#bethnickrio

it starts with rio and nick pretty centered underneath a (pinterest-chic hipster) light. they’re on equal footing, so to speak.

even from the opposite angle, the (much uglier, but more effective) light is framed between them.

the lighting doesn’t actually change until rio physically moves himself into nick’s space—not just closer to him, but directly into his shadow—and makes it explicitly clear that the conversation he’s having is about beth, not business. he shows his weakness, his vulnerability. and the lighting reflects it.

the best part about this, though? we can actually still see rio’s face throughout the entire interaction. we can’t really see nick’s, not from this particular angle. rio is obscured by nick’s shadow, sure, but nick IS the shadow. his face is dark the whole time in this shot. 

and as soon as he leaves, rio’s lit up like an angel again. and then the next time we see him? he’s “knocking” on someone’s door...

for the most part, yeah, especially for someone who was a secondary character. there were a lot of missteps along the way (not just with rio, with everybody) but ultimately i feel satisfied with his conclusion.

i think the addition of nick added so much depth to rio and it gave him a character arc that wasn't there before. it's not like we didn't know rio was more than just a criminal before nick. we've had glimpses into his life since s1 (his excitement over food, marcus, his loft, tennis with gretchen, his schedule according to fitzpatrick, etc.) but his story always revolved around being the face of the criminal element in the girls' life. with nick, rio got to have his own story line, and, sure, it eventually tied back into beth (rio's a secondary character after all) but it was still an issue he was dealing with whether or not beth was there, still something for him to resolve.

and i love love love that although it was obvious rio wasn't exactly nick's biggest fan, he had sort of resigned himself to the situation. he was stuck there. that's just how it was. it took something new—in this case nick's attention on beth—to shake up the status quo, to get rio to even confront the fact that, actually, he resents nick. and even then, he didn't do anything about it. he continued to grin and bear it for quite some time. it took the perfect storm of: nick crossing a line i don't think rio even knew he had (nick getting beth to jump into bed with him either professionally or personally) > rio swallowing his pride and laying at least some of his cards out on the table for beth > rio realizing that actually beth hadn't jumped into bed with nick professionally or personally so maybe there was still a chance for them but more importantly there was a way to take nick down.

beth became rio's way out of the holding pattern he was stuck in with nick, just like he had become her's way back in s1. i think that's a fun little parallel.

and it was immensely satisfying to see rio beat nick at his own game! and it was bittersweet too because it was a hard decision and you could see that! the complexity of the situation is a big part of what made it so satisfying.

but he made the choice and he's better off for it. and he's happy. and, i mean, let's not pretend like rio hasn't wanted to Do Crime with beth at his side for quite some time. all his wishes came true lol

and i didn't take the last conversation between them on the bench to mean that beth is actually rio's boss. i took it more as an acknowledgement that things have changed and that he's comfortable letting her take the lead when the situation calls for it. they're actually partners now, and ultimately, that is the best position for both of them. there was no way forward for them if rio continued to have leverage (whether that be violence, or incentive, or debt, or what have you) over beth.