an exhaustive list of things i love about “perfect harmony”:
- on a meta level, i am deeply obsessed with the fact that madison and charlie wrote it together because that’s such a clever way to give the actors more immediate access to a huge part of their characters’ intimacy AND because it’s a really nice mentorship move, affording two actors early in their careers the opportunity to push their creative limits
- luke singing step into my world when he’s actually taking a step into julie’s, both in the context of the fantasy and in the story more broadly, and how the world being that of a bittersweet love story ‘bout a girl reinforces this crafty juxtaposition
- much of the choreography being a mirror image of the dance julie just did with nick, starting with the hands and how carelessly julie can take nick’s vs. how much pathos goes into the moment she tries to grab onto luke’s
- julie’s ‘please reassure me through this’ look she gives to luke when their hands miss coming into contact twice and his ‘trust me, you got this’ eyebrow wiggling and subtle little nod
- and then the way she freaking Comes Alive when they finally do touch
- when the keyboard beat drops and just. the song currently exists solely in julie’s head so of course it’s driven forward by her instrument while being supported readily by luke’s lulling guitar (god i just *clenches fists* love subtext)
- nick’s lift being straightforward and about the act of the lift vs. both of luke’s lifts being more stylized and romantic
- the lyric when he goes, i know he doesn’t leave because it’s a playful line about luke being a ghost but also because luke’s not there in dance class yet he’s fully alive in julie’s head and heart she’s carrying him with her always the ROMANCE of it all
- speaking of ROMANCE her hand planted over his heart for the move that accompanies the lyric? top-shelf
- nick’s fancy floor moves ft. julie vs. luke’s fancier floor moves ft. fancier julie
- they just have the cutest flirty expressions here idk
- nick & julie’s clumsy and short-lived version of this move vs. luke & julie’s smooth af, lingering version
- the way all these mirrored moments add up to say that luke has fully supplanted nick as the loverboy of julie’s fantasy life and is clearly a far more complete person to her than nick ever was. on the flip side of that, though, is the way these mirrored moments speak to flynn’s line about julie ‘always want[ing] what she can’t have’…nick is there in real life and it’s less glamorous than the fantasy. which is only a small part of why julie’s going full ‘i am not looking i do not see it’ with nick’s feelings but the writing/framing is encouraging us to see that it’s still for sure a factor and i, for one, am compelled
- luke’s finger flare when he reaches his destination and they’re finally palm-to-palm and how it makes me need to lie down for a full hour
- and lastly, the way the complete song is chock full of lyrics that play with the convergence of these two people being in each other’s lives unnaturally (two worlds collide when i’m with you + we’re heaven on earth) and their connection being only more powerful for that fact (we come to life when we’re / in perfect harmony speaking to how they defy death through music + love me as i am / i’ll hold your music here inside my hand building on that to bring the deepest ‘music = the spark of life’ cut into being)
