technicolorrevel

Crossposted from Tumblr

I do actually think that before episode 4, Beebs was used to getting promises he could trust him to keep out of Shrike, which is why Shrike relapsing ends up triggering such a big breakdown in communication between them, resulting in what I consider the most heinous shit we’ve heard him say to Beebs until now.

Episodes 2 and 3 go out of their way to establish that both Beebs and Shrike make bids for connection through sharing their interests. Treating ep3 as a representative showcase, we get an example of a kind of trade of bids going on between them – Beebs teaching Shrike to play the guitar, and approaching him to spend time with him for its own sake, Shrike* *changing his patterns to better accommodate Beebs’ interests, staying out of his way and also practicing the guitar by himself. The relationship is two-sided, even with Beebs being perhaps more proactive in maintaining it because he’s just a lot more gregarious than Shrike is.

We also know that the Terran stuff matters a lot to Shrike. The pizza, the cartoons, his interest in El Bandito specifically is a major part of a different bid for connection he makes in episode 2 (which Beebs takes in the form of dropping the argument), and it’s also a part of how Beebs approaches Shrike in episode 3 when he’s making his own bid for Shrike’s company (which Shrike takes and immediately *returns *by asking for more guitar lessons. They’re so funny to me, just endlessly doing little kindnesses at each other and being so fucking snarky every other time.)

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I woke up thinking about the Terran pendant and how Shrike taking it off Jaw Bone and then trying to find a way to give it to Beebs is a peace offering. "If it makes you feel better--", he says, because he knows it's valuable, but he chose to give it to Beebs because at least they can sell it if Beebs doesn't appreciate that Shrike is trying to make a bid for connection (through his interests, the same way we know Beebs has done for him. They do it in episode 3 at each other)

(I'm on the floor crying.)