wolves-in-the-world - Tumblr blog

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Tank Top Tuesday™

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First base is violence second base is convoluted codependence third base is applying pressure to the vulnerable parts of their body to keep their entrails from spilling out

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so uhhh that trailer huh :)

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one upside of this whole thing is I just told a mutual "do you think moreau's heart broke a bit when eliot broke too much to be able to work for him anymore"

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friends I'm switching the tag from #red widow to #red widow trainwreck so I'm free to be a bit critical without flooding the original tag. letting you know so folks can update their filters!

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I think I'm going slightly mad trying to analyse red widow as good media. I could write up a whole thoughtful post about how moreau and schiller are similar characters seen with very different framings because red widow glosses over the gritty reality of the world the protagonist is born into and gets dragged into after her husband's death, and it would have some merit, OR I could just accept that red widow is just very bad and best watched with one's brain entirely disengaged until a nicholae scene pings as interesting.

(which some of them really are. genuinely, nicholae and moreau make the same "there are assets and liabilities" and "please be an asset" points. nicholae gives a lovely little villain speech about money and trust being the only things that matter in business. his casual murder of a poor sod that I and the protagonist had actually come to like, shrugging it off with "there are many [name]s" like that's some consolation, was delicious. the torture joke he made while someone was trapped in an elevator with him, reminding them that they probably shouldn't be wasting his time, made me clap with joy - and the way the actor can differentiate between genuine warmth and the kind of smile that is 100% a predator's warning with, as far as I can tell, only his eyes, is just so good.)

(I just need to avoid falling into the trap of treating the whole thing, or even just nicholae's character as a whole, as something that stands up to good analysis. no matter how much the creators' love for the story shows in some of it. and no matter how much a talented actor clearly thrived in the role.)

(folks I'm going through the five stages of grief about this fuckin show.)

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You know with all the shit Nate puts them through he might have deserved this shock.

He sees Sophie less than a minute later so it's not long scare either.

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banner change, for posterity:

sticking to the theme and switching from one messed up guy in desperate need of a nap to another 👍

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Goran Visnjic as Nicholae Schiller | Red Widow 1.03

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Finally, a worthy opponent.

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Goran Višnjić as Nicholae Schiller in Red Widow (2013)

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Goran Visnjic as Nicholae Schiller | Red Widow 1.04 

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listen. the damien moreau vibes are very fun, nicholae schiller is very cute, but I want to talk about how much he cares about his father.

how laszlo schiller will turn the television back on to keep watching sports while nicholae's taking an important call and nicholae just gives him a look about it that speaks of exasperation and nothing more. how nicholae takes advice from his father, with a grain of salt, yes, but internalises it all the same, which I didn't really see until darkfinch pointed it out. how we don't see any true cruelty or resentment in this relationship at all, which compared with the absolutely toxic petrov patriarch situation is kind of stunning all by itself.

(nicholae makes a "when will he die" type comment once to his second in command/secretary, who offers to take care of it without any real weight to it - like he knows it's not a real wish, like it's the kind of petty comment that won't leave that room, that stays between friends.)

and then nicholae's dad gets rushed to hospital with a heart attack. and immediately, desperately, nicholae's priority is to be by his side, because his father can't stand hospitals, because he needs to see that nicholae's there. when laszlo does wake, back at home hooked up to beeping machines with someone in scrubs in the background, nicholae sends the medical person away immediately to get water (maybe just to leave laszlo's line of sight) and just… reassures him. stays there for him.

...…do you ever watch something in a story that feels so private it feels wrong to comment on it? because by this point we've seen the numbers tattooed on laszlo's arm several times. by this point we've seen someone call nicholae romani as an insult. and we've seen laszlo worried about his son, about his new business associate, about whether she's working against him, and we see laszlo here now scared and trying to warn him about it -

and when it's clear to nicholae that his father is jumping at shadows (at the horrors in his past that are all too real) he takes a moment to visibly collect himself then is just so kind about it. so gentle. switches to english like it's easier to lie that way and reassures his father that he'll see to it, that it's okay. and he does. and it is.

(always, inescapably, this is a character who murders, who works with monsters, who sells guns and hard drugs, who isn't above coercing someone into working for him. I know this post might get read by people who haven't seen the show; I don't want to mislead them.)

when I say I love this character I mean (among other things, admittedly) that there is so much humanity to him. and this relationship is such a surprising and real example of that.

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Goran Visnjic as Nicholae Schiller Red Widow - The Contact (Part one)

I know you can't wait for part two; Kickboxing and Biceps 😂

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damien moreau is terrible because we see him from leverage's and especially eliot's point of view, we're shown several different ways he's almost comically villainous, and the first time we see him he almost drowns a character we know and love.

nicholae schiller is a fucking delight because we see him drinking tiny cups of coffee and lurking in elevators and boxing for fun and genuinely laughing, and the bad stuff he does is kind of at a remove. he really cares about his dad. he spends an inordinate amount of time just trying to locate his stolen property. he lets the protagonist get away with a lot more than he ought to.

it's really NOT a good show. many of the writing choices are frustrating, some of the really key characters are kinda flat and some are just awful to watch, the most obvious ship is tainted to my mind by my deep desire for one of them to actually be sensible and consistent, and all of this is from someone who cheerfully played stardew valley through the non-nicholae bits, which is to say most of it. but if you're watching it for bonus moreau vibes and goran višnjić being very cute, you're in for a treat.

fair warning for...

crime

violence

drug use

overuse of the word "housewife" and general misogyny

children who see some shit and a teenager who goes through some shit

a brief and tasteless reference to prison rape

brief anti-Romani sentiment from shitty characters

brief references to the Holocaust

nicholae being the most interesting character present, honest to goodness, I expected to love him but did not expect to want him to win, he has such a place in my heart now and I just have to reckon with that. he NEEDS to get a higher desk.

my thanks to @darkfinch for recommending and enabling, I am not the same person I was yesterday 👍

I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that I watched the entirety of red widow in one day, quickly started rooting for the goran višnjić crime boss character more than anyone else, and collected far too many screenshots and gifsets about it.

…ah.

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I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that I watched the entirety of red widow in one day, quickly started rooting for the goran višnjić crime boss character more than anyone else, and collected far too many screenshots and gifsets about it.

…ah.

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so uhhh that trailer huh :)