We Are Who We Are: Season 1 Episode 3 "Right Here Right Now III" Review & Recap
After spending both Episodes 1 and 2 from Fraser and Caitlin’s individual perspective, the third instalment of Guadagnino’s HBO Series “We Are Who We Are” starts with the imagery of Fraser and Caitlin together lying on a boat in the sun. The dual representation of both Fraser and Caitlin give a foreshadow of the episode’s perspective, flashing back and forth between the two protagonist characters in the third episode.
Fraser and Caitlin discuss what it means to be transgender in Season 1, Episode 3.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
As the episode begins, we see the seeds of Fraser and Caitlin’s friendship grow, they begin spending more time together discussing topics together like the subject of poetry and Fraser and Caitlin’s vastly different perspectives. Fraser identified as a clean freak is constantly put on edge with Caitlin’s lack of regard towards orderly objects. They challenge each other in a refreshing way, almost in a way that lets audiences know, they know each other better than anyone else they have let into their lives up to this point.
We see that Caitlin and her boyfriend, Sam, break up at the beginning of the episode, not entirely affected by her boyfriend’s rejection, after watching how Caitlin has progressed in the past few episodes, the break up seemed inevitable. When Caitlin is confronted by Britney about the breakup , she is asked whether or not she has ever been in love with anyone. The concept of love is understood to be foreign to Caitlin whether or not she can admit it or not. Feeling rejected recently by Caitlin’s lack of willingness to hang out with their old group of friends, Britney asks if she is ditching them, leaving them to spend more time with Fraser. We can see that she is pulling away from her old, predictable life, willing to explore her new self where she feels safer with Fraser, in his company.
As Fraser and Caitlin lie in bed together, they discuss the concepts of gender, what it means to be male and female and the socially constructed ideology surrounding the term in our culture. We identify as male or female from the time of birth based on how we are raised. Fraser then compares the idea of being transgender to a “fever.” It’s a symptom, a revolution happening inside of you where you are able to break the mold and discover who you are meant to be. The small but powerful scene in the bedroom with Fraser and Caitlin circle around the subject matter of the show and what it is perceived to be about.
In a scene with Caitlin joins Fraser and his family for dinner, we again see the blatant dysfunction between the Fraser and his mother, Sarah. As the dinner ends, we see two different versions of the night ending. The first, we follow Caitlin home where she is confronted by her father for being negligent about his family’s property, the boat that Fraser and her took out that morning. As he leads her away from the house, we can hear the fight from Fraser’s home. We flash back where we see Fraser again hurt his mother, Sarah, grabbing her hair yelling that he hates her. The frustration within Fraser is evident, un-happy and unaccepting of the norms in society, he lashes out the aggression on his mother. The dynamic between the family again shifts as Maggie has to once again act as a peace keeper between the mother and son. Sarah outlines the source of her frustration citing the dysfunction in their relationship comes from her dual roles as parents, having to play the mother and father.
Similar to flashes in Episode 2, the third episode focuses on the on-coming 2016 election. In sporadic scenes on the military base, we see the Presidential Debates between Trump and Clinton. While the subject of the election is never explicitly stated, we can feel the tension in the threads of the show, weaving in and out of tone, playing a minor character in the backdrop of the series.
The second half of the episode focuses on the annual and popular Chiogga Festival where we see Caitlin and Fraser attend along with Maggie and some of the other parents. As Caitlin and Fraser line opposite sides of the street festival than their friends, we see the visible shift, retreating further away from Caitlin’s old life and investing further into the discovery of her new life. The more that Fraser and Caitlin spend time together, the most the question each other, calling out the sexuality they see in each other. When Caitlin asks Fraser about his crush on one of the Commanders in his mother’s ranks, he dismisses her conjecture saying “just because my mom’s a lesbian, doesn’t mean that I am gay.” The line of dialogue alludes to Fraser’s frustrations with his mother, seeming to be the reason that he picks fights with her. Fraser believes that his mother’s identity prevents him from fully embracing his own for fear of public perception.
As the third episode ends, we watch Sarah dancing at the festival with one of her Commanders, Jonathon, and the source of Fraser’s crush. As he watches on from afar, we can see the disgust evident and clear on his face, tears forming in his eyes as he watches on. Fuelling Fraser’s continued hatred and annoyance with his mother’s actions, we are bracing ourselves for the eventual impact in the later episodes. The small glimpses into each perspective keep audiences engaged. While we are still searching for the meaning on the entire show, Guadagnino has made it clear, that like our own gender constructs, the series is open for interpretation.