Before diving into the second episode, I want to talk about Babe and his emotional state. Actually, I always want to talk about Babe. He is my favourite character, after all. Babe isn’t doing so great this season, is he? They weren’t lying when they said that he would lose everything. They are going to take it all away from him. He has already lost his super senses. He has lost his first race of the season. He has also lost his peace of mind because of his nightmares about Way and (I’m guessing) it won’t be long until he loses Charlie as well. In this episode it became crystal clear that Willy is here not only to steal Babe’s title as the reigning champion but also to wreck his relationship with Charlie. During the bar scene, when Willy sidled up to Babe, he was acting with a particular purpose: to set Babe up and to start a chain of events that will eventually lead to Babe and Charlie’s break-up. That’s why he didn’t back down when Babe kept brushing him off and pushing him away again and again. If he was merely interested in Babe as a fan, he would take the hint and walk away. But Willy was on a mission and his mission was to produce evidence of Babe’s “cheating” that would make its way to Charlie. And let’s not mince words here: what Willy did to Babe in order to get what he came there for was straight-up sexual harassment. Unfortunately, Willy’s plan worked. Charlie saw the photo where Babe and Willy appeared to look very cosy together and assumed the worst. Of course, that happened soon after the scene where Babe was teasing Charlie about looking at someone else (Willy). That “evidence” completely undermined Charlie’s confidence in himself as well as in Babe’s faithfulness. However, when Babe came home, instead of addressing the issue using words (once Babe failed to mention the subject at all), Charlie proceeded to mark his territory. Literally. So, just like Babe, who failed to tell him about what was bothering him, Charlie failed to tell Babe what was bothering him. I’d also like to point out (if anyone missed it) that Babe wasn’t out to have fun that evening: he was alone in a quiet bar drinking with a very dark look on his face. It is clear that he has a lot on his mind and that he is struggling. Though he doesn’t say it, I’m sure that he is bothered by the fact that he lost his super powers – more so now that he has lost the race to Willy. He feels that he has become rusty and that he has to compensate for his lost senses by working even harder. He is determined to win the next race. Speaking about his super senses, Babe never resented the fact that Charlie, essentially, stole them. We can argue that he had done so with the best of intentions, but, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Babe never blamed or scolded Charlie for taking away his powers and he knows better than to wish them back, because the only way for him to have them back is for Charlie to die, which isn’t something that Babe can even stand to think about. Still, I believe that deep down he keenly feels their loss and how helpless he is without them. He used to be invincible – now he is completely powerless. He used to be the best – now he has been bested by a newbie. Of course, he would never mention it to Charlie, because that would imply that he wants his powers back. So, yeah, I think that does weigh on his mind quite a bit, though not because he wants his powers back, but simply because they had always been a part of him and now they’re gone. On top of which, now Babe has to deal with Willy. I don’t think that he realises at this point how much of a problem Willy is going to be. Right now he probably thinks that Willy is just a minor nuisance with an overinflated ego. Babe doesn’t know that Charlie knows about his encounter with Willy or that Charlie had seen the photo (and a text from Willy?) and interpreted it in his own way. I think that one of the reasons why Babe didn’t mention Willy is that he didn’t consider him significant enough to mention. He doesn’t realise the danger that’s coming from him, because he sees himself as someone invincible and that’s why he is often so reckless. He did mention his drinking, though, which, I assume still remains something of a problem. But Babe was so happy the next morning after their sexy times with Charlie, smiling and cooking and chatting about making holiday plans, completely unaware of Charlie’s dark thoughts, his pain, his doubts, his suspicions, his insecurities. Charlie made sure that Babe didn’t know about any of his true feelings by blindfolding him and kept up the pretence during breakfast. It would have been a perfect scene if it wasn’t so heartbreaking… I can only imagine that Babe’s emotional state will only get worse from here. From the preview it’s clear that Willy isn’t going to give up his harassment. In fact, I expect that he will be absolutely devastated once he realises what is happening.
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