#3.03 analysis

I could've sworn I'd already answered that question but I went back through my 3.03 tag and apparently I haven't—at least not his immediate thoughts.

I'm not sure I could articulate what I think his thoughts are in that exact moment as I don't think he was thinking very logically. He came into the scene fueled by rage and vengeance, and he likely exited it feeling a combination of rage and doubt. I'd imagine his thoughts to be very jumbled and chaotic, then.

I will say that I don't think he believed her when the words first came out of her mouth, and I suspect he pretty immediately assumed that she was lying to save her own life. I can imagine that he was pretty infuriated not only because she ruined his plan, but because she was only able to do so because she knew him well enough to know that her announcement was the only thing that could stop him in his tracks.

On top of that, he was still healing physically, had shut down emotionally, and then was thrust into remembering the intimacy which amplified his quest for vengeance in the first place. I think this was a moment where Beth made Rio feel incredibly vulnerable, and that was probably exacerbated by the fact that he'd planned this moment to demonstrate the absoluteness of his power: he literally came back from the dead. And here she was, presenting life, thwarting him.

It's a really interesting scene in terms of how it's all about life and death, power and impotence, real and metaphorical, fabricated and cultivated.

I think that's a lot to untangle, and ultimately that's why it takes Rio a few weeks to really process and decide what comes next. He believes her and he doesn't. He hates her and he doesn't. He's capable of killing her and he's not.

I think Rhea saved Beth because she didn't want to be complicit in her murder. The show suggests that Rhea knows Rio well enough to trust Beth when she shares at soccer practice that she's both not pregnant and that if Rio knows, he will kill her, and the moment that happens, Rhea has two choices: she could either do nothing and allow Beth to get killed, or do the bare minimum and her own conscious could be clean. She chose the latter, and that makes sense to me because I think the show demonstrated that Rhea's world looks a lot more like Beth's former picture of suburbia than it does Beth and Rio's current entanglements in crime, guns, pills, and counterfeit cash. She's not part of that world, nor does it seem she wants to be, and I think she makes it fairly clear in the final scene where Beth chases after her and Marcus that she wants no further involvement—she got Beth spared, and it was up to Beth to figure it out from there. Simply put, I think most normal people walking down the street would have a hard time doing nothing if they knew that it meant that a real person—one that they cared for in any capacity at one point, even if the circumstances of that were revealed to be false—would be murdered as a result of that inaction.

The question of whether or not its a betrayal towards Rio is complicated, but my instinct is that overall, no, it's not.

First, I believe that canon suggests that Rio's intention to kill Beth is very real, but not truly what he wants, and ultimately he would have regretted it had he gone through with his original plan. In just one episode between 3.03 and 3.04 he learns that there's no baby, and he doesn't have the same drive he had upon their initial meeting. The cocktail of feelings and motivations driving his decisions, then, weren't something he could sustain, and I think it would be too 'black-and-white' to label it purely as a betrayal when that reality is factored in. I don't think Rhea necessarily foresaw that, but I do think Rio wouldn't hold onto it or categorize it as a betrayal in the long run if he knew.

Secondly, I simply don't believe Rhea thinks she owes Rio her complicity in his choice to commit violence, even if its in reaction to violence committed against him, which means I don't necessarily think Rhea would consider it a betrayal, either. Once she was dragged into their mess—entirely against her will, in all instances!—her action or inaction had real consequences that she would have to live with. I think ultimately she wishes she didn't have the problem dropped in her lap, but once it was there, I don't think she believed she owed Rio her participation in aiding his plans for murder.

I actually think Rhea's decision would be the same regardless of how much she knew about what happened in the loft. In the end, Rio was alive, and so Rhea and Marcus didn't actually lose him or have their own sense or desire for that type of revenge. I think she lost all respect for Beth and wanted nothing to do with her from that point forward, but I don't think that meant Rhea wanted her blood on her hands.

I do think he’s in love with Beth, yes. I don’t think he wants to be, but I think he knows it and it irritates him. I read Rio as someone who is in tune with his emotions and that acts with an awareness of what they are, someone who is generally honest but that masks that with ambiguity, limited information, and behavior that’s intended to hurt and punish.

It’s definitely an ambiguous smile that can be interpreted in several ways!

My read of it has always been that she’s apologizing for hurting him—he was banking on her not being pregnant and he looks so wounded when he looks at her that because for a moment, he believes it. That’s such a heavy, terrible thing between them because she needed the lie to be real to save her life but now that he thinks it, it means the wound of what they were and the moment that they “created” this baby has been ripped open between them and it hurts. Both their looks—his shock, her smile—feel like they are full of grief to me.

I think it can’t be ruled out since they are married and Beth is currently fighting to save their marriage, however, I will say that the intimate scenes have always served a narrative purpose so I don’t think we’re about to get them “just because.” I also think that we have gotten 4 intimate scenes in 38 episodes and they have all been in direct response to Rio:

Beth sleeps with him in 2.06 after being turned on by Rio and she imagines Rio during the encounter. Narrative purpose: Contrast the connection between Beth and Dean with Beth and Rio; show Dean discovering the “affair” to set up Dean hiring the baby hitmen.

Beth tried to use Dean to get pregnant in 3.03 after lying to Rio to spare her life. Narrative purpose: Sets up that Dean is still tempted to cheat even when Beth and Dean are at their “best,” showing Dean hasn’t grown that much. Shows the extent of Beth’s desperation and how emotionally dishonest Beth is with Dean and how she will use him for her own purposes.

Dean kisses Beth in 3.04 right after telling her “we were so good with [Rio] gone.” Narrative purpose: Shows that Dean fundamentally misunderstands his relationship with Beth and the impact Rio has on that relationship; contrasts against the money-making scene with Rio showing there’s more spark in her antagonistic relationship than in her marriage; sets up Dean’s jealousy being a major issue in season 3

Beth attempts to seduce Dean in 3.07 after successfully stealing from Rio; Dean explicitly expresses surprise that she’s initiating sex now that Rio is back. Narrative purpose: Shows Beth enjoying the cat and mouse game that she and Rio used to play which sets up her attempt to play off his attraction to her in 3.08; parallel shots call back to 2.04 mirror shots in the bathroom; costuming in the robe calls back to 2.09, which ultimately compares to 2.06 as her connection and dynamic with Rio still does more to turn her on than her own husband.

Even the more minor forms of intimacy have been connected to Rio. Beth reached for Dean and seeks comfort in a hug after shooting Rio in 2.13, tear-stained and numb, showing how she’d been affected by the event and setting up that Dean offers her a sense of security, stability, and familiarity in the wake of that trauma. Beth breaks down sobbing and Dean hugs her in 3.06 after Beth has to dig up Lucy’s body in order to save Max, and even when she and Rio are at their lowest point, Beth still doesn’t confide in Dean about what’s really going on. When Dean snuggles against Beth at the end of 4.02, it’s right before he’s arrested for Beth’s crimes that she’s secretly committing with Rio.

I LOVE THAT SCENE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

I think it is wide open for interpretation, but I’m inclined to think that in the end, he did believe her—but barely. 

I think if he disbelieved her entirely, he would’ve killed her in 3.03, but there was just enough doubt for him to hold off. Personally, I headcanon that he spent those 2-3 weeks stewing and ramping himself back up, and Rhea suggested that he take her to get an ultrasound and arranged the appointment herself after Beth saw her at soccer practice.

in the clinic scene, I think Rio’s convinced himself that she’s absolutely lying and that he’s going to catch her in it (and her fearful behavior confirms it) and it will finally be over. I think he’s giddy because he’s certain that he’s right and then the doctor’s confirmation of the pregnancy pulls the rug out from underneath him. Since Rhea helped him make the appointment, and Beth genuinely didn’t seem to know about it, I think he’s shocked enough to believe that it’s true (but he’s furious about it and isn’t entirely convinced its his, hence “paternity test”).

When she shows up and confesses that there’s no baby, I think he probably concedes that there maybe never was, but I think he had believed her just enough to have to grapple with his feelings for her—past and present—and I think the time dulled his rage and exhausted him. I sort of read his, “When?” And Beth’s, “Does it matter?” as some sort of acknowledgment that he doesn’t even have the energy to press her on the lie, because he realizes, no, it doesn’t—because now she’s here, and now he has no reason not to kill her. So he takes a shot of tequila to give himself liquid courage because he thinks he still has to do it but he doesn’t want to. 

When Beth asks what happens next and Rio says, “Nothin’ good,” I don’t think he just means for her. I think he knows the toll it’s going to take on him. The emotion that rolls of Rio in that scene to me is resignation. She’s dangerous to him and Rio can’t and won’t give her the power of reversing his decision on his own—it would reveal far too much. 

I’m just being a “lilobsessd” with GG right now and I’m wondering why on S3E3 they’ve made the scene where Rio shows up at Beth’s house to take her to the OBGYN is so fuzzy and cute?! With the music, lightening, “hey now” and all? What they where trying to say with that scene? You would think that Rio would be PISSED and not trying to hide it ! Why is the scene so “gentle” ?

Ahh, thank you! You're so nice!

I think Rhea knows a lot and that Rio was honest but probably not particularly detailed? For instance, I think Rio told her that Beth shot him and left him to die, but probably didn’t tell about the surrounding circumstances that led to it—that he’d kidnapped her or that he was trying to force her to murder someone. Then I think he also told her about the pregnancy.

I think this because:

Rhea avoids Beth and pulls Marcus from soccer, which makes me think Rhea feels betrayed by Beth attempting to befriend her

Rhea agrees to duplicitously lure Beth to the bar so that Rio can surprise her, which makes me think Rhea agrees Beth has done something bad enough to warrant that bait and switch rather than pushing Rio to confront Beth in a different manner

Rhea seems surprised to learn that the pregnancy is fake, but not that the pregnancy existed, which makes me think that Rio recapped what happened at the bar with her

Rhea believes Beth that Rio will kill her if he finds out the pregnancy isn’t real, which makes me think that Rhea understands her transgression is severe enough that Rio would be willing to do this despite the intimate relationship she knows that Beth and Rio shared

It’s possible that Rio was tight-lipped about what happened and merely summed it up as Beth being the reason that Rio had to disappear again for two months, but Rhea seems to know exactly what Rio does for a living. Because Rhea had a relationship with Beth, I think she would want to know the details, and I think Rio had no real reason to hide his history with Beth from Rhea, so he probably told her.