#i'm just so happy that he's a role model that's been entered into popular media

[catty-words]

listening to “bright” on repeat and thinking about luke’s arc for the episode and just. the dude really does accept ghosthood with zero qualms almost immediately because, as he puts it himself, the one thing he lived for is still accessible to him.

of course, it would have been understandable and even expected for the swaggering rock star we meet in episode one to have a bit of a crisis about the fact that he can’t, well, be a rock star anymore. that’s totally off the table, even if the act of making music isn’t. but in fact, luke himself tells us how comfortable he is with the compromise destiny has tossed in their laps.

and that’s a really nice extension of the music = the spark of life theme. in episode one, luke says playing music - even just messing around, riffing with the boys in the studio - made him feel alive again. here, he’s telling us that this is all the life he ever wanted, actually. if people can feel the music they’re playing, then they’ve touched something deeper about the lived human experience. sharing that makes a complete (after)life to luke.

this wholesome interest in the act of creation is only emphasized by the fact that, whenever anyone tries to bring up the material loss the boys suffer from not being alive, luke is the first one to shut them down.

he may have been excited by the prospect of becoming a legend in episode one, but if you were fooled into thinking it was because of fame and fortune, oh ho ho, you’ve got another think coming. no, what luke really wanted was to touch as many people as possible, to share the experience of making music with a wider audience. making a bunch of money in the process would have simply been a perk.

what really gets my heart glowing, though, is that he’s not just intent on this exercise in enrichment for himself. he actively encourages those around him, too. not just alex and reggie, but julie, as well. in fact, his boys and julie get parallel speeches about remembering what’s important in life. the music and the connection it provides. consider this line:

he just got done making his impassioned plea to the boys to accept that, even if they can’t have acclaim, they can touch people in more meaningful ways, and now he’s here, making his impassioned plea to julie to recognize that she, too, has the power to touch people. that she, in fact, touched him when he heard her sing “wake up”. and just like tips don’t matter in the long run, neither do arbitrary school deadlines.

the fact that he finds the act of creating art an end in and of itself would be a valuable perspective for such a charismatic character to have on its own. pairing it with his passion for building others up and encouraging them to see the same value in the act of creation is what makes him speak to me on a soul-deep level. its the detail that gives me oh-my-god-i-love-him pangs randomly as i’m going about my business.

AND THEN. this happens.

it’s revealed that people can see him in addition to being able to feel him. and not that i actually think he’s getting cosmically rewarded for selflessly giving himself to art, but there is something divine about this twist, about the bewildered excitement on his face, and it has to do with how we spent the episode watching him not only accept a half-life version of his creative vision, but fully embrace it. we KNOW he would have given up the chance to take credit for his music so long as he could put it out there in the world. and knowing that makes the triumph that he doesn’t actually have to sacrifice a deeper connection with people so much more, well, triumphant.

and of course, true to this show’s modus operandi, the lyrics he sings in this moment are exceedingly relevant to the storytelling.

now that he’s actually being given the second chance at everything he wanted, he finally takes a moment of quiet reflection to let the ramifications catch up with him. he could have ended up unable to truly connect with people - to get stuck in the afterlife with barely anything left - but he has the boys and now he has julie - whose presence in their life saves them from having to doubt that ability to connect ever again.

i don’t know what it is about the first shot specifically, but every time i’m watching this performance, my heart wrenches at the distant look in his eyes. he’s trying to process this huge turn, to move past grieving things he came so close to having to give up, and you get the sense that the music and the moment are washing over him without completely registering. he’s overwhelmed in a way we rarely see him, and i feel incredibly tender toward him because of it.

but by the time we get to this significant lyric - 

- he’s come fully back around to triumph. he’s found his solid ground (i.e. music) and the joy he gets from having a relationship with his art is writ large on his face.

so yeah. love this episode arc. love it with my whole heart.