Hi and welcome to K Let's Talk, the podcast where we break down
storytelling across books, television and film with a
special love for book to screen adaptation.
Here we talk about crap character arcs, structure,
dialogue, visual language, and the creative choices that shape
how a story lands. If you like thoughtful,
conversational, deep dives into the stories you can't stop
thinking about, you're in the right place.
Let's talk. Before we get into today's
episode, I do want to give a quick content note that we will
be discussing themes of depression and suicide, as well
as spoilers for the long game. If those topics are sensitive
for you, feel free to pause or skip this episode if you need
to. Hello everyone, welcome back to
the podcast. Lo and I are back and we were
reheating episode 5 and we're struck by Alexi's face during
the funeral confrontation and it became very clear to us that we
needed to do an in depth character discussion on Alexi,
formerly known as Andre Rosenhoff.
To start. Jacob wrote him in the show with
a much richer background and he also couldn't remember that his
name was Andre in the book and then decided to leave it when he
did realize. Which feels fittings since we
suspect he will continue to be relevant and have a big impact
going forward, where so far in the book Ilya has left Andre
behind in Russia and has never looked back.
And to be clear, Alexi, I have always in my head, said Alexia.
You can call him, I mean, yeah, Well, Alexia.
I feel like now I need to go. Alexia.
The whole episode to figure it out.
But so forgive me, I'm going to go in between Alexia and Alexia
probably, but not Andre. At any rate, to be clear, Alexi
is, like his predecessor, A flaming pile of dog shit in
season 1. But even if we never get a
redemption arc for him, it's still worthwhile to reflect on
why he is the way he is, how that impacted Elias development,
and the insights we can glean from his larger and more complex
showings in the TV show. So first we think we'll take you
through the funeral confrontation scene and all of
our new discoveries, and then we'll spin out into everything
else that we've been questioning, assuming,
speculating on on given Jacob's changes.
And you and I both, I think, agree that this character as
written by Jacob, is such a really beautiful example of how
to build a complex character that has very little screen time
effectively. Yes, and deep damaging
imperfections. Yes.
So in episode 5, the funeral scene between Ilya and Alexi is
probably the meatiest part of their interactions in the show,
given that we really only see them talking on the phone prior
to this moment. This is the first time we see
them face to face with one another, and it starts off with
the two of them across the dinner table.
So Alexi is on one side at the other end with his daughter, and
he's staring at Ilya. And this is probably a microcosm
of his last five months where we can see him sitting at the
table, but he's not really present there.
Even though he's with his family.
He kind of has this like look in his eye that he's thinking about
something else very deeply. And he's just, his anger is
evident. And him and Ilya have almost
this unspoken understanding of what is about to happen between
the two of them, because we then see Ilya stand up from the table
without the two of them even passing a word.
It's just a glare. And Ilya excuses himself and
makes himself available for Alexi to find him in that back
hallway. And I also think it's worth
noting that he does break that stare to briefly smile at his
daughter. And I think that is probably
what's been going on for the last five months, that he's
taking care of his dying father. He's fielding, you know, demands
of accountability from his rich brother across the world.
And then when he isn't with his father, he's with his family.
But there's not really much of him left, if there ever was any
to go around. And when we see him meet Ilya in
that back hallway space, we noticed that he touches his
nose. And a lot of people in my
comments on TikTok have said that that probably was some sort
of a tie in to his drug use. But you and I both, on the most
recent rewatch, clocked that he's nervous throughout this
entire conversation with Ilya. And Ilya touches his nose when
he's nervous as well. So we were thinking that might
have been an inherited cue. I also think it's worth noting
that Ilya does this when he's nervous.
And I have spun an entire theory that he inherited this from
Alexi because Alexi would have been four years older than him.
And so let's say that Ilya was 6810.
He would have had his brother who was more aware of whatever
was about to happen in his house.
And it sounds like there were explosive things happening in
his house. And if every time that Alexi got
tense and nervous when things are about to go down, he sniffed
and touched his nose, Ilya would have picked that up.
And also I think it is worth noting that even though Alexi
feels like the bully, he's nervous in this moment because
really, Ilya has all the power. Yeah.
And he? Definitely does.
I don't think Alexi has ever felt like he's ever had power,
ever. Ever.
It quickly went from his father to Ilya.
They're back. They're in the backroom.
He sniffs his nose. And then the next thing that
happens is that Alexi puts his hands on Ilya.
And Ilya immediately yells get your hands off me.
And Alexi immediately tells him to be quiet because of everyone
that's outside eating. And to me that says that Alexi
has not lost control. He's very aware of what's
happening around them, which gives like a bastardized version
of Elda's daughter is like that you are aware at all times of
what other people are perceiving and controlling a situation.
And it also tells me that losing control is not required for him
to engage in physical altercation.
Yeah, He doesn't have to be prompted to the point of no
return for him to engage in it. Yeah.
It's it's a tool that he uses often because he is still aware
enough to shush Ilya. So the next thing that happens
of note is that Alexei calls Queen Svetta.
I'm working on my Russian pronunciation of Svetlana's
nickname. And so he says, now we have to
listen to this whore run her mouth.
And I think that probably is a sentence right out of his
father's mouth about their mother, because it rolls right
off his tongue. And on top of that, that Ilya
hears that and it is. Triggering probably.
Triggering because it's something that his father would
say about their mother, who he was never old enough to protect.
But also he cares deeply for Svetlana.
And so that's a wrap for him. And he goes at Alexi and
Svetlana says he's not worth it. He's not worth anything.
Which is a great way for us to infer, given that we know she's
a childhood friend, that anything she says about him
would be coming from an educated place.
She, she's known him for as long as she's known Ilya.
And so her opinion of him was formed over a long period of
time through many, many interactions, most likely.
And so that carries a lot of weight when you make her a
childhood friend, For her to chime in and say anything just
adds another level of complexity to the whole interaction between
them. And Ilya does get a right hook
in, which I'm sure humbles Alexi because Alexi has always used
physical altercation to his benefit.
And has been bigger than him and.
Has been bigger than him and Ilya probably has never been
pushed to physical altercation before because the number one
rule with his father was that you just take it.
You don't engage, you don't rise up because you're never going to
win, you're never going to intimidate him, so you don't
want to start that fire. Well, and also if you're
thinking about it in terms of hockey culture, he, he had said,
well, he says in the long game, he reflects on how he used
hockey as an escape for his anger when he was young and he
was able to channel it in a different way through sport.
So he wouldn't have had to enter into any of these types of like
physical altercations when he was younger because he was in a
hockey rink. So he was dealing with it in a
very different way than probably Alexi had learned to do because
he didn't have that type of environment to funnel all of his
anger into. He was dealing with it in a very
unhealthy way. And then Ilya's face is as close
to like, demonic possession you're ever going to get.
I mean, he is. Shaking.
Disturbed. Yeah, his hand is shaking.
And then in turn, Alexi's face, to me is pure terror.
Yeah. I don't think he's ever seen
Ilya this way. And if any, if any point he's
ever needed seeing Ilya be so emotional and angry that he
needs to be physically restrained, it was probably when
their mother died. But he was 12, right?
So very different. Very different, but it is
probably the most emotion he's ever seen out of Ilya maybe say
for that moment and it's full circle to be seeing that again
if it's again at their father's funeral.
And the other thing that I see possibly maybe optimistically on
Alexis face is a childlike vulnerability turning on like.
You and I both. Saw that like he's so shocked
and full of terror that it's like a childlike vulnerability.
And he looks like he could cry. And it's almost like when you
see a parent lose their shit, Yeah, like that someone that's
supposed to be protecting you. And I'm sure.
It disarms him, yes, the facade he puts on of being this tough,
strong bully persona is very quickly stripped away from his
eyes at least. And we've not seen him emote
anything other than anger in any of the quick scenes we see of
him on the phone. It's not like we get that much
insight into who he is really beyond that.
But even at the beginning of the the top of the conversation, he
doesn't look out of control at all.
He's he's pretty determined to get what he wants out of the
conversation. And then as soon as this
happens, he just looks totally disarmed.
And I think it reveals what is under the anger, which is a
fear. And then my biggest swing and
most unlikely but one can only hope, is that he probably
possibly used to be a protective older brother and he turned that
off for self preservation at some point at 131415 maybe.
Well, think about how old Ilya would have been at 14-15.
That would have been around the time when he threw himself into
hockey and funneled after his mother died.
He funneled all his energy into that.
And that's when their father's attention would have shifted
away from Alexi and more so on to Ilya.
And so, yeah, I could, I could imagine that he would have
changed his tune a little bit as Ilya's role in their family
dynamics changed out from underneath him.
Ilya became a competitor almost and I think that was something
else that I saw in his face in addition to the terror and the
vulnerability was also maybe like a processing when this when
your sibling like becomes emotional in a way that you
didn't expect and you're processing it and it that's why
it kind of read as like a older sibling projective thing.
So we'll see. Yeah, that's if if Jacob even
writes more of him into anything, we we can be hopeful
that maybe there's some learnings about him potentially
in the therapy sessions. And then the other thing that I
think Alexi processes when Ilya is sort of in his arms, he's
sort of in Ilya's arms in this big emotion moment, is that Ilya
is protecting Svetlana, and he gets to protect Svetlana and
stand up to a figure of authority.
And I don't think Alexia has ever stood up to a figure of
authority. Successfully.
Successfully and he's never successfully protected the women
in his life. His mother died.
His wife and daughter are not being provided for by him
literally in this room to ask his brother for service aid.
So once again, Ilya is doing something that Alexei doesn't
feel is possible for himself. And then finally, Alexei is not
expecting Ilya to sever ties with him.
No, he's shocked. Shocked.
And so you see, as Ilya is making his speech about how
he'll take what I give you and you'll never speak to me again,
and if not, I will destroy you. Because he's fully realizing his
power and exercising it and making him feel Alexi feel
smaller than he's ever felt. And he was already a pretty
small individual. Alexi's lip quivers.
And the way that Jacob filmed this so that we have a shot up
close on his face to see that reaction so that we can't avoid
seeing that part of it. And then when he stops, he
actually turns and looks at Svetlana first.
Which means shows you how adrift he.
Feels, yes. He's trying to look for anything
to save the himself basically from what's going on or get
anyone to side with him in any way.
And just like, talk Elliot down. Exactly.
And she doesn't, obviously. And then he turns all the way
around and has to look himself in the mirror, which is the most
unbelievable metaphor when you just had your younger brother
for the first time in your life emasculate you in such a
concise, like clinical way. And then you have to turn around
and look at yourself in a mirror.
Look at where he just punched you in the face because you
deserved it and admit to yourself that you are in the
wrong and that you got what was coming for you and walk back out
into a room full of people and act like this.
It didn't just happen and your life is falling apart.
And you can see him doing what we've seen Ilya do before, which
is, you know, straighten himself out.
So that appearance is wise. He looks like everything's
normal and masking again. And I also think when he's in
that, looking in that mirror, after taking in Ilya's words,
he's possibly realizing that he has no one left in this world,
especially he not only has no one left in the world, he does
have his wife and daughter that are relying on him and he has no
way to. He's been failing them.
Right. And he's left to his own devices
now, and he doesn't feel capable, without Ilya's aid,
clearly, to provide for them at all.
Or at least in the way that they need to be cared for.
And that would also be really interesting for him to grapple
with, given that he models his entire life after his father.
And it would be a moment where he would realize his father's
shortcomings, given that he's emulated his father's life and
fallen short with his own family.
It would be kind of like a light bulb moment of, yeah, my father
did truly fail me as well and failed Ilya and failed our
mother. And yeah, they clearly don't
have it harbor any love for their father at all.
I think Ilya does to a certain extent have a much softer spot
for him. Alexi seems like he's completely
resolved himself to not outwardly show any softness for
towards his father, but I think he does, just he channels it in
a different way. Well, and I also think the
father had a much softer spot for Ilia Alexi.
He did also, I like that the lighting in that room is green.
It's the only time we see green in the whole show, and for it to
be used in that moment when he's being so greedy emotionally and
monetarily of Ilya and Ilya finally says hell no and shuts
the door on him, I thought that was really smart to have that
coloring. It was really beautifully shot,
that whole scene. Yeah.
And that was his first day on set, and it was Ksenya's first
day on set as Svetlana. Incredible.
Yeah. And also, as he's leaving that
room, he knows that he's leaving Ilya and Sveta.
Yeah. Potentially for the last time.
Well, yes. But and also he's going out into
a room full of people that don't know him or don't respect him,
and they are going to have a moment of emotional comfort.
Yeah. Like he's vacating and Ilya is
going to be comforted by Svetlana and he's going to go
back out there and have to do the bravado that his father
always did and everything's fine.
Finished this whole funeral thing because he's the eldest
son. It would would have fallen on
him. We know he's his executor of his
will. Like the IT doesn't stop for him
in this funeral. Correct.
And it never did. And he said, and I get a moment
to breathe. And he said, do I get a moment
to breathe or is that just for? Well, yeah.
And imagine, like, Ellie gets to go back to the States and he
still has to liquidate everything his father owned.
He has a stepmom somewhere, theoretically, that he has to
grapple with. And what does she want?
What does that look like? What is she entitled to?
Their family is not doing well financially, so he's inheriting
that burden. Yeah, there's a lot.
Yeah, and I think he did make the point when do I ever get to
breathe? Because he took care of the
father, and as he's taking care of the father, he's also in the
back of his head thinking about how Ilya, it's very uncertain
what Ilya's going to do, and he is effectively dependent on
Ilya. Yeah, and has been proven.
And has been and so he has been scared the whole time, which I
think goes into your next great point.
Yeah, so after the scene, which in a separate conversation, I
think it's genius that they used Svetlana's encouragement as the
catalyst for Ilya calling Shane in that moment.
And we don't get that added context in the book of why Ilya
even called and what spurred him to do that.
So I think it's really brilliant that the show had this big
emotional beat take place. And then Svetlana be the person
to kind of confirm what he already knows at that point,
which is you have something special with Jane, Shane, go
take advantage of that. You don't want me and it's OK,
You can you can go be happy with the person who clearly makes you
happy. And for her to say that to him
as the only person close to him is huge.
So on the phone call with Shane, we in the rot in the monologue.
So Shane doesn't understand anything he's saying, but Ilya
does explain out loud to someone that first in English, his
brother is scared, which makes him terrible, and that makes
Ilya terrible back. And like you just touched on,
the key here is that this kind of lets us know that Alexi is
always scared because he's always terrible.
Which tracks because he's a coward and Ilya has talent,
charisma, intelligence to make him confident, and he knows
silence is the best way to deal with his father, even with all
of those things to stand on. And Alexi has none of those
things. And so.
Yeah. He's a coward and he's always
scared and he's always terrible. In the monologue, when he is
speaking in Russian, there's a lot of dialogue that Jacob added
to the show that is not pulled from the books because
infuriatingly, in the book, we have no idea what Elias says.
But what a dream for someone like Jacob to have the
opportunity to get to fill in the blank like he did.
And he says he always hated me, and I know why, but it kills me.
Which is a loaded statement because as the viewer, we start
to then wonder, OK, well then what are the reasons that Alexi
might have for hating Ilya? And Jacob teased that up so
perfectly because he's now given Alexi a much more complex back
story. And so we're able to make the
inferences and draw parallels between his behaviors in the
show and what we do know of their dynamic in the source
material, which otherwise I don't think would ever be
afforded to us as viewers if he didn't beef up his character in
the way that he did. So all of those choices lead to
a really big payoff in this scene because it gets you
thinking as you're watching about the implications of that
statement. If Ilya feels that way, why does
he feel that way? And you and I both were really
immediately curious about digging deeper into that.
And it's clear that he holds a lot of resentment for Ilya.
And just a quick list of all the things that Ilya has that Alexi
doesn't. Money, power, status, eternal
admiration? Yep, looks, youth, personality
and agency. Yes, Yep.
Next part of the monologue that we reflected on is that he will
never forgive me, not for anything, for the fact that I
even exist. Which is the more exact?
Russian. Yes, the subtitles are not
accurate. And so all the different reasons
that he might hate him for existing are the next section of
our thesis. And the first one is Ilya as an
individual because he has been recognized as an individual
since he was a child because of his hockey talent.
And Alexi needed to be an obedient soldier under their cop
father. Under his thumb.
Fall in line. Follow the mold.
Eldest son. Emulate everything that his
father was. You're inheriting the family
name values. Traditions, meanwhile, you know
very much a culture of children should be seen and not heard.
Ilya was seen and was a child with talent on all the
recognized on all the teams by adults.
And then his father flew to the US for his draft.
Even though he didn't want Ilia to go to the NHL, he wanted him
to go to the KHL and it shows that Ilia has a certain level of
free agency to go against his father's wishes and still have
his father. Show up there.
Yep Yep. Then another point is the luxury
of kindness because Ilya is a very kind person and he also
would have likely received a lot more kindness in his life
because he was more naturally a likeful personality.
Probably. He just seems like a genuinely
sweet kid and adult and sensitive.
And he was also good at sports, so like you just touched on, he
would have had way more attention from everywhere.
And he's younger so he would have had different treatment
than the stricter expectations of an eldest son.
And I think that Ilya has a softness, yes, from his mother.
And presumably Alexei loved his mother in that, yeah, typical
maternal way, but he didn't get to keep a softness the way that
Ilya does. And so I think that it angers
him that Ilya gets to be soft and have a piece of himself that
is still soft. And it's playing out in front of
him with Svetlana. Yeah, that.
I mean, it seems doubtful that his wife would be in the thick
of it like that. No.
And understand like the emotional dynamics.
And the fact that Ilya has maintained a friendship with
someone for that long, that that person comes back home with him
to a funeral, that's a very strong relationship that he's
formed with someone. And I don't think Alexi has the
ability to form a strong relationship with anybody in the
same way. And that's another, again, kind
of shortcoming of his that he would be able to weigh up
against Ilya, which is that Ilya has seemingly a lot of friends
as liked by everyone. His persona that he would be
watching from Russia is one where he's admired for all of
the qualities that Alexi was not allowed to exhibit at all.
Yeah, and Alexi had to model himself after his father for any
love or respect and for survival.
The next thing is we speculate from every phone call and
opportunity that Alexi has to throw gay slurs at Ilya.
He takes that opportunity and it's likely his way of asserting
any power over Alia that he has, even though he's also on the
phone with him to ask him to support him.
He's entirely dependent upon him.
And with the quote UN quote old school attitude that he and his
father live by and Russian cultural norms of the moment, to
be financially dependent on a gay person that is supposed to
be less than in an unacceptable way would be emasculating
totally. And so that's just one more
reason to hate Ilya for existing in that he is dependent on
someone that. Well, he's escaping the
repercussions that are typically expected, like he's skirting
around. And also, I think in large part
that it helps because he's not in Russia.
So he's able to kind of get away with being this version of
himself. Meaning like free of all the
expectations Alexi has, he's not under his father's thumb.
He's living in another country. He's doing the thing he loves
and playing the sport he's good at and rewarded and rewarded and
rewarded for all of these things.
Whereas if he was back home in the same situation as Alexi,
where he couldn't leave, very different situation I think.
And Alexi, it recognizes that. And Elia gets to do all those
things and he is admired in Russia.
And so another reason that Alexi is.
When Ilya calls Alexi during the tuna melt scene after he gets
off the phone with his father, Ilya very quickly reminds him on
that voicemail that he's paying him to take care of their dad.
And we know in the book it's made more clear, but he does
mention that he has a stepmother, Paulina, who is much
younger than his father, which would make her perfectly capable
of being a wife to him and taking care of him.
But she's not there. She's nowhere to be found.
And I'm sure for Lexi, he would feel as though it's really
unfair that Ilya's got no worries in the world.
He's off in the US doing playing a sport for a living.
And he's not considering the fact that Ilya has his own
things to grapple with when he's in the States.
But to Alexi, he's just goofing off with no worries in the
world, in the US, maintaining his family legacy in his image
without Alexi. Alexi has to uphold all of these
things without any of the money or influence to do it.
And. Also, it's daylight when this
phone call is made in so it. Would be the middle of the
middle. Of the goddamn night.
Yeah. The father is like having a fit.
And so, you know, yeah, Alexi's probably goddamn sleeping.
And where the hell is Paulina? And then you've got the brother
who like, it's one thing to be upset and it's another to be
like, and I God damn pay you and.
Well, but to be fair, he's calling Ilya in the middle of
the night asking him for money. Oh yes, no, again, there's no
Angel in Alexei. This is all very optimistic, but
in this moment. You could imagine how that would
upset him. Yeah, to be like God damn it.
Like, yeah, I'm asleep. I am asleep.
Our father is an asshole to me during the day.
Give me peace. Give me a night of sleep.
We just He probably deserved it, but it is one more he's not
allowed to forget that he. Is on the clock.
Brother. And it never ends.
He doesn't ever get to breathe because you know that the father
is on him all day, every day. You know that he's got the wife.
And that type of care is never ending.
Yes, never ending. And he, besides the drugs, he
doesn't ever have a moment to himself like he's this.
And and on top of it all, under it all, he doesn't feel good
about himself. No.
Ever. Ever.
Yeah, I don't think he ever has. No.
Yeah. So a couple of things we've
speculated. On Yeah, we've already begun the
speculation. Yeah, let's move into our
speculation move. Again, to the speculation we
surmise we. Tried to envision what.
If we're if we're putting ourselves in the shoes of these
young men while their mother is alive, more than likely Alexi
was probably a shield for his mother until he got to the age
where he was able to leave the house on his own and get out of
that very toxic environment and put himself in different
situations. And I think he probably, as he
grew up and then his mother passes away, probably felt a lot
of guilt about leaving in that way and abandoning her and not
protecting her anymore once that shift in his age allowed him to
leave and she didn't get to leave.
And also, when you are a child in a situation like that, you
don't feel like a child. So he probably felt a lot of
responsibility. When he's 16, his mother dies
that he doesn't ever get to let go of.
And Ilya also couldn't protect his mother.
But Ilya was a child and still was able to emotionally connect
with his mother. Yeah, because Alexi was the
eldest son and his dad pulled him away from his mother, which
left the opportunity for Ilya and his mother to grow much
closer than Alexi and his mother would have been.
Yeah, and it's clear Alexi does not develop the same emotional
IQ as Ilya does. And again, that is probably
because he's the oldest and his. Trauma is different.
Yeah, He's exposed to much harsher things.
And he couldn't provide for his mother emotionally, even though
he was older and clearly couldn't physically intervene,
even though he probably felt like he should have.
And his father probably pitted him against his quote UN quote
weak mother. Because that is the first thing
that Ilya says to Shane is I don't want you to think she was
weak. Yeah.
So that was so, you know, he was throwing that around all the
time to both of them. Yeah, I think that feeds very
much into in order to really understand either of them.
I think that understanding kind of the Russian cultural context
that they're raised within is really important because to us
it's unfathomable that that would have been acceptable
treatment. But, and it is, but I think
knowing that in that patriarchal society, their mother would be
less important to their father than his eldest son.
He he would put more effort into his eldest son and fostering him
and. Especially this father and what
we've seen of this father, the Colonel.
Yeah, then his mother and and Ilya picked up on that early on
that he was always accusing her of potentially cheating on him
and he was always looking for fault in her.
I mean, the woman's been dead for, oh, how many years?
Over a decade. Yeah.
And he's like, your mother can't tie a bow tie.
Yeah, yes, he is like losing it, but.
Always belittling her in some way.
Yeah, and, and ignoring her needs largely, obviously she was
very alone. And again, we can infer that
that is why her and Ilia grew so close to one another because the
father and Alexi were off on 1/2 of the house, you know, and that
would leave her with with Ilia until.
Ilia gets good at hockey. That's when everything changes.
And so if Alexi ever did have any brotherly instinct, I think
it quickly disappears when. Their mother dies.
Their mother dies, and also his status as like the older son
that the father focuses on disappears because now we've got
a little hockey star that he gets to parade around.
And so Ilya has everything. He's got the time with his
mother, the mother's personality, the looks, and now
he's going to be more important to the father.
Yeah. So he has nothing to feel good
about. No and no status within the
family. Yeah, he's obviously left by his
mother, and then his father essentially abandons him as well
in favor of Ilya. And then just like another
important part of the Russian context is like the sense of
duty and that it kills Ilya that he couldn't take care of his
father. Yeah, and in a sense of duty,
Alexei. Has no choice but to take care
of his father. Has no choice to take care of
his father and but also he is in the father's mold as like the
duty patriarch whatever, but he does not have the chops to back
it up and so he is doomed from the start.
Total Yep. And you see that very early on
with his family dynamics, that he's not being a dutiful father
or partner or brother or. Brother.
And so I think that we want to end with looking at everything
from Alexis POV. Putting ourselves in his shoes
and in his head and with all the context we've been given.
Yes. And so he says himself that he
has never had a minute to breathe.
He uses the drugs as an escape and.
Probably did from a very young age.
Yes, that's probably what he was doing when he was, we've
decided, leaving the house. Leaving the house.
And then he he is watching the father die, I'm sure enduring a
lot of emotional and verbal abuse from the father because
he's distressed and felt everything.
And while his father is dying, he has no idea what Ili is going
to do about the money. And so he's worrying about that.
So there's not even. And his father didn't have any
money left himself, correct? It's not like he's inheriting
anything from him, correct? He's inheriting the problems.
Correct. And then Alexi says himself.
I've never had a minute to breathe either.
Is that just reserved for people that abandoned their families?
And so Alexi tells on himself that he feels abandoned.
And he was abandoned like by his mother, however the
circumstances were. And now his father has died and
certainly wasn't exactly present for him before that.
And his brother abandoned him by going to the US and is about to
abandon him fully fully. And so we established right
before he is cut off that he has an abandonment wound.
And then Ilya just. Like Ilya has an unlovable
wound. We also talked about how when he
was younger, because he's four years older than Ilya, he would
have been so much more aware of his mother's mental health and
the likelihood of her dipping into a very, very dark place in
a way Ilya wasn't. And in particular, he probably
would have been aware that his mother was suicidal.
And that comes with a lot of uncertainty and worry.
You know, like you don't every day.
You don't know when you're waking up, like what you're
going to find. There's also an interesting
thought of you had mentioned that she might have had
postpartum depression that never went away.
Because it was never addressed. And yeah, he would have been 4.
But there could have been a reality in which he would have
remembered what she was like before her depression.
Because we don't know. There's no way of knowing when
it would have started, what would have started it.
He could have known her before. Yeah.
And the reason that the postpartum on the table is
because of the way Ilya says that he hates him for existing.
And then with his mother, he probably resents his mother for
not protecting him from his father and then leaving him in,
you know, however little choice she had.
Like from his POV that is. Like if he was so young he could
also just view that as an extremely selfish thing of her
to have done unfortunately. And we certainly know that he
doesn't have a high emotional IQ and that his father does not
view mental health as a legitimate concern.
That probably is the narrative anyways.
And he was. That she was weak.
Right. And that she was weak and, you
know, she, he should blame her. So he's got abandonment from his
mother, obviously his father. He probably somewhat hates his
father and he doesn't like being like his father, but he
certainly is his father. Yeah, but he has no other
example of how to be. He was never shown another way
to be. It was all strong men who, like,
use intimidation. And emulating his father creates
safety and some approval. Yeah.
But he can't be harmed by him if he is like.
Correct. But he also had Ilya's mother
and so and then he's got Ilya as a brother.
And so I think that he sees Ilya and is often reminded of his
mother and reminded of all the things that he isn't or doesn't
get to be. And then he's a family man,
quote UN quote. And that means he has
responsibilities and he. Different from Ilias.
Totally different from Ilias and we have of course done the math
and he's married by 21 or 22. And he's a dad by 23.
And his wife and daughter relying on him is possibly
probably reminiscent of his mother relying on him when he
couldn't do anything for her. And he clearly doesn't think he
can provide money or life for his wife and daughter now.
Yeah, without help. Without help and just wait until
he finds out Ilya has an emotional connection with Shane.
Actually loves his partner. Can provide for his household
and doesn't have to because his partner is also a multi.
Millionaire. Yeah.
Just another way in which Ilya has everything he cannot and
does not and has will never have.
Yeah. And then just a couple of other
observations when he calls Ilya, because again, we went through
these phone calls and did all kinds of calculations.
When he calls up Ilya, it is a he is exercising a security net
that Ilya will provide money. And it's sort of like at no
matter what age, even as an adult, when your parent dies,
you feel a little less protected and a little more alone and a
little less looked out for. And I think that that security
net of being able to call your brother is something even when
it's transactional and it's about money, it is a security
net and he fucks with him because it gives him a way to
feel bigger when. Responsibilities that he can't
fulfill make him feel small, and the only way he can fulfill them
is by calling Ilya for more money and so he already feels
small then he's has to call his brother and that makes him feel
smaller, so he's. Got to do something to make
himself not feel so pathetic. Correct, and that usually is him
throwing F bonds at Ilya. We don't need you, Ilya.
Yes, yeah. All of those lines are.
We. Detecting himself from.
Exactly the truth. We don't need you, but I am
calling. You, but I need you.
For everything, for everything. And also on those phone calls,
he says that his father is fine, Papa is fine.
Yeah, completely ignoring the reality of the situation.
He's ignoring the reality of the.
Situation. He's in denial.
And you know, I did get rebuffed
for this, but I will say it again, in the most optimistic
world, he he doesn't mention if he does notice his father's
issues, he doesn't mention them to Ilya because Ilya's across
the world. What's he going to do about it?
And you know that wasn't received well.
You. I don't think he would ever do
like prevent himself from telling Ilya how bad it's gotten
to protect his feelings. Correct?
I just don't. He's just too big a piece of
shit. Correct.
And he doesn't have the emotional intelligence to like,
be considerate at all. Correct, but I do think that his
father ignored his mother's mental health issues and so he's
going to ignore his father's mental health.
Issues, but that has nothing to do with keeping them from.
I know. Listen, it was it was a really
it was a shot in the rainbow land, OK.
And then the last. Thing OK if Alexi was afforded a
Russian monologue, even if it was just an internal one, she
wrote what he would say yes to himself or into the void.
Yeah, we were, of course, watching the long-awaited
Russian monologue. Again.
And we were doing that after
looking at the funeral scene through the eyes of Alexi.
Yes. And so as Ilya was talking, I
was thinking no one is the villain in their own story.
And Alexi could probably say a lot of the same things, which
makes sense because they have a lot of the same wounds, but
again, has a whole lot less capability than Ilya on every
front. Yes.
So this is Alexi's internal Russian monologue.
Everybody leaves me. Everyone wants something from
me, mother. Protect me father, be the
perfect son. Fill the mold, be strong, be
tough brother, take care of Papa.
My brother hates me because I'm like our father, but I had no
choice. He gets to choose because he got
out. I could not leave and it meant
Ilya got left alone and got to be something else.
But it's never enough and I'm a constant fuck up.
Everyone is always telling me how I fall short, that I'm not
worth anything, shout outs Ilana, and I'm a bad person and
he's got no way to go up from there.
Yeah, especially now that Ilya has cut him off completely.
Yeah, he just has to go back out into that funeral.
Yeah. And keep up appearances.
And the fact that Jacob Tierney builds this complex of character
with three phone calls, a few text messages, and this one
funeral scene is a hustle is a feat.
Yes, and big ups to Slavic for the 10,000 words he says with
his funeral. Face yeah, he's he's just as
great an emotive actor as everybody else on this show, I
think. And him coming in as a character
actor in this way. And I think too, what's really
cool about this storyline and how well fleshed out it is, is
I, reading the book, could take her leave on Trey.
Mostly leave, mostly leave because he didn't really add
anything other than frustration. And he instigated Ilya.
And yeah, you need that to some degree.
But at a certain point he's not moving any of the plot further.
Whereas I think that the way he's set up Alexi, Jacob set up
Alexi in the show and also included the trust for his niece
or Alexi's daughter. And we've seen the daughter grow
up on screen, you know, as subtle as she has featured.
We've seen that they could take this.
And I would actually be thrilled if he showed up on my screen
again in Season 2 because I'm now enthralled with what's going
on here. I don't need him to be redeemed,
I just find him interesting and he's such a great window into
Ilya that he's not in the books, not in the same way.
I agree, and I think even if someone is not worth anything,
they are still a human being and to write them off as anything
less is to do a disservice to the story.
Yes, I think that in an ideal world, Ilya go going to therapy
and discussing his family life, because we know he does in the
book, will include really deconstructing this relationship
with Alexi. Because in the book he really
only digs deep about his mother and his father, and he doesn't
touch on his relationship dynamic with his brother.
And now you have such a unbelievable foundation to work
off of. Yeah, for a big payoff.
And I think, as we've said, Ilya's major wound is being
unlovable. And he says flat out in the
Russian monologue, my brother hates me.
He's always hated me for existing.
And I think if he in therapy looks at Alexi's life and
Alexi's POV, he'll realize that. It's not that.
Yeah, Alexi doesn't hate him. He feels abandoned, and Ilya is
one of the people that's abandoned him, and it's Saul in
the wound. But he doesn't hate him for
because Ilya is Ilya. Yeah.
And so. And that's on human dynamics and
complicated relationships and. And that's on the reheat keeps
on giving. Yes, it.
Really does. It just keeps coming.
So I know he's a a controversial character, but we would love to
hear your opinions and thoughts on Alexi and what Jacob has done
with his character, how he compares to the book if you want
to see more of him in season 2. Because we both do.
And yeah. Even a flaming pile of dog shit
throws warmth. Eloquently pushed.
As always, if you've made it to the edge, thank you so much for
listening and we will be back with a new episode to talk about
another probably heated rivalry topic with you all.
For now. For now, bye bye.