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dribs-and-drabbles · 2 years ago

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My top ten of Pat's shirts (revised)

10. Cheney/Kennedy - ep 1

This shirt is fabulous on two levels - one being how ridiculous it is and the other being the subtle foreshadowing of Pat getting shot later in the series, and not actually drowning which we were afraid the conversation on the beach in ep 6 might have been suggesting. It's both loud and subtle but that's what makes it so great.

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9. Elephants - ep 11

The beauty of this shirt is that it's so simple. 'An elephant never forgets'. A lot of episode 11 is about Pat and Pran running away from their lives -> forgetting about their families, the lies they discovered, and the fear for their relationship once they go back. Pat also slowly realises that Pran is, and will always be, unable to forget his parents despite Pran being there for Pat and allowing Pat this moment of fantasy. They also both spend much of the time at the beach not talking about any of this, avoiding the subject - i.e. the 'elephant in the room' - instead distracting themselves with other things.

A bonus with this shirt is that whilst Pat is wearing it, Junior has a t-shirt which connects back to the next shirt in this list, 'California'.

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8. California - ep 10

Another seemingly ridiculous shirt actually has a deeper interpretation. The slogan on the shirt is for a German drug store (we later see Pat and Pran get caught by Pat's parents in a supermarket) and refers to a famous quote from a monologue Faust makes on a walk about the beauty of nature and how he can only truly be himself there, where no one is around. This could be foreshadowing ep 11 where Pat and Pran run away to the beach, to nature, to somewhere where they can truly be themselves and where no one else around knows them. Some people have wondered why “California” was used instead of the name of the store, “DM”, well maybe it's because it connects to Junior’s “Malibu Beach California” t-shirt worn at the beach in ep 11.

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7. Your man? - ep 7

This one is wonderful for how blatant it is. Not only is Pat wearing his own blue underneath Pran's rich burgundy red - in a direct reversal and development of the Picasso-esque t-shirt (at no. 5 in this list) with a splodge of red over the heart, which Pat wore under a blue shirt when he realised his feelings for Pran in ep 5 - but the only two words visible on the shirt are "YOUR MAN?" Pat wears this when he uses his audition to confess to Pran, thus losing the bet. He says to Pran - as Riam - "You asked if I wanted to be friends? What if my answer is no?" Essentially, he's asking, "Am I/can I be your man?"

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6. Baseball Mom - ep 5

Like with the Cheney/Kennedy shirt, this one is fabulous for how ridiculous it is but also for the contrast it has to the poignancy of the scene. The deep red and blue of Pat's pants and top beautifully illustrate the depth of his feelings for Pran, and the fact that the word "Baseball" almost blends in with the blue behind it shows how close Pat and Pran are to becoming a couple, a union, themselves. The loudness of the "mom" in white, however, perhaps symbolises the obstacle they face in being open with their eventual relationship and a big reason why Pran left Pat alone.

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5. Picasso-esque print - ep 5

This is the first of three shirts that Pat wears during ep 5 that has Pran's red over his heart, and more importantly he wears this one during his wonderful Oh moment about his feelings for Pran. The blue shirt (his own colour) that he wears over the top partially obscures the red and illustrates how his feelings for Pran existed under the surface but took a while to be revealed. Even here they weren't fully realised, out in the open. It was only after being jealous of Wai's closeness to Pran later in the ep that he really understood the hold Pran had on his heart, and then his feelings fully blossomed...much like the orange/red flower on the pineapple shirt during the later fight scene.

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4. Golden gate bridge - ep 9

This shirt is incredible for many reasons: first it has Pran's red, Pat's own blue, and a bridge lit up with yellow lights (which I interpreted as symbolising their love and happiness). As a whole, this shirt illustrates how Pat becomes the bridge between the two faculties during the ep, and more importantly between Pran and Wai (I mean, he got himself shot because of Wai). Not only that, the bridge itself is an iconic image of the power of collaboration between architecture and engineering.

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3. Salome - ep 4

As far as I can tell, the name 'Salome' and the Picasso painting don't originally belong together - so this fantastic shirt seems purposely designed, perhaps by the show's production team. The Picasso painting, Portrait of Sabartes, alludes to Pat being a 'faithful dog' who follows Pran around and sings his praises (Picasso and Sabartes were also lifelong friends and born in the same year). And 'Salome' alludes to Ink being the 'faen fatale' of the show, emphasised by Pat wearing this when it was implied that Ink might be a love interest for him, as well as Pat's repressed emotions and his gradual realisation of them. This post explains this incredible shirt in more detail.

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2. Proud to be a Noles Hater - ep 7

Another shirt ridiculed by many but which upon a closer look proved to be incredible. The slogan symbolises the layered themes of rivalry and pride infused throughout the show - from their families and faculties to the play and each other, and is also a tongue-in-cheek joke of the fact that Pat and Pran are not the rivals they're made out to be (although they love a bit of competition). These themes are emphasised further by a few more t-shirts that Pat wears following this one, and which are explained in more detail here.

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1. Overlapping leaves - ep 4

The sheer genius of this shirt is that it doesn't look like anything special at first glance. It's only when Ink's and Pran's coinciding tops are also taken into account that its brilliance shines...and to some extent the Salome shirt as well (since the colour also connects to Ink's top). The overlapping leaf design in the shirt has two colours - one a creamy mustard yellow and the other a light grey/blue. These are the two colours that Ink and Pran wear respectively in their scenes with Pat during the episode - indicating Pat's divided affections for them, with one fading and the other growing.

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This is an updated version of this post, remade for #BADBUDDYWEEK

Day 5, Favourite Dynamic: Me and all of Pat's shirts 💪🏼

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