hard to believe! in less than a year…

What I took this to mean is that for the most part, when David is vulnerable on screen (telling Michael that they both have fathers who don’t deserve them, the Belong to Someone reprise, at least more than one of the few conversations he has with Star), he is playing a game with the audience I’m thinking of calling Spot The Editing (Spot the filter? I am workshopping it). It’s not that he’s not saying the truth, it’s just that he’s pulling some nifty chess moves by omitting what he needs to omit, because giving The Whole Picture is completely out of the question.

It’s made me realize that that’s how he uses the time freeze thing. He doesn’t use it in a fight even though he can clearly affect people physically while it’s happening (shoutout to Michael never seeing that blunt again). Instead, he uses it specifically to choose who gets or does not get to witness certain conversations. That’s step 1. Usually he keeps normies away, but in at least 1 conversation with Star he keeps the rest of the Boys out of it too. He probably resorts to it when he knows he’s gonna have to get A Little Real, and you need VIP passes for some performances 😗

Step 2 is picking and choosing what gets to be said. He can smell the father issues on Michael from a town away, so that’s what he capitalizes on. Even while in song, the ultimate form of musicals to depict a character’s emotional state, he’s being picky about what to be vulnerable with—in The Belong to Someone Reprise he doesn’t reveal anything particularly insightful about himself and his emotions that does not also apply to Michael, and for the most part it’s only about what he can provide for him. He frames it almost entirely on what Michael will get out of him, with just the tiiiiniest hooks of truth to bait him with (the connection through traumatic fathers and the search for companionship). Given what we actually KNOW OF THE PLOT—Did we want to know if he hates his father? How’d he make him feel? Fear or hatred? Was this betrayal the same as Michael’s? Actually, what father are you talking about David, could we get a quick little elaboration on if Max made you physically or only vampirically??? Well, Good luck finding out LOL

Under this lens, you can see that he’s having trouble with Star. His strategy for luring her in is similar, but marginally different. He has many scenes where he gives Star and himself privacy, either by freezing time or by seeking her out when he knows she’s alone, whereas he’s cool with sharing his moments with Michael with the other boys. Even the way he touches her is different—with the boys he has very little boundaries. Full on hugs, hair rubs, yanks and of course the pats and the cheek strokes (Michael’s face will never feel the same). He has to tone it down for Star.

@the-void-birb and I were talking about this and he pointed out that Maria likes to depict Star as very self contained and closed off, very touch-avoidant! And I Love that interpretation. Mostly because of what it says about her responses to other’s touches. Michael tends to lean in to mostly any touch, though he avoids starting any interactions himself (with the exception of—you guessed it! Star ☺️) whereas Star tends to either pull away or stiffen up, needing at least a bit of time before she warms up. It’s part of the understanding she and Michael have with one another.

David recognizes this, and adapts. He isn’t doing anything too horrifying like keeping his hands to himself—Let’s Be For Real—but he’s very deliberate with her. Only touches skin in the shortest of bursts—strokes her face exactly once (right before entering the factory with Michael and the others, trying to comfort her?), pokes her chin more than a bit during Have to Have You, does this insane hand pat that has changed my brain chemistry, but the real money maker is the hand holding—it is his preferred method of Star contact. It’s easy to see why, I’m pretty sure there’s a scientific study out there about how to certain subsets of people, holding hands feels more intimate than a hug or a kiss (actually i just googled the science behind skin contact and there is some FASCINATING stuff happening here. David when did you get a PhD in Psychology?). But otherwise, he ensures he keeps at least one thick layer of clothes between his hands and her skin, likely because he knows better than to test her limits before she feels inclined to run away.

And it’s like… obviously working? Star could not be clearer that she is not taking her current state well, but she isn’t making moves to leave. From the get go she seems frustrated with her task of finding someone to eat (her grumbly little “I’m trying!” Before she even meets Sam before Hurt A Little… very cute), and every other word out of her when she talks to Michael is “get away get away get away”. But she’s also clearly given up on getting herself away, and though I don’t think it’s necessarily because she believes David’s savior jargon (if anything her words during Now, Forever imply that she believes she’s beyond saving), I think the fear that she would disappoint him gets to her. She also seems to, at least partly, believe that David is genuine in his good intentions when he speaks like that, even if this correctly does not translate to “David is always right”.

What it DOES translate to, at least, is the understanding that despite being a serial killer vampiric monster, David does have a human in him and though it’s not easy for him he deliberately draws it out to keep Star. This is not his goal when enticing Michael—Michael hates his own weakness, and he runs from a specific monster, so David’s strategy is to offer him the power to fight monsters by fulfilling his power fantasies among other types of fantasies. That and the companionship that would come along with it to battle isolation. But if we are to think about why it is that Star can’t make the last step to become a full vampire, I think it’s because of her attachment to humanity and the duality of humans that gets to her. She’s clearly been witness to some pretty deplorable stuff, but if it’s not enough to make her change her view on wanton murder, then there’s some inherent trait to humanity that she’s attracted to and David is having trouble figuring it out. If he can figure it out, he could use whatever way it applies to himself to make her choose him.

Therefore, he’s playing a balancing act whenever he speaks to her. Right before it comes down to the murder, it’s all smooth sailing with Michael, probably because they have similar experiences. But Star’s response to her trauma is adjacent to the two of them, not her situation. Without a proper frame, manipulating her reactions to certain things is significantly harder. He wants her so bad, he has to shift strategies! So I think he accepts it as an unfortunate truth that he’ll have to reveal more than he wants whenever he speaks to her, because they can’t both play the mysterious stranger, and she won’t fall for lies—thus why he keeps dropping the time freezes whenever it’s Star time.

There’s also the fact that her underlying issues seem to be kind of mother-focused, and well. David would try if he could but I’m not sure how strong his frame of reference for a mother is (and good luck finding an answer to that, though it’s actually very likely that Star actually knows what happened to his mother). So he has to settle for taking the spot of her father which is working fine but it’s certainly not working fast. And even though he’s having a good time still, he’s clearly losing his patience by the middle of Act 2. Not in an angry way either (looks like it takes a death in the family for that), but just kind of desperate and beginning to panic.

A huge part of why his demeanor is like this—one of the (if not only) chances wherein the vulnerability “slips out” rather than him deliberately drawing it out—is honestly a possibly bruised ego. He had just tried to get Michael to take that final step a banging total of three times, and has nothing to show for it. After playing Michael like a fiddle for like 2 days, to boot. I highly doubt he’s questioning his rhetoric and (un)life view, but it’s possible that he’s wondering if he’s losing his touch, maybe? There’s something in Michael he failed to see? He’s gonna have to try again later, which reminds him—Star!

She had missed their show two scenes prior. Something worthy of worry—after all, she’s very in her element when she sings on stage. Smiles more than she does the rest of the musical and is jumping and hopping around seemingly without realizing that David is putting everybody in a trance. I can absolutely see @vraik’s headcanon that David made the band for her, unlike the boys—who, again, are hypnotizing everyone for some reason—she seems to just sing because she likes it. No wonder David is throwing shark eyes at her, I swear he wants to devour her here.

So, her missing a show isn’t a great sign. It could mean many things, but the two I’m thinking of rn off the top of my head are either a) she’s not mentally feeling well which raises alarms on its own given that she’s a previous addict; and/or b) she’s getting doubts about the Boys so strong that she wouldn’t sing with them. Dangerous stuff!! (The answer is, of course, that she’s still feeling so awful because she could not save Michael from drinking the blood, but David thinks that he made Michael’s week with that so he’s not thinking about it at all). It’s no wonder he chases after her—not only does he have to grapple with failing to glock Michael’s anti-murder, Star is displaying signs of pulling away too (or… again? It would depend on how long she’s been resisting). Thus the surprisingly genuine begging.

There’s not many people around, so he doesn’t need to freeze time, but I’m sure he already makes it second nature to ensure that no one else can bear witness when he’s having a moment with Star. (I just realized that Max was just at the scene saying goodbye to Lucy too. I can’t be sure, but if David doesn’t make sure that he’s out of frame for like 0.1 seconds right before popping in I’ll eat a hat. He truly could not wait before talking to her, huh?) And we already know that he purposely puts the walls down when he talks to her as a deliberate strategy to appeal to the humane and genuine part of her. Frankly I’d be surprised if he didn’t slip here! It’s like the perfect set up for some real unfiltered feelings out of this guy. So yes, I fully believe in his desperation to want to save her. Why he reminded her of how bad she was going through it before him, why he’d do anything for her and why this is absolutely the only way out of this miserable life!!

Good riddance to Star but I would have caved immediately I’m sorry. Imagine having the world’s most beautiful man offering the world to you and all you gotta do is find someone deplorable enough to kill. I’m sure they can sneak into a jail and find some child predator or something yeesh (I jest I jest she’s stronger than all of us combined!)

David’s desperation in this scene is particularly…different from his previous statements. There is no suaveness to it, no underlying reason beyond the simple truth (for him). It certainly implies a whole lot more about him than he intends to, I’m sure, but I think the mere fact that he has feelings he can’t control is the kind of thing a control freak like him can’t stand. Not that he is fully a control freak, but… you know what I mean? He likes to be the master of bodily autonomy, including his own but also everyone else. A split second admission that he can’t stand feeling powerless and that he gifts powers to others because he loves them and hates to see them powerless as well? All with the world’s smallest whispered “please?” LIKE… GIRL… LOOK AT HIM…

So ofc Star has no other recourse but to be in a musical and sing about it! Because this shit sucks, man! He truly loves her, she knows this. She loves him back! We know this (though it might not be obvious to the audience until they see her reach out to him as he dies). But why must it be painful? Why can’t it be simple? I love War frfr it’s SUCH a good song not only because Maria is just fucking killing it in there and it’s catchy (seriously why does everyone keep saying the songs aren’t memorable… yall seriously don’t have “everyday is a waaaaaaaaaaar” stuck in your heads????) but also because Star isn’t only singing about herself! She’s not the only subject of that song! Some of those questions she throws at the wind are addressed to David, Mr. Predator himself. Like seriously what is he even fighting for?? He, like herself, is “running into battle // swearing [he’ll] never give in” but as Ali graciously lets us know, this is just David constantly running from himself. He’s never gonna reach that finish line, he’s never gonna win, either!! Stop trying to drag her into it, man!!

So like obviously we know how it ends. Star eventually choses to get out of that eternal in-between state of staying by David’s side but hating what he does and choses to protect Michael and his brother (and the weird little middle schoolers with strange violent tendencies but what else is new in Santa Carla) and man can you tell it HURTS?? Maria’s expressions are doing overtime she and Michael are having Such A Time right now and it is so delicious to my eyes. What a blessing (to me). Her costuming is doing overtime too, just look at how she’s wrapping herself in the shape of David! For what!! Self-confidence maybe? They should have let her and Michael grieve him, man, now they’re not gonna last more than 3 months together. Why are we letting David win like this!!! (I jest I actually think they have a very fair chance but I do also think that they’re gonna have David haunting their moments together so whether or not they last will be very dependent on how they handle the unspoken ghost).

I just hope she finds that internal closure! :)

So uh. Anyway. TL;DR, Starvid rots my brain because David’s flaws and shortcomings have forced him to resort to showing his vulnerability as a seduction tactic on the sexy purple girl. This causes a cycle wherein we all become more obsessed with David because we are witnessing magic. Also something about how everytime the two of them share screen time they display another hidden compartment that is their personality and hidden tidbits and how are we supposed to be normal about that? Also the touching drives me crazy.