In the twelfth and final episode of the first season of Yuri On Ice<\/i>, the Grand Prix brings surprises to everyone. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Yuri On Ice<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Wow. JUST\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 WOW.<\/p>\n
Retirement<\/b><\/p>\n
It took me until much later in the episode to understand Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motivation for telling Victor that he planned to retire after the Grand Prix. It seemed like such a silly thing to do, particularly given everything they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gone through as a pair. Yuri still had a chance at gold; Victor wanted to coach Yuri as long as possible. Even if Yuri didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t win, there was still so much potential<\/i> in them working together. So why stop? Why just give up? Look, I understood Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction more than the initial issue. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be pissed, too! It felt insulting<\/i>, you know? If Yuri brought out the best in Victor and vice versa, then retiring meant that Victor couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be his best with<\/i> Yuri at his side.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not until later that I recognized this as a (misguided) act of love. (Which is a repetitive theme in this season and ESPECIALLY this episode! So many decisions here are based on love!) Yuri believed that by keep Victor as his coach, he was taking away<\/i> Victor from the rest of the world. It echoes a sentiment that we saw in Christophe, for example, as well as a variation of what Yurio felt, too. Victor was the best in the world, and Yuri \u00e2\u20ac\u0153took\u00e2\u20ac\u009d him from the figure skating universe. Of course, Victor doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it that way, and it takes a very dramatic, pulse-pounding finale for these characters to fully understand one another.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n JJ<\/b><\/p>\n One aspect of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Final Skate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to see more is further details on many of these skaters. I imagine that JJ will return in season two, and if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, then I want to see if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll truly overcome his own doubts. I feel like his persona was a means to overcompensate for the lingering negativity he had of himself. If so, then how does he get past that? How does he manage the intense pressures he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always have because of the fanbase that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sprung up around him? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a glimpse of that in the second half of his free skate, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a long journey ahead of him, too.<\/p>\n Phichit<\/b><\/p>\n HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S JUST SUCH A PURE BUNDLE OF JOY, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. More so than all the other skaters, Phichit is simply overjoyed at the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream. He isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deterred by mistakes and actually manages a quad jump for the first time! He accomplished so very much in just one season, and I LOVE THAT HE GETS TO BE PROUD OF BEING THAI. Can he please get his ice show? I WANT THIS SO BADLY.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yuri<\/b><\/p>\n Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still<\/i> emotional thinking about what Yuri accomplished as well. There is such a beauty to the visuals of his free skate because it all calls back to the beginning of the show. Yuri got noticed for imitating Victor nearly a year prior, and look how far he has come<\/i>. This is no longer an imitation, though. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a love letter. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fullest expression of how he feels for Victor, for what Victor gave him, for what Victor means to him. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fitting, then, that after Yurio smashes Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short program record, Yuri does the same with the free skate. The two skaters who were mentored by Victor end up surpassing him. Is there anything more meaningful to Victor than that? What better way to show love and appreciation than skating better<\/i> than he ever has?<\/p>\n I WAS A MESS. VICTOR WAS GOING TO COME BACK AND HE WOULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DO IT WITHOUT YURI AND H E L P THIS IS MAKING ME FEEL EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Christophe<\/b><\/p>\n He underestimated everyone, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he? And then they started performing better than he did, and OH LORD, WAS HE EVER SURPRISED BY THAT. At least that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the sense I got from his free skate. He was distracted by how well Yuri performed, despite rumors that he was going to retire. Christophe assumed an easy win, and he ended up faltering because of it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Otabek<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think this is the last of him, either. Technically, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brilliant skater, but I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the sense of grandeur and drama from him as I do from the others. But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too good to just disappear. HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122LL BE BACK.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yurio<\/b><\/p>\n In a weird way, Yurio always wanted Yuri to be better<\/i>. I imagine that he simply couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom winning gold unless he had earned it the entire time. Thus, he viewed Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggles as a pathetic excuse, especially<\/i> once Victor started coaching him. So the idea that Yuri might win god and then just quit<\/i>, denying Yurio a chance to beat him again, was enough to give Yurio the motivation to do whatever it took to get that gold. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it was SO CLOSE. Once Yurio stumbled, it was entirely possible that Yuri might win it all. And what would come of that? The two paths spread out before these characters were both so intriguing! Would Yuri have chosen to keep skating if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d won? Would Yurio have dedicated his next season to beating both Yuri and<\/i> his free skate score? Because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly going to try for the latter anyway. Ah, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited!<\/p>\n The Choice<\/b><\/p>\n If I have anything to critique about the latter half of this show, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that I waited until the very end to see just how much Yuri On Ice<\/i> would confirm the Yuri\/Victor relationship. I feel<\/i> like they have, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also biased in this regard. Was the kiss enough? Was all the affection enough? Was the skating<\/i> enough? My worry is that someone could watch this and at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Final Skate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they would see this as nothing more than an intense, loving partnership between a coach and their athlete. So I kinda do<\/i> wish there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been more of an on-screen, direct way of saying that this was a romance. I say that because if these things aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stated outright, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much wiggle room for the default to be assumed and defended. I mean, this show is GGGGGAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had an absolute blast watching this develop. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a fan of not<\/i> beating around the bush. Just say<\/i> it. At this point, who would actually think this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> a romance? IT CLEARLY IS. But this shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprise y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I just want this shit spelled out so that no one can deny it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Love<\/b><\/p>\n Though it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t escape me that ultimately, Yuri On Ice<\/i> was about love. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an undeniable part of the narrative, and even in the closing credits, you can see it. That dual skate is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 WOW. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M A MESS AGAIN. Hello, bisexual flag colors? Hello reference to the opening credits? Hello to the callback to Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first trip to Russia?<\/p>\n I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait for season two. I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WAIT.<\/p>\n Thanks to all of you lovely, lovely people for joining me on this journey. Up next: seasons one and two of Galavant<\/i>!<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Final Skate – Gotta Super-Super-Supercharge it!!! Grand Prix Final Free Skate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the twelfth and final episode of the first season of Yuri On Ice, the Grand Prix brings surprises to everyone. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Yuri On Ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[684],"tags":[685],"class_list":["post-6882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yuri-on-ice","tag-mark-watches-yuri-on-ice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}