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Aaaand this is one of those times when you really want to see the scoring sheets, because Yuuri being 11 points above (total meltdown) JJ but 21 points below (even WR) Yuri when his only big mistake was to touch a hand down on what is literally the highest base score jump in his program... doesn’t make sense.  I demand to see a list of all of his deductions!

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This is the first time I think we see just how young JJ really is.  I mean, he’s freaking nineteen.  It’s easy to forget that, sometimes.

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I absolutely love JJ’s mental image of his competitors.  Especially Yuuri, because wtf, we haven’t ever seen Yuuri wear that expression, even when he’s in Eros mode.

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Their reaction’s to JJ’s collapse say it all.

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A sign that Yuri has, in fact, changed:  He smiles over someone else’s performance.

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「氷の上は戦場だ。俺は絶対、生き残る！」 

“The ice is a battlefield.  And I’m going to survive!”

The fact that Otabek thinks of skating as war suddenly gives a lot of deeper meaning to that time when he said that Yuri Plisetsky had the eyes of a soldier.

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During Otabek’s performance, Sara says:

「オタベックって昔はそこまで印象に残る選手じゃなかったのに、全然今は違うわ」

“Otabek didn’t used to be such a memorable skater.  He’s really changed.”

Any guesses as to what’s changed him?

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...Who knew Chris was a glasses guy?

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Yuuri’s freaking out because Victor is admiring other skaters and their performances.  Goodness only know what his anxiety is saying to him right now.

What he should be focusing on right now?

That little bit of gold.

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I have... super-conflicting feelings about this.

On the one hand, was it a fantastic performance?  Yes.  (Everyone did notice how he jumped a quad with his hands over his head and landed it, right?)  It’s been heavily implied that he’s put a lot of work in and that he’s Victor’s successor.  And his new friendship with Otabek sparks a new understanding of agape, one that he pours into this performance.

On the other hand, a lot of these things that are implied or said are things that we haven’t actually seen much of.  It makes it harder to feel like he’s earned a world record when we haven’t seen anything more than snippets of what he’s done to earn it.  Add in the fact that he’s fifteen, this is his first senior final, etc. etc., and it’s hard to buy into him getting that world record.  Add in the fact that he’s been kind of a dick this past episode or so and has a... less than sportsmanlike demeanor, shall we say, it’s frustrating for the viewer to see a character get rewarded when he’s behaved poorly, especially toward the protagonists.

Like I said, conflicting feelings.

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When someone can be so close and yet feel so far.

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Victor before Yuuri vs. Victor after Yuuri.

「いつだって新しい気持ちで滑っていれば、みんな驚いてくれる。自分の首を絞める枷でもあった。新しい強さは自分で作り出すしかない。ずっと、そう思ってた」 

“As long as I always kept skating with some new feeling, then I’d surprise everyone.  But it was also a shackle that strangled me.  I always thought that I had to create new strength on my own.”

「今は勇利を通して、新しい感情が俺の中に流れてくる。勇利にこれから与えるべきものは何だろう」 

“Now I can feel now strength flowing into me through Yuuri.  What should I give him from now on?”