Fujoshi for LIFE!

I will give Richard Gadd kudos for the decision to have Ruben kill Niall. If Niall had been allowed to kill himself it would have given him freedom over his own death/agency, and thus would have freed him narratively from the cycle of abuse he was caught in. To disallow that reinforces that this is a story that we’ve seen many times in real life. An abusive partner killing their victim. Niall was brutalized from first to last by Ruben. He had no choice. He was murdered. The position Niall lies in in death, the choice of suffocation, and Ruben’s shirtless state only remind the viewer of the continued current of sexual abuse that runs through this story. The banality of the tragedy depicted only reinforces its emotional impact. Ruben does not repent in the end or cradle Niall’s body. The viewer is left feeling hollow.

niall being a drug addict. alby giving niall brochures to get clean. niall being miserable at his own wedding after years of not seeing ruben. niall willingly following ruben into that barn and letting ruben lock it. niall confessing ruben is a drug he gets high off of. a chemical dependency.