A Robotic Work in Progress

I remember seeing a comment a while back about how the show's emphasis on Shane's early career, and particularly Yuna's enhanced role in it, essentially gives him something of a child star type background too.

And it made me realize how complicated a relationship Shane would have had with sexuality before Ilya came into the picture.

This is not an anti-Yuna post, by the way. I do not for a moment think she put him in any of those really sexual ads until he was well into adulthood.

But the point I think with the discussion is that, like women in general, young people in the public eye end up viewed and treated like sexual objects through no fault of their own. When I was growing up, there was a lot of focus on the Olsen Twins: who were kids, playing kids, in very family-oriented movies and tv shows, no hint of sexuality, and adult men were having countdowns to their eighteenth birthday. We could also look at the creepy way people have behaved toward the Stranger Things boys.

Shane's nowhere near that famous, of course. But both he and Ilya are clearly well-known enough to be paired as rivals long before they ever met. And Yuna's extra focus on Shane's visibility - intended to protect him, would have put more eyes on him even as a kid.

I think what this amounts to is that, at least before Ilya and his flint of desire, sexuality would be this complicated and mostly negative element in Shane's life. It's an external imposition, by creepy adults when you happen to exist in their line of sight. As he gets older, and his attractiveness becomes more marketable, it's a performance. And of course, on a personal level, it's an obligation. It's what you do with your girlfriend, even if you have to basically dissociate through the entire thing.

And I think that's a factor in why Shane ends up drawn, so fast and so hard, to Ilya. With Ilya, there's the "flint of desire". With Ilya, sex is simple and easy in a way that everything else isn't. With Ilya, he can let him take charge, follow direction, and not have to worry about performance or obligation. He can just feel what HE feels. And it's private and personal, something only between the two of them.

With Ilya, because it's Ilya, something that has always been complicated, murky, and uncomfortable becomes a matter of simple passion and pleasure and that would have been addictive even before emotions became involved.*

But it occurs to me that the first real clarifying question that we see him ask is not a question exactly, but it's "with Rozanov's permission" in that press conference.

Because Shane can see that Ilya's struggling. And Shane really has three options here: ignore it and let Ilya flounder on his own, use it to his own benefit, or jump in and save Ilya but possibly wound his pride in the process.

Shane is autistic. We know that. We also know that he probably does not know that. But he probably does know what it's like to have people jump in and "help" him in ways that sometimes make things look or feel worse. (As much as we love Yuna Hollander, I can't imagine that her overbearing presence made things easy for a teenaged boy on a sports team.)

So he asks. In a very practiced, almost casual way. (and more personally with the foot touch). He waits, for the acknowledgement and the nod, and only THEN takes over the question. Afterward, Ilya gets his chance to answer in a way that makes him look cool and unconcerned. He gets to keep his pride.

I know athletes are superstitious and we did hear about beards and all. But they spent so long with so little time together as it was, I can't imagine them willingly depriving themselves on one of their few opportunities.

That's complete nonsense.

Ilya is a grown man with his own career. He takes a temporary career hit to go to Ottawa, that's true. But it's not like anyone assumes that Ottawa's subsequent failures are his fault. He's still getting paid, either way, and if he really wanted to leave, he could probably find a way. (I think we also forget that Montreal and Boston would have been bad at the start too, if they had the 2nd and 1st draft picks.)

Ilya didn't need Shane to turn the Centaurs around to the point where they can make the playoffs and ultimately knock Montreal out of them. He didn't need Shane to make the Centaurs into the strong team that they are in TLG.

Ilya is also a grown man who, at least normally, is able to manage his social life. He left Cliff and Svetlana back in Boston, sure, but as I said in that another post, he's got a phone. He can pay for airline tickets. He's a millennial and millennials absolutely know how to manage long distance relationships. Hell, he and Shane have been managing for their entire career.

Ilya didn't need Shane to reach out to Scott Hunter, Ryan Price, and the other Game Changer protagonists who end up coaching at the camp. Ilya did that on his own.

Ilya didn't need Shane to befriend the Centaurs. He didn't need Shane to foster a good relationship with his coach. Shane isn't the reason that the Centaurs become people that Ilya feels comfortable enough with the idea of coming out to.

It is true that Yuna and David are a package deal with Shane. As much as they love Ilya, if Ilya and Shane split, Shane will probably get to keep his parents. But otherwise, every friendship Ilya makes, or could make in Ottawa is up to Ilya.

If Shane and Ilya split up in TLG, Ilya doesn't lose his ability, he doesn't lose his team, he doesn't lose his salary, he doesn't lose his friends (except probably Yuna and David). The Irina Foundation might be an interesting question, depending on how the paperwork is drawn up, but more likely they'd still operate it together.

(I'd actually be kind of interested in that AU...)

Ilya doesn't even lose out on residency or citizenship because he's been working in Canada all this time.

Ironically, the scenario where Ilya DOES end up dependent on Shane is any scenario where he stays in Boston and becomes a Canadian resident/citizen through marriage. (He could become a US citizen, of course, but that's a separate issue and at this time isn't something that he's said he wanted to do.)

Ottawa is a tough move, sure. But that's because moving is tough. Making a new home is tough. Making new friends is tough. Going from a good team to a bad team is tough.

But Ilya's not a child and he's not entering into an unequal relationship by doing this. Shane does not have any personal advantage over Ilya in this scenario (and as we soon see, he has his own personal issues going on.)