So color me a little aggravated when Oliver decided to shut the Mailbox Grille down for a private dinner and dance date with Holly.
After a cooling off period, and with a little more thought, it became clear that in order for Oliver to completely put this chapter behind him, closure with Holly had to happen at the Mailbox Grille. By choosing the Mailbox Grille, Oliver closed the loop on the story that began there in the pilot.
It also did a neat little trick that I didn't notice until I went to write this post. So keep reading or you won't find out what clever thing Oliver did, which essentially amounts to creating a boundary between where he keeps life and where he keeps his treasures! That got you, didn't it?
In his explanation to Shane in "The Masterpiece" regarding ending their dance classes, Oliver revealed the reasons for taking them in the first place was because he thought his previous reluctance to do so contributed to “his wife’s overall dissatisfaction.” He was taking the lessons to fulfill Holly’s wishes and be prepared to dance with her when she came back. If this is the case, then Oliver deciding to reveal his dance prowess to Holly at the Grille in From Paris with Love was merely him following through, while simultaneously closing that chapter of his story.
If we accept that Oliver asked Shane to be his dance partner as part of his self-imposed obligation to take those dance classes he previously rejected, we shouldn't be surprise that he chose to end his obligatory partnership with Shane in the same place he started it. In fact, we should be grateful for it.
There is something very significant about his decision to end those dance classes with Shane early on, which eventually leads directly back to that moment in the Grille when Oliver danced with Holly for the first and last time.
The date of the showcase was he and Holly's anniversary, so choosing to cancel their dance prevented Oliver's relationship with Shane from "intersecting" in a significant way with his marriage. Oliver kept dancing with Shane separate from his obligation to Holly.
He also kept it in the Dead Letter Office. He left Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes,” the lyrics of which reflect Shane and Oliver’s push/pull relationship, and which Shane herself chose to be "their song." Oliver left the dance steps, but especially those dips, which have played such a key role in their own right. Remember Jordan and the Christmas film? We never saw Oliver more vigorously defend those dances steps than at the PostaBall, and nothing said "Remember between whom these steps belong" more definitively than when Oliver dipped Shane. Dancing is part of a language only Shane and Oliver speak, and only ever speak to each other. Oliver left all these important little details in the same place he keeps all his treasures. Am I saying he did this one purpose? Of course not. But the fact he seemed to do it subconsciously speaks volumes.
It wasn't until I realized this that I was actually glad he bailed on the showcase. Doing so defined a boundary for the kind of relationship he would build with Shane, and on what premises it would be built, completely free and clear of any Holly baggage.
But in order for the chapter to close for Shane, who is divinely weaved into Oliver's complicated world, she had to see it end with her own eyes, even if, at the time, she didn't know it was ending. It was her moment of resolution, too. She watched Oliver kiss Holly, and when it was revealed that it didn't change Holly's mind, it was definitive that he and Holly were through. Oliver knew this, and knew Shane would get the finality, which is why he made it a point to tell Shane on the porch.
As much as I wanted to pull Oliver aside and very kindly ask him if he lost his mind, it appears he's the clever one in all this. And, now that I've figured it out, I am, too.
And so are you, Postables, if you read this entire post!
Don't forget to come back later this week for #BlizzardTheory. Trust me, it's as mind-boggling and awesome as it sounds!
Much #POstable Love,
~C