It's a classic that never gets old. It is done spectacularly with Stolitz to show the back and forth between them. These are three of the many, many moments in which their hands are used to show the push-and-pull nature of their relationship, their feelings, and their intentions.
Blitz is the first to reach out, on their first meeting as adults. He does so again on their second meeting in his office. Both times, Stolas pulls quickly back, which is interesting, because both times Stolas was forward with his words, asking to be ravished, only to be taken aback when Blitz uses touch to do the same.
Ozzie's changes things, though. It's Stolas who reaches out first. Wanting to offer comfort and also seeking it out; wishing to establish that he and Blitz are together in this mess, and being denied by Blitz, who draws back. They're not in this together, there's no us. Far from it.
And yet when they see each other again, in the human world, Blitz catches Stolas' wrist before he falls.
After that, their relationship goes from complicated to uncertain. They don't see each other for months, even though they both want to. So when Blitz gets invited to Stolas' palace again, he's the first to reach out. He needs to bridge that gap between them, to go back to how things were. Stolas doesn't let him, though: he quickly moves away from the touch, because things can never go back to how they were. If they are to stay in each other's lives, they need to start over in a way where neither is getting hurt.
So uncertainty turns into rejection turns into an actual fight. The next morning, Blitz is still grappling with the night's events and coming to all the wrong conclusions. So he pushes. And pushes. And pushes. Reaching out for Stolas constantly, putting his hands on the prince, and, ironically, pushing him farther and farther away.
Cut to that night, when Blitz reaches out again. His intentions are different this time—genuine, comforting—but Stolas never sees it, and Blitz never does gather the courage to touch him. He's not ready to believe he's worth it, he's not ready to be the person he wants to be for Stolas. It shows us something crucial about Blitz's character, though: it shows his answer to wanting to be the person Stolas needs isn't no, it's not yet.
A month goes by, maybe two. Blitz and his crew get sentenced to death, except Stolas jumps in and sacrifices himself in Blitz's stead. Blitz despertately wants to reach out, but he can't, not with the chains around his wrists. When they're finally taken off and he can touch Stolas, he's forcefully yanked away and out of the room, Stolas still out of his reach.
But Stolas survives. And Blitz is allowed to take his hand; to take him home. They're on the same team now, except... They aren't. Because now Stolas has lost it all, and he's drowning in loss, and he's not in a mental space where he emotionally has anything to offer. So when Blitz reaches out, he still pulls back and retreats into himself.
Not yet, is what this tells us about Stolitz. Not yet.
Blitz is okay with that, though. He's not going to stop reaching out. He doesn't need reciprocity; all he needs is for Stolas to know that he's here, that he's not going to let Stolas face adversity alone.
As a sidenote, I am very unwell about the way this moment uses their hands to express their conflict in S2:
In a single moment, we are shown how compatible they were as kids: perfectly in sync, running in the same direction while holding hands; and how that contrasts with their bond as adults. They were contract-bound. They clung to one another, refusing to let go, keeping themselves tied to the other—but facing away, existing as opposing forces who each refused to let go. It shows how Stolas was the first to sever that tie; how Blitz reacted with surprise first, then anger at feeling rejected and wronged. How Stolas clenches his fist at hearing Blitz stomp away, as if having received confirmation that Blitz never wanted to hold on to him in the first place. How the conflict is unresolved at that point in the story, only one of them briefly looking the other's way.
Which leads to the eye motif, which is another of the main ways in which body language is used to communicate where Blitz and Stolas are in their relationship with each other!
I can't wait for more hand motif in season 3 😌
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