As authors, we’re wordy people. We want to give you all the details. We want to tell you about every feeling the characters are experiencing, and we want you to be in on all the conversations they get to have. In Emily Henry’s book, the Norway hurt/comfort scene is my favorite between Poppy and Alex because both their walls are completely down. Poppy’s especially. Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation understandably condenses the scene a bit, but it still has all the bones to show us why this moment is so significant for their relationship.
These trips are never an escape for Alex, but he goes on them to spend time with Poppy, and that much is evident through Tom Blyth’s performance. He likes the version of himself that comes out around her, but more than that, he likes being with her. (And it’s what the balcony confession shows at the end of the day, too.) It’s all because he wants Poppy, through everything. So, when he chooses not to go to Norway and instead pounds on her door until she opens up, Alex shows us that he’d do anything and everything to ensure that she’s taken care of.
And even though it’s a brief scene, we still get a sense of the urgency in the quiet beats. We can see how shocked Poppy is because Emily Bader makes her feel so small in this moment that it’s clear she’s aware of how important Alex is. She’s aware of his sacrifice. She’s a little loopy because of the fever, but she’s still fully processing his actions. And with the way she tells him it’s her turn to take care of him when his back gives out in Barcelona, it’s apparent that Poppy has thought about actions frequently. In the time when they weren’t in each other’s lives, we can safely assume that she’s thought back to his gentle caretaking. (She’s definitely thought of the night in Tuscany, but I firmly believe this moment has also stayed with her.) She’s held onto how safe she’s felt with him and how it’s never been the same with anyone else.
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The addition of the hurt/comfort trope in any piece of media always does a prominent job of showing us how deeply people care when we’re in a state of fight or flight. If Poppy were just a really great friend, Alex would’ve gone to Norway. He’d maybe have someone else check in on her to ease his worries a bit. But she’s everything—she’s his person. Of course, he’d cancel the trip. Of course, he’d make her chicken noodle soup. Of course, he’d change all her sheets (in the book) and give her medicine while spending the whole week with her.
But here, where screen time is limited, what we see through the performances are two people who fill the space with all the unsaid words. We have two people who put actions behind their promises. Two people who show just how much they are, and the inclusion of the trope is one of the best ways to do so on a deeply human level. Because part of the details in the books is that Poppy really hates being alone in moments like this. She wants her mom, and she wants to be back in her childhood home in Linfield. She wants mismatched trinkets and to be away from all the millennial grey in her New York apartment. So when Alex shows up, it’s everything to her. She recognizes everything he’s doing for her, and her emotions are all palpable in the way she throws her arms around him.
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The fact of the matter is, more shows and movies need to take a note from romance authors and implement the hurt/confront trope as People We Meet on Vacation does in its adaptation. A large part of the relatability in these stories is that people are yearning for all the small ways another person can take care of them. It’s a simple, ordinary act, but it’s significant in what it says: I care about you. I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere. You’re not alone. And we’d be lying to ourselves if we said that those promises aren’t the things we’re all searching for in this world.
People We Meet on Vacation is now streaming on Netflix.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Netflix