Vibing In The Background

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
sedirepseh
sedirepseh

Ok but everyone excitedly telling their stories on the bus home and will goes 'higgins took me to the red light district and made me a man!' And to him thats a happy little inside joke and most of the team roll their eyes but jamie like, freezes. Unnaturally still. Esepcially for jamie, kind of still and hes staring at the back of higgin's head while theres nosies like sirens going off in his own. What the fuck does he do? Should he fight Higgins? He cant fight Higgins. Its Higgins. Did... Wills the same age as him so its not so bad. Maybe it didnt mean what it meant for him. But he acts so much younger and what else does it mean to become a man? Theres an hand on his shoulder and roy is talking but not to him.

"What the fuck does that mean, kitman?"

And will stammers out something about jazz music and a guy called chet, giving in the second roy asked, and jamie blinks. Roys hand leaves his shoulder. He wipes his hand under his nose and nods, avoiding roys burning eye contact.

"You had a good time, though, Will, yeah? You had a fun night?"

"... uh yeah, I'm really glad Higgins took me to a jazz club, i wouldn't have known about them otherwise. Did you know -"

jamiesfootball
jamiesfootball

Higgins telling everyone he’s taking Will to the Red Light District and that Will is going to become a man and everyone being like ‘…….NAH’

Because Higgins is safe.

And because Will was safe with Higgins, they actually had a wonderful time. They both got to know each other a bit more, and Will had a lovely night bonding with one of his bosses. Will got to encourage Leslie to go up on stage, and maybe at the end of the night that’s what gave him the courage to take a shot with the lovely couple he’d been nervous about.

Because he was safe with Higgins, he was safe to explore the world at large. He was safe to be curious about people.

Anyways fuck James Tartt Sr

itsclydebitches
itsclydebitches

Getting emotional this Friday afternoon thinking about how Jamie admits to Roy that his father took him to the red-light district, the two of them unpacking how traumatizing that was, in the same episode where Higgins, a loving father, takes Will, the perceived 'baby' of the club, to the red-light district for a wholesome night of Jazz appreciation.

So we have that parallel with the fantastic addition that Will, living as he is with a clearly supportive mom and excellent male role-models/father figures in his professional life has developed the ability to safely and confidently accept a threesome offer that night, after the show has already concluded the joke of Higgins supposedly taking him out for sex. The episode has at least two moments where the other club members hear where they're going, consider who's involved, and go "Nah" at the idea of them being sexually active on their night out. But sexual exploration isn't just for hot, young, footballers! It's for queer footballlers and older queer men and divorcee women nearing fifty, and yes, for Will too if he wants that! I love that "Sunflowers" gave us that wholesome outing and the parallel to Jamie and the message that Will having a fun time tonight isn't inherently funny because he's not ~cool~ like the football bros.

The hot athletes rejected a sex show to have a pillow fight instead and the kitman went out to have a threesome. And everyone enjoyed themselves.

punkcornzero
punkcornzero

The canon queer characters we have are:

Keeley, who is a positive character and always has been

Colin, who was a dick and now is slightly better with some grey areas

Trent, who was a dick and now is happy and making friends with the team

Will, who is been perfect all along (the threesome thing made him canonically queer I'm sorry)

And then we have Jack, who is a dick with grey areas


So you're telling me the representation isn't good because the woman who just arrived doesn't have a redemption arc? I'm sorry, I thought you could be a dick or a good person independently from your sexual preferences, and people aren't just "good" or "bad", sometimes they're just "people". If you have a bunch of not heteros it can happen that not all of them are good? Also, Jack is a dick because she's corporate, not because she is a woman or bisexual.

Edit after I read some tags: I don't remember a single post, it was a general vibe from some posts about Jack and bad rep, you know that fandom wave thing

itsclydebitches
itsclydebitches

Love how Will's "I met the most lovely couple and they invited me for a threesome!" is played for the shock-value laugh, with a secondary layer of confirming a queer side-character in an episode already highlighting Trent and Colin's queer experiences.

But the third layer is that he says this to his mom. Like yes, that adds to the humor, but in a show largely about absent and abusive fathers - as well as complicated mothers like Rebecca's - it made me all warm and fuzzy to see that kind of relationship casually dropped into the end of an already intimate episode. Will is apparently so close to his mom that he doesn't just update her on the after-game Jazz club adventure, but throws out a threesome offer without a hint of fear or judgement or hesitation. Sorry, mom, where was I? Oh yeah, threesome! Based on that line alone, we can infer that Will knows his mom has his back, is completely accepting of his identity, and they have a bond where, I imagine, very little is kept secret between them.

It's such a great bit of characterization and a wonderfully wholesome detail to throw into an already wholesome episode.