gay/queer in hockey while rivals hang over their heads. What could a gay relationship between two world-famous hockey player even look like especially when everyone thinks you hate each other? There is no framework established by another gay couple in hockey to shape their lives together after. There isn’t even one gay open hockey player who might even have a partner outside of the hockey world. There is a possibility Ilya will lose his profession because of his sexuality. If Ilya loses hockey and the familiar thoughts in his head, what else is there for him? Shane, sure. But, everything his inner and outer life was built on will crumble.
What I think is interesting in light of this article is Ilya’s hesitation to label his sexuality especially in this moment considering Shane’s admission. I’ve read countless Russian or Eastern European creators affirm that Ilya’s reluctance to label himself is unnecessary and emblematic of Slavic culture: stoicism at its finest. Hopefully you paused there for a second and thought…'Well, that’s their perspective and, therefore, a bias. Subtext reading should be free from bias.’ I agree and I call bollox on their interpretation of Ilya’s reason for not naming his sexuality even if it does seem to match with Slavic culture.
While not everyone wants to label themselves or they may even feel like a label will limit them, I’m not sure that’s what’s going on here. He’s clearly in this exact moment still very much unable to shed his internalized homophobia and the guilt for his deep feelings for Shane. Naming his sexuality opens Pandora’s box. What will come out of the box when the lid is removed? He can’t take it back. And, if he can’t take it back, he has to deconstruct his internalized homophobia. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Ilya just yet. And, that’s a hard box to unpack.
Wouldn’t it be a disservice to Shane to enter into something that he can’t do with his whole chest? Would Ilya do that to Shane?
But, when Shane says goodnight, Ilya has a hard time not being absolutely smitten with Shane. At this point, Ilya finally got from Shane what he had been waiting on since the Tuna Melt scene. Shane was willing to try out whatever Ilya would offer Shane. So, now the ball is in Ilya’s court. He has to decide how far he’s willing to travel into this relationship with Shane. Which means, he has to come to terms with his own internalized homophobia in order to give Shane what he deserves.
Picture from: Threads
Shortly after this scene in the same episode, Shane loses track of Ilya. JJ tells Shane that Ilya didn’t fly home with his team. No one knows where Ilya is at the moment including Shane. Ilya has all but essentially gone radio silent for a couple of days (I think. The timeline is unclear here). Finally Shane gets a call from Ilya confirming Shane’s suspicions that Grigori has finally passed for which we assume was from complications related to his dementia. Shane reaches out to Ilya by offering the space to talk to Shane about whatever is bothering Ilya. Because they have been experimenting with supporting each other now through some of their challenges.
In the text, Ilya responds with “Take off your clothes.” He decides not to open the discussion about the death of his father. Some commenters of Heated Rivalry have expressed confusion about Ilya’s reaction. Most people agree that having phone sex after learning their father died wouldn’t be their choice. Also, people point out that Ilya takes a huge risk by proposing and going through with phone sex with another man in Russia. Someone could walk in or overhear which would be the end of Ilya.
But, this isn’t the audience’s place to choose and, really, Ilya’s father isn’t what died and, is Ilya even in Russia really? His shame for loving Shane died. His internalized homophobia is gone too. Russia isn’t really the country. Russia is Ilya along with the thoughts that consume him. He is no longer confined to the restraints within his mind that say loving Shane is a bad thing. That literally died. Sex with your partner to rejoice in that freedom DOES make sense.
He doesn’t have to talk about his feelings here with Shane at all. What is there to talk about? The guilt is gone, the internalized homophobia is gone and now all he has to do is figure out a way to make their relationship work.
However, this is where the line of text and subtext blur. Because he is in a place that prevents him from being in the same place as Shane which is technically Russia. But, it’s also a metaphorical place in his head. So, if you aren’t able to be in the same place as your lover, and you crave intimacy with them especially after shedding that shame, phone sex will just have to suffice.
Now, why would Ilya go silent for a few days when his shame of loving Shane dissapears and he tells his internalized homophobia to take hike into the land of the dead and never come back? Ilya has never discussed any of these issues with Shane or anyone else. He held those thoughts close.
I’m venturing farther into the land of guessing here but I imagine anyone who experiences that sort of radical mind shift needs some time to process all of that. In order to really understand that he shed his internalized homophobia and now accepts his love for Shane freely, he needed time to make sure that felt right. Is he sure that he is free from these self-hating thoughts and can return to Shane a more accepting man even if Shane has no clue? He is in Russia which means he is very much in his head about all of these thoughts. He mentions how soon he wants to return to Shane but Shane allows him the opportunity to take as much time he needs to mourn his father’s death, or be sure about his new, freed self.
Ilya also doesn’t want to involve Shane in his thought process yet either. He’s already tried to ask Shane to be more but that back-fired. He’s too fragile right now to bring Shane into what he is experiencing within. That would lead to too many questions about Shane’s role in Ilya’s life and Ilya isn’t ready yet to admit outright that he loves Shane.
Being alone here makes sense. He’s protecting himself and his tenuous relationship with Shane by taking a step back from communication until he is ready. And, look at how content Ilya seems when he finally reaches out to Shane for the first time. This isn’t the face of someone who lost is father no matter how contentious their relationship had been. This is the face of someone who is finally at peace with himself.
Next is the memorial, while it’s appropriate to mourn a father who died, it seems quite melodramatic to hold a whole ceremony to mourn the death of your internalized homophobia and shame. But, here we are. Actually, what’s important in that scene is the purpose of Alexei and Svetlanta which I will get to in later articles.
Let’s talk about bread for a minute. The second instance Grigori’s dementia is mentioned or alluded to, he asks Ilya to bring home bread. When the Colonel dies, he is honored at a restaurant by some Russian traditions here I’m going to probably bungle. Metals and ribbons encased in a frame fill the space in his stead. Family members, friends, other police/military officials he must have been close to sit with Ilya and Alexei for this very somber meal. A glass of vodka and a slice of rye bread reserve a spot for Grigori at the table in honor of his absence. And, the bread and vodka offering stay out for 40 days as the deceased’s last mortal meal. (My understanding is that it is not connected to any religious custom, rather a cultural one.)
If Grigori’s dementia is the shame Ilya carries for being in love with Shane, is Ilya in “Olympians” episode 2 already asking for that shame to die that early? Because the bread represents the last meal on earth for the parted. Grigori could have asked Ilya for batteries or butter. But, instead he asked Ilya to bring him bread: To hasten death - to bury the shame. I think that’s a plausible option.
In a recap: Grigori is the allegorical representation of Ilya’s internalized homophobia. Grigori’s dementia is the allegorical representation of Ilya’s guilt for loving Shane. Russia IS Ilya which means anything happening in Russia is really in Ilya’s head. Ilya grapples with intense feelings of self-hate, confusion and guilt about his attractions towards men but works on mending those feelings to embrace himself fully represented by Grigori’s death. The impetus for allowing his internal homophobia to die is due to his love for Shane. Lastly, he realizes he can’t hold both of those ideas, loving Shane and maintaining his internalized homophobia, at the same time for the sake of doing what is best for Shane (and himself).
I am forever astounded at how much filmmakers can shove into the subtext of their pieces if you know where to look. We now know so much more about Ilya’s struggle that never see the light of day in the series to the casual onlooker. Digging into the subtext reveals to us a much richer and more complex character than at first glance. Additionally, I’ve never seen any other creators providing this sort of analysis among the many content creators who pick apart this series with a fine-toothed comb.
If you have, please share!
While I feel confident in my theories thus far, I welcome discourse about them. I’m forever worried that I’ve missed something or didn’t make a connection that will blow my theories to bits.
If you’ve reHeated several times you may be wondering why I skipped over mentioning some of the scenes discussing Grigori or his dementia. Because, there are other scenes that I’ve not included here, most notably Ilya’s monologue in the tunnel. It’s because of that conundrum I discussed in the beginning about how some of these characters’ purposes interlock. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to solidly discuss one concept without the other. But, that adding too much into one article would confuse and consume even me who is trying to explain these ideas. Those few remaining mentions of Ilya’s father will come up later or are easy enough for you to possibly discern on your own.
So, coming up next is Alexei Rozanov where I will hit those pieces of dialogue I skimmed over. And, which should hopefully help fill in some holes that were left in Grigori’s wake in this article.
Thankfully, this time I don’t have the Paradox of Choice. This article is a nice segue into Alexei who I wanted to write about first. I think he will further prove my theory that Grigori is the allegorical representation of Ilya’s internalized homophobia.
My short term goal after that is Svetlana. I cannot wait to write about her.
In the meantime, take nosedive into the lake at the Cottage to cleanse your pallette. This one was a doozy.