South Asian (she/hers), Largely media and music focused. Media analyst by trade. This blog is a mix of whatever my messy mind latches on to.

But I swear, I could write a whole essay based on this show and all the layers to it. Layers that, quite frankly, I'm not sure are always obvious. Even to me, as someone who is not only trained in this but is prone to ruminating on art and media, it feels like there is so much to unpack beyond the general discussions that have been had. And there really has been so many great discussions where I've felt like I've been validated but also been provided insight into an aspect of the show that I didn't have insight into previously. The late 80s-early 90s Scottish elements just as an example. Because of course, that was very intentional and adds yet another layer to the story.

And Joanna questions his blind loyalty but that's meant to add to the story of Niall eventually not lying to the court about Ruben and lead into what we see happen with adult Niall.

With Alby, it makes sense he wouldn't question it beyond assuming that it's simple homophobia and Niall being too scared to be honest because he doesn't know the full story. And it's not surprising he wouldn't question the story about Niall losing his virginity because he was a young man in the late 80s when this type of thing wasn't really a talking point. And then later as an adult, he only knows of and sees Ruben through a distance and with only the filtered information that Niall provides.

Mona is so wrapped up in her own dynamics with Ruben and it's pretty clear she's rationalized and normalized so much of his behaviour that it doesn't even register to her. Plus she is the girl that took Niall's virginity while Ruben facilitated it. At her age then and the time period, she probably did just view it as doing Niall a favour.

Ava is particularly interesting to me in this regard. Because she is seen solely through Niall's perspective (like everyone else) and she sees Ruben attack Niall in the street in front of their house. And we don't really see how she would have rationalized it but it's entirely possible that she did. People can and will ignore/normalize/rationalize even the most unimaginable things even when they know better. As far as she's aware, Ruben is Niall's brother. And Ruben showed up later with flowers. We don't see the conversation they had because Niall is not present to see it. But I don't think it's a stretch that Ruben being as manipulative as he can be was able to talk her round. And really, I would question what Ava questioning Niall and Ruben's relationship would have added to the story beyond giving us the audience satisfaction. And the show's ending makes it clear that satisfaction was never the goal.