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wings-of-a-storm · 5 years

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Apparently it is that time again when the emotions of my Skam France addiction bubble over and I actually have time to write up some thoughts on scenes that have moved me.

In the stress of Incommunicado Eliott Week, now seems like a great time to revisit a slightly happier time for Elu... Hint: it involves paint.

AN OVERDUE REVISITING OF EPISODE 7: THE PAINT FIGHT ERA

Let me try and start from the beginning…

BOY GANG HELPING LUCAS

They may not always be my favourite boy squad, but it warms my heart how Lucas’ friends all gathered to support him through an emotionally tough task: painting the Mural of Heartbreak that was supposed to be Lucas’ and Eliott’s special thing together.

Come to think of it, Lucas didn’t technically even have to do it. If Daphne needed the eyesore gone that badly, she could have kept bugging Eliott to do it since he was the one who offered in the first place. With that in mind, I guess Lucas needed to paint over the mural as a form of closure. It may have always been hanging over his head as this ongoing promise between him and Eliott. By painting over it with his friends, he could cut that painful ‘what if’ from his life and close that door before Eliott can get another foot in. It is a tangible way for him to feel like he is in control and moving on (with the bonus of making Daphy happy).

The boys helping him through that was the Gang support we and Lucas had been needing! I don’t have much else to add about them in this scene but wanted to give them kudos anyway because they really helped Lucas a lot just by being there with him and helping him have a new memory of the mural. (It’s hard to say that with a straight face after knowing what happens…)

SENDING AN ULTIMATUM

I was honestly rather skeptical that the boys would be able to help Lucas navigate the strained relationship he was in with Eliott. Their relationship felt so damaged compared to other versions -- Lucas wasn’t budging or letting any softness in no matter how many well-meaning drawings he received. Eliott needed to prove his mindset was different before Lucas could even consider letting him back into his life. Eliott hadn’t achieved that by the time Lucas met up with his friends to paint the mural though, and a few texts to Eliott didn’t seem likely to appeal to Lucas. The ball was in Eliott’s court after all, to prove he wasn’t just leading Lucas on again.

But to my surprise, the text ultimatum started unfolding anyway. And even more surprising, it actually started to make sense. Lucas had chosen to ghost Eliott until he was convinced that Eliott had made his choice and was going to stick to it. What that meant though was that Lucas had taken on a passive role (just waiting things out) and he became trapped in that self-imposed limbo land. He couldn’t get out by himself because he was too in love to give up that last drop of hope that Eliott would somehow come back and mean it this time.

We’ve seen Lucas be savage before so he did have it in him to actually text Eliott (as Eliott himself had even requested with his last drawing) to tell him to knock it off and stop leaving drawings, but Lucas never quite reached that step. Perhaps he was hoping Eliott would get the message on his own after two deliberate ghostings and he wouldn’t have to say the difficult words out loud. But of course I think it was more that his subconscious just couldn’t handle cutting hope off completely that the boy he was in love with would dump Lucille for good and come back to him.

It wasn’t going to happen though because nothing was changing. It made sense then that Lucas would be receptive to (unsolicited) advice on how to take that final step and make it either a clean break or a clean reunion. Especially when his ‘experienced’ (wtf Arthur!) friends seemed so confident that texting an ultimatum was guaranteed to end Lucas’ woes one way or another. It’s hard not to get hyped up with that sort of group confidence. It was the push Lucas probably knew deep down that he needed to take to exit his own purgatory. He was only leading himself on… I love that even though the Gang gave Lucas the basic guidelines of what message to send to Eliott, Lucas, in typical Savage Style, was able to put the killer touches on his texts. He didn’t mince his words; they sure cut straight through the bullshit with a bullseye that drew blood. This, more than anything, sold the scene for me. It felt so true to Lucas that he would jump on a chance to express his frustration without any games but just needed that push from an unbiased third party.

I only have one minor issue with the scene: the pacing of the Gang’s solution just felt a little disproportionately quick. Is it a French language thing? Are things just expressed so much easier and quicker in French than in English so it takes longer to read and process? Because the Gang’s advice kind of gave me whiplash -- especially when they were able to even digress with the ‘wtf Arthur’ tangent in almost the same breath.

Or is it just a Skam France thing because they have that painful time limit that always messes with the pacing? I guess I just get frustrated that some scenes feel a little rushed when they don’t have to be. Even with a time limit, you can still work your pacing around it by cutting certain lines out to give pivotal scenes the space they need to breathe. For example, they could have left out Arthur’s mysterious past relationship or Lucas listening to a story about a recently deceased hoarder… By rushing the Gang’s advice, you don’t really have time as a viewer to anticipate whether it will work and whether Eliott will even show up or not. It wouldn’t have ruined the sense of urgency to slow it down even just a little… But maybe that comes down to my personal taste.

LUCAS: THE ARTISTE

God love Lucas for his highly convincing I’m just an Artiste holding a paint brush while pondering a mural on a Friday afternoon pose. How relatable was that. Of course Lucas needed to feel unaffected and strong even though he was practically trembling with nervous energy. His fear of turning around after hearing the door open was palpable. It doesn’t matter how many times I rewatch it, I am always scared for him. Plus the soft, tentative piano music accompanying Lucas’ nerves is almost too much to bear with its earnest fragility…

The man he is desperately in love with has just walked into the room and might break his heart all over again…

A WILD RACOON APPEARS: ABOUT TIME

Eliott Demaury, don’t you ever leave us again! Lucas had missed Eliott; I had missed Eliott; we all had missed Eliott, so of course the very second we saw his beautiful, earnest racoon face peep around the door it was like OH MY GOD, THE SUN HAS COME OUT!

Seriously, shout out to the mise-en-scene crew for placing that It’s About Time poster right beside Eliott during his close-up arrival shot because truth. Those hell weeks were totally like Titanic and Interstellar rolled into one: even though only two weeks had passed for the characters, for our reality it had been 84 YEARRRRS. But back to Eliott’s beautiful, earnest racoon face.

How nervous was he before he let the bravado slip back into place! And excuse me, child? “Need a hand?” Pretty smooth for a guy who has been leaving drawings of droopy-eared racoons around and getting ignored. Oh, to have that kind of fake confidence! He really had nothing to lose. (Was the wording in French dripping in double meaning too though? Good times.)

Guys, Eliott is really strong though. How did he have function left in his legs to walk over after being hit with that face…

THE MURAL METAPHOR:

I really like the way Skam France turned the common room mural into a metaphor for Lucas’ and Eliott’s relationship. The final clip opens on both of them examining it in silence, looking at what they have to work with and what can be done to fix it. Their first words to each other in this moment complete the metaphor with their double meaning:

- “What were you planning on doing?” - “I don’t know right now.”

Eliott is of course the one to nominate a solution to the ‘mural’ because he is the one who needs to fix the error of breaking up their relationship and hurting Lucas. It is up to Eliott to salvage that mess and lead them in a new direction (Lucas’ texts made it clear that he won’t budge until Eliott does).

So Eliott dips his paintbrush into his tub of emotion and flings his feelings at the wall in wild, raw abandon. (And he says they should paint with every colour because Lucas brings out all his colours and Eliott is putting all of himself into this. Ugly sobbing!)

Eliott urges Lucas to try it too. And his dumb, beautiful, earnest racoon face is so hopeful that Lucas will because that will mean that Lucas is willing to try and forgive him.

Lucas halfheartedly gives it a go but his heart isn’t really ready to commit yet, so his flick of paint ‘misses’ its mark (allegedly at least). Eliott can see that Lucas isn’t ready yet and needs to find a way through to him. He makes a joke to try and soften things further but all that does is manage to stick a paintbrush through his own heart because Lucas actually smiles and Eliott remembers (probably for the nth time) just how much he has missed seeing it.

In the face of that emotion, Eliott simply can’t sustain his bravado anymore and he confesses: “It’s nice to see you smile. I missed it.” For once, Eliott reveals the sadness that he normally tries to keep hidden from Lucas. His words have in fact stripped both of their masks away.

And even more emotional than all of that perhaps: this moment was a clear nod to the passe på meg scene in og. Even though Isak is the one who uses that line, what is actually revealed by Even in that scene is that he saw Isak on the first day he came to school. In Skam France, Eliott has obviously already revealed that to Lucas early on, so this line (the last remaining bit from passe på meg) seems to act as an extension to its original sentiment: Eliott seems to be revealing that he has continued to watch Lucas from afar at school and hasn’t stopped since that first day. He has noticed Lucas’ changed demeanour and absent smiles. He hasn’t seen Lucas smile for a long time. (It all links nicely with Eliott’s ‘In case you ever foolishly forget’ sentiment too.)

Like yes, technically that line can also be interpreted as ‘I missed seeing your smile in general because Lucille’s can’t compare’ but the use of the passe på meg line seems to scream significance… Eliott has noticed.

SAVAGE LUCAS:

As sweet and well-meaning as Eliott’s sentiments are, we can always count on Lucas to cut right through them to reach the heart of the matter... I love him so much for cockblocking Eliott’s attempts to open an intimate channel between them with his straight up: ‘You miss my smile and yet you looked sooooo happy with Lucille the other week. It’s totes amazeballs that you’re ‘talking’ to her again after supposedly dumping her ass.’ Like yassss Lucas, don’t let him get away with that type of seductive sentimentality! He’s not deliberately trying to lead you on but the results are the same and you deserve better than that back and forth!

(Beware, guys, because a small rant is about to start.)

Eliott’s response to Lucas really frustrates me. There is a pattern to it and I just can’t ignore it…

His response to Lucas’ ‘You looked happy with Lucille’ was “You can’t say that.”

Um, yes, yes he can. Just because Eliott knows he isn’t happy with Lucille, doesn’t mean Lucas can mindread… Like Lucas has stated that that is the impression he got when he saw them together and he has a right to that interpretation. Dictating what Lucas is allowed to think without elaborating on why he has misinterpreted it isn’t helpful, it’s actually really dismissive. Of course that is going to rub Lucas the wrong way. I am so happy Lucas heard that response and served up a sassy ‘Oh yeh? This will be good’ face to counter it. He was not having any of that crap.

But Eliott only makes things worse by saying: “Because none of it matters.”

Ugh again, yes it does, Eliott. It obviously matters to Lucas. He has just told you that he saw you back with your ex and is hurt by it. If he is hurt, then that matters. I know Eliott doesn’t mean it that way, but it is really harsh to be made to feel like you’re just being stupid and your hurt isn’t important.

It is a shame that Eliott has a habit of sweeping aside Lucas’ emotions without properly acknowledging them out of fear of rejection and a misguided need to prove him wrong because of it. We saw the same brush off in the cafeteria scene and later again in the kitchen scene. Eliott means well but I really wish he would validate Lucas’ emotions so Lucas can at least feel heard.

And like I get that Eliott wasn’t elaborating between each audacious statement because he was trying to build up to the surprise revelation he had in store for Lucas, but boy did he choose the wrong method, for me...

Back to their conversation though.

“It doesn’t matter?” Lucas rightfully echoes, for all the above reasons.

And finally Eliott has his cue (the cue he has been building up to during their whole exchange) to go in for his grand gesture kill: “Ever since I met you, you’re the only thing that has mattered.”

Cue piano music returning. Cue Lucas basically stopping breathing. Cue a literal light flare hitting the screen beside Lucas. Cue Eliott smiling because Lucas has finally heard his Truth.

And cue the return of the mural metaphor: while Lucas is stunned and left to process this grand romantic declaration, Eliott turns to add lots more paint to their Relationship Mural. It is like the tangible release of his sentiment; like his way of physically proving his own commitment to Lucas. He will work on this mural/relationship with everything he has, for as long as it takes.

The question is: will Lucas work on it as well?

Once Eliott has finished adding splashes of colour (because he is all in with his feelings!), he turns to Lucas to both make sure Lucas has seen how serious he is and to see what Lucas has decided.

Lucas’ response is to silently pick up a paint brush and add to the mural too. And if that is not the most powerful response… Some things need no words.

PAINT FIGHT

Well. When we speculated that Eliott’s grand gesture in the common room might be to paint a hedgehog, who knew that Eliott would literally be painting his hedgehog...

Eliott came into that room with the determination to get Lucas back. As soon as he got his sign that Lucas was willing to forgive him, his rush of happiness could no longer be contained and he darted towards Lucas with an impromptu paint dab on the nose.

It was so unexpected for Lucas, it allowed him to forget all of his deep-seated Lucille insecurities for the moment and fall back into that easy, old, familiar rhythm with Eliott. It must have been such a relief to suspend the recent heaviness and just be together like that again, as dumb, playful, carefree teenagers.

And because they are dumb, playful, carefree teenagers, their paint fight escalates. It gets more physical, it gets more exciting, their hearts start to race more… And in a brief stalemate, they get caught in each other’s eyes and their play-fighting drops away to reveal what it had been substituting for all along: their desire to physically connect with each other and consummate what they are feeling.

And what an intense love it is to make you forget you are tasting paint and having sex on school property, where anyone could walk into that room since it is, you know, a common room.

Their love making (grinding, rubbing, being handsy, whichever method they were making love to each other with) was a literal piece of art, as others have already said. It was an explosion of colour in a world that had been dark for both of them.

I’m squeamish with paint and other questionable substances, but when I put all that aside, I can imagine just how amazing it would have felt to have that slippery addition to their sense of touch. Feeling skin against skin, body against body, palms against skin that is sensitive precisely because it isn’t normally touched is a very heady thing, let along adding a kinky lubrication onto it. Even paint-covered fingers running through hair would feel different with strands clumping together and exposing parts of your head to cool air.

Not only that but you’d be able to see the marks your hands are leaving on the other person; like you are drawing them into existence and -- dare I say it -- claiming them for yourself after seeing them with other people and being denied them. How alive would you feel with all those heightened sensations?

And what has been evident with Lucas and Eliott from the very beginning is how important touch is for them. Even during their first kiss, their hands were running over each other’s bodies and tangling in each other’s hair. Then their morning after kisses were filled with even more sensuality with their (basically) naked bodies pressed up against each other so that they could feel each other’s weight and warmth. This new lovemaking scene had all of that in it again. It was so vibrant and so loving, it was almost too much to bear…

They just get so much comfort from the physicality of each other’s presence. Perhaps it is that reassurance of feeling someone physically there, of not being abandoned, of every part of them being loved. Whatever the reason behind it, they are so compatible in that way.

It was a stunning scene to end the episode with. Especially the way the light kept increasing and engulfed them at the end. They lost themselves over to pleasure but they never lost each other in it. They both went there together.

And I felt that. We all felt that, I think. What more is there to even say?

#Skam France #Elu #skamfr thoughts #3x07 thoughts

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