Bonnie and Bonnie: A Symphony of Shadows

终于写完了，但是完全没有再看一遍修改过，再加上有很大一部分是在从亚洲飞回来的长途飞机上写的，记忆可能非常不准确反正可能以后有空再看有时间再改。大约也没人看这个影评就是了所以也没什么动力改可能。

It may not have been destined from the start, at least that's my guess. But what do I really know? I'm not them.

The quintessential definition of paring

The world reaches its zenith when elements align in perfect pairs - sweet and salty, net and ball, peanut butter and jelly, breeze and summer night, sleep-in and early morning rain.

These pairings make the world wonderful but not quite exquisite. Oddly enough, true excellence only emerges from sprinkles of mismatches, serendipity, lots of pain, and inevitable losses. Pain, oh pain is as important, if not more so, than everything else.

And then there are these two

They are never the same. Ever.

One is impromptu, care-free, unpredictable, ruthless (at least most of the time), enigmatic, complimented with a distinctive sense of style and a penchant for luxury. The other is an office log (at least started as, and has long enough been one before they butted heads), caring about her life, husband and the chicken at home, resembling a perfectly normal person, messy hair (and oh she also doesn’t care), poorly dressed, but inquisitive and curious. They were about as unlike as two people could possibly be - but the former takes a keen interest in the latter.

Once you are interested, you are trapped, and you are the person about to lose a staring contest.

If their paths never crossed, both of them would have led happier, simpler lives but apart. They wouldn’t have known what they have missed out in their separate lives. However the ultimate goal in life is not necessarily happiness. We are all subconsciously drawn by danger, unknown, delicious temptations - I know i’d probably die from the pain but let me just try to touch the igneous stove with my hands and see what happens next. The place we most want to go is the abandoned carnival with a sign that reads “stop" hanging at the entrance. Watching the train hustle towards you through the tunnel, it takes so much effort not to just jump at it. It would create a perfect, strawberry jam-esque scene, which is undeniably thrilling.

Life itself is fundamentally, very strange. So are some people.

Pain and a perfect match

Sometimes the pain and sufferings are so addictive that you don’t want to get away from them. Don’t stop, won’t stop, can’t stop, you say. However for normal people, they will probably stop at some point. There is a mundane and ordinary life to see out, kids to bear, parents to care for and a house with mortgages to pay off. Once these are all dusted and done, it is the time for a normal death, like any other normal person.

But psychopaths are built different, and they can come from all walks of life, from all kinds of professions.

The laws, the basic moral code, and her responsibility as a law-enforcement officer - none of it matters at all when the inner psycho is woken by another peer, what is even better is that the peer is a perfect match to the level of psychopathy, and she is even worse. Oh sweet, sweet pairing and perfect match drives you nuts.

When did all start and where shall I even get started

I have been wondering about when this attraction and affection - can I even call it as affection ? - started with E developed for V when I was watching the show for the second time.

Many plots flew away from me and didn’t register much with my memory - here are my best attempts while disconnected from the internet, trapped in a plane.

There’s the first interaction of getting an uninvited suggestion on hair style - “wear it down”; and getting surprised with the handpicked, decent quality, perfectly fit clothes, snugged in a suitcase swapped with her own (I bet her husband won’t even care which size her dress is);

Being pointed with a gun by her, getting intimated but equally excited, gazing at her with horror and eagerness, and V fired the gun elsewhere then ducked out;

V forced her way into E’s apartment and “I just want to have dinner with you!” - knife pointing at E’s throat and they were for the first time that close. Heartbeat drummed hard and fast, the feeling that you are at danger and in the meanwhile some how you are not at real danger;

E meticulously observed V’s apartment and later on trashed it, forced the knife into her stomach, pulling it out, and shouting “oh god oh god what did I do oh god!!!”. Horror. Pure horror. Why did I hurt her and why did it hurt me more after that and her turning pale and bleeding is horrific!

How can I not talk about “the arrow” scene

And then that’s the time when V’s shot by an arrow. I’m still not sure if that was the first time E realised that she cared about her deeply and couldn’t bare the thought of V being hurt in any ways - I and only I can hurt her, no one else is ever allowed to.

The devastating expression on her face when she’s locked inside of the car, helplessly watching the attacking of a sweetheart unfold. Neither was I too sure at the moment whether E understood why she’s aching that much seeing the pain inflicted onto V, and why there’s caring feeling towards a psychopath, serial killer, murderer of multiple close friends of her. Just so happens that It was perhaps the first time that V showed vulnerability to her. Quite a few viewers have voted the scene where E was taking care of V, helping her dress up while looking at her with much pain, caring and sympathy as the best shot and directed among all four seasons. I’d say I totally agree with it.

She’s wounded both physically (by the arrow) and mentally (by E getting a troop capturing her and throwing her into the jail - lock her up and I will be fine!) It was also the time where V has exposed most of her skin, bare chest facing E who didn’t dare to shift the focus on her face to elsewhere until started buttoning her up. Oh has she seen it all by now - we all wonder.

There are definitely more interactions between them and I just totally forgot or they didn’t lodge with my memory. For the last bit I wanted to jump straight up to the last episode of the last season.

The death and the end

Two moments jumped right at me:

Firstly,

On the cruise, it seemed like the first time they ever “operated on the field” together and that’s the first time when E had a peak into how V plotted any attack, and “distract them” V said to E after initiated a semi-intense, sort of intimate, full-on in a hurried kiss. I like this part probably to the same extent as the arrow caring and staring scene just because we have seen V kill all sorts of people in all sorts of ways by herself alone as an outsider but never had a peek into how it was thought through and collaborated with another person who is no other than an equal psycho partner in crime.

Secondly,

She embraced and kissed like she knew she was going to die. I know the creators of the season 4 were already sentenced to death by a million times by the loyal viewers, but the death of V is inevitable. She has never changed but she definitely catalysed a transformation in E. Over this cat and mouse journey E realised who she is and what she is made of. A perfect pair does not exist in this world hence one of the two must meet her end. They might be the perfect “Bonnie and Bonnie” on the road but never can form an ordinary family. This reality leads to the realistic ending which is V must die. They can be separated by death but they must not end up in a boring life, breaking up from arguing whose turn it is to pick up their dog’s poo.

Ultimately, if given the choice 10,000 times over, I will choose to witness the brightest fireworks illuminating the sky for merely 10 seconds than anything else.

They crossed paths, she shone, and forever altering another’s life. That is enough for me.