#1.08 analysis

i have a few headcanons about this but, caveat, while they’re inspired by many bits and pieces of canon, it’s pretty much exclusively conjecture, haha.

#1: rio grew up in a family that struggled for money and he was motivated by becoming the provider for that family at a relatively young age

rio’s treatment of service works makes me think he respects them from personal experience—either having been a part of the industry himself at one point, or having people he loves and respects be part of it. i also tend to think rio knows the feeling of being devalued—possibly from watching the people he cares about experience it, but also from him starting at the bottom and rising through the ranks in the crime world. 

i like to think that rio connects with and respects beth’s scrappy determination to provide for her family and that she’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish that, and it’s something he relates to because family is important to him (i am pretty inspired on this point not only by how deeply they sketch rio and marcus’s relationship in just a few scenes and the implication that he’s fundamentally honest with rhea about his work, but also rio’s b&w photograph of a couple in his closet, and the picture of him and marcus on a stoop that i tend to imagine is his mother’s house because it does not look like anything we see at his apartment building or at our first shot of rhea’s house in the same episode, and it also looks extremely recent)

rio’s tendency to shield the girls from the larger crime world in a way that’s simultaneously protective and possessive in that it gives him sole control over them. it makes me imagine that it’s a dynamic that’s played out in his personal life—in a way that i read as him becoming the Man of the House too early

as an extension of that, i typically tend to believe that rio grew up around  women (mother, sisters, cousins?) and that, because of that, he fundamentally respects women and their capabilities and he can and does recognize them as worthy adversaries even if he has a coda in terms of how he treats (and punishes) them. i also tend to believe rio grew up around women because i think he has dual feminine and masculine energies, and i don’t think he carries self-consciousness or judgment towards his own or others’ femininity (both because of his visible confidence and because i don’t think he’s bothered by his attraction to beth despite the fact that her floral blouses and mama jeans are contrastingly soft compared to him)

#2: rio fought his way to the top and has a vested interest in remaining there

the “i flip my game” and “it takes balls to do what i do—this stuff’s medieval, darlin’” speeches both establish that rio rose his way through the ranks and earned his position through hard work and darker means. i suspect that he took out his former boss, but it’s unclear whether that was purely a power grab or whether it was motivated by something else as well.

i think this is also supported by his murder of eddy. despite the unconfirmed details of the extent of eddy’s betrayal, it shows that rio will turn on someone even if he was once loyal and protective of them (confirmed by rio having beth shield eddy when he was vulnerable and had people looking for him) to keep his position. he’s looking out for himself first and foremost—knows that he must in order to survive—and for him, beth is a rare exception. 

his rapid and thorough shutdown in 1.08 establishes that rio will make short-term sacrifices to protect longterm personal and professional interests.

rio’s (i think mis)assumption that beth wants to “be the king” suggests to me that he sees a kindred spirit in her—which she is, but i think he thinks she wants to take his spot rather than her wanting to carve out her own, and i think that comes from him ascribing what were once his personal goals onto her. 

#3: he likes what he does and he takes pride in his power

i think they’ve pretty much established that rio is not hurting for money in any way, shape, or form. even at his weakest and most vulnerable. even at the moment of feeling the pressure from his bosses, rio is apparently able to purchase a wildly expensive luxury car. rhea explicitly states that rio has set them up to the point that they could never see him again and they’d be financially secure enough to loan a new friend thousands of dollars at the drop of a hat. this makes me think that rio no longer needs to do this work to make a living (esp. because they seem to suggest that he has legitimate businesses such as the bar so has new money coming in too) and that he does it because he likes it and enjoys it. 

i also think rio makes an active choice to stay in the crime world unrelated to money. he had the opportunity vis a vis turner to disappear safely (and i believe the means and ability to get rhea and marcus with him) and he seemed fundamentally disinterested in both escaping the pressure of his bosses and the stresses of his work, choosing instead to use his connections and power to order the hit on turner rather than to relocate his family to a place where they could live a carefree existence. the fact that rio’s description of relaxing on a white sand beach was 100% inspired from a billboard also seems to suggest that rio has no personal interest in this. 

while i do think rio respects beth as an adversary that has the capacity to go toe-to-toe with him, it’s also wildly apparent that he has misjudged and underestimated her at key moments—namely 2.13, but also 2.06 and 1.10—and i think that speaks to his cockiness and his belief that he’s always one step ahead and will come out on top. 

i also think it’s pretty apparent that rio gets off on being in control and that he has a lot of fun playing the game with beth and snatching back the power—he is at his most joyfully unhinged when he gets to pull that rug back out from underneath her, namely in 1.06, 1.10, 2.04, and 2.13—and that doesn’t even go into his delight that he’s able to seduce her despite sending her body parts in 2.11 or that she’s still primping and preening for him after he murders her friend in 3.05.

so yeah! this is kind of my baseline assumption of rio’s background and motivations, and i tend to use it in all my fics even if i fudge the details around!