#ybbob

whats that behind her back? oh nothing dont even worry about it... im sure itll be fine...

also the way they deliver the lines "and you... will teach me," "yea?" "oh yea." - incredible

oh yea an ybbob is also there i guess

i watched it again and holy moly do sam and luke have chemistry.

as ever, sam is the king of giving heart eyes at luke but in this particular instance its actually only possible because luke entered.

before luke’s character came on stage, sam and aj were carrying the dialogue. having to contribute to the dialogue and help push the story forward while developing his character is a lot to focus on so little micro expressions get put on the backburner. but the moment luke’s character enters she takes the audience’s focus off sam’s character by stepping in front of her to block line of sight and making the conversation just between esmerelda and ybbob. this gave sam time to develop his character in a smaller but also important way with his acting. just like playing an extra or ensemble character they are a character and the actors need to stay immersed in their character in the universe even if theyre not speaking because they add to audience immersion and help tell the story

physically we can see the shift happen because he blinks i swear like twenty times and each time his eyes seem to get that much softer until his character is giving esmerelda the biggest heart eyes ive ever seen. in character, the blinking is a choice to show how stunned she is and we watch sam calibrate his expression while the character calibrates to seeing this beautiful ethereal woman

the thing that makes sam’s heart eyes feel so raw is that he doesnt play into the characters’ lust (which for this character in particular is incredibly real. she is very very attracted to esmerelda after she slaps ybbob which is where the above screenshot is from). instead he plays it like she’s really genuinely falling in love. he plays it with this big, dark, doe eyed adoration thats so open its actually scary.

almost no one in the real world will wear their hearts on their sleeve like that, everyones a bit scared of rejection, or what other people will think, or getting hurt, etc, etc. but not her. she is falling in love and so what if everyone can watch. this tells us so much about her as a character. she’s clearly not new to flirting and dating and implied sexual activities, but she doesnt seem at all scared of getting hurt, which makes her terrifyingly resilient and dangerously open. dangerous in the sense that she is willing to be vulnerable in a way that most people rarely encounter and in a way that makes you want to be vulnerable right back to her (which is proven because esmerelda very quickly becomes comfortable and opens up to her)

even more intriguingly, the person i described above is not who she really is. (well she might be a method actor but thats sort of not something i know much about lol) she is playing a part that entire time. so she is an incredibly good actress, possibly skills she picked up from other jobs but also because she says “ive been really throwing myswlf into my new job” possibly something shes learned specifically to hunt vampires. this opens up the intriguing door of a vampire hunting agency that hires and trains people to seduce and bait vampires into taking them home with them existing in the world of this skit

lukes performance really shines in this moment that happens in about 2 seconds.

he is sort of smiling from whatever silly line he was saying before when sam asks “have you ever had a woman?” and within a matter of frames his eyebrows shoot up, then settle back down into a look that borders on sadness. the look between him and sam in that moment reminds me of the genre game where they played a young paint stripper and a 45 year old accountant. theres tension and honesty but luke is playing it as if sam’s character has just ripped off a mask esmerelda didnt even know she was wearing. like it was always there but she never knew taking it off was an option. they both are wearing these super open, truthful expressions and luke’s is laced with a touch of regret. ybbob starts to say something and esmerelda tears her eyes away and has this look of confusion like she never knew she could feel this way and is scared because its so new and is she sure she wants to pursue this?

as ever, luke’s performance is stunning. here its particularly impressive how quickly he goes between expressions and how well his choices reflect a character who has just realized theyre queer later in life (like how is this cishet white man playing it so well?)

additional very cute moments i couldnt not mention

esmerelda introduces herself and her and sam’s character both grin because sam’s character has caught on incredibly quickly to the fact that they make up code names that are anagrams of their true bames

and of course esmerelda loves to caress her face

second hottest is probably ybbob, i mean, have you seen how buff he is? 🤭 and his fashion sense, augh, i am a sucker for cloaks 😉😉