Scene Analysis - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

i have so many feelings about the "why mess with perfection" scene. im going to analyze it in a way it was probably never intended to be. fuck you silly crime show i can overthink ANYTHING. this got long so it's under a cut. please please read it though im actually very proud of this one.

personally i count this line as being more evidence that william reid is a scumbag. this is how diana describes her pregnancy with spencer in the episode immediately proceeding this:

"I went off my medication when I was pregnant with you. I spent every day in terror, but I made it. And it was beautiful. I had you."

it's a bit of a mixed bag, because she clearly considers it to have been worth it, but. i mean, maybe this is just me, but if my wife went off her antipsychotic medication for the duration of her pregnancy and "spent every day in terror", i wouldn't be raring to put her through that again. "I made it" also feels quite charged to me, like there were moments where she wasn't sure she would.

from what i could find, there's still no real consensus on whether antipsychotics are safe for use during pregnancy (as much as any medication can be) and i imagine there was even less certainty during the early 80s. any subsequent pregnancies would likely have also involved diana going off her meds, and pregnancy is difficult enough when you AREN'T also skipping your antipsychotics.

and diana's expression here—to me, that's not the expression of a woman who had one kid and was then just like "nah im happy with this one." it's a woman who had an extremely difficult pregnancy and whose husband then tried to convince her to do it over and over again. there's resentment in the way she delivers that line.

as sweet as this line is, i think it's ultimately diana protecting spencer. she can't say "my pregnancy was incredibly difficult, i couldn't bring myself to do it again" because spencer will get a complex about it. so she says this, although that doesn't mean it isn't also true. in a perfect world where diana's pregnancy was as smooth sailing as pregnancies get (because i don't think there's really such thing as an easy pregnancy), i think she still probably would have only wanted one child. it's not that this isn't why diana wanted to stop at baby number one, but i do think there's a second reason she's leaving out because she knows the truth will make spencer feel guilty.

but i think he sees through it. not that he'd ever tell her. (she knows anyway. not that she'd ever tell him.)

so. this scene is cute, but it's weird that hotch didn't assign reid the journals in the first place. there's potentially a woman still alive somewhere and there are potentially clues to where she is in the journals. even though the unsub is dead, speed is still very important. they have no idea if she's somewhere inherently dangerous, if exposure is a risk, if she has access to food and water (which she probably doesn't), etc. so obviously i had to make it make sense in my head or i'll explode.

they're reading the journals of a man who's been abducting and killing women unnoticed for ten years. who knows the kinds of things he's written in there. yes, reid is the best person practically to read the journals because he can get through them the fastest, but he's alsothe worst person emotionally because he'll remember every (possibly depraved) word for the rest of his life (ignoring the fact that that's very much not how eidetic memories work irl. you can accuse cm of being a lot of things but true to life is not one of them <3).

(that's obviously not to say that it wouldn't affect any other member of the team. but there's a difference between "this is going to haunt me" and "I Physically Can't Forget This")

i don't think this is a conscious decision on hotch's part—again, there's very much a time crunch, and if he did think about it consciously, i think he would value potentially saving a woman's life over potentially making reid remember fucked up stuff forever. that's not to knock hotch—imo that's the correct if unpleasant decision and hotch is very good at making those even if he hates himself for making them every time. but maybe subconsciously this is why he tried to keep reid away from the journals.

(sidenote: i know this is not the intent. i just like to overthink shit that doesn't matter <3)

this exchange is so good and funny and gay. the line delivery is great and the way morgan's eyes dart down a little is hilarious. but i just can't laugh at this scene because i have worms in my brain.

all i can think about in this scene is how incredibly dehumanizing this would feel. for anyone, but especially for reid, given the goalpost incident*. i wonder if that crossed morgan's mind as well—he leaves entirely when he could turn his back.

*is there a better way to refer to that? i'd refer to it as "his SA" but a. a decent number of people would probably assume i was referring to the theory about his dad and b. not a lot of people seem to see the goalpost incident as SA

Criminal Minds S01E01 - a scene analysis/things I noticed

(The text in the images is the same, I just worried you can't read my handwriting)

1. In the beginning scene where Gideon is asked to return to the BAU, the way the characters are positioned is representative of their power dynamic or role within the BAU at that point as well as representing the dilemma within the scene

- Reid is in the background since he is the youngest and least experienced, also the least in focus atp. He's also positioned in front of a map, which could be foreshadowing for his ample ability of geographical profiling

- Morgan is in front of Reid but still behind Hotch and Gideon

- At first, Gideon is positioned as the main focus with the camera showing him debating returning to the BAU for the first time since the Boston incident. As Hotch tells him that “the order came from the director” the camera focus switches as in the team “came back into focus” as Gideon realizes he has to come back.

- The camera then focuses on Hotch since he is the leader of the team. This shows that now that Gideons dilemma isn't the only thing in focus, the team has dynamics and roles which are also a large aspect of the show

2. In this scene with the family of the unsub, although the family isn't centered they are very clearly the focus of attention due to the clear blue colour tint around them. This suggests the grief they are in after finding out their family member committed a crime. The family is surrounded by green tints as well, showing their grief is surrounded by the unsubs world (explanation in next observation)

- In the next scene if you look at the family portrait you will see that everyone in the family except the unsub is in blue, showing that the entire family was affected by his actions in their grief but also that he stands out from them.

- When Elle comes in from the left in the next frame, her red outfit is a contrast to the blue. She is from the outside world, an outsider to the family's grief.

3. The general lighting in this scene shows an outside world (the warmer lights in the hallway) and the inside world of the unsub, with the darker green colors. In the frame pictured, the unsub is looking away from the outside world.

- Gideon is wearing red to contrast the green

- The family portrait shows how the unsub is an outsider with the rest of the family positioned in a tight triangle and him in the bottom right corner, also wearing different colors from the rest of the family

- The family photo is centered in this scene, showing a clear contrast between them surrounding the unsub versus him now being all alone

- The table in front of him is empty, showing he has no future in front of him. In a few seconds Gideon places his book in front of him, showing that the only future now is the BAUs work

- There is a chair facing backwards behind the unsub. This is like an interrogation, so the two chairs are for the two unsubs. But because the team doesn't know this yet, the chair faces away from Gideon, the interrogator.

4. Following the train of thought about the colors, we can see that the car the unsub used to lure the women into is red. The contact with the outside world is red, and in the scene where we see him kidnap a victim we can see he is wearing a green jacket as he locks the girl in the red car, showing that she is being locked away by the inside world of the unsub.

5. In this scene with Hotch interrogating the unsub, he is centered as he walks into the interrogation room to show his importance.

6. In the scene at the very end of the episode, the unsub is once again shown in green lighting. His truck is shown in red, while Gideon is also in green. This shows how Gideon Has stepped into the inner world of the unsub, and is looking out on the outside world from within as he realizes who he's talking to.

Colour contrast throughout the episode:

EMILY PRENTISS & SPENCER REID

6x17 valhalla

Criminal Minds (2005–2020)

so. this scene is cute, but it's weird that hotch didn't assign reid the journals in the first place. there's potentially a woman still alive somewhere and there are potentially clues to where she is in the journals. even though the unsub is dead, speed is still very important. they have no idea if she's somewhere inherently dangerous, if exposure is a risk, if she has access to food and water (which she probably doesn't), etc. so obviously i had to make it make sense in my head or i'll explode.

they're reading the journals of a man who's been abducting and killing women unnoticed for ten years. who knows the kinds of things he's written in there. yes, reid is the best person practically to read the journals because he can get through them the fastest, but he's alsothe worst person emotionally because he'll remember every (possibly depraved) word for the rest of his life (ignoring the fact that that's very much not how eidetic memories work irl. you can accuse cm of being a lot of things but true to life is not one of them <3).

(that's obviously not to say that it wouldn't affect any other member of the team. but there's a difference between "this is going to haunt me" and "I Physically Can't Forget This")

i don't think this is a conscious decision on hotch's part—again, there's very much a time crunch, and if he did think about it consciously, i think he would value potentially saving a woman's life over potentially making reid remember fucked up stuff forever. that's not to knock hotch—imo that's the correct if unpleasant decision and hotch is very good at making those even if he hates himself for making them every time. but maybe subconsciously this is why he tried to keep reid away from the journals.

(sidenote: i know this is not the intent. i just like to overthink shit that doesn't matter <3)

reid's reaction when emily says "we missed your birthday" is so fucking. agh.

he nods and smiles and then very quickly looks down.

TIME TO READ INTO IT WHOOOOO:

when they missed his birthday, he was like. "eh. it's fine. i'm thirty now, i don't need my friends to throw me a party. i'm an adult, i'm not upset about it."

especially because i'm sure reid didn't have a lot of awesome birthdays pre-series. i always got the impression he was mostly friendless until he joined the team, with ethan as the only exception (and in my heart they met and became friends in college, despite canon suggesting it was as young children). diana loved him and i'm sure she would have been lovely on his birthday, but i doubt she always remembered it (in the flashback to william leaving in 2x15 she doesn't know what day it is—i think it's very plausible that could happen on at least some of his birthdays) and if she did, she might not have been in the right headspace to celebrate it like she wanted.

(and even if she remembered and she was doing well, i really struggle to see any version of diana and spencer post-william leaving who wouldn't have had serious financial issues)

and then after spencer moves diana into assisted living (possibly on his birthday or at least close to it) he's mostly alone until he meets gideon. (again, except for ethan)

so, in summary: pre-bau spencer's birthdays were probably infrequently celebrated, and when they were celebrated, they were probably a lot less of a Big Deal than other peoples' were, for various reasons. so spencer spends about a decade growing used to not celebrating his birthday, then joins the bau and spends about a decade getting used to celebrating it, and then...they forget. not only do they forget, they forget the big three-oh.

so he tells himself not only that he's too old now to care about his birthday, but he spent so long not celebrating it anyway, and he's fine. it's fine.

and then emily finds out. and it's not fine. and he is upset about it.

memorable scenes from my first watch-through: 2/? ⮕ 7x12, “Unknown Subject”

I made an entire post about how Emily was noticeably being more present and kind to the other members of team since she came back at the start of the season. To have them dissect it here is honestly good writing. And again, it feels like I’m seeing two different parts of myself have a conversation. Hotch playing therapist again, but this isn’t like when he was counseling the others over losing Emily. This time it’s more practical than anything. “I don’t care if you lie to your therapist, but I do care if it affects your job.” Now, this isn’t to say that Hotch isn’t coming from a place of care and concern for Emily. Making sure everyone is at their best to do this job, is also a way of making sure that they stay safe and don’t get hurt. I think he was also the one to note early on, when Emily first appeared and we didn’t know much about her, that she seemed strangely unfazed by the horrors being a profiler actually entails. “I guess I’m just better at compartmentalizing than most people,” she says. So Hotch approaches Emily with that knowledge, that she is the type of person who can compartmentalize. We all process things differently, and there’s no use trying to force a person to confront their emotions, no matter how ‘healthy’ you think it would be for them. He just asks her to reexamine her true motivations for acting a certain way. For overcompensating. Emily’s the type of person who’s gotten so good at ignoring how she really feels, she might not fully realize she’s doing it. The deal Hotch offers her is a nice compromise. “You’re going to go weeks, months even, feeling fine. Then you’re going to have a bad day. Just let me know when you do.” (Is Hotch also speaking from personal experience? Probably.) It’s an elegant solution, because it’s a simple request that doesn’t ask Emily to do more than Hotch would be inclined to do himself. Emily just has to admit that she’s having a bad day and not keep it to herself. She doesn’t have to talk about it with him. Hotch is just giving her permission to feel what she needs to feel. And by knowing, he can adjust things to her needs accordingly. Parallel to Spencer and Emily, this is a nice development of their dynamic. From Hotch being incredibly suspicious of this highly skilled rookie agent coming into his office with unexplained assignment papers, to… this. They’ve come to trust each other as a boss and subordinate, sure. But there’s a fondness for each other that’s apparent here. The knowing look Hotch gives her when he reads Emily’s file, “She has reached out to her mother-” “I’m going to!” The playful comments about Sergio. Emily went out of her way to remind Hotch that he wasn’t alone after what Foyet did. It’s clear that Hotch intends to return the favor.

A beautiful, in depth analysis of the Clexa love scene in 307. Captures the little things often missed. 

Post-reading thoughts: I think it’s also greatly important to notice how in-tune they are with each other. No real verbal words are exchanged (that we see in this scene, despite the breathed ‘Clarke’ when Lexa looks up in the last gif). They speak through body language and their eyes in this scene, like they often did throughout their time together in both season 2 & 3 -almost as if words could not express the depth of their love and understanding for each other. They also pay close attention to how each other react, making them deeply ‘in-tune’ to one another, making both Clarke and Lexa incredibly respectful and trusting of each other. 

so in 3x07 I always saw it as Lexa pulling Clarke towards the bed, and then further pulling her down on top of her. Am I seeing it wrong? I guess that's why I always wondered why everyone saw Lexa as such a "bottom." While she does seem rather submissive, she seemed quite willing to initiate. Would love to know what you think??

You’re not wrong at all. She puts her hand behind Clarke’s neck and yes, she does pull her down on top of her.

(x) And yes, Lexa seems “submissive” during the love scene, and she is such an emotional mess throughout the whole thing that it’s easy to label her as a bottom. Not to mention that Clarke is a fucking top (I’m not really that into the top/bottom thing but Clarke Griffin is a top.)

That said… I think many people tend to forget the context of that scene? It’s after the betrayal. Lexa betrayed Clarke. But more than the political betrayal, she hurt Clarke. She hurt her horribly and she knows: she knows so much of Clarke’s pain is because of what she did. So indeed, she does everything she can to make amends. But, and this is so important to me, she never asks Clarke to forgive her. She knows she has no right to ask for that. After what she did, she doesn’t think it’s her right to ask Clarke for anything. Not for forgiveness, least of all for Clarke to love her back. How doesn’t she see that Clarke is in love with her? Easy, she doesn’t think she deserves that love. Of course hope dies last, so a part of her can’t help but wish for Clarke to reciprocate, but honestly, I’ve never seen their interactions in Polis as Lexa trying to win Clarke’s heart back. Her most “selfish” request was asking Clarke to stay in Polis during 3.07, and even then, I have no doubt she was asking that simply because she loves being with Clarke, even if in the most innocent way. I don’t think she wanted more time to increase her chances of getting Clarke to love her back. As I said, she thinks she destroyed her chance.

Anyway, why the digression, you ask? Because all that heavily plays into Lexa’s behavior during the love scene. Right from the start. (x)

She is completely and utterly taken aback by Clarke’s kiss! She was saying goodbye to her, she wasn’t expecting Clarke to kiss her, she wasn’t expecting Clarke to want to kiss her. And indeed, when Clarke dives back into the kiss, Lexa doesn’t reply immediately. Apart from the shock, she probably wonders what that kiss meant. If it was just in the heat of the moment, if Clarke wants to stop, if she regrets it. But then Clarke kisses her again, she makes it very clear that she wants what is happening, and after another second of hesitation, look at the switch in Lexa’s body language.

She doesn’t just respond to Clarke, she pulls her in and then pushes against her. And even beyond that, if you notice she actually initiates every kiss, she’s the farthest thing from submissive. Now that she knows she can, she physically gives vent to her repressed feelings. You literally see her hunger for Clarke because her mouth and her hands and her entire body chase after Clarke. Again and again. Clarke actually does little apart from untying Lexa’s shirt. And this is the first perfect example of how layered Lexa is, even when it comes to sex. She takes control of the kiss, but at the same time lets Clarke do what she wants with her. Like Lexa put it when she was talking about Costia, she is Clarke’s. She won’t take any more than Clarke is willing to give but she won’t do it passively. Just look at how she turns the tables after Clarke’s first kiss. Lexa is far from submissive.

There is another moment when she becomes hesitant again, though. 

The shot makes it a little hard to see, but look at Lexa’s face. She was lost in the kiss merely seconds ago, but the moment Clarke puts distance between them, Lexa immediately opens her eyes and searches Clarke’s face. She doesn’t try to kiss her again, she doesn’t try to get closer. She just follows Clarke’s lead. Why? Because she’s a bottom? No, I don’t think so. I think it goes back to what I said earlier. Lexa only takes what she gets from Clarke and doesn’t ask for more because after what she did to Clarke, to her it’s unbelievable enough that Clarke wants her back. And precisely because she struggles to believe it, she isn’t sure to what extent Clarke wants her. So she stops when it seems that Clarke is stopping (when lol, she was actually just leading Lexa to the bed) and waits to see what Clarke wants. Does this make her a huge bottom? I think it simply makes her incredibly thoughtful and respectful of Clarke and her boundaries. (x)

Even after she sat on the bed, she instinctively leans towards Clarke again, but she doesn’t go forward. She waits. With love and wonder and hunger in her eyes, she waits to make sure that Clarke has no doubt or regret or that she simply doesn’t want to stop, that Clarke wants this as much as she does (ps I find it so freaking cute that Clarke nods at her at the same time, like she’s asking “You want to?” to Lexa). And once she is sure, Lexa doesn’t hesitate anymore and she pulls Clarke on top of her.

So in the end… I think it depends on the circumstances. She is more than ready to take the initiative but she’s also willing to give up control. To me it’s a little more layered than just her being a top/bottom. One thing i have no doubt about though, is that this lady absolutely w o r s h i p s Clarke in bed :)

I always thnk that at the end of season 2 Hardy has pretty much fallen for Ellie, just the look in the last scene when she leaves and only offers him a handshake (and the way he says that) makes me believe that is in love with her even there. But at Graham Norton both Tennant and Colman denied any tendencies toward a relationship or sexual tension which made me a little unsure. Am I right with my feeling here? Sorry if this sounds stupid.

Hardy and Miller are BOTH in love at the end of S2, they’re just not in a place - emotionally, socially, psychologically - where they feel free and safe enough to act on those feelings.

Let’s break it down, because I’m in the mood and feeling passionate.

Throughout the season, Hardy has occupied the empty spaces in Ellie’s life where her husband used to be, including Joe’s side of the bed and Joe’s place in family photos. Ellie reclaimed her house from Joe and got her son back. She repainted her bedroom, which symbolises the reclamation of her sexuality. We watch as Ellie slams the car door shut on Joe and sends him packing from Broadchurch. She has banished Joe from her life, hopefully (but probably not) for good. Her goodbye to Hardy is next, but it doesn’t cut straight to him. The two scenes are interrupted by a shot of the cliffs.

The music swells and we hear the ocean. The transition shot is a pan across the outside of Hardy’s blue house; the colour blue wipes across the screen, with Ellie in her orange jacket as the bright point, the symbol of hope and happiness.

Ocean, cliffs and the colour blue are all intimately associated with sadness, the murders and with Hardy’s personal demons. Orange is hope and happiness and love, and is associated with Ellie. The orange/blue contrast is a common one, best epitomised by sunset shots and ocean/sun.

And of course we may compare scenes where the colourist has exaggerated warm, orange colours and scenes with where they have exaggerated cool, blue colours:

In the first, Ellie is in control and finding new purpose and strength; in the second, we see Maggie and Jocelyn, who represent pure, beautiful love.

Here, Hardy and Ellie interviewing a murderer; and a post-coital scene with Lee and Claire, who represent the antithesis of healthy love.

The establishing shot is wiped on with blue and it’s framed with blue. Hardy is dressed in blue, his house is blue, his whole life is blue, but Ellie is orange. She is our bright spot. This is also voyeur shot. It makes us feel like intruders witnessing something private. It lends an intimacy to the entire exchange. Note also that Hardy drops his height so he doesn’t appear bigger than her, but instead her equal. They stand divided on opposing sides with a negative space between them.

Here, Ellie asks, “what time’s your taxi coming?” He replies, “about half an hour. You don’t have to wait.” She says, “right” and shuffles her feet. But she doesn’t leave.

Cut to mid-shot on Ellie. She shifts, looks miserable, keeps glancing at him and looking away, can’t make eye contact. She’s just been told she’s welcome to leave, but she lingers. She’s framed by blue and by blocks, lines and tackle that evoke thoughts of the ocean, and also remind us that she is a Broadchurch native. The ocean is a part of Broadchurch, and it’s a part of her.

Mid-shot on Hardy. Empty space around him. Shuffling and tapping his hand, leaning awkwardly on the table, glancing at Ellie and glancing away. There’s a pause, then he says, “Miller, I couldn’t have done this without you.” This is a HUGE thing for Hardy to say. He’s saying thank you, I needed you, and I respect you as a detective.

Mid close-up on Ellie, drawing us further in. Now the blue is obscured and a warm light surrounds Ellie like a halo. “No, you couldn’t. And you didn’t.” She tries to make light of it, tries to joke about the situation, but the smile drops away almost immediately.

Hardy, looking sincere and miserable, says, “seriously.” He won’t let her dismiss it or turn it into a joke. He’s really trying to let her know how much she means to him and what she did for him. But his gentle sincerity makes her balk.

“No, no, don’t be nice to me, that’s not how it works.” They’re not friends. They’re just work colleagues who bicker and shout. Ellie can deal with Hardy as her grumpy boss and co-detective, but his attempts at intimacy, his kindness and gentleness, heaven forbid his touch - is too much to bear. She can’t allow herself to entertain feelings for him. Remember that Ellie’s trauma is a particularly insidious one - her husband was nothing but gentle and loving with her, right up to the moment she found out he was Danny’s murderer. Of course she’s going to fear similar gentleness from Hardy. Of course she’s going to deny her feelings for him. Of course she feels safer if Hardy is just her rude asshole boss who isn’t nice to her.

Hardy grunts an ‘alright’ and looks away. Now that Ellie’s explicitly shut him down, he stops trying. He’s always mindful and respectful of the boundaries she puts up.

Ellie, still with shifty eyes, and perhaps sensing that he won’t speak anymore unless prompted, quickly asks, “so where - where are you going to go?”

It’s a shifty, faltering, slightly hopeful question. Implicit within it is, ‘will you stay here?’

Hardy replies, ‘Erm. I dunno. Um. Close to Daisy, I need to be near my daughter.”

The subtext being that Hardy has no home and nowhere to go and no family but Daisy.

Ellie replies, ‘yeah. Quite right, too.’ Yes, of course he should go and be with his daughter. It’s only appropriate. You can see her mentally kicking herself for thinking - hoping - that he might stay in Broadchurch. Knowing that he has to be with Daisy also prevents Ellie from asking him to stay, or offering him a home here, or saying anything about her own feelings. He has to leave. He hates this place and he needs to be close to Daisy. Plus the case is over. Why would he stay? What reason could there be? How could she even think that he might choose to stay for her alone?

When she says “Quite right” she looks away, and that’s when Hardy steals this glance (and fuck David Tennant’s face for being so expressive, you can just SEE the heartbreak and the longing and all the thousand things he wants to say to her) and there’s a sense that he’s thinking “oh, she must want me to leave.”

Ellie’s basically been hanging around the whole scene on the off chance he might decide to stay, but she has her answer: he’s definitely leaving, he has to be with Daisy. As is right and proper. She says “Well. Okay, thanks for everything.”

Ellie stands up and crosses into Hardy’s half of the frame. Remember, Hardy has always been the one trying to touch her, and she has rejected him all season. Now she physically crosses that empty space and for the first time invites him to touch her. She says “thanks for everything,” which tells us - and Hardy - how much she needed him. He was there for her when no-one else was, and by getting her to work on Sandbrook he gave her purpose and drive and energy. There’s so much hanging behind those words - so much energy and gratitude and love.

Hardy asks, “Handshake?” in disappointed tones. After all this and all we’ve been through, will we really leave on a handshake?

“Yeah. Not hugging you,’ Ellie says, unable to look at him. And why would she hug him? Friends hug. Lovers hug. But she and Hardy just work together, right? Nothing more. She’s aware that Hardy wants more, aware of how willing he is to touch her and hold her, but she keeps that distance between them. He’s about to leave. She’s trying to make the separation less painful, but she can’t leave without touching him. It’s just a handshake, just something that work colleagues do, but she still has to touch him.

Hardy stands up straight, draws himself up to his full height, treats this gesture with respect, and is determined to make the most of it.

Close-up on the hands, just to get the sheer impact of this gesture across. The shot is perfectly balanced, perfectly symmetrical. Hardy is blue and Ellie is orange. Their two halves make a perfect whole in the centre.

Hardy says, “look after yourself, Miller.” Ellie can’t look at him. She starts crying, though she tries to hold it back. Touching him makes her cry. Hearing him say goodbye like this, so sweetly and so gently, makes her cry.

Hardy forces a smile; he can’t keep it up and as it fades he dips his head so she won’t see. Both of them are holding back their emotions and doing a terrible job. Note that touching Ellie has pulled Hardy into a much warmer, cosier world.

Ellie nods. She glances at him, her eyes really starting to shine with tears, and moves towards the door. Hardy suddenly remembers - “what about Joe?”

Ellie looks at him, a forced smile on her face and replies, choked up, barely able to speak but trying to reassure him, ‘um. It’s been dealt with.”

Close on Ellie’s face, just to make sure you can see the tears and her anguish. She leaves. But we don’t see her leave.

The camera stays trained on Hardy. This is one of the closest shots in the sequence, dedicated to capturing his reaction as Ellie departs. His eyes don’t leave her. There is SO MUCH love and concern and unspoken misery and longing there. He loves her and he’s afraid for her and he wonders if she’s really safe from Joe and he wants to stay with her, he wants to stay so badly.

There is no music in this entire sequence. There is barely any noise beyond the actors’ lines. There is a tension and an awkwardness to this entire scene and you know they’re leaving so much unspoken.

Joe wanted to stay in Broadchurch but Ellie and the others banished him; in this sequence we watch as Hardy banishes himself, even though Ellie wants him to stay.

From here it transitions to a shot of the ocean and the music starts up again - a specially composed piece called “Not Alone.” The Latimers lay flowers for Danny, then Fred, Ellie and Tom come up and the two families merge. From this shot of Ellie with her friends and family, the people she’d fought all season to regain, we go straight to Hardy alone. Again, Joe was banished by all the people of Broadchurch, but Hardy banishes himself. The overwhelming sense Chibnall leaves us with is that he should be with Ellie and the Latimers right now. He belongs with them. The taxi driver asks, “where to then, sir?” which perfectly encapsulates his dilemma. Where will he go? We know he belongs with Ellie and her family and friends, but is that what he’ll choose?

Since all of S3 is being predicated on the question of whether Hardy’s going to stay in Broadchurch to be with Ellie, of course the actors and the writer and the producers are going to deny the possibility of a relationship between them. They’re going to laugh and joke and deflect questions, but they’re just making sure S3 won’t be spoiled before it’s even filmed. Chibnall has been veeery subtle in the way he’s built up their relationship this season, just to make sure a romance seems like a faint possibility rather than a foregone conclusion. Several scenes were also cut and hidden away from us:

(gifs taken from this post, credit to mizgnomer)

These scenes are highly suggestive of romantic entanglement. Everything about them is warm and green and alive, and with wee Fred in the mix it genuinely looks like they’re a family. The full scenes with dialogue are not available anywhere, and I think it’s because, whatever happened, they were too suggestive even to be included in deleted scenes.

So: the final scene is an expression of muted romantic longing. Ellie tries to keep her distance but can barely hold back her tears when he touches her and says goodbye. The contrasts between Joe and Hardy and Ellie not alone vs Hardy alone are deliberately set up to make us think that Hardy belongs with Ellie, specifically in the space that Joe used to occupy. Chibnall predicates S3 on the question, “where to then, sir?” and on Hardy’s desire to be with Ellie. The cast have nothing to gain and everything to lose by being honest about what will happen in S3 and would never deliberately spoil the season. And Chibnall has apparently cut and stashed away a number of romantic-looking scenes, probably to keep the idea of a relationship between them subtle. Basically Nonny, you’re not stupid and come S3 all will be put right.

A Silent Voice - Portraying Isolation

A silent voice does an excellent job of portraying the different types of isolation the two lead characters experience. It is masterfully shown in these two shots.

The scene in Shouya’s apartment perfectly displays his self isolation. He is in his empty room in a fetal position. The choice of having him be in his room during this scene is important because a person’s bedroom is typically a place where people go to be alone and relax  and there is also the fact that he doesn’t own anything and it is empty showing that he isn’t here to relax or escape but to be alone. There is also the choice of his body position which seems like he is curling in on himself. He is hiding himself from the world and not letting them see the whole picture. Sound is also present in the scene with the scratching of his foot and neck seeming loud in the silence of his room. This is all in direct opposition to Shouko’s scene where it cuts from the noise of the fireworks festival to the dead silence that she experiences. In Shouko’s scene she is standing in an upright position that portrays an openness to the world and yet there are no other people in the shot showing that she is open with the world and trying to connect with others whereas others won’t try to connect with her and come into her world despite her efforts. Her isolation is shown to be through the others rejecting her instead of Shouya’s rejection of others and it isn’t until the scene on the bridge, which is used as their “spot” throughout the film, near the end where they finally find their voices and come to a true understanding of each other that they are both able to truly find a way out of their isolation. Shouya gets the world to open up to Shouko and Shouko gets Shouya to open up to the world. If the isolation they felt wasn’t shown so clearly in these scenes it wouldn’t be as powerful when their respective isolation is finally broken through.

             There are many scenes portraying the respective isolation of these characters but these directly juxtapose each other in the blatant comparison it draws to the way the characters are isolated and why each character is able to draw the other into the first steps outside of their isolation. It is because each individual understand a different type of isolation, self isolation and forced isolation. Shouko gets Shouya to open up to the world because of her understanding of the desire for human interaction and the world to open up to her. Shouya gets the world to open up to Shouko through his work to hear her voice and make up for the actions that started his own self isolation. Their respective journeys come full circle and thus create a new path where both are taking steps out of their isolation and to a new beginning.

The Purple Potato Meeting 🍠: Details You May Have Missed

I love this scene immensely, and it’s so fun observing the reactions of all the eunuchs throughout it. Here’s a few moments I thought were interesting!

This gif is slowed down a bit, but Jin Yan’s face goes through at least three different emotions in as many seconds. I adore how he sneaks in a quick smile for Jin Xian before giving Jin Xuan a dramatic tantrum.

I’ll never get over the way Jin Wei whips his head away as soon as Jin Yan approaches Jin Xuan. Perhaps he’s seen things that he can’t unsee 😼

Jin Yan’s little finger twitch is adorable, and it’s incredibly interesting seeing him return to his full height after practically bending over at a 45-degree angle to grovel to Jin Xuan.

There’s something so sassy about the way Jin Yan says that he wouldn’t dare, and his exaggerated movements contrast wonderfully with the more subdued way the other eunuchs lower their heads.

A few more moments below:

Jin Wei going from glowering at Jin Yan to giving Jin Xuan his attention.

I love the way Jin Yan looks at Jin Xuan, and his smile is so soft.

Jin Wei’s quick glance at Jin Yan before putting his full focus on Jin Xuan. The possible relief of Jin Xian now that they’re leaving.