As I was working on yesterday's post I was rewatching the characters arriving to Sicily in 201. And it made me appreciate all the more how well thought out Mike White had this story.
Of all the characters who get off the boat, the only one that has any trouble is Tanya. She loses her balance as she's stepping onto the pier.
It's such a small detail; but it absolutely alludes to what's going to get her in the end.
AND, as though to seal the deal, after she gets off the boat, Valentina and she talk about her husband, who is already here. And Tanya makes the comment that she's been texting and he hasn't been answering.
Again, small details, but information that matches up perfectly with where Tanya's story goes.
It's a great reminder that after I've got my ending, it's a great idea to circle back and see if I've got some elements in the opening that seem innocuous, but are actually going to get paid off at the end. It can be tiny, tiny stuff—a momentary wobble on a pier. And if I don't have them there already, is there room for some?
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There's another payoff of sorts like this, too: in 202 we learn that Ethan's pattern is to go running and then jerk off to porn. And when we get to 207, where do we find Ethan: in bed, basically creating a porno of Harper and Cameron in his head. But now instead of getting off he's trapped. The moment reads as obsession, and parallels with a similar fantasy Harper had in an earlier episode when she thought Ethan had been cheating.
But then the thing that Daphne teaches him —and "teaches him"—is that secrets and fantasies like this are what make a relationship work. They create the passion and eros. And with that in mind, Ethan goes back to Harper, and basically inserts himself in his own porno with her. Mike White even cuts from them getting down to the volcano erupting.
*chefs kiss*
