Leigh's Kingdom

4 ELEMENTS - THE WATER

Happy One-Year Anniversary, Pluto!

The way Air walks into the apartment really slowly, approaches the counter, places the keycard and the gift, turns around to wistfully take it all in one last time, like she’s at least trying to allow herself some closure (and again, I cannot stress enough how slowly she does all this)

It makes sense, she just wants to bask in all the happy memories for a moment before mentally closing this chapter in her life.

But for the whole ass minute she’s doing this, we the audience don’t get to bask in that nostalgia with her because (apart from the flashbacks) that fucking Doorway to the Living Room is in frame behind her the ENTIRE time. We have to watch what feels like a moment of great progress for Air’s healing while knowing it’s about to be set back big time and all we can do is wait for the inevitable moment she goes towards that room. We know the curiosity is going to get the better of her. She’s already heartbroken, she’s leaving for France soon, what more harm could it do to know the face of the woman Pure loves?

Meanwhile I’ve got my head in my hands like it’s added time in the Champions League final and I know what’s coming

The dread keeps building as she slowly walks, maybe to leave? But no, she stops like we knew she would, turns and looks through the doorway, makes a slow approach up to the painting and FUCK-

Not strings, they hit us with a beautiful score that really lets us know that this about to be beautifully tragic, excellent

I don’t think I can do Neko’s performance in this scene justice with just my words but she weights it so perfectly.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a scene where a character screams and cries and has a big emotional breakdown to portray the magnitude of their heartbreak, sometimes it’s what the scene calls for (like when Pure was drunk and running after Air). But I do think it’s a bit overused in gls and a lot of the time, it doesn’t hit me the way I think they mean for it to.

This scene however is indicative of what I’ve loved about the direction/acting in Roller Coaster all the way through. The emotional magnitude of the scene is huge, it is the big reveal of the show but Air doesn’t scream and cry, she doesn’t start destroying the room, she’s almost surprisingly quiet and because of that you’re able to get the full nuance of what she’s feeling and for me that impacts so much more acutely than a big emotional breakdown.

So many emotions go over her face in a short span of time and they put her front and centre so we get the full brunt of it. You see the curiosity turn to shock, confusion, heartbreak and then you see it turn to anger, betrayal and an almost laser-focused determination. And that cliffhanger, oof

THAT’S THE GOOD SHIT

helena g wells (warehouse 13) & agatha harkness (agatha all along)

bonus:

Zoey: Well, first-

Mira: Don't ask her, she asked me out in a McDonalds parking lot.