we can't resist

gay skating has sucked us in

chinhands

I

IT KEEPS GETTING MORE GAYER

we did just finished episode 10 and I

HOW DO THEY KEEP DOING THIS

like

actual

honest to god

rings?

in a church?!

with a choir?!?!

OKAY

I WAS WAITING FOR YOU BOTH TO HIT EP 10

also Yuri is a shockingly agile blackout drunk, wow, well done, 10/10 party boy

Yeah he's... ah, sir, if we all had that balance

IF ONLY

Laughs at how it reframes things from the first nine episodes in all these little (or bigger) ways once you know about his party night

Right?! Man I wonder how he feels about that though, I mean....

Drunk him was actually bold enough to ask

and then sober him proved he had the skills to do right by Viktor's coaching

Yeah, and here he was sitting there "oh I never even talked to Viktor" nnnno you did more than talk

yep

YOU DID

A LOT MORE THAN TALK FELLA

YOU DID MUCH MORE THAN TALK and oh boy

like for real how smitten was Viktor there, WOW

i love it, that moment where his brain just clicks over to "oh... oh I've got a crush"

"oh no, he's cute"

yes

as he's being hugged and squirmed on i'm just like, laughs so hard

gets to Japan, like you know that someone drunk isn't how they are sober but boy he didn't expect Yuri to be running away

OH GOD

winks at him in the spare banquet room, are you nervous?

BOY DOES THAT EVER REFRAME THE WHOLE NAKED IN HOTSPRINGS THING

Yuri blankstares

YES

DOESN'T IT?

THAT DID NOT JUST LOOK LIKE A COME ON THAT WAS ACTUALLY A COME ON

face in hands laughing

and how vitya acted ALL THAT NIGHT

look embarrassment is one thing, totally being forgotten doesn't even enter into his head whoops

literally, not once, not in eight months LASMDL CRIES

8D poor bastard

but hey dude just literally gave you rings in a church sooooo

you know

doin' okay there now

god this is a shockingly pure romance, I am so

so

charmed

ugh as am I, just. guys. /ruffles their hair

but yes i look forward to you getting through to the finale just because i love hearing people's thoughts along the way so /cheers you both on

WE'RE WORKING ON IT

X3 I plan on popping over here whenever we finish an episode

lbr now that we're diving into the subs we're just going to slam the last couple right now

bounces in seat IM CHEERING FOR Y'ALL and yeah

ngl though i will also really be looking forward to watching the dub once it's all dubbed through, i love both versions WHICH IS FUN aah

ME TOOOOO

>:U How dare they with the damned Canadian!

(BUT I still love that he has a ripoff Canadian Tire logo on his sweats, ba ha ha ha)

guh making me feel things for that poor bastard

what was the flash of Otabek about?

like, why was it him specifically that seemed to make him choke up?

hmmmmm

The death glare of someone set him off?

maybe???

feel for JJ in a way I think it's almost being close enough to what JJ's done, presuming JJ too fight his way on ice and Otabek is so focused and even Otabek is exhausted by all this

You know, I suppose!

I do like that they're showing him to be graceful in failure, though

or at least resilient

I think that saves the character for me

Yeah, his resilience is something I really appreciated getting to come to light (and also how Yuri responds to it, mentally, compared to him the year before)

Yeah, that was good, all of it

One more ep to go ;A;

CHEERS ON...!

we finished it!!

That was really nice!

I'm actually pleased he didn't get gold or it'd be hard to escalate next season 8D

also, how long we gonna have to fuckin wait for next season...!

Maybe you ought to make a journal to pass the time

OH GDI

WHAT IF I DID

It'd be cute

Wasn't the repeated refrain in the show that this was to be Yuri's last season though?

That's what I've wondered about a continuation.

I don't think it can be though!

Well, it looks like they're going for a second season of the show, but I mean Yuri repeatedly narrates that it's his last season.

So that's what has me wondering what direction they intend to go in.

I was a bit puzzled in the last episode with what Viktor was going to do next season, but...

it was pretty much outright stated that Yuri saying in the last episode that he was going to retire next season was a gambit to make sure Viktor got back on the ice competitively

I dropped off following this one some eps in, I just remembered that narrative framing coming up a couple of times, so it made me wonder.

....oooooooh

yeah the last episode addresses it, albeit obliquely

besides, the whole show has more or less been Yuri struggling against his own anxiety re: skating competitively, so he could have said he was going to retire and really meant it at one point

and then gone back on that as he finds himself

Good to know they touched on that. I wonder what direction they'll take the show, with relationship tension settled (from the sounds of it) as that often provides a challenge in writing because of audiences.

Well

"settled"

I'm sure they'll find ways to escalate

they've been masterful so far!

It's been nice seeing friends so excited about it.

Hopefully the next season will please just as much, if not more.

slips back in here post shower

Settled is relative; I definitely think both of them need to ruminate over their relationship with each other, not hinging on the ice, so to speak. But! Regardless, Kat captured the refrain well

The main antagonist of Yuuri's own anxiety remains what it is; not fully conquered, at any point, but addressed, with wins and losses on both sides

I like the way you guys hash this out

there's a ton left on the relationship stuff for them left to get to, too, I mean...

for all the GAY ESCALATION, my tiny fangirl heart wants to, I don't know, see the pair of them get more deliberate?

like

rings intended "as thanks for all the help and support"

and then sort-of-but-not-really-ha-ha-but-maybe turned into engagement rings by someone else's misunderstanding and then Viktor just up and saying?

Having Yuuri actually admit they're engagement rings; he lets Viktor say it, and doesn't contradict it, but to me it is like... hm, when Yuuri couldn't admit out loud he was aiming for a gold medal

Like, I totally buy if Yuri had gotten the gold they would have ended up getting married but like.... they'd have the plausible deniability

the "well I said if you got gold I'd do it!"

He's not confident enough, and that's a hurdle for him to still get over

YEAH

exactly

I want them to like, admit they're boyfriends who want to marry and raise poodles together

not just like... edge their way into it without ever saying

Yep! Not to mention Viktor needs to work on communicating effectively too. I feel like the hotel room conversation was a prelude to a conversation they mutually cut short

I buy the romance 100% but I'm getting exasperated at the characters IC

OH YEAH FOR REAL RIGHT?!

Since neither one of them had talked about what they were thinking or expecting, and in ways I feel Viktor presumes way too much that Yuuri understands what Viktor means/that he's sincere

WITHOUT EXPLAINING when Yuuri needs that kind of direct reassurance/actual statements what the blazes, Viktor

I wonder if Viktor just doesn't realize how facetious he comes off at times

He doesn't, I don't think

kiddo jeez

He's too laid back in ways that people tend to read him as being not serious since he doesn't showcase himself being as serious as he is

dlsskahgklh I really hope that gets addressed as a character point and isn't just the writers chickening out a little

Plus Yuuri keeps taking what he says and interpreting it as "gosh Viktor sure says some crazy things" meanwhile, buys the man a ring and says thank you for everything, trembles while having the pair ring put on

they haven't shown signs of chickening out but I've been burned too many times by queerbaiting media to totally trust

RIGHT?!?!? HCRIST

I feel it really is the character point; it's so consistent, and self defeating in the ways that anxiety can be

look how long it took Yuuri to even admit he wants the gold and that is something that is only earned by his own merit as pitted against others

Saying I want you forever Viktor, regardless of the ice isn't earned so much as negotiated and trusting on both sides, and Viktor just. Is so dumb about how to communicate emotions.

Yuuri was legitimately surprised that him saying he was still retiring hurt Viktor, and Viktor was legitimately surprised that Yuuri seemed to be saying "I don't need to go any further with you"

(or want, as the case may be)

ultimately that resolved into Yuuri acknowledging first to himself, then to Viktor, that he does, but seriously... that was when he was at peak confidence on the ice

alsdfkj sorry I have various thoughts on these things, lowers face into hands

ARE YOU KIDDING don't you dare apologize

I live for these character dissections

and I am in the midst of a rabid froth of frustration that season 2 doesn't exist yet so I don't get to see if these character notes are ponied up on

I honestly cannot wait to see the dub; I feel like that misunderstanding, that failure to communicate, will come through even more clearly when done in voice

out the other end of the episode it's easier to see it's a failure to communicate, but in the moment I was legitimately really confused as to what Yuuri thought he was doing

but I guess the things that are obvious to us as viewers are necessarily not obvious to the characters

prediction: in the same way he's waffled about retiring/not and desiring the gold/not (because there was a point earlier when he was V SINCERE about believing he would get the gold;

...see the press conference where he goes on about LOVE)

the show is going to see him waffle over being able to express any sort of overt non-skating-related affection for Viktor

to the point that Viktor is thrown off his blase' game

I think we're going to see a couple of episodes next season where they really do nearly part ways because neither of them can unhook their relationship from the ice

can we just skip to the old couple raising poodles and training upcoming new talented kids please??

TIME TO FANART

Hahaha oh good, I love chatting on these things too

I do feel that it's really going to be that way, Viktor getting thrown off his stride because he probably does think they're also okay off the ice, without seeing that... no that's never been clear

and yes fanart time!!!

Granted Viktor needs to work on the separation too, but you can see why someone who has spent 20 years focused on his sport has trouble voicing or thinking around what it is to love and not have it be

intrinsically just related to the sport

At least he outright says in one episode that he's spent twenty years neglecting his love life and his personal life, like, at least he knows it

but like, dude you gotta take that knowledge and use it to admit you can't just handwave proficiency

you're an athlete ffs you know handwaved proficiency just isn't a thing

Y e p

He has to try harder at the personal life and love part

Which makes the "yeah okay I'll get back into competitive skating and also coach" thing set up for an interesting crisis point (of energy and resources) where he uh, is going to have to think personally

Learning to really juggle things and Yuuri's needs and his own