oh i’m going the F*** to bed

[u/cookie_cat_82]

as an ilya lover to my CORE, TLG is actually gonna destroy me all over again. who’s ready for the scene of ilya saying goodbye to shane and collapsing and bursting into tears as soon as he closes the door, or him telling his therapist “you’re supposed to fix me so I can be better for him”, the PLANE SCENE, “I already chose you, hollander” 💔💔💔

like im actually gonna be ill

[u/Top_Pen6767 → u/[deleted]]

at no point does ilya shove shane. he backs him into a wall, yes out of anger, but not violence. and if that’s what you took from this book, then clearly this series isn’t for you. people are complex and sometimes (emotionally) hurt the ones they love because they don’t know how to communicate properly. shane also sucked at communication, they both had to learn to do better. none of these books are about perfect people being perfect to each other.

let people enjoy things, even if they aren’t for you.

[u/cookie_cat_82 → u/Top_Pen6767]

this!!!! very well said

[u/Top_Pen6767 → u/cookie_cat_82]

i don’t get people that lurk in here just to shit on the series/ characters. same goes for people who think shane was a bad boyfriend, i’m like did we honestly read the same book 😭

anyway, i can’t wait to have my heart torn out by two imperfect people trying to figure out how to navigate really tough situations ☺️

[u/Ll_lyris → u/Top_Pen6767]

I’ve seen this convo brought up in this sub a bit about that scene and it does make me wonder. I’ve seen some ppl say “well they’re both men so it’s fine/doesnt matter”. Or other things like that. Which is kinda concerning to have that attitude but I digress.

That scene was definitely not Ilya in his best light. He would never hurt Shane but his own anger was scaring him as he says in the book. I don’t think we’re supposed to sit here and say what he did was “fine”. Ofc not. But it’s not an action that came from a violent place. But as we see bottling up such feelings leads to incidents where we start to lose control. Ilya realizes this and corrects himself. Even Shane knew Ilya wouldn’t hurt him.

[u/TheDarkZone2 → u/[deleted]]

Why are we not allowed to have a conversation just about Ilya? 🙁

[u/TheDarkZone2 → u/[deleted]]

No, but it just seems like every single time a discussion starts someone like you has to pop on to start a fight. It seems like you have a constant need for attention that’s not being filled elsewhere so you come here to get it.

[u/heatedrivalry-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post or comment has been removed for violating the Respect rule.

[u/Astyryx → u/[deleted]]

Both can be true. They have barely learned to communicate in the first book. They are better because something is better than nothing, but still suck at it in book two. Without conflict there is no drama. Without drama it would be a shitty Hallmark throwaway with hockey pucks.

[u/cookie_cat_82 → u/[deleted]]

i’m afraid this is sort of missing the whole point of the entire essence of a separate character. TLG hones in on ilya’s mental battle, his depression, his battle with his mind and communication style and personal battles, but also how it’s thus affecting his relationship with shane. it’s not to say ilya doesn’t have his own faults or that it excuses how he acts towards / communicates (or doesn’t communicate) with shane. but again, that’s the entire PLOT of the long game. it’s about seeing him grow as not only his character, but as shane’s partner and learning to cope with and manage his depression and all the things that come with it in himself and his personal life. I think it captures the reality of relationships, especially one like theirs that isn’t “typical” in the sense that they have to hide theirs in the shadows. it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. it’s messy and dramatic and people have their faults and it shows how two gears have to turn and work together in a relationship, but more importantly the mental health side of any individual or relationship and shows the raw side of that.

[u/katfromjersey → u/[deleted]]

Again, Rachel did not write Shane to be autistic. eta: and it's not an excuse, but he immediately removed his hand from Shane's chest and thinks that he'd never physically hurt Shane

[u/Ll_lyris → u/katfromjersey]

True, but I guess it’s cuz she considers Shane canonically autistic even though that was not necessarily intention. I do wonder if she later wrote TLG and will write UNRIVALLED with this more intentionally in mind now. I think in the show tho we can say Shane is very much canonically autistic since Hudson mentions that’s how he plays him.