Since it’s midnight and I have a flight to catch at 5am, why not break down this little argument scene?
This scene is short but it’s important. We tend to quantify closeness by the times we see Viktor and Yuuri kissing, hugging, or otherwise acting explicitly intimate, but this little argument is just as important in conveying a shared emotional intimacy between the two.
It’s pretty obvious from the start that Viktor doesn’t care about the damn nuts. He seems irritated already by the beginning of the scene, and I don’t think it’s because of the missing bag. Judging from Yuuri’s flustered state, he’s probably been dragging them all over, re-tracing their steps panicking trying to find the bag he lost.
Viktor is patient so he’s gone along with it, but even he has his breaking point. Despite his irritation, he does what Viktor tends to do when he’s angry, and hides his feelings behind a fake smile. He’s aware of Yuuri’s anxiety which is probably why he’s placated him up till now, but he’s no saint and anyone would be tired and frustrated after being dragged around a city looking for a missing bag. Still, he doesn’t want to upset Yuuri further, so he appeals to logic: the shop is closed, aren’t you tired?
Yuuri isn’t having it, though. He sees right through Viktor’s fake smile and he knows what he’s doing. He hears Viktor’s words and feels that he is being blamed for a ruined evening. He doesn’t like it and he tells him so.
This scene feels so realistic to me because it’s an argument I’ve had with my own girlfriend many times. The argument of semantics. There is no resolution here because neither Yuuri nor Viktor is really in the wrong. They’re just both in bad moods: Yuuri, because the bag got lost and he feels bad about it and thinks that Viktor is mad at him because of it, and Viktor, because the nuts don’t matter to him and he just wants Yuuri to stop fixating on it and let them enjoy their evening.
What’s so striking is that neither of these characters is confrontational. Yuuri tends to fall into self-deprecation and, as previously mentioned, Viktor hides his feelings behind a smile. Yet, here they are, getting peeved at each other over something so minor. And not only getting mad but expressing that anger. For characters that tend not to do that, it speak of an extremely strong mutual trust.
They know that an argument isn’t fatal to their relationship. They trust the other to not abandon them if they exhibit anything other than an agreeable attitude.
And then they walk in silence and the argument resolves itself. They don’t have to part ways, they don’t have to break everything down verbally, they just need to cool down and give each other the time and space to do so.
I feel it’s rare to see such a realistic couple’s tiff. Normally, things are always 100% wonderful or extremely dramatic. But sometimes these little arguments pop up, sometimes someone gets hangry or anxious or tired and they take it out on their partner because that’s who is available and–unconsciously or not–that’s the person you know won’t abandon you just for showing a non-ideal side of yourself.
I was never skeptical of Yuuri and Viktor’s relationship to begin with, but especially not now. We’ve seen them tackle so many different hardships together, we’ve seen Yuuri correct Viktor when he really was in the wrong, and now we’ve seen them resolve a minor clashing of personalities respectfully and maturely. This is a couple I can realistically see staying together. They’re not together for convenience, they’re not together just because they idolize each other or find the other hot–they truly seem to understand one another and work well together, and it makes their relationship a joy to watch.
Last week, after seeing Yuuri’s anxiety while standing on the street and his one-sided contemplation of leaving the skating world I felt there was something missing. That at that point in the series Yuuri’s desire to leave skating seemed so, so based in his anxiety. In his inability to be the best, that he was letting Victor down, reflecting badly on Victor, and that he needed to just stop. That Yuuri’s drive to keep skating was still there, but he was tampering it down in his heart for what he thought he deserved.
In a complete 180 from that, after episode 10, I feel very content with the idea that Yuuri and Victor will leave the competitive skating world. Before the idea almost made me cringe, because it felt like Yuuri giving in to his anxiety. It made sense for Victor, yes, but not for Yuuri who has so much left to give.
But Yuuri’s won his prize now. The wording in the preview for episode 10, something golden and round, gave the fandom whiplash. “Omg RINGS, no it’s a medal no way, OMG IT WAS RINGS”
Somehow I feel the correlation that keeps being made is very important. Yuuri no longer needs the golden, round medals. He no longer needs to prove himself as the best skater. He went into competitive skating because of Victor. He wanted to skate with/for/against Victor. He wanted Victor to see him. And up until episode 10 Yuuri was still having doubts about how clearly Victor’s sight was. He was worried that once the season was over Victor would leave. Their time was over. But now it’s not. It never will be.
Losing his competitive edge for skating makes sense now. It makes sense now that his reason for skating has been completely achieved. He’s no longer giving in to his anxiety. It’s no longer that monster talking him down. It’s simply that he’s achieved his dreams. The final step something Victor has declared – marriage with a medal.
What does he have to gain from skating beyond that?
Victor, too, has been struggling all season with his career and what to do. Will he retire officially? Will he go back to skating? The world seems to want him back, but here he is chasing Yuuri. Something that has so much more meaning now after that banquet reveal. He’s been waffling and unsure because Yuuri has been unsure and he’s been questioning his heart. Victor was experiencing his own hidden anxiety in what Yuuri truly feels for him, because here is the boy who literally swept him off his feet dancing one night, and now he’s running away from him.
But Victor has also reached his meaning. He’s happy now. His 20+ years of avoiding life and love are over. He’s accepted them. He’s learned that there’s far more in the world that skating, that it’s okay to be beyond skating. He is not just Russia’s National Treasure. He is also Yuuri’s. And that title means so, so much more to him.
The last line of Stammi Vicino/Hanarezu ni Soba ni Ite:
Let’s Leave Together
Now I’m Ready
They’re there. They’re ready. Finally. They can make their exit from skating. But only now. Now that it is together.