while all the deaths are tragic in their own way (except morally depraved julian lol but that tracks so i love it) and all pretty well done and shown to us in bits and pieces so we can fill it out ourselves which i FROTH - i think the captain's reveal hits the most because of everything that came before it. 5 series of build up, showing us how he's by the book, a strict adherence to schedule kind of person, with a deep, almost fanatic respect for the military and its rules and ranks and files to the point it's a huge part of his identity, and then - spoilers - we're shown that he died defying all of it, breaking in to an esteemed veteran event, stealing the rank of some other officer to blend in, lying about his valor, just to be close to the person he loves, placing himself in a situation so personally, intimately, individually custom-catered to be as mortifying as possible for him that it literally killed him. and he wasn't even able to say the one thing he wanted to say before death took him. he died, and now he grips the baton his love gave him forever, wearing the badge he stole that serves as a reminder of his deceit that fateful day, eternally on the edge of confession. his name revealed to us finally from the whisper of his beloved.
