hi all <3
so back when season 2 first dropped, i happened to poke my head into the tags too soon and saw a post that i didn’t agree with, saying something about how terrible Wilhelm and Simon’s communication was in s2. respectfully, i just removed myself from the tags, but it had struck a chord in me. so naturally i rewatched s2 immediately and hand-wrote 14 pages looking at how their communication actually was through the season.
it’s now a little over a month and many, many rewatches later, but having been encouraged by @missmeganlee, i have decided to share with you all! i have transferred the original thoughts directly from my yr book and onto here, so these are written exactly as i first wrote them back on Nov. 2.
i do want to clarify that this isn’t an analysis post, it’s more of an observations post. the main purpose was to go through almost every interaction Wilhelm and Simon had in season 2 and to point out their communication throughout. although it’s not something i would ever send directly to the person who inspired it, it pretty much is a direct response to that post. it’s more of a breakdown pointing things out than an analysis about why or who or what or how.
affectionately titled “’Wilmon bad communication’: Kiss My Ass”, here you go:
Episode 1
(34:00) - The Library Scene
Simon tells Wille what he wants (to not talk) and explains that it’s not forever, just for now
Wille expresses why he doesn’t want that (“you’re the only one I can talk to”)
But Simon tells Wille that he hurt him, which Wille doesn’t deny
Simon says “I can’t be around you right now” which establishes how he feels and sets a boundary
“Tell me what to do” Wille wants to fix it but doesn’t know how. It’s a last effort to get Simon to stay, but ultimately when he doesn’t, Wille let’s him walk away, respecting the boundary
Episode 2
(1:04) - Walking away from the music room
Wille is still respecting the boundary
(5:19) - Not passing to him in gym class
Petty, but still the boundary
(7:12) - In the classroom
Wille asks Simon before sitting, even though there is no where else
Petty bitch
“I’m just trying to be honest about my feelings. Maybe you should try it.” Also petty, but it’s a good message. Simon doesn’t feel like WIlle is honest or clear, so he tells him that it’s a problem.
Wille looks properly chastised after, meaning he’s considering what Simon said and realizing he was right.
(16:50) - In the locker room
Wille is now expressing how he feels about Simon’s behavior (“You don’t care, you just shut down.”)
Clarification!!! Simon explains what actually happened (“I went to the principal. Now I’ll get detention.”)
Wille apologizes for getting mad AND thanks Simon for trying to help
They discuss what happened, putting them both on the same page (to an extent)
Wille tells Simon that they can have a relationship and explains the situation around it (“Two years it would have to be a secret”)
Wille makes it clear that he wants to be together again now
Simon stops Wille and asks for clarification
Hi Henry
Simon expresses his problems with the situation (waiting two years and Wille’s denying the video) as well as his lack if trust in Wille
Restates what he needs/wants (not to be a secret)
Explains a new boundary (talking at school)
Wille clarifies what this means. “As friends, then?” and Simon confirms. SAME PAGE.
Episode 3
(2:47) - At rowing practice
Wille checking on Simon when he sees he’s upset
Simon being honest about the reasons, including his displeasure in the difference in how they are treated
Wille apologizes (roughly, but he does) and explains his reasoning
(11:05) - Doing homework in the cafe
Wille expressing that he felt lied to, even though, as Simon clarifies, he was told the truth
Wille asking (...telling) Simon to just speak plainly
Simon does
Wille accepts Simon’s answer without a fight
Simon decides on his own to further clarify that he and Marcus aren’t dating, as well as telling Wille that it “isn’t his business” which is another boundary of sorts
Episode 4
(general)
No prior communication from either side regarding Marcus and Felice
(10:02) - In the locker room
Simon opens up with anger, but he immediately is explaining why he’s mad
Wille acknowledges that Simon is upset and validates his anger (“I get that it’s hard”) but he also points out Simon’s hypocrisy
Wille expresses his own anger and why
Wille again asks Simon for a clear, simple answer. Simon shrugs (which isn’t clear, but given Simon’s whole situation, I’m pretty sure it was honest)
Simon explains how he feel with Marcus (“He’s open about liking me/he introduces me to his friends/etc.”)
Wille is defensive. He can’t deny the first one, but he does the others.
“He accepts me the way I am.” “And I don’t? You’re the one who can’t accept my role, my family!” “No, maybe I can’t” (Now Simon is being hypocritical again) But Simon is being brutally honest. He does have trouble accepting that Wille is the Crown Prince. Painful, but he still lets Wille know it’s an issue.
(36:35) - At the ball
Simon is honest in expressing that the interaction with Marcus felt weird
Wille is honest in assuring him it was just him being polite
Ow
Wille explicitly states his observations and new intentions (“You don’t love me anymore. I’ll leave you alone.”) While this observation isn’t accurate (Simon does still love him) Wille believes it is, so he’s again being honest.
He is also acknowledging that Simon wants to move on and clearly stating that he will stop pushing or trying to get Simon to take him back
(40:05) - At the ball, outside
Wille is intentionally ignoring Simon at first, until Simon catches up
Simon states that he is trying to move on and Wille accepts it
“Everything just went wrong between us.” “I know.” Simon is telling Wille that their breakup wasn’t because of loss or lack of feelings, and again Wille accepts that
Simon is the one to initiate the kiss
He also leaves Wille without talking about it
Episode 5
(7:55) - The classroom
Our second lack of communication
Wille believing that their kiss means that they are on good terms, when Simon is still just as confused, as a result of them not yet discussing it
We also have Simon shutting down when Wille asks if something happened, where before he had answered
(8:45) - The music room
Once again, we have Wille reaching out to see if Simon is okay or why he is upset (this is Wille explicitly trying to have good, open communication with Simon)
Simon is once again brutally honest about his feelings in the moment (“It feels like when you enter the picture, everything I do turns into a problem.”) Which isn’t fair to Wille, but it is how Simon feels
Now Wille is searching for clarification of the results of the kiss, through explaining his own assumptions
(also to note: “You… we kissed each other.” he is intentionally taking part of the blame, as opposed to just blaming Simon for what happened.)
Simon clarifies that it’s about more than the kiss and tells Wille why he is upset (can’t sing his song, no association w/ Wille)
Wille states that this isn’t his fault, and it’s not, but Simon explains the reason is still because of Wille (“The song is about you.”)
Simon brings up some of what is probably an older truth: “How long will I be punished for the video?”
He then assumes that Wille hasn’t had problems because of the video
Wille is, again, defensive
Simon turns around to acknowledge that things were bad “for a while” but again assumes that just since he hasn’t seen it, that Wille isn’t still affected
Wille tells him that he doesn’t know how he’s been affected by it
Now he tries to direct Simon’s anger towards who posted it, since they are the one at fault
Simon does acknowledge that as well, but makes it clear he’s still getting the majority of the shit for it
Simon expresses his thoughts on the kiss now (“[it] was a mistake.”) and tries to leave
Finally, we have Wille telling Simon who posted the video!
Wille tries to explain what has been done as punishment
Simon asks when Wille found out. He doesn’t answer.
Simon asks that he didn’t want to tell him. Wille says he did, but tries to justify why he didn’t (“I was trying to protect you.”)
Simon expresses what he has assumed of Wille’s actions (“You were protecting him.”)
Wille explains why Simon’s plan wouldn’t work (August’s protections)
Simon is getting angry. He points out the way Wille is separating himself from the others (the Royal Court)
Simon tells Wille how he’s acting just like his mother. He leaves.
Wille tries to stop him, because he wants to talk it out as opposed to leaving it on bad terms, but he doesn’t stop. Wille still let’s him walk away.
(25:09) - Outside Simon’s house (gods i love this scene)
Wille opens with an apology. This shows that he knows he hurt Simon by not telling him before, and he’s acknowledging that hurt.
Then we have Wille explaining the ENTIRE situation, as he knows it, as well as the most likely results of each option AND how he personally feels
Simon looks for clarification that this isn’t Wille trying to convince him not to
Wille says no. Tells him it’s his choice.
“I just wanted you to know. This is the situation. This is how I feel.” HOW CAN YOU SAY “THEY HAVE BAD COMMUNICATION” AFTER HEARING THAT?? sorry
(30:01) - In the study group
Communication through book analysis <3
Someone else put this much better than I can ( @stygianirondiangelo !!!) , but basically it’s Wille acknowledging his mistakes and how they were affected by his title and how it hurt Simon, and Simon acknowledging that Wille’s background is important and it’s hard
“Not everything is bad.”
(34:11) - Study group
Simon is forthright with Wille about his decision
(36:05) - From the classroom
Simon directly asks if Wille is mad at him for his decision
(36:43) - Wille’s room
Now we have Simon checking in on how Wille is feeling (I think… this is the first time all season)
Wille is honest about both reasons he didn’t feel well (the speech and August)
Simon makes it clear that it isn’t to hurt Wille
Wille acknowledges that, and further explains that he isn’t trying to change Simon’s mind. That it is Simon’s choice.
Wille also admits to being afraid anyway, because of what it means
Simon validates that and let’s Wille know that he’s not alone in the fear
“What will happen to us?” “I don’t know.” (a question that should have been asked at the end of episode 4. I digress.)
But now we have Wille looking for a clear direction and wanting them to be on the same page, paired with Simon’s raw honesty of not knowing and not pretending he does
Episode 6
(00:14) - Wille’s room
Clear communication from Simon as to when he’s meeting his mother, and that he has something else to do, even if he doesn’t say what
SAME PAGE
(12:40) - Outside the school
Wille’s immediate reaction to August’s threats is to tell Simon everything August had told him
SAME. PAGE. Again. Wille is no longer keeping any of this from Simon
(13:38) - The hallway in Forest Ridge and the shooting range
Wille and Simon are both going to confront August together, as opposed to Wille trying to handle it or “protect” Simon
(18:10) - Road to Hillerska
This is communication, too
Wille is asking Simon to wait because Wille wants to talk it through
But Simon tells Wille “I just want to go home” and Wille lets him
(side note: Simon needs space after conflict while Wille wants to talk it through so it doesn’t stay)
(32:19) - In their hallway
Simon starts by expressing his feelings on the situation
“I want to be with you.” Now Simon is clearly stating what he wants, and further clarifies that he fully understands what that entails but he still wants it
“I love you.” Again, making his feelings perfectly clear.
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okay don giovanni review from last night. under the cut bc it's me. tldr the vocal performances were great, leporello carried the show, one of the most insane productions i've seen thus far but somehow in a new bizarre direction from normal. good snacks.
first of all i don't care how much wine you offer i think it's kind of ridiculous to charge $165 for a base ticket price for a performance that 1. isn't even in a concert hall or theater 2. is a concert performance rather than a staged performance (which was not advertised ahead of time) and 3. was not even a full production because they made the absolutely mind boggling decision to cut 100% of the recitative and replace it with Some Guy sitting on the stage narrating the plot between every 1-3 numbers
i did not pay that much gd bless. the student ticket was way cheaper.
the narration wasn't even good it was weirdly ungenerous to the women (like how do you even make elvira out be a "women, amirite" thing and also vaguely imply anna was into it in a production with zero acting? well they figured something out) and i don't think it even explained well enough what happens between each number to truly give a first time watcher a good idea of what's actually going on. not to mention that it absolutely kills any sense of momentum in the plot and makes the entire show drag like hell, because you have to wait between every single aria for either Some Guy to talk at you for three minutes straight, or wait awkwardly while people onstage walk off and people offstage walk on. it was so painfully clunky
they had a piano up there but since there was no recit it's not like she was accompanying much of anything. in practice what it ended up being used for was 1. the mandolin part for deh vieni (acceptable in the absence of a mandolin player; they were working with a limited chamber ensemble of musicians so i get it) 2. the party music at the end of act i (egregious fault imo because it absolutely kills the vibe of the scene and completely obfuscates the way the music is supposed to be adding to the tension and chaos with its different instrumental groups playing in different meters)
and 3. used to give singers their notes when the vocal line of their arias start on beat 1 measure 1, which they otherwise would have been able to get from the preceding recits (which is imo painfully amateurish for an ostensibly professional production)
all the numbers in act i were there although the narration was so bad i got jumpscared by fin ch'han dal vino because i forgot it was supposed to be there and thought we had skipped over that point in the plot. act ii had some really bizarre additional cuts made, notably they just entirely skipped over meta di voi and vedrai carino. it was like masetto and zerlina fuck off for the entirety of act ii save for, like, mille torbidi (they VERY briefly mentioned masetto getting beat up in the narration and i don't think they mentioned vedrai carino at all, they just skipped straight from deh vieni to sola sola. and also there was a painful awkward pause before deh vieni because i think the pianist forgot she was supposed to play there and the narrator jumped ahead to the next chunk of plot explanation too early). kept both dalla and tesoro (i'm fine with this ottavio was quite good though could've used a bit of ornamentation imo), kept mi tradi, kept non mi dir (more on that in a bit). no per queste which is probably a good thing not only for the show itself but also my head would have absolutely and irreversibly exploded if they had, probably
the whole thing kind of felt underrehearsed. like a quarter of the time it seemed like people didn't know what they were doing or had to be reminded where to be at that point in the show. and there were a few moments throughout where the orchestra struggled to keep up with the singers, but i really don't think they had much time to rehearse together, honestly.
and then, to my utter shock, the finale was actually really good?? like. insane compared to the rest of the show thus far. though it helps that 1. i absolutely love the harmonieband arrangements of cosa rara/i litiganti/non piu andrai, after possibly the draggiest non mi dir i've yet experienced it was like a breath of fresh air to hear that (and non mi dir was actually well performed i liked this anna but considering how much the Entire Show was dragging, the fact that they cut meta di voi and vedrai carino, AND the fact that they promised this act would be short, it felt crazy to me to keep it at that point.)
2. leporello and the don were by far the best performers of the night. so much so that i sought them out during the post show reception to tell them how great they were and enjoyed their performance. which i usually do not do, but in this like, high school recital ass production value. unbelievable relief that the final scene is dominated by the two actors in the show who most remembered that they can, and in fact Should, be acting. so much more movement and physicality and expression from those two compared to most everyone else. leporello especially, his actor apparently specializes in comedic bass roles and it shows, he was the standout all night
and 3. for the first time in the entire production they made an interesting decision regarding the physical space and staging! they had the commendatore sing from up on a balcony overlooking the audience in the foyer. the bar admittedly was set very low in the previous act and a half but the finale reminded me that i actually like this show again which is appreciated
though they then threw another curveball at me by Cutting the sextet at the end. which like didn't even piss me off at that point i was just baffled. like the don sinks down in agony and leporello sinks down whimpering in fear and the orchestra cuts off. and i'm expecting an awkward pause while they quietly get up and shuffle off so the rest of the cast can come back but nope. big orange title slate appears on the big screen behind them and the audience breaks into a roaring applause and the announcement of the wine and dessert reception. felt like i was in a fever dream
i will say the desserts were very nearly almost worth the bullshit that was the preceding show. they were so good. thank you austria for your dedication to pastry. and because i don't drink and couldn't appreciate the free wine offered i had to indulge in my own manner. spread contained chocolate oat bites (tasted as much like espresso powder as chocolate and coated in coconut, 4/10), almond sponge cake (classic, 7/10), cardamom apple bread pudding with caramel cream (not enough cardamom but otherwise very tasty and autumnal, 8.5/10) and honey cake (11/10. i don't know how they made this so good. i want more right now so much). i take both my mozart opera and my desserts very seriously.
anyway overall the production was. i would say frustrating. the singing quality was Really Good (leporello was the clear standout, probably followed by the don though i prefer my dons with a lighter voice but technically he was very good, then probably ottavio, then maybe masetto or anna. the commendatore was great but he's in it so little it's hard to compare)
i just wish they could have, like, actually done a full production. it would have been so great if they had gotten to tell the actual story and had been fully allowed to act. when there Was acting were the best moments of the show, and it's really unsurprising that most of that came from leporello, the absolute legend.
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