Only Friends: Sand's First Display of 'Messy' Behaviour
I'll preface this by saying I adore this man, and he's probably been the least problematic individual out of the Self-Proclaimed Friendship Circus. However, what left me with a chill was how Sand behaved when he revealed the affair to Ray.
Since we've been introduced to Sand, I think many of us have been pretty relieved by his largely green flag behaviour (in the midst of a very low bar being set in this group). This has often had me wondering what Sand's wider arc is going to be. The writers are not going to keep his storyline on one setting the whole way through. Therefore it's natural to anticipate we will be given another side to Sand - perhaps a less sympathetic or irrational part of his character. And maybe this was our first inkling into Sand's imperfections. He's also prone to vengeance and acting with an ulterior motive in mind.
Why it left me feeling so uncomfortable is because we haven't seen Sand in this light before. His score card has been pretty blemish-free.
Fuelled by a Vendetta
Nick shared this knowledge with Sand a while ago. However what triggered Sand to do something about it now was his confrontation with Top. We don't yet know what the circumstances were behind Top stealing Sand's ex from him, and how that played out. But it's evidently a sore grudge that Sand still very much holds against him.
Seeing Top again reminded Sand of the information he has at his disposal which could be used to teach Top a lesson. Sand is a very righteous person, and he doesn't think it's fair that someone should ruin his previous relationship, and now get what he wants with Mew as well. He wants Top to be punished. 'You're going to get what's coming to you, just wait'. It's possible that Sand didn't have the resources or means to get back at Top back then. But now he sees an opportunity to do so.
Combined with the fact that Sand has recently discovered that Ray loves Mew, this provides him with the perfect excuse for passing this information on. One, because as an outsider of their group, this can't come directly from him. Two, he knows based on Ray's temperament and his feelings for Mew, he'll be guaranteed to act.
Motivated by Selflessness or Selfishness?
I was originally going to post a deep dive on the scene between Ray and Sand at the bar, but I found myself constantly yo-yoing and ultimately undecided as to whether Sand's intentions were good or bad.
On the one hand, he's sharing this because he knows Ray will reveal the affair and Top will suffer the consequences. Thus, satisfying an act of indirect revenge.
On the other hand, he could also be doing this (as he so claims) due to his sense of righteousness. He just can't bear bad people getting away with bad things. And perhaps he does genuinely see Mew as a innocent victim here, and wants him to expose Top for who he is.
What also had me conflicted is that 'breaking' up Mew and Top doesn't play to Sand's interests. If Sand is romantically invested in Ray, and Mew becomes single again, this would allow Ray to continue pursuing Mew, which means Sand loses out. This is plausible if you're fuelled by unconditional love and a desire to see the person you love be happy. But I'm not entirely convinced that is the case here either.
You can also argue that Sand is 'using' Ray in this instance to achieve his objective, which is very questionable. He knows what a loose cannon Ray can be. Either he didn't think too much about the possible repercussions of how Ray would react, or he didn't care as long as Top got what he deserved. I don't think by any means Sand wishes to cause Ray any harm, but something really primal seemed to drive Sand to do this regardless of how Ray may be affected as the messenger.
So I don't know if I've decided yet. It could be a mix of all the above. This did seem to veer more on petty vengeance under the guise of righteousness. Mainly due to how Sand looks at Ray in that entire scene, which felt slightly manipulative and cold compared to how he usually has been with Ray. Especially when he says, "Mew is lucky though to have you by his side." It's almost with pinpoint precision that Sand triggers an image in Ray, to be the saviour swooping in to protect Mew.
All in all, I found Sand's behaviour this episode to be highly intriguing and unexpected. I saw a clip of First talking at an event recently, where he says something along the lines of 'when you see Sand do this, please forgive him', which implies there will be some further questionable or inexplicable behaviour later on potentially. Hmn.
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Transcript:
SYLVIA: [...] I just like, have this idea of a conversation like happening between- happening among the crew of like, the original Rapid Evening, like A.O. and Leap and Millie about like, “hey, it’s way harder for them to keep us under control here.”
AUSTIN: (crosstalk) Do this scene. This should be a scene.
SYLVIA: Yeah?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
SYLVIA: All right.
AUSTIN: Where is it? What’s going on?
SYLVIA: I wanna say it’s like, cafeteria area, I guess?
AUSTIN: Yeah. That works.
SYLVIA: Wherever they’re eating. Um-
KEITH: This is everyone but Clem.
SYLVIA: Pretty much, yeah. I mean, SI not there either.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: (crosstalk) Okay, so, so-
SYLVIA: None of the cops in the Rapid Evening are invited.
AUSTIN: Okay. So A.O., Leap, Millie. Figure A?
SYLVIA: Figure A can be there if you want.
AUSTIN: (laughing) Yeah, Figure A is there. Great.
KEITH: Playing three songs at once on a little speaker.
AUSTIN: (crosstalk) Yeah.
SYLVIA: Well, what I- I like them just like- they’re having lunch and like, sorting through shit that Leap got at the raid.
AUSTIN: Oh, that’s really good, I like that, yeah.
SYLVIA: And that’s something that Figure A’s just doing a lot of.
KEITH: Like categorizing things maybe?
SYLVIA: Yeah, but like, they’re sort of like- The rest of them are like, fucking around with it too. And I think at one point Millie’s just like,
SYLVIA (as Millie): Hey, why do we still listen to Clem?
KEITH (as Leap): We don’t. I don’t.
SYLVIA (as Millie): Yeah, but like- Okay, you don’t. Why- Why have we- Okay, better question. Why does Clem still think she’s in charge?
KEITH (as Leap): Because-
SYLVIA (as Millie): (crosstalk) You know what I mean?
KEITH (as Leap): Pretending to be in charge is the only way to seem like you’re still in charge.
SYLVIA (as Millie): But like, Leap, people are listening to her!
KEITH (as Leap): I know, it’s a tragedy.
SYLVIA (as Millie): So- Okay, let me just like, sort of bridge this gap here that we’re having between our two thoughts.
KEITH (as Leap): Yeah.
SYLVIA (as Millie): What if we put her into prison? And we were the ones-
KEITH (as Leap): Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me right now?
SYLVIA (as Millie): No, I’m not kidding you right now.
KEITH (as Leap): Do you- I- ah- Sounds a little familiar! I think someone maybe had this idea!
SYLVIA (as Millie): (shouting) What! Hey! Okay! Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Hold on!
AUSTIN: Figure A says,
AUSTIN (as Figure A): I recall seventeen instances where Exeter Leap-
SYLVIA (as Millie): (crosstalk) (shouting) WAY worse timing!
AUSTIN (as Figure A): -suggested that we place Clementine Kesh into a prison or something adjacent to a prison, categorically.
SYLVIA (as Millie): (crosstalk) Okay! Fine!
KEITH (as Leap): Can you play those back?
SYLVIA (as Millie): (crosstalk) Okay, Leap’s always right, everybody loves Leap, I get it.
KEITH (as Leap): We gotta put Clem in jail.
SYLVIA (as Millie): We gotta put Clem in jail! Also, okay, fucking-
AUSTIN: How’s A.O.? Is A.O. just watching all this, what’s-
ART (as A.O. Rooke): What’s- What, I thought we were gonna listen to some recordings.
(AUSTIN and SYLVIA laugh)
KEITH (as Leap): Yeah, run through ‘em!
AUSTIN (as Figure A): (as Leap) “Hey, why don’t we just put Clem in jail and take over? We have all the power here!”
SYLVIA (as Millie): Ehhh.
ART (as A.O. Rooke): Hmm, I don’t think I was there for that one.
AUSTIN (as Figure A): (as Leap) “Small idea, what if we just put Clementine in jail and we took over the palace and had our whole entire situation reversed. Wouldn’t that be better?”
ART (as A.O. Rooke): Mmm.
KEITH (as Figure A): (as Leap) “I’m over the Clem thing, no offense Clem. Shouldn’t she be the one in jail?”
(AUSTIN laughs)
SYLVIA: God.
ART (as A.O. Rooke) Yeah, I remember- That one, that was the most recent one. Why aren’t these in order?
SYLVIA: (crosstalk) At the end of every clip, there’s just Millie going “Ehhhhhh.”
KEITH: (crosstalk) They’re alphabetical.
AUSTIN: (crosstalk) (laughing) They’re in alphabetical order, yeah.
KEITH: Yeah.
ART: Alphabetical by location.
AUSTIN: (laughing) Yes.
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