More than yesterday and less than tomorrow

1977: Star Wars is released, featuring, of course, Darth Vader

(Pictured: Darth Vader)

1984: Director Todd Durham releases his Star Wars parody movie, Hyperspace, featuring Darth Vader inspired villain Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: Hyperspace poster featuring two Jawa-esque aliens flying through space in a shopping trolley.)

1987: Hyperspace is released on video in the UK, under the new title Gremloids.

(Pictured: Gremloids cover in the style of the original Star Wars poster, featuring Lord Buckethead.)

To promote the film, Mike Lee, the owner of the distributing company, ran for parliament as Lord Buckethead. He ran in Margaret Thatcher's constituency, Finchley, in order to get on TV. Lord Buckethead was representing the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with Margaret Thatcher.)

1992: Gremloids is re-released. Lord Buckethead rides again, this time against prime minister John Major in Huntingdon. (Here's a fun fact about Huntingdon: I was born there! :D) 87/92 Buckethead seems to have leaned pretty hard into the space supervillain thing, with campaign promises including 'demolish Birmingham to build a spaceport'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead on TV with John Major. Other notable candidates include Screaming Lord Sutch of the Monster Raving Loony Party.)

2017: comedian Jon Harvey, having recently watched Gremloids and learned of Lord Buckethead's candidacy for parliament, decides it's a great bit. He runs against Theresa May in Maidenhead. 2017 Buckethead seems to have a wackier and also more political approach, with campaign promises ranging from nonsense like 'nationalise Adele' to gesturing at actually sensible policies with stuff like 'lower the voting age to 16 and restrict voting after age 80'.

He also made an appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As with his previous incarnation, he was a member of the Gremloids party.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead dabbing on stage with Theresa May.)

2018: Director Todd Durham asserts his legal ownership of Lord Buckethead. Jon Harvey opted not to go to court over Buckethead and handed over the reins. Todd Durham extended an invitation to anyone who wanted to be the 'authorised' Lord Buckethead.

(Pictured: the new Lord Buckethead.)

2019: Lord Buckethead, now played by journalist David Hughes, stood against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He ran for the Monster Raving Loony Party, the UK's pre-existing gag candidate party. He ran with a similarly silly manifesto as the 2017 incarnation, but with a bit less of a political edge. His promises included 'All doorways to be increased by 1 foot (30 cm) in height' and 'Nigel Farage to be sold for parts'.

(Pictured: Lord Buckethead and Count Binface square up.)

Meanwhile, Jon Harvey in his new persona Count Binface, also ran against Boris Johnson. Buckethead and Binface face off! Binface ran as an independent with a manifesto once again blending silly and semi-serious promises such as 'nationalising model railways' and 'giving £1 trillion a week to the NHS'. This was also I believe the debut of his promise to 'move the hand dryer in the men's toilet at Uxbridge's Crown and Treaty pub to a more sensible position'.

(Pictured: Count Binface presenting the offending hand dryer, inconveniently close to both the sink and the urinals.)

He has a point.

2021: Count Binface runs for the position of Mayor of London for the first time, with promises such as 'London to join the European Union'. He notably finished ahead of far right party UKIP.

2023: Count Binface runs in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election following Boris Johnson's resignation. He once again gets more votes than UKIP.

May 2024: Count Binface once again runs to be Mayor of London, debuting his now iconic 'build at least one affordable house' promise. Notably, he finished ahead of far right party Britain First.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Rishi Sunak. Also pictured: Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Sir Archibald Stanton with a ventriloquist's dummy.)

July 2024: Count Binface stands in the general election, running in Richmond and Northallerton against prime minister Rishi Sunak. He debuts his promise to cap the price of 99p flakes at 99p. This is his most successful election to date with 308 votes.

(Pictured: Count Binface with Andy Burnham. Also pictured: independent candidate Robert Pownell, dressed as a fox for his own reasons.)

June 2026: Count Binface stands in the Makerfield by-election against Andy Burnham, (recently) former Mayor of Manchester running for parliament with the intention of standing in the Labour Party leadership contest.

(Pictured: Count Binface on BBC's Newsnight.)

Shane Hollander routinely uses sunscreen(for safety against skin cancer) and washes his face with a sensitive skin friendly soap in the shower. He uses the same bar for his entire body.

Beyond that his smooth skin is entirely coincidental. Ilya is very jealous of this. Ilya wears hair products, styles himself meticulously and has tried multiple skincare routines. None of which are giving him the supple skin he desires.

The first time Ilya goes to Shane's real apartment and not the sex condo he is outraged by the number of unused samples of skincare products, mostly because these brands are choosing to work with Shane when he knows for a fact that Shane does nothing to properly take care of his skin.

Shane's bathroom sink is barren.

Shane *enters Ilya's bathroom*: why do you have so much clutter in here

Ilya *outraged*: is not clutter Hollander we did not all climb out of womb and become world's prettiest man by accident

Shane *having no filter*: why do you bother with it if it doesn't work?

Ilya is drifting, he's a transient character. He doesn't see Boston as his home (he's never felt at ease in America, to paraphrase a book line) and we know how he feels about Russia. He's self-conscious of his language acquisition and his accent pretty deep into the story, even after he's more than proficient. While he supports and funds his family, he doesn't see them as his loved ones, more an obligation. Ilya doesn't ever consider revealing his vulnerabilities to his family because what would be the point? During the Russian monologue in the show, he can barely voice the desire for his father and brother to know him truly. Even his relationship with Svetlana in the show is standoffish, they're not sharing secrets under the covers. They talk about hockey and home and share knowing glances, but there isn't true emotional vulnerability there, except for maybe the scene in Russia, which is one of the first vulnerable moments Ilya has at all.

By contrast, Shane is a grounded character. He's playing hockey for Montreal, his mother's favorite team, and he speaks their language fluently (Hudson doesn't lol, but Shane does!). He's a national hero playing for his own country. He's close with his family, but more than that he sees them as an undeniable part of his life, people he loves and respects. He doesn't want to lie to them, even though he has to. While Ilya flies to Russia in the summer and then back to Boston for the season, Shane has built himself a Cottage close to his family so that he can spend his summers in comfortable familiarity, grounded in his roots. (This creates different pressures for Shane, but this is a meta about Ilya)

Once Shane accepts his sexuality and his feelings for Ilya, he zeroes in on him, target acquired, seeking BOYFRIEND. Ilya, a man who has always accepted and even embraced his sexuality, is the one who's hesitant. He even considers breaking it off with Shane because his worry for him after his injury is too great, too painful. He's used to relationships being transactional, people in his life seek payment from him. Money to his brother, respect to his father, glory to Russia. He gives and gives, yet they view Ilya as eternally indebted to them. They hate him and he hates them back. But with Shane there's a growing attachment.

And Shane is giving. When he invites Ilya to the cottage, he's not asking anything of Ilya, only giving. And I think this rends Ilya down the middle, exposing him, breaking down the walls that not only kept other people at arms length, but kept him safe from hurt and harm. The transience is part of his defense, sort of a "if they can't catch me then they can't hurt me" mentality, but now Shane is asking him to stay. To make plans and build a life and share his home. Remember, Shane is rooted, he's the one with connections that he wants to preserve, not out of obligation, but out of love. He wants Ilya to know his parents. He wants them to exist in the same universe. Shane's powerful desire to integrate Ilya into his life literally plucks Ilya out of thin air, plops him into a family unit, and forces him to content with everything that he's been running from.

Remember, Ilya is so obsessed with Shane's wholesomeness. Ilya wanted to fuck Shane in his real bed. He constantly thinks on how perfect Shane is, how wholesome he is. And his resentment for it grows into infatuation and then love. And once he has it, Ilya wants to stay. He wants to "anchor himself to Shane, and just stay." No wonder being in a relationship triggers Ilya to finally deal with his depression. In order to be in a successful, loving, and committed relationship, you must be vulnerable to a point, and in doing so you yourself have to acknowledge feelings that are easy to ignore when you're alone. Vulnerability with others breeds vulnerability with yourself.