Winning silver was the best possible outcome for Yuuri Katsuki’s narrative arc.

iwritevictuuri:

I know this is an unpopular opinion in a lot of circles, and he was hella underscored in the GPF short program. It wasn’t pulled off in the smoothest way. But I feel super strongly that winning gold would not have been as narratively impactful as silver, and here’s why.

When we first meet Yuuri, he’s a complete fucking wreck because he got to the GPF and came in 6th place. His anxiety and his perfectionism whispered to him that he only had one chance to go for glory, and that there were only two outcomes: either he met the crushingly high and impossible expectations he set for himself, or he was an abject failure. When you have Imposter Syndrome, you are always waiting for the moment when the jig is up—when the world around you finally catches on that you’re a loser, and have been all along. Of course, the rest of the world sees an incredibly talented if a little nervous skater who has had a kickass career up to that point. They see him as the sixth best skater on the planet. Yuuri, in Episode One, sees himself as the worst, period.

Yuuri’s growth throughout the arc of Yuri on Ice is about confidence and understanding how his anxiety has warped his perspective in the past. With Victor by his side, he learns how to own his successes and realizes that the people around him see an entirely different Yuuri Katsuki than he does, and that the two are in fact one and the same. He is accomplished and successful and talented, even if he does have anxiety. Part of that acceptance of who you are, and part of learning to be successful and work with your anxiety, is the acceptance that your absolute best is genuinely good enough. Yuuri winning silver is that arc coming to a close; he didn’t win gold, but he’s so proud of himself, so happy, so motivated to keep going because now he understands that this isn’t his last chance. He hasn’t put himself under that pressure the way he did last time.

Anyway. I don’t think it was done as smoothly as it could have been, but that’s my two cents. I’ve always liked that he won silver in the end.