#that he ruined everything
do you know what i love even more about the vegaspete scene in this ep? the fact that in this ep is when we see vegas unmasked. we’ve had all these rumblings about how awful vegas really is, how he’s evil and how he’s dangerous and how he’s gonna fuck over the main family, but we’ve never really seen it until now. and in that way, we’re like porsche and tawan, two men vegas has been playing with and two men he’s tried to ruin. porsche he played innocent with, sweet, flirted at first but when he realized that wasn’t getting through, that kinn was too protective and porsche wouldn’t fall for him like that, he still got in his mind with that whole “kill me nicely” speech last ep. and tawan, who he strung around with pretend romance and love and promises of marriage, all to manipulate him into doing his bidding, completing his plan. now porsche sees vegas as the man the rumors say he is, evil and scheming and dangerous, and tawan realizes that all he’s been told has been a lie, that the ring is just a ring, that he was just a playing piece to vegas and nothing else. and when unmasked, both porsche and tawan react how vegas wants them to, they’re horrified and broken and disgusted and angry. that’s what vegas wants, what he thrives of, getting that response out of people. he wants to be threatening and dangerous and feared. and he’s played the game with pete too, flashed small smiles, acted nice and calm, never done anything outright terrifying or threatening. so now, when pete is stripped and bound, and vegas is coming towards him with the ability and the promise to break him, when he’s unmasked, he wants that response. but he doesn’t get it. because pete smiles. he laughs, he looks the evil in its face and grins. and you see, it makes vegas mad. bc when pete is screaming and writhing in pain, vegas is smiling, his face is lit up with sadistic joy. but when pete smiles back, his face drops, gets stiff, there’s that angry tension behind that smile that says “you dare laugh at me”. it makes him angry, it makes him wanna give pete more, make him suffer more. and it plays in to pete’s hands. because pete can take it. bc more than any kind of joy or kick he gets from the pain, what will delight him more, is seeing the way he can get under vegas’ skin, and make him break just as much as he is breaking.
