limerence

something about smoke being rejected since childhood because everyone was certain his father's evil lived on in him. something about annie being the only one to call smoke 'elijah' and how that makes him soften. something about how just before they're truly reunited, annie says 'i dont want any of that smoke on the baby'. something about annie being the one who sets smoke free from his past and his sins and lets him be human instead.

sinners is so clear that there is a difference between 'sin' and 'evil', the concept of 'sin' being thrust upon elijah for protecting himself and his brother whereas remmick is unapologetically evil because his actions are selfish and cruel at their core. and the movie tells us that there is a difference between those things because annie can look at elijah and says 'you have done bad things and made bad choices because no one gave you any other choice to make but i love you and i know you and im giving you the choice to be human now' and the movie is clear that she doesn't do this because she's passive or weak or because it's a woman's job to give her husband unconditional love, she does it because telling a 'sinner' that they are still human and there is still hope is an act of rebellion against an oppressive, assimilatory society. elijah thinks he has to be smoke because the rules say so and annie says 'fuck the rules, i love you' and that's why she's the best character of all time.