So, here are my thoughts on the whole “High Five” thing.
The first time it happens, after Patton and Virgil have shown of their teamwork, Virgil raises his hand for a high five, and Patton, ecstatic, reaches his hand over towards Virgil to complete the high five.
Now, this video is full of beautiful moxiety moments, but there’s one that stood out to me that’s a little less than lovely. (I don’t have screenshots since it’s during the puppet scene, and the expressions are hard to read in a still. If you watch the moment, you can tell through Virgil’s sock puppet movement what he’s thinking, but it’s impossible to capture that in one frame)
When Virgil tells Thomas not to start thinking that Logan’s suggestion is a good one because he has “plenty of hate to go around,” Patton immediately goes “Aw, very funny Virgil, you cute little muffin! Thomas, you know he doesn’t mean it,” before launching into his next idea. And you can SEE Virgil’s puppet real back a little bit, hunch in on himself ever so slightly. That comment bothered him.
So later when Patton says “This just goes to show you that it’s better to talk about your feelings than keep them inside!” you can see him thinking, running through his options, weighing the pros and cons of saying something.
But Patton’s his best friend, and he doesn’t want to feel bad when he thinks about his best friend, so he does the hard thing, the right thing, and says something.
And it is hard, you see him struggle through it, you see him trip over his words as he tries to find a way to say it that won’t hurt Patton’s feelings, because the last thing he wants is to make Patton feel bad.
And Patton, he gets it! He does…but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting a little, cuz that’s kinda how he shows his love, by laying on the affection thick.
But he doesn’t want to hurt his best friend, so okay, if this is what Virgil needs, he can do it. It’ll be…different, but that’s okay, right?
What really gets me is when Roman says “Looks like Thomas wasn’t the only one who needed to learn something new about himself!” Look at their faces.
To me, I think they’re both thinking the same thing. They’re both worried that this relationship that’s meant so much to them might be ruined because of what they did, Patton for treating Virgil in a way that sometimes makes him uncomfortable, and Virgil for bringing it up in the first place. Virgil knows that Patton would feel bad if he knew that Virgil felt bad, especially if Patton was that reason, so he’s wondering if he made the right call. Patton is wondering how long this has been going on, if it has always made him upset and he never said, and he’s been making Virgil feel bad this whole time!
But here’s the thing, I don’t think Virgil has always minded. I’m going to steal from @randomslasher‘s comments on the matter because they said it perfectly: Virgil doesn’t need Patton to do all the work anymore. Once upon a time, Patton’s outreach was the only thing that Virgil had, in terms of positive interactions with the others, but that’s not the case anymore.
I think that back in the old days, Virgil maybe even liked it when Patton would treat him as though he was soft, because Patton wasn’t scared of him, but he still listened. And that’s really what Virgil wanted, to be able to be himself, to not have to terrify the others just for them to hear him out. But things aren’t like that anymore, the others love him, and they know he’s not the bad guy.
But Patton is still kinda in that mode of “Don’t be mean to my son, don’t take the dark things he says and think he’s the villain, don’t treat him like he’s less than,” which really comes across when he calls Virgil a “cute little muffin.” Usually when Patton calls Virgil cute, it’s because he did something cute. Even before the redemption arc, he didn’t call Virgil cute if he made a threat, he called Virgil cute when he looked like Talyn, etc. And he says it so quickly here too, and jumps immediately into “Thomas, you know he doesn’t mean it,” as if to say “don’t cast him out again, don’t take his threats seriously, he’s not the bad guy here.”
Except, Virgil’s words do need to be taken seriously. And now that he’s accepted, it’s actually even more important for him to be listened to if he gets darker, because he saves that now for the things that really scare him. Logan and Virgil are really close friends, but Virgil straight up says (in the light sort of tone friends use with each other when their literal words are hyperbole, but still with very real meaning behind them) that he kinda hates Logan a little and that he needs to shut his mouth. This is a BIG deal to him, so when Patton says “you know he doesn’t mean it…”
No. Virgil does mean it, not that he’ll actually hate Thomas, but that he hates this idea, a lot, and that he’ll hate it if that’s the path they decide to take. Virgil has agency as a side now that he didn’t have before, and if he wants to keep that agency, he needs to be able to say things his way without being sugar coated.
But then later, after Patton has agreed to stop babying Virgil so much, Thomas mentions that he owes both Virgil and Patton for helping him push to work through the issue. And Virgil smiles, looks over at Patton (a little hesitantly) and says “Like we said, a dynamic duo.”
Then he raises a hand, and this time he asks, “high five?”
You can see the unspoken question lingering in his eyes, “are we still okay?” And Patton responds with an enthusiastic “Sock it to me!”
And now, the part that’s messy. The part that could imply angst. The part where Patton reaches out…
But so does Virgil, and now they’re missing each other as they go by.
(hello, Thomas)
And yeah, it’s messy, it’s weird, it’s awkward, it’s not as smooth as it was the first time, most of all it’s unfamiliar (like their relationship after this change)
Until finally (hello again Thomas)
But what I really love about this part is the dialogue between them.
P: Oh! V: Oh…. P: Ok…hold up… V: Uh… P: I didn’t know you were gonna do it too… V: Yeah, no, I thought I’d go in this time… P: Ok, hold up…I got it V: Wait… P: Ok… V: *whispers* ow P: Oh! I’m sorry– V: *gently* No, it’s okay, I– ow P: Alright, we can fix this (I think that’s what he said? This is the only one I’m not sure about, Thomas was talking over him) V: Annnnd…. P: Got it! V: Ok. Yeah! P: *laughs* V: Figured it out. P: Just took a second.
They’re not just an uncoordinated mess, they’re a mess who’s figuring it out together, and who’s willing to put in the work it takes to make it right. Sometimes it hurts, but the pain is worth it for the end goal. When they’re fumbling, Virgil still smiles at Patton, and tells him it’s okay, as Patton does his best to fix what’s wrong.
And when it’s over, they smile, but they look contemplative too.
“Figured it out”
“Just took a second”
They know now that things will be a little different, their dynamic won’t be quite what it used to be anymore, but once they figure it out, it will actually be better. They’ll be on equal footing, each moving across towards each other to complete their high five, making each other and Thomas stronger.
So yes, the high five is messy because their relationship is messy. But it’s not messy because it’s bad, it’s messy because it’s new, it’s growing and changing and when they’re done, our dynamic duo will be stronger than ever before!
AlexTheGhost 