#2.13 analysis

I don't really think about it at all, tbh, anon! This might be controversial, but I don't actually necessarily think the show would be better without it as a plot point because of two reasons:

If Beth never shoots Rio, but they keep Rio as having successfully duped her throughout season 2, the power imbalance in their relationship would be severely skewed and their dynamic would be more traditional and fitting within the larger thematic schema of dominant man undermines, underestimates, and uses woman as a play thing for his own enjoyment—and wins. I don't think it's impossible without the shooting, of course, but I do think it would be really hard for Beth to tip the scales back to something that could ever put them back on the path of true partnership. In that sense, I think the direction of their romance would be unsatisfying as it would be different in the details, but mimic the dynamic Beth has with Dean.

On the flip side, if they remove the plotline of Rio having duped her and Season 2 is exactly what it appears on the surface, Rio loses a significant amount of complexity, his characterization is diluted, and the result is a lack of real conflict, tension, or stakes in the overall show and especially in their relationship. Simply put, the particularities that make Brio Brio disappear, and I think what we would be left with is much more stereotypical and straightforward and, IMO, boring. I recently watched a show that was basically this—where a true partnership was forged somewhat inexplicably in what felt like a speedrun and the conflict in their relationship was external instead of internal—and I didn't find it compelling (or even interesting). Part of what makes me go so crazy for Brio in particular is how fucked up and nuanced their relationship is.

i think this is a controversial opinion because i know it is so different, but i see rio pinning it on annie as the so-called equivalent of beth shooting rio.

i don't say that in the sense that i think physical violence and attempted murder equates to turning annie in (knowingly or not), but they are equal lines crossed. beth's betrayal hurt the thing rio cares about most (himself, i.e. his ability to be there for as well as provide for his family) and this potential betrayal would hurt the what beth cares about most (annie, her baby sister she's spent her whole life protecting).

in that sense, i think it's walking straight up to the line—dipping a toe over it—but once the dust settles, once annie is safe again, it won't be too far. initially, yes, the fallout would be severe, but i don't think it's irrevocable damage to their relationship, not after everything else they've been through.

i also see it as similar because i think the decision makes sense in the moment. beth shooting rio came out of a desire to protect herself in a heightened moment where her trust with him was broken and he appeared like a threat who had just used her for his own gain, and rio's betrayal would theoretically come as a necessary last-viable-option to save himself. they're decisions born out of both of them being survivalists, and i think it's hard to fault them for it at the end of the day (beth's because it's a split decision that she has to double down on because not doing so is even more dangerous; rio's because he has people relying on him and it's been shown time and time again that he's always going to put himself first, and who can blame him—particularly after seeing the way he's been treated by nick?).

at this point, i'm still not convinced that beth and rio are going to team up quite yet to take nick down, but i don't think it's an impossibility. i just think i'd need to see more from rio and nick first to get an idea of whether that's even something rio would put on the table. despite everything between them, right now i don't think it is.

Do I think he’s forgiven her? No, not particularly—not for the shooting or, frankly, for anything else she’s done to him. Nor do I think Beth has forgiven him for kidnapping her or setting her up and betraying her when she trusted him. I think they’ve just pushed forward, so each new hurt cuts the wound a little deeper at the same time that it piles another mine on top of a pile of mines that are precariously stacked to the point that setting off one of them may cause a total chain reaction. 

But I think Rio’s confronted her on the shooting several times and punished her for it several times over—doing everything he can short of physically hurting her or the people she cares about most—so I guess I don’t really think it’s something that’s a barrier for him recognizing and acting on his real feelings for her. In some ways, I think he’s resigned to them. 

It really seems like with the shift in how Rio is approaching handling Beth—and the tests he has given her with guns specifically—that he’s sussed out where her lines are and knows that she doesn’t actually desire to take him out, meaning he may have reckoned with why she actually pulled the trigger in that moment. 

I wanted a confrontation for my own catharsis, not only because I think it’s important for Beth to take accountability to Rio’s face, but because I wanted Beth to get the space to talk about how she felt in that moment too (I know what she did to Rio was worse, but it didn’t come out of nowhere—it was a reaction to a particularly intense moment after discovering a particularly gutwrenching betrayal in the middle of a specifically designed and high stakes punishment—and I find that Beth’s feelings about how Rio’s treated her really, really get lost in this conversation generally). 

I don’t know. I’m not sure Beth uttering the words “I’m sorry” will actually do anything for Rio at this point? What are those words to actions? Rio seems to be trying to make her prove her loyalty through what she does, not what she says. He really does want to build some sort of future with her in all senses of the word. 

I think a lot of people are in your boat and I understand feeling that way. I think it’s the wrong choice to make for the characters and the story not to let them address it, personally, but I’ve never thought Beth and Rio were going to have something stable or honest and I also find it frustrating generally how there seems to be a deep desire to see Beth punished at the same time that many people ignore the ways that she’s actually already been punished? I find that they very much are back into a pattern of back-and-forth in terms of how they are treating each other, meaning when one person strikes, the other strikes back—and when one person softens, the other person softens. 

I think somehow they’ve rebalanced to be fairly close to equal, and I actually think we’re going to see the flip side with Rio (I assume) turning in Annie, which is about the deepest wound that Rio could inflict on Beth without crossing an uncrossable line, as well. 

Okay, SO, this question completely stumped me and I had to mull it over with @mego42​ and she’s responsible for, like, 95% of these ideas.

THE GOLDEN GUN

The gold gun was a flashy, attention-drawing status symbol that was used as a sort of shorthand in Rio’s introduction. Combined with how he surprised Beth by showing up at her house and delighted in making a show of it, the gun represents the part of Rio that’s flashy, dramatic, and likes luxury. Gold is symbolic of wealth, success, and status, i.e. Rio in a nutshell. It’s also strongly associated with royalty, which is apt since Rio is “the King.”

The golden gun is fairly prevalent throughout season 1. It’s sitting beside him, untouched, when Beth enters the house in the pilot. He casually uses it to gesture around like it's an extension of him. It sits beside him as a reminder of his threat in 1.02 at Ruby’s diner (but interestingly, it never makes an appearance in the scene where they’re actually set to kill the girls—instead, it’s Mick’s gun). He flashes it to remind Beth of its presence at Kenny’s birthday, puts it to her head in 1.07, and, of course, slides it across the table and dares Beth to shoot him in 1.10. Essentially, in season 1, the gun has power over Beth, despite the fact that we never actually see it used. 

In season 2, things begin to shift (and we begin to see the gun less—seeing it only at the beginning, the midpoint, and at the end). In 2.01, Rio takes the gun back from Beth when she fails, unable to use it—and then he re-establishes his power at his weakest point (after the arrest) by using it to shoot Dean.

Theoretically, the gun is present in a lot more scenes that we don’t have access to—it likely had a role in Rio teaching Beth how to shoot (though she likely learned to shoot on the pearl-handled gun that Rio loaned her to take care of Boomer), it may have featured in both the sex scenes in 2.04 and 2.09 (since it’s implied Rio usually has it on him), and it was likely utilized in the drug den when he retrieved the dubby in 2.07. But mostly, we don’t see it—at least until 2.06, when Beth steals the pills and Rio shows up in her backyard and it hangs, impotent, between his legs.

He quickly proves Beth right—that he won’t hurt her—when he strides halfway across the lawn and the gun hangs loosely by his side while his other, free hand twitches in agitation. It’s only when he’s unable to get Beth to budge and answer his question that he finally tries to use it to remind her of his power—but it doesn’t matter; Beth had already established prior to this scene in her conversation with Annie and Ruby that she wasn’t afraid of the gun (and by extension, of Rio). Rio can’t even maintain the facade within the scene; when Beth challenges him and reiterates his need for her, Rio seems to subconsciously lower the gun even while he’s glaring at her, jaw working, and telling her that she isn’t special:

He then hides the gun as soon as Dean and Emma come out, and Beth handwaves away its use against her, excusing its use as Rio being “upset.” Later, in their negotiation scene, Rio doesn’t use the gun at all, and Beth strongarms 50% of Rio’s profits. I think from this point on, Rio knows he can’t use it against Beth and so he doesn’t even try—to do so would only be to underscore its ineffectiveness. 

We next see it in 2.13 when Rio hands Beth his own gun, as @elixir448 points out—pointing towards himself—and tells her to shoot Turner. It’s interesting that Rio gives Beth his own gun in this moment, particularly as the whole seems to have been planned in advance and he likely had time to procure another gun for her to use. I’m not entirely sure of his motive here on a character-level as opposed to a show-level (where it becomes important that he’s betrayed by his own gun).

@mego42 pointed out that there’s a “layer of artifice” between Beth and Rio throughout season 2, and that the gold gun has a role in that. It’s a flashy distraction piece and its bark is bigger than its bite, as shown in 2.06. Perhaps Rio wanted to remind Beth of the gun’s power (and his power over her) by forcing her to make this move before she was ready with his own piece. Either way, the artifice falls away and the gun does become powerful again—only its when Beth recognizes the ways that Rio has manipulated her throughout the season and instead turns it on him instead of Turner, effectively upending their power dynamic wherein Rio is the one in control all of the time. 

The scene ends, of course, with Rio bleeding out on the floor and Turner telling Beth “gimme the gun,” leaving Turner with all the power.

That leads us to the silver gun.

I love that line of dialogue so much because it shows just how much Rio is clinging onto that moment and memory—he remembers, word-for-word, what she said to him before she shot him. Before he was presumably rushed to the hospital and rushed into surgery and then drugged up and then moved to a hotel room to heal alone. 

I do think Rio’s feelings for Beth are easier to discern and label through the entirety of season 3, but I’m not sure if I would claim either one of them have “more” or “less” feelings for each other, mostly because I think Beth’s lack of feelings (towards him or, really, towards much in season 3) is a coping mechanism and a form of self-protection. I think 2.13 was really traumatizing to Beth, not only because being kidnapped and then committing such a violent act is traumatizing, but because I think she was really blindsided by Rio’s betrayal of her and the idea that she was always just a pawn to him. Unfortunately, they both thought the other one’s feelings for them weren’t real, and season 2 showed that they were both deeply hurt by that. 

Ooooh, I love that distinction between whether Rio wanting her to be bad or whether he wants to prove to her that she isn’t, because I think you’re really onto something that it’s maybe not wholly one or the other?

On one hand, I think Rio does absolutely get off when he drags Beth down into the dirt with him, particularly because she’s resistant to it and because I think he knows she thinks of herself as a “good” (i.e. “better”) person, and he knows she’s not. I think it’s why he’s got this almost gleeful edge to him in 2.01 when she gets him arrested, in 2.04 when he believes she’s killed Boomer, and in 2.04 when he smashes up the corvette to pull her deeper into crime (and bed) with him (not to mention the smug sort of attitude he has when he orchestrates her complicity in Lucy’s murder in 3.05).

On the flip side, I do think he finds pleasure in being able to tell her off and prove to her that she’s not as hard as she thinks she is—which I think spawns his “you ain't no boss” speech in 1.08, his “this stuff’s medieval, darlin’” speech in 2.01, and is a major component of the loft scene in 2.13, which is, to him, a punishment to rub her face in the fact that she wasn’t able to deliver at the same time that he was trying to force her hand.

In particular, though, I think Rio might see himself as a leader/mentor for Beth, and so he likes to have control over her. He likes to be the one that pushes her to get her hands dirty and to prove to her that she is who he thinks she is, but he balks when she repeatedly proves to him that he doesn’t have the firm grip on her that he thinks—that she’s an independent agent and that she’s ruthless with him—and in most ways more ruthless—than he’s able to be with her. 

I think he’s somewhat reluctantly impressed that she has the capacity to continually surprise him and play him because I think that he’s used to having the upper hand in most scenarios. Beth’s ability to pull the rug out from underneath him is something that draws and keeps his attention, and I do think he’s attracted to it because I think that she stimulates him. She’s a worthy adversary and I think Rio is attracted to Beth intellectually as well as physically and emotionally. She makes large and fairly foolish mistakes, yes, but I think he recognizes that’s more a byproduct of her inexperience, and I think he’s intrigued by the possibility of shaping Beth into some mirror image of himself (but the funny part is that she’s more a mirror of himself than he’d like to admit in that she refuses to capitulate and she insists on her own autonomy and she’s just as good at their game). 

I’m not sure I would say that I think Rio’s impressed by her shooting him in 2.13, but I think that there’s a part of him after that point that recognizes that he’d severely underestimated her and that it was dangerous to dismiss her because he’d mistakenly believed she was more pliable than she really was (which he sort of should’ve known, because his fury in 2.13 is very much rooted in discovering that she’d been playing him the whole time in the way that he was trying to play her). 

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!

This ask is responding to what I said here, but to restate what I argued there: Rio has done most of the work in their romantic relationship, despite the fact that he lets Beth take the lead in their sexual relationship. Rio has flirted with, been physically affectionate with, and more openly vulnerable with Beth than she has with him—and when he calls her “work,” he’s responding, I think, to the fact that she unfairly demands some sort of declaration from him when she has never been willing to do the same herself. 

After they hooked up in the bathroom, Rio made it known that he was interested in her. He threw out the idea of another bathroom break, touched her hand for no reason other than to be flirtatious and physically close, and teased her about labels. Beth, meanwhile, responded to absolutely none of this—verbally or physically. While her non-reaction is a reaction in terms of us being able to analyze and interpret as an audience, it’s much more frustrating for Rio, who gets no confirmation of her feelings or desires. Yes, Rio is an intuitive guy that reads people well, and he knows that there’s something there between them, but he’s obviously frustrated by her refusal to confirm anything—so he escalates and flaunts Dylan, trying to stir up a reaction. Instead of reacting on a personal level, Beth reacts on a professional level—and wrestles professional power away from him.