AMOTM

Don't get me wrong, he did not react well to The Whole Thing. I'm not absolving him of ANYTHING there. But deciding that he's irredeemable, deciding he's a bad person, deciding that he's as bad as every other MTL player (save Hayden) is incredibly reductive and, honestly, I hate to say it, but it's pretty fucking immature.

Because in the real world people fuck up. In the real world, people react poorly in highly emotional situations. And it is pretty fucking important, actually if a loved one has had a bad/negative reaction, has done and said hurtful things, but then COMES BACK AND TRIES TO FIX IT, after he has had time to examine why he reacted that way. That is fucking huge. It's huge and it's RARE, and it's so, so good.

J.J. showing up on Shane's doorstep to talk it out is so fucking brave. Shane letting him in (physically and emotionally) and allowing him the opportunity to talk it out is ALSO so fucking brave. And it is truly beautiful and valuable and GOOD that the ten year friendship they have is important enough -- on both sides-- for them to do the hard work to mend it.

Repairing something that has been broken is an important aspect of any long term relationship. It's important for J.J. to see why he was wrong, and for him to be the one to reach out . It's ALSO important for Shane to understand how his secrecy (no matter how well-justified it is) and hiding and lying has impacted ALL of his personal relationships, because a huge theme of the book is that Hollanov don't exist in a vacuum, and cannot live in a vacuum!!!!!

this is CRITICAL to my ilya thesis. ilya consistently tries to care for his father and brother, but he's not making his life choices primarily to please them, because he knows he never will (probably has also benefitted from always having svetlana's voice in his ear saying "your father is an asshole who would have punished you either way"). my headcanon is that the post-draft gala scene is him finalizing this realization, actually: he has literally just been declared the #1 hockey player in the whole world and it's not enough for his father not to humiliate him in front of a whole room full of people and his new boss! it's painful but he's also just like "oh, yeah, wow, fuck this, i'm gonna live my new life. boston's nice, right?"