DAREDEVIL
1x04 | In the Blood
I love the way this exchange is set up.
First there’s the framing – look at how Anatoly gets lower and lower in the shot compared to Vladimir. Some of it’s a height difference, sure, but compare the shot focusing on Vladimir to the shot focusing on Anatoly. They start at eye level with each other at first, but in the second shot it turns almost into Vladimir looking down at him, like Anatoly is physically shrinking as he gives way to Vladimir.
And then there’s the lighting, which has its obvious symbolism when taken at facevalue and also some killer symbolism when looked at with the benefit of hindsight. Vladimir and Anatoly are both falling into shadow here, which is a nice parallel to where they’re at in terms of power. Matt’s kicking their asses, and now Fisk is making a big move to take control over Hell’s Kitchen. It’s make or break for the Ranskahovs, their darkest hour.
But then look at the differences in how their backdrops have been lit. You have Vladimir set against a very dark backdrop that shades lighter going towards Anatoly’s side of the shot, and on the other hand you have Anatoly whose backdrop is much lighter on the whole. Vladimir and Anatoly are in direct opposition here, trying to find a way out of this, and the lighting lines up with the merits of their respective. Vladimir wants to say damn Fisk, we’ll finish this ourselves and keep our pride while we’re at it, which ends up getting them both killed. Anatoly, on the other hand, wants to take the easier road. It still won’t be pleasant. Letting Fisk take over is going to be a serious blow to their pride, but at least they’ll be alive, and the man in the mask is going to be Fisk’s problem now. And it probably would’ve worked, too, if Anatoly hadn’t picked the wrong night to go looking for Fisk.
Also I love just how physically active these two are. So many hand gestures, lots of little facial ticks and really lovely expressions. Look at vladimir’s face in the last shot – just the mention of the man in the mask gets him worked up to the point that he’s visibly struggling to control himself. His jaw is clenching, his head is jerking in those short, sharp little motions. He hasn’t even met the man in black himself yet and he already hates the man’s guts. It’s such a nice, subtle way of showing who Vladimir is and where his head is at. He’s not even in focus here, barely in the shot even, and it tells us exactly how he strongly feels about the man in the mask. But then it also sets up how exactly things are going to fall apart for him. Vladimir is an angry, angry man, and without Anatoly around to act as a counterbalance, that anger ends up blinding him so he doesn’t see Fisk coming until it’s too late.
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you mean to tell me, gale dekarios, the man who wove stars into the sky to tell you he loved you, who literally made love with you in the astral plane, just says "i suppose i am" at the epilogue if you ask him if he's proposing to you? he doesn't even actually ask you? gale, the most romantic, loving, fervently devoted lover of the bg3 characters?
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in light of tedtrent becoming so real, im also jumping on the tedtrent epilogue 😊
there's just no way ted wouldn't keep in touch with the others (and have weekly zoom meetings just like in the christmas special) and I just love the thought of the whole team having reunions once in a while.
and going back to trent's arc in s3, the sunflowers conversation, "And your daughter?" "She's never been happier." I think it could go the same for ted.. we've never really properly saw how henry felt about his dad being in london, it's always other people that told ted his son misses him, who's to say henry would rather see his dad happy because that in turn would make him happy too? he was there to win the whole thing, right? I just know ted’s story isn’t done yet when he still hasn’t learned to let others take care of him in return and who else to pair him with than the man who blew up his career because a man was nice to him (and also because they were so. so cruel for the fakeout tedbecca scenes for that finale) 🥺
I'm no writer so just pretend these are snapshots of a slow burn fic where ted visits london for their team reunion and slowly realizes that trent has a crush on him and they kiss about it 💛
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