#its just oughhhhh the cycles brother. i am obsessed with this.

[wheelercore]

I always think it's so so interesting that in the areas of the creel home where Henry finds spiders, there is no rose imagery. Like in the bathroom and the attic, there is intentionally no sort of rosey wallpaper that we see all over the place. In the dining room, it's a bit of a stretch, but I suppose Henry was the "spider" in that scene which is why the wallpaper is plain orange. Almost like the roses are meant to represent "rose colored glasses" in a sense. Like the wallpaper hides the spiders behind the walls. It makes me think of Alice's line about how it's all like a fairy tale. Also, brings to mind the references to the creel home in the wheeler home, including the rose wallpaper + urn/fake urns.

But also not only that but the trend of wheeler women wearing rose patterns as to imply that they're not being honest about themselves. Nancy wore a rose design in the first wheeler family photo, and even though she wasn't wearing the same shirt when Jonathan snapped that pic of her when she was taking it off in Steve's bedroom, his comment about how she was "being herself" is interesting (also Nancy just wears a lot of pink-white-blue in s1+s2).

(which honestly I think my interpretation holds weight when you consider how the writers took a risk of possibly making Jonathan out to be a creep just to get this point across. And it always seemed like a pretty strange line to me at least).

Especially, again, a person faking in ST is often conveyed through clothing, as with Argyle's comment on Mike's clothing at the airport.

And also I love Rose Robin so much because Steve's line about how Robin just needs to be herself, and how she was too uncomfortable in her "Rose Weaver" outfit? Because it just wasn't her? And Virginia in her white-pink gown when she sees the spiders in the bathtub and just simply runs away and hugs Victor- "rose colored glasses" (which honestly I could write so much about how victor is associated with the spiders + the grandfather clock but not in a way that condemns Victor himself but instead it's an image that being unfairly projected onto him- which honestly makes me feel even more sad for his character).

Honestly given Holly is fully submerged in this symbolism also in s4 - despite only being six- I could bring in (back on my bullshit again) Ted's relationship with his children and how that seems to be intertwined with this.