1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:05,920 Hi and welcome to K Let's Talk, the podcast where we break down 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:09,320 storytelling across books, television and film with a 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,480 special love for book to screen adaptation. 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,800 Here we talk about craft, character arcs, structure, 5 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,320 dialogue, visual language, and the creative choices that shape 6 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,560 how a story lands. If you like thoughtful, 7 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,400 conversational, deep dives into the stories you can't stop 8 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:25,040 thinking about, you're in the right place. 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:34,800 Let's talk. Hello everyone, welcome back to 10 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:41,600 the podcast today. I am very excited to record this 11 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,560 episode. It's going to be a very long 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:47,040 one. I have written multiple pages on 13 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,520 the character of Yuna Hollander from Heated Rivalry, Shane 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,560 Hollander's mother, and a character that I have seen a lot 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,040 of discourse on since the show aired. 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,760 And people who have read the book, people who haven't read 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:07,920 the book, they all have varying opinions on Yuna and her 18 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,960 relationship to Shane. And all of it I find very 19 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:14,680 interesting. And I wanted to do sort of a 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,320 deep dive into my interpretation of her character, my feelings 21 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,240 about her parenting style, her dynamics with Shane, her 22 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:28,920 dynamics with David, how Shane is very much influenced directly 23 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,960 by Yuna. And so understanding Yuna allows 24 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,160 you to understand Shane better and all of those things We're 25 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,960 very wordy. So I figured I would sit down 26 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:46,160 and record my thoughts and put it into a formal podcast episode 27 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,040 for people to listen to if they are so interested. 28 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:55,360 So understanding Yuna's arc, I think it's important to 29 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,160 recognize that we get context from the source material, which 30 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,640 is the the book Heated rivalry. Then we get the context provided 31 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,840 in the show and the scenes that you is in during the show. 32 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,920 And then the third element that I consider is where as a viewer 33 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,880 and someone who is partaking in both the book and show medium, 34 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:24,560 you can draw inferences and fill in gaps based on what we do know 35 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:26,720 and the concrete evidence we do have. 36 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,760 And so I certainly have done that with my interpretation of 37 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,160 her character. That is not to say that my 38 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,440 opinion is the only one that has merit. 39 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,400 I think that you can interpret all of these characters through 40 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,720 your own lens and that's what makes them so compelling. 41 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:51,080 So my interpretation admittedly has a lot to do with my personal 42 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,960 experiences in the sport of hockey and a lot of the 43 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,600 parenting that takes place in the sport of hockey or in sports 44 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,880 in general. But again, I'm drawing from both 45 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,760 the book, the show, and then using my own experiences to fill 46 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,720 in some of the gaps that that show up here and hopefully build 47 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,640 a broader picture of the character. 48 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:17,600 So Yuna Hollander has largely built her son. 49 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:22,120 She is the architect of Shanes life by the time we meet him in 50 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,560 episode 1, and she understands better than anyone that given 51 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,280 her race and Shanes mixed race background that Shane has to 52 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,920 work twice as hard to be half as visible. 53 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:38,120 And she understands that his talent alone cannot protect him 54 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,320 from being looked at under a microscope and held to different 55 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,000 expectations. She knows that his hockey 56 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,160 excellence does not and will not insulate him in the same way, 57 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,560 especially in a sport like hockey which is so white. 58 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,320 And that would have made her grateful that he has his 59 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,720 father's last name, something that Shane mentions to Rose in 60 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,800 episode 4. And he states quite candidly 61 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,440 that his last name did offer him protection from the kids who 62 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,960 were bullying and teasing his other Asian teammate. 63 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,200 So it's no surprise that one of the ways that Yuna loves Shane 64 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:19,320 is by anticipating the world around him and trying to outpace 65 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,880 it. And she is trying to manage his 66 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,920 anxiety by eliminating obstacles and hurdles that might trigger 67 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,920 it for him. That would present like absolute 68 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:35,360 protection, but ultimately would lead Shane to not be able to 69 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,960 manage his own emotions and anxiety fully, which we do see 70 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,240 play out on screen. Yuna's belief system is based on 71 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:47,400 the notion that control equals safety, which is exactly what we 72 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,240 see Shane embodying throughout this entire series. 73 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:57,080 Yuna handles Shane's anxiety by taking action, by planning, by 74 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,440 solving problems, and we see David approach it differently. 75 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,560 He is much more steady, quiet, stable. 76 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,640 He encourages Shane to talk about his emotions and work 77 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,840 through them, and that's something that is a mirror to 78 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:12,760 how Ilya helps Shane within their dynamic as their 79 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,480 relationship develops. But by doing that, Yuna largely 80 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,440 makes herself an almost indispensable to Shane. 81 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,200 He relies upon her for so many facets of his life, and that 82 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,960 makes her role as mother synonymous with management quite 83 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,920 often. And so when Shane's career takes 84 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:36,160 off, she would be clocking out of her first job as mom and 85 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:40,320 clocking into her second, which would have been building Shane a 86 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,600 future that she knows will last longer than his career as a 87 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,120 professional athlete. That means putting the right 88 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,400 opportunities in front of him, setting him up for long term 89 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,280 success. She has planned that through the 90 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,640 brands that he works with, through the contracts that he 91 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,120 signs. And since Shane is largely a 92 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:06,080 shy, quiet, sometimes awkward at times young man, she took over 93 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,480 that responsibility and that representative part for him, 94 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,800 which puts her largely in control over the way that Shane 95 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,800 is pitched and presented to the world around him from the time 96 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,360 he's quite young. What you know doesn't see is 97 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:26,200 that in constructing Shane's safety, she has also constructed 98 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,480 a very specific framework for him to operate within. 99 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:34,520 One with very clear rules and a lot of fear that he would feel 100 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:36,360 around it. Because it's a framework that 101 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,640 feeds into the need for unparalleled discipline for a 102 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:43,720 don't rock the boat, keep your head down type of attitude. 103 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:48,320 Which mirrors that of hockey culture for sure, but also is 104 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,040 representative of his Asian background as well. 105 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,760 And he would be trying to chase this standard his whole life. 106 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,920 And every time he would reach one peak, another goal within 107 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,480 his career or socially would be presented to him. 108 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,040 And that would be compounded by the fact that the image created 109 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,600 for him falls within a very masculine, straight archetype 110 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,600 that hockey has always pushed within its culture. 111 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,840 And so as Shane would be going through this process of self 112 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,360 discovery that we see playing out in the show, that would 113 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,760 become a standard that Shane knows he will always fall short 114 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,000 on. Shane being lonely or isolating 115 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,320 himself could be viewed as OK, so long as it makes Shane feel 116 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:34,920 regulated and he says it's helping him with his 117 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,920 performance. And so him isolating, not being 118 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,960 able to form close friendships with people, those behaviors 119 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,400 would all seem like necessary constructs for him to survive 120 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,760 and feel safe. And so for Yuna, that's all 121 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,560 she's ever wanted for Shane is for him to feel and be safe. 122 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:55,640 So by the time we meet Shane in episode 1, Yuna is involved in 123 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,920 every decision that he makes. She knows everything going on in 124 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,440 his life, everything that matters to him, or so she 125 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,240 thinks. In the first scene where Shane 126 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,120 and Yuna and David are having lunch, we can see how Yuna and 127 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:13,920 David are positioned as Shane's primary and only support system 128 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,640 that's shown visually. He's centered in the frame 129 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,080 between them. And he starts to talk excitedly 130 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,480 about YouTube. And Yuna pivots the conversation 131 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,520 to hockey while David tries to encourage Shane to talk about 132 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,600 something that he's been doing in his free time outside of the 133 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:31,760 sport. And this scene effectively 134 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,000 showcases their differing approaches to parenting Shane. 135 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,720 So where David tries to talk to Shane about anything but his 136 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:42,159 hockey career, Yuna always dives head first into it. 137 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:46,400 We can also see in that scene how Ilya is framed as a threat 138 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,400 by Yuna, since he is Shane's rival and Ilya is someone who 139 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,440 increases risk with the way he talks, with the way he's 140 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,680 positioned himself against Shane in the scoring race, with the 141 00:08:57,680 --> 00:08:59,680 way he's perceived as a ladies man. 142 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,120 And so for Yuna, hating Ilya is partaking in that narrative, 143 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,760 yes, but it would also feel like a form of protection to try and 144 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,360 keep Shane and his image away from this person who embodies 145 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,920 everything Shane is not and is trying not to be. 146 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,720 Like outside of the business end of things. 147 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,040 If Shane ever implied to her that he had been triggered by 148 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,320 Ilya, then naturally Yuna would take that and run with it. 149 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,440 At the MLH Awards, we can see how David is much more relaxed 150 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,280 in that awards environment, while Yuna is standing and 151 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,600 conversing with people there, and it's showing us how she's 152 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:39,880 always an extension of Shane wherever they go. 153 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,960 You can infer that she is talking to this person about 154 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,120 him, trying to put him in a better standing somehow, 155 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,680 discussing the season or next season, and that sort of 156 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,920 pressure is like a pressure cooker for someone like Shane 157 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,720 because he'd be wondering what is being said about him as a 158 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,760 player and what he would need to adhere to or accomplish next. 159 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,520 He is also so young at this point in the story, so it is not 160 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,640 abnormal at all for Yuna to be trying to make sure that Shane's 161 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,320 career is starting off in a way that best positions him for the 162 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:12,960 rest of his career. We see that while Shane is at 163 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,640 the Olympics, Yuna is texting Shane, reminding him that he 164 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:18,680 needs to be wearing his Reeboks again. 165 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,920 So even though Yuna's not on our screen here, that pressure that 166 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,880 Shane would be feeling to maintain the standard that Yuna 167 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,880 is pushing on him, it's obvious she texts him is everything goes 168 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:32,880 OK. Don't forget to wear your 169 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:37,240 Reeboks when he's in another country competing for the 170 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,400 Olympics. And that's what she's worrying 171 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,200 about, and so therefore Shane has to worry about it too. 172 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:47,640 When Shane chooses to ignore her text and send a message to Ilya 173 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,480 instead, it's one of the few times we see Shane's priorities 174 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,720 shifting away from appeasing his mother, and it shows us that 175 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,360 he's growing up and he's becoming his own person 176 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,880 independent of her. But her being in a managerial 177 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,440 role as well as his mother blurs a lot of the lines in that 178 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,400 relationship development. In the opening montage of 179 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,720 Episode 4, we see Yuna on set with Shane during a commercial 180 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,760 shoot for an orange soda brand, and this scene in particular is 181 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,920 a really great metaphor for Shane's persona not aligning 182 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,480 with him as a person. And we know that Shane almost 183 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,480 exclusively drinks ginger ale, so aligning himself with this 184 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:29,120 brand is strictly for the contract and the paycheck, and 185 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,040 less about choosing a brand that aligns with who he really is and 186 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,600 what he represents. Yuna managing his life in this 187 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,480 way and putting him into all of these advertising opportunities 188 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,240 is another example of how Shane has very little control over his 189 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:46,080 personal life. But that it's not entirely due 190 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,400 to Yuna herself. Because Shane still has not 191 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,640 learned how to say no at the this point or how to create a 192 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:56,000 boundary. And so it's easy to pin Yuna as 193 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,360 this career driven mom manager, but Shane is also not willing to 194 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,320 risk disappointing her so she would not know that her behavior 195 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,800 is affecting him negatively because Shane has never said as 196 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,440 much to her. During the second scene where 197 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:14,880 David, Yuna and Shane have lunch in episode 4, Shane is not 198 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,200 acting like himself because this is coming on the heels of the 199 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,440 tuna melt scene and Yuna notices this immediately. 200 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,440 He is tighten his body, shorten his responses and it's the first 201 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,800 time we've ever seen Shane behave in this way with his 202 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,680 parents. And it's because of Ilia, yes, 203 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:34,160 but also in part due to the pressure that Yuna helped 204 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:36,400 create. She's telling him about the 205 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,480 Rolex deal, the expectation that he be in the box for Wimbledon. 206 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,920 And for the first time, Shane is expressing that he might want to 207 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,520 do something for himself with his limited free time over the 208 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:48,480 summer. He only gets two weeks off and 209 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:52,480 he might not want to check a box and be the face of diversity and 210 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,920 inclusivity. And this is an important 211 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:59,280 conversation because his mixed race background doesn't come up 212 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,320 a lot in the book, but here they allow him to comment on it and 213 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,040 how it feels for him. And so Yuna does what she always 214 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:10,760 does, which is tries to adjust the system that Shane is 215 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,760 existing within. She suggests he loosen up with a 216 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,040 glass of wine, try to be more flexible with his schedule, to 217 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,080 deviate from his training schedule. 218 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,880 But in her doing that, she breaks a rule she taught him to 219 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,400 rely on. Because even though Shane 220 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,600 doesn't know he's autistic, routine and predictability are 221 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,120 now essential to Shane. It feels destabilizing when the 222 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:39,480 person who built the rules, which is Yuna, suddenly acts 223 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,760 like they don't matter. And even though she wants to 224 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,800 encourage Shane to have a life outside of hockey and fill it 225 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,680 with exciting opportunities that he has earned, what comes out 226 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:54,800 instead is a joke about sitting beside a Swedish Princess and it 227 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,320 lands wrong for reasons she can't quite fully understand 228 00:13:58,320 --> 00:13:59,960 yet. But we can see in that scene 229 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:02,480 that Yuna and David both sense something is off. 230 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:07,160 But for Yuna, it would also feel like Shane is slipping away and 231 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:11,200 further retreating into himself. And that might scare her more 232 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,200 than she'd be willing to admit. Because Yuna tries to almost 233 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:18,360 bait Shane into going to Wimbledon by saying that he 234 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,840 would be seated next to this Swedish Princess and she is 235 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:28,680 putting his desire to not attend 2nd to the persona he's trying 236 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,320 to uphold. And the scene does double duty 237 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,080 because it can be later interpreted as another moment 238 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,520 where David and Yuna would likely pick up on the fact that 239 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,240 Shane doesn't seem to have much interest in women when they 240 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,920 mention them to him. When Yuna tells Shane, I don't 241 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,520 want you to lie, that's not who you are, she means that because 242 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,160 as far as she knows, Shane has always been painfully honest in 243 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,200 every aspect of his life. He's never given her any reason 244 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:00,080 to believe he's not been honest with her, and this would be the 245 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,720 first time where she may question that. 246 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,880 But the dialogue here is important because also for the 247 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:11,640 first time, Yuna's responses are implying that she might be 248 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:17,200 wondering if the system she shaped Shane in might be hurting 249 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,320 him too, which would be unbearable to her. 250 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:25,520 Then Shane has a girlfriend. He meets Rose Landry, they 251 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:30,680 immediately start dating. And so for Yuna and David, Shane 252 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,760 would suddenly have a girlfriend who happens to be a famous 253 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,560 actress. And this would likely feel like 254 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,560 confirmation that all of the work Shane put into his career 255 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,840 and into himself has worked, and all the ways she guided him, 256 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,800 too. Because he is this thriving, 257 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,760 loved, successful boy in all the ways the world understands, 258 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,560 which is all she's ever wanted for him. 259 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,760 And you can imagine that. The conversation where Shane 260 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,520 shares the news about Rose would have likely been one of 261 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,160 necessity before the tabloids reported their romance all over 262 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:03,560 the Internet and all over the news. 263 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,280 So Yuna would have been informed of the story before she was 264 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,560 informed of Rose existing as a person of importance in Shanes 265 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,440 life. That would largely imply that 266 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,600 while they were getting to know each other, Shane did not share 267 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:21,640 that with his mom and Yuna used to be the person he told things 268 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,360 to 1st. So she would be starting to 269 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:29,160 adjust to a new norm where her 20 something year old son has 270 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,640 his own life and his own relationship that he doesn't 271 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,040 always share with her. For Yuna, as Shane's mother, she 272 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:40,200 would want the person dating him to continue to pour into him the 273 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,000 same way that she and David have. 274 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,560 Yuna and David have been the only people to pour into Shane 275 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,720 like that until he's seen abruptly dating Rose Landry, who 276 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,200 is a person they don't know beyond her social status and 277 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,680 celebrity and likely never meet. And this change in their roles 278 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,640 would have likely been jarring for Yuna to realize that Shane 279 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,640 does, in fact, have a life outside of her and David, after 280 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,920 he has spent his entire life in their orbit and under their 281 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,079 constant supervision. David, transversely, would have 282 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:15,720 probably been thrilled. And by this point, supervising 283 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:20,599 and caring for and organizing Shane's life is largely Yuna's 284 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:24,359 identity. So if that pattern started to 285 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,880 shift, it would feel destabilizing to her. 286 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:31,080 Because, like Shane, she likes patterns, she likes 287 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,040 predictability, she likes control. 288 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,040 It's similar to how Shane is destabilized whenever Ilya's 289 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,520 patterns start to shift. What's often forgotten about, I 290 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,840 think, is Shane's accident and how it would have affected both 291 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,680 Yuna and David. And we know that they would have 292 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:48,480 gone to the hospital to be with him. 293 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,840 And we know that they would have seen him there on those drugs 294 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,000 the same way that he was with Ilya, which is completely 295 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,000 unfiltered and unguarded. And in the show, Shane tells the 296 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,440 medic on the ice, tell him I'm OK, He'll worry. 297 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,320 And the medic says to Shane, his father will be getting a phone 298 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,680 call. And Shane corrects him and says, 299 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,560 not him, Ilya. And this is how we as the 300 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,120 viewers would be able to identify that Shane's priorities 301 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:17,960 are shifting because where it was always his parents first, 302 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:22,280 Ilya is now at the top of the list at that point in the story. 303 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,480 And Shane is deeply layered. And much of the time, he is 304 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,000 masking himself from the world, trying to fit into the framework 305 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,760 that Hockey and Yuna have created for him and set for him. 306 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,680 And so when he's on these painkillers, it peels away the 307 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,160 layers that he would have learned to build around himself. 308 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,400 And he would have been behaving very childlike around Yuna 309 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,480 again, like he was when he was small and he didn't need to have 310 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,720 such a hard exterior. And no doubt that would make 311 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,560 Yuna feel obviously immensely protective of him and 312 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,560 reminiscent of him as a child. But she would also likely grieve 313 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,160 how guarded he is now comparatively. 314 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,240 This version in the hospital is the version I think she wishes 315 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,480 he could have been when talking to them at lunch in episode 4. 316 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,160 Someone who's able to loosen up and enjoy things more. 317 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,640 And Shane hasn't been this way for years, and that would be a 318 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,680 hard realization for Yuna to grapple with. 319 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,800 It would also push her and David further into wanting their son 320 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,840 to find happiness with someone, whether that be Rose or someone 321 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,920 else. And we see that in the book and 322 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,080 in episode 5 when Shane talks to Rose and tells her that his 323 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,040 mother has been asking about them and whether or not they're 324 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:38,320 going to be getting back together. 325 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,440 When the nurse would have mentioned that Ilya, Rose and 326 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,240 all visited Shane in the hospital, you know, would only 327 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,680 register that as a data point. It would be important to know 328 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,680 and acknowledge, but it wouldn't be meaningful to her yet. 329 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,560 And she has still bought into the narrative that her son and 330 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,680 all Of Montreal has maintained throughout his career, which is 331 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,560 that Shane doesn't like him. And in the book, after Shane and 332 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,560 Ilya met in the World Juniors in 2008, Shane had actually got 333 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,360 back into the car with his parents. 334 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:11,400 And when they asked him how Ilya was, Shane told them he was kind 335 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,240 of an asshole. And so Yuna has really never had 336 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,920 any reason to believe otherwise, as compounded by the way Ilya 337 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,000 has this personified version of him. 338 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:27,200 In direct opposition to Shane in every way, and something Shane 339 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,720 himself has never pushed back on or corrected her on either, is 340 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,040 that they are rivals. So by the time we reach episode 341 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:38,400 5 and Scott Hunter comes out very publicly and absolutely 342 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:43,880 undeniably, Yuna has suspected that her son, who is often alone 343 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,440 and no longer dating Rose and keeps distance with his 344 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,680 teammates and largely keeps to himself, may be gay and beside 345 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,200 her on the couch The entire time he's been home since his injury, 346 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,760 he has been lost in his phone texting someone, and when asked, 347 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,760 he defaults to Hayden. But Hayden has four children. 348 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,920 She would know that he cannot be texting Shane all day and night. 349 00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:12,120 So when Scott kisses Kip and that kind of moment on screen 350 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,360 happens, it would rearrange everything in Shane's life. 351 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:17,840 And Yuna knows that because Shane is a professional hockey 352 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,160 player. This is the first professional 353 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,520 hockey player to come out in this way and to come out at all. 354 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,800 And so Yuna has been thinking maybe Shane could be gay. 355 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,760 This is a big deal. So when Shane runs out of the 356 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,120 room to take the call, Yuna would acknowledge that something 357 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:36,440 is happening without her. He is removing himself from the 358 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,880 room so that she and David cannot overhear him and he 359 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,080 keeping something private from them. 360 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:45,040 She doesn't know what that is. She doesn't know what Shane 361 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,280 thinks or feels about the situation because he is sharing 362 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,840 less and less with them, and that would likely be painful for 363 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,600 Yuna. When Shane then arrives at their 364 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,960 cottage with Ilya, Yuna is put in this sort of role reversal 365 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,240 with David because she's the one Shane is nervous to confront. 366 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,680 She's the one Shane is bracing for impact with, and she's the 367 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,560 one who initiates the conversation and asks, tell us 368 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,080 what exactly? She also is the one that looks 369 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,760 at Ilya with this extremely defensive, protective demeanor 370 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,360 because Ilya again is perceived as a threat. 371 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:22,160 When Shane tells his parents that he is gay and that Ilia is 372 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,600 visiting him, Yunas internal narrative is likely flooded with 373 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,440 questions. Why didn't he tell me? 374 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,560 What did I do, What did I say? How did I not see this? 375 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,200 Why did he not think he could tell me? 376 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,120 Her immediate response is but you hate him. 377 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,520 And Yuna is not asking this literally. 378 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,080 She is trying to validate her own behavior within their 379 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,160 revelry. Her reality is now totally off 380 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,400 base. Everything she thought about her 381 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:51,680 son's own career is now suddenly flipped on his head because so 382 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,520 much of Shane's career has been central to this rivalry with 383 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,840 Ilya. So when Shane double S down and 384 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,680 tells his parents that he's in love with Ilya Rosenhoff, Yuna 385 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,440 is trying to wrap her head around this moment. 386 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,240 And it has less to to do with Shane being gay and more to do 387 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,440 with her not knowing that this rivalry was manufactured and 388 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,120 then having to reframe Shane's entire hockey career. 389 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,480 And her love and support of Shane is very clear here because 390 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,160 we see her touching his shoulder when she gets up from the table 391 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,000 more than once. She very calmly tells him that 392 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,200 this is something they might have been suspecting for a 393 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,280 while. But in this scene, Yuna would be 394 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:37,520 revising every memory, every assumption, every conversation 395 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,840 she has had with Shane about Ilya. 396 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,920 She'd be replaying every game he ever played against him in her 397 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,320 head. And the show makes a really 398 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,040 important change to the dialogue here, because in the book, Yuna 399 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,360 is the one who says, we know you pretty well, Shane here. 400 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:54,240 By giving that dialogue to David, it's almost reaffirming 401 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,880 the way Yuna would be feeling, which is that she had devoted so 402 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,800 much of herself to making sure that his life was insulated and 403 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:06,560 protected and as successful as possible, and yet not knowing 404 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,440 this part of him would feel like failure to her. 405 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:15,120 Her focus being on building that framework had made her blind to 406 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:18,680 things, but it had also made Shane so afraid of disappointing 407 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,160 her that if he were to venture outside of that framework, she 408 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:26,000 would be discouraged or upset. And if Shane has been living a 409 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,560 lie, then Yuna must believe she is in some way the architect of 410 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,600 of it. So Yuna goes into distraction 411 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,360 mode, getting up from the table, getting everyone to drink. 412 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,360 And it shows us how she distracts herself whenever she's 413 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,280 overwhelmed with emotions. And we have seen Shane do this 414 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,240 when he's overwhelmed as well. And she puts her hand on his 415 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,520 shoulder again as she walks past him because again, this is more 416 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,080 about her than it is about Shane. 417 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,200 But he doesn't know that. And so over the course of their 418 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,480 conversation at dinner, Yuna would be trying to figure out 419 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,720 how she can control things and make them easier for Shane. 420 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,080 And her first instinct is always going to be protect him and in 421 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,240 his legacy, the legitimacy of his career and also the 422 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,560 narrative of the rivalry because fans and their two teams and the 423 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,080 media have relied upon it for years. 424 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,840 And so she starts to stress test Shane. 425 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,800 Because if Shane had ever softened the way he played 426 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,240 against Ilya or the outcome of certain games had been affected 427 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,520 by him being in love with Ilya, then Shane's career could be 428 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,760 reinterpreted entirely and his success would be brought into 429 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,360 question. And those questions are a way 430 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,880 for her to audit and retroactively reassess Shane's 431 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,680 career in her own mind. But for her to imply that he 432 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:47,400 would have let Ilya win would be very cutting, because like Yuna, 433 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,640 Shane is built on excellence and discipline, and so the 434 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,280 implication that he is not those things because he loves Ilya 435 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,920 would be deeply offensive. Winning is fundamental to her 436 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,040 identity, and Shane got that from her. 437 00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:05,880 And Yuna also knows that the parameters Shane is existing 438 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,000 within are unthinkably challenging. 439 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,920 Hockey culture has a long standing and narrow idea of what 440 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,000 being a hockey player is supposed to look like. 441 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,480 One that no doubt she had courage Shane to abide by and he 442 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,880 was already a step behind being Asian Canadian in a 443 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,880 predominantly white sport. Hockey is considered a blue 444 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,400 collar sport. It is largely inaccessible and 445 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,240 before Shane's ever drafted, he does not fit the mold of a 446 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,280 hockey player prototype. They are stoic. 447 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,920 They are tough. They are emotionally restrained. 448 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,880 It's why he meditates. It's why he does yoga. 449 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,320 It's also understandable that he becomes very emotionally 450 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,800 restrained the older he gets and the further into hockey he 451 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,760 advances. It's also why he follows strict 452 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,080 regimes and diet. He is the captain of the oldest 453 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,240 team in the league with a decades long rivalry with 454 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,920 Boston, and Ilya sits as the face of that team. 455 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,040 Shane is the face of the franchise, and as captain, his 456 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,120 leadership would be called into question anytime that team 457 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:12,120 underperforms. And Yuna knows that any player 458 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,160 that ventures outside of the lines of the franchise and the 459 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,760 league's expectations would receive backlash. 460 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:22,720 But a player on Montreal? The captain Of Montreal being 461 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,400 gay is already a venture outside those lines, but being in love 462 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,640 with the captain of Boston is a whole other thing entirely. 463 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,440 And in hockey, the fans feel like they are owed a lot from 464 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,440 their teams. Fans who would have invested 465 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,760 emotionally, financially to attend these games Between them, 466 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:48,160 who have generationally given into that long standing Boston 467 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,880 and Montreal rivalry with one another, who followed these 468 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,680 teams throughout their lives, they would feel like they were 469 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,560 duped. The idea that the 2 captains and 470 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,720 central figures within that rivalry did not share in the 471 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,600 same emotional reality as the fans would feel destabilizing 472 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,720 for a lot of them. I think learning that a core 473 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,440 belief as a fan was actually performative would lead them to 474 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,840 go back and rewind, watch old games and look for signs or 475 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,240 reinterpret moments like the All Star game kiss or moments of 476 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,920 sportsmanship that might be now seen as deceptive. 477 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,040 They would start watching interviews and analyzing body 478 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,280 language under a microscope and Yuna would know because Yuna is 479 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,520 one of those fans. She says at the beginning of the 480 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,120 show that hockey is one of the ways that she learned to feel 481 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:38,040 Canadian. It's given her a community and 482 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,720 an identity to align with. And much like how Scott in 483 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,760 episode 3 expressed that hockey became his family when his 484 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,280 parents died, the culture of the sport facilitates that. 485 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,760 The culture she bought into and brought her son into and built 486 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,320 him up within can now be the exact thing that can hurt him 487 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,320 the most. And it already has. 488 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:03,280 And so has she. And she let those biases make 489 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:08,240 her blind to her own son and judge the man that her son loves 490 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,640 in a way that she is beginning to see as totally unfair. 491 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,840 And she asks so many hard questions of Ilya, of their 492 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,720 timeline, of his intentions with their relationship, because she 493 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,440 wants reassurance, but also because she's desperately trying 494 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,200 to defend her own reality. When Shane and Ilya are 495 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,200 answering David's question about how they plan to keep doing this 496 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,120 until they retire. And Yuna says, Oh no, that's 497 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,080 sad. This is her saying the quiet 498 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,920 part out loud. Shane tells her that they can't 499 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,800 just come out and announce it, which is him setting a boundary 500 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,240 or a rule with his parents and also with Ilya by trying to 501 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,440 manage the risk just like Yuna does. 502 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,920 It's only when Shane and Ilya both admit to themselves and to 503 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,360 Yuna and David that they've only ever been in love with one 504 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:57,360 person, which is each other, and have been doing this quietly, 505 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,640 secretly, since they were 18 years old, that Yuna's emotions 506 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,920 win over her and she has to leave the table and go outside. 507 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:10,080 Because Yuna has done nothing but love her son and support 508 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:11,840 him. And yet it has led to this 509 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:16,160 outcome where he's been hurting for nearly a decade and could 510 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,840 not go to her for comfort or for help. 511 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,760 And this backlash is also something that she cannot 512 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,560 insulate Shane from. And that reflection could very 513 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,800 quickly become self loathing because she has let him down and 514 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,920 made him feel unsafe to confide in her. 515 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,320 And despite her best intentions, there has been deep damage 516 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,160 caused by her actions and it would be harder to rectify those 517 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,680 emotions because none of that damage was intentional. 518 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,440 In fact, she had gone out of her way to prevent this very thing 519 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,840 from happening to her own son by the outside world. 520 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:55,040 And so when Shane says I tried, that breaks her. 521 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,280 Because Yuna has always valued effort and sacrifice and 522 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,520 discipline. And now she sees that the 523 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,000 greatest effort her son has ever made was not on the ice, but in 524 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,360 living a self sacrificing life that keeps everyone else around 525 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,320 him comfortable and puts him last. 526 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,920 It wouldn't be until Shane tells Yuna that he really did try. 527 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,040 That she would understand the depths of that damage. 528 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,520 And that her demands of discipline and mental toughness, 529 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:28,840 resilience and fitting into this mold would have boxed him in his 530 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:33,280 own mind so deeply that he was afraid to share himself fully 531 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,480 with himself and his own parents. 532 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:39,360 And that their unit of three that has been so foundational 533 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:43,080 for all of them did not feel like a safe haven for him to 534 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:47,520 retreat to when dealing with these very real fears that he 535 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,880 has had of being gay in a sport that does not invite it. 536 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,920 And this is, I think, in some small way, what helps Yuna to 537 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,640 let go of the idea that loving Shane has to mean shaping him 538 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,080 and trying to control so many areas of his life. 539 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,200 Loving him now means listening to what he needs and then 540 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,280 executing on that. And so she jumps into planning 541 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,000 mode because that is what she does when there is a problem. 542 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,520 It's what she's always done. It's also what Shane does and 543 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,480 did with Ilya in the same finale episode. 544 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,920 But now when Shane course corrects her at the table and 545 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,000 tells her that he doesn't want to come out yet and that he and 546 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,200 Ilya just want a future, Yuna is willing to meet him where he is 547 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,560 and not force Shane to where she thinks he should be. 548 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,760 Then you think about the fact that Ilya Rosenov is in her 549 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:40,840 house, eating her food, drinking her husband's vodka and existing 550 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:46,000 in front of her not as a persona or an abstraction, but as a real 551 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,920 person who loves her son, who is claiming that his career comes 552 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:55,200 second to his love for her son. And she would then watch Shane 553 00:32:55,480 --> 00:33:01,280 slipping into a panic attack and Ilya calms him very quickly and 554 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,960 easily. And it would be a display of the 555 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,160 very deep trust and emotional security and safety that Shane 556 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:12,080 has found within Ilya. And she would be watching Ilya 557 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,520 understand Shane's anxiety spiral. 558 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,720 And when David and Yuna prepare to intervene, we see Yuna freeze 559 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,960 like Shane so often does. Which to me would imply that 560 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,720 perhaps in the past, anytime Shane might have been anxious 561 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,480 before, Yuna was not the one to provide that type of comfort, or 562 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,800 at least not comfort him in this particular way. 563 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,960 And that is not to say that she was wrong in that I think Yuna 564 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,800 tried to manage Shane's anxiety externally by controlling as 565 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,840 much of the world around him as she could, rather than go into 566 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:46,000 the anxiety with him and help him come out of. 567 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,280 Whereas Ilya loves Shane from within his anxiety, he doesn't 568 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,160 try to change Shane to fit within the world around him. 569 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,800 He reframes and reshapes the world around Shane so that he 570 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,800 can breathe inside of that anxiety. 571 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,560 This relationship between Ilya and Shane has been happening for 572 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:07,840 near a decade, and this is not a face. 573 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,120 This is not confusion. Ilya admits he's never loved 574 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,080 anyone else but Shane, and Shane has reciprocated that. 575 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:19,040 Ilya has committed to being with Shane, moving his whole life. 576 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,199 He's in love, they're in love. And David and Yuna have only 577 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:25,719 ever wanted that for their son. And they would want to sing that 578 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,199 from the rooftops and proudly support and proclaim that this 579 00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:33,080 is who their son actually is and this is the partner that he's 580 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,679 chosen. And I think that that's obvious 581 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,880 that they, they are so happy that Shane has finally found 582 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,480 someone who loves him like they do and wants to take care of 583 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,360 him, but they can't share that with the world yet. 584 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,360 David and Yuna's secret is necessary still, and I think 585 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,120 that's what helps Yuna understand clearly that Shane 586 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,760 was hiding to protect the one relationship where he has felt 587 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,880 understood, and that included hiding from her. 588 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,640 And yes, a large part of it was also to protect himself as he 589 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:06,440 worked through his feelings and his sexuality, and to protect 590 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,200 his career and the reputation that he and Yuna have spent his 591 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,360 whole life building and shaping and perfecting. 592 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,840 But now he has a relationship that also needs to be protected 593 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,960 so that it cannot be ruined by the outside world. 594 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,680 And that hurts. And Yuna is determined to 595 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,480 protect it too. So when we see Yuna standing on 596 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:31,680 her steps, planning to meet her son and his boyfriend for dinner 597 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:36,480 tomorrow at 5:00 and saying that she will text 1st and respecting 598 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:40,320 his boundary and his request for privacy, it's because she has 599 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,920 made peace with the fact that she is not going to be the 600 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,280 architect of his future now, but his mom, who is following his 601 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,280 lead for the first time and you know, will stumble and she will 602 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,520 fall as she tries to figure out how to best support him and 603 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,360 Ilya. But she is willing to adjust to 604 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,800 that new normal and invites it. And we see her relationship with 605 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:02,560 Ilya a lot more in the long game. 606 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,720 And that growth is really, really important. 607 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,120 And I hope that Jacob writes some really beautiful scenes 608 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:13,080 between Ilya and Yuna and Ilya and David, because Yuna and 609 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,680 Shane are so similar that I think Ilya and her can learn a 610 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,960 lot from one another. And we see Ilya and Shane go 611 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,800 through some situations in the long game where Yuna's influence 612 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:28,200 and support is very important. And so understanding where she's 613 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,040 coming from and how she plays a role in that is going to be 614 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:34,400 really pivotal going into season too. 615 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:39,240 I think Yuna's portrayal as a parent who tries their best and 616 00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:44,280 does everything from the utmost position of love and support and 617 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,880 wanting to do right by their child and still having an 618 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:52,640 outcome where their kid is indirectly hurt by their actions 619 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:57,200 is a very human experience. And I think that in particular, 620 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:01,160 the addition of the scene between Yuna and Shane does a 621 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:05,000 great job of painting that dynamic and and how that very 622 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,440 often is the case with parents and children. 623 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,360 I also think that there are a lot of arguments to be made 624 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:16,400 about Yuna having a lot of her behaviors stem from her her 625 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,760 Asian background. I think that's a huge component 626 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,280 of it as well. Some people are wondering if 627 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,720 maybe she might be neurodivergent as well, given 628 00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:29,080 that we know that Shane is and that a lot of their behaviors 629 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,280 and ways of thinking mirror one another. 630 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,800 I think, again, the beauty of this character and any character 631 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,920 in any book or TV show or movie is that you can bring your own 632 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:43,160 personal experience to that character and find elements of 633 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,400 them that you align with or identify closely with. 634 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:49,720 And I think Yuna is one of those really great examples of that. 635 00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:53,080 I think if you're a parent, you can identify with the way she 636 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,320 parents. If you were a kid, you can 637 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,400 identify with the way she parents because it might feel 638 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:01,000 familiar to you. I know that for me as an 639 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:06,200 athlete, having a parent that really emphasizes your career 640 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,200 and how you present yourself and how you show up to your sport 641 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,520 every day, that's very, very common in competitive sports. 642 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,000 I think pinning her against someone like David as her 643 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,600 partner in life is a really great parallel to Shane and 644 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,240 Ilya, because I really firmly believe that Ilya and David are 645 00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:26,320 very, very similar to one another. 646 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,280 And the show does a great job of fleshing that out more than the 647 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,320 book does. But on the whole, I think that 648 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:36,280 the relationship that Yuna has with Shane informs Shane as a 649 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:39,200 person. And so when you know that he is 650 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,760 molded in this pressure cooker environment, but the pressure 651 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:47,960 cooker environment is entirely based, John Yunas desire to give 652 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,160 Shane the best life he can possibly have because she loves 653 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:55,040 him so very deeply. It gives everybody the ability 654 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,880 to have a lot more grace for her and understand that life is 655 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:04,280 going to be that Gray area where you can do right by someone and 656 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,480 still have opportunities to hurt them, even if it's not on 657 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:09,520 purpose. The important thing is that both 658 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:15,680 Yuna and David are represented as very understanding parents 659 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:20,920 who are willing to listen to Shane and do what he needs of 660 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:22,600 them. They're very accepting, 661 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,920 supportive kind. I think the show representation 662 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,320 of them only amplifies what's already there in the source 663 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,360 material as well. And that's important because we 664 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:37,400 model culture off of art, and shows like this are really 665 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,240 fundamental in putting conversations like those in 666 00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:43,920 front of our screens and inciting broader conversations 667 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,560 with our own peers and family members as well. 668 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,560 Also, the relationship dynamic between Yuna and David, because 669 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:54,440 I think that the show and the book flips a lot of the norms on 670 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,920 their head with the two of them. Yuna breaks a lot of gender 671 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,920 norms and so do the other female characters in the show, and I 672 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,000 think that that's an important discussion to be had. 673 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:10,320 Yuna is the hockey fan and David is not the typical hockey dad. 674 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,280 And I think that that's. Really brilliant, especially as 675 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,360 a hockey player. I deeply appreciated that 676 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,160 change. Please let me know your thoughts 677 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:18,600 in the comments. I think she's a really 678 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:22,360 compelling character and a really pivotal part of the story 679 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:26,360 for someone who has so such little screen time, She makes a 680 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,360 huge impact on on the way that this story plays out. 681 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:33,400 And I think that that's the sign of a really well written, fully 682 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,200 fleshed out character is with what limited time they have on 683 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,840 our screens, they leave a very lasting impact. 684 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,360 And she certainly does that in this show. 685 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:47,080 As always, thank you so much for tuning in and talking with me 686 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,480 about this show again and and character development and what 687 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:54,640 that looks like. And I so deeply appreciate you 688 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,720 listening, and I will. We'll see you all in our next 689 00:40:57,720 --> 00:40:58,200 chat.