To Receive a Kiss

[Ash]

For someone like Eli who had murdered thousands of people, our pool scene abhorrence is just a storm in a tea-cup.
As they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs (heads).
I still think she planned it.

[cmfireflies]

ooOOoo allow me to put on my manipulative Eli hat on for a second:

she decides to take Oskar along during the bed scene, she even tells him as much: "it'll be just you and me" none of the "I might not be here tomorrow" stuff. Lacke's little visit threw off her plan because seeing Oskar scared stiff at one little murder (and it was self-defense really) showed Eli that Oskar wasn't ready. So she "leaves" in a cab and flies back the next night. She watches Oskar for the perfect opportunity and deliberately kills off the bullies before rescuing Oskar. Ta-da, her love can now smile amidst bloody carnage. And they live happily ever after.

No, she didn't plan it, just because Eli couldn't have known that the bullies would attack at night. It was just a lucky coincidence.

[Ash]

No, she didn't plan it, just because Eli couldn't have known that the bullies would attack at night. It was just a lucky coincidence.

Yeh, more chance of the coincidence of me solving my Rubic's cube first go. Coincidences like these can happen in fiction, just don't look to close at the odds in the real world.
If Eli was following Oskar, it is more likely. Otherwise not very likely to have stumbled across the scene at that exact moment.
Either way, she made a mess so Oskar had to leave with her. Didn't just take him away as she could have. Mess = Oskar leaves. Eli knew that.

[sauvin]

ooOOoo allow me to put on my manipulative Eli hat on for a second:

she decides to take Oskar along during the bed scene, she even tells him as much: "it'll be just you and me" none of the "I might not be here tomorrow" stuff. Lacke's little visit threw off her plan because seeing Oskar scared stiff at one little murder (and it was self-defense really) showed Eli that Oskar wasn't ready. So she "leaves" in a cab and flies back the next night. She watches Oskar for the perfect opportunity and deliberately kills off the bullies before rescuing Oskar. Ta-da, her love can now smile amidst bloody carnage. And they live happily ever after.

No, she didn't plan it, just because Eli couldn't have known that the bullies would attack at night. It was just a lucky coincidence.

My idle entertainment in this vein doesn't necessarily require that Oskar be imperiled in any way. She also couldn't have foreseen Lacke's intrusion.

Remembering that she's only twelve mentally, and that her long experience (such as she might have retained across estivations or whatever) has probably taught her that even the most carefully laid plans are apt to fall apart, I'd spin a wild yarn by having her already deciding she'd want to take him with her on or shortly after the bedroom scene, but hadn't managed to put together the machinery for making it possible. What's the rush? She needed time to be sure about Oskar anyway, and probably recognised that Oskar, too, needed time - especially since she had to have dreaded having to tell him about herself.

If so, the clubhouse scene would have skewered her confidence anything's going to go anywhere, a confidence that would have been only partially restored when Oskar came back to confront her and wouldn't be fully restored until he'd acted in her defence when Lacke showed up.

After having killed Lacke, though, and realising she'd have to bolt before somebody else realises she poses a danger, she'd had to move fast. Maybe she felt she couldn't tell Oskar she'd had plans involving him, for whatever reason. Maybe she saw some wisdom in leaving him in the dark, possibly as a way of protecting him from an ensuing investigation - nobody can evince utter ignorance quite like the truly ignorant.

Anyway, as I've said, this is all just idle speculation. It's a reasonably plausible reconstruction in the absence of any hard evidence one way or another.

Another interpretation is that she'd had no plans at all, typical of a child her age, and just as typically found once she'd gotten to wherever she'd fled to that she couldn't bear to be away from him. If this is the case, it's not immediately clear to me why she'd have delayed contacting him after having returned unless she'd not been back in the area for very long and had just been waiting for a chance to catch him alone before asking him to run away with her.

[a_contemplative_life]

Actually, Eli told Conny et al. that she hated weaklings, too, and paid them to make their move that night. That's what REALLY happened.

[metoo]

Another interpretation is that she'd had no plans at all, typical of a child her age, and just as typically found once she'd gotten to wherever she'd fled to that she couldn't bear to be away from him. If this is the case, it's not immediately clear to me why she'd have delayed contacting him after having returned unless she'd not been back in the area for very long and had just been waiting for a chance to catch him alone before asking him to run away with her.

This is my favoured interpretation. No plans, just a lucky coincidence.

Remember that after the fact, the probability of even the most unlikely event becomes one. And authors write about events after the fact. So JAL wanted Eli to return at this very moment, and thus that is what happened, however unlikely it may seem.

[a_contemplative_life]

Another interpretation is that she'd had no plans at all, typical of a child her age, and just as typically found once she'd gotten to wherever she'd fled to that she couldn't bear to be away from him. If this is the case, it's not immediately clear to me why she'd have delayed contacting him after having returned unless she'd not been back in the area for very long and had just been waiting for a chance to catch him alone before asking him to run away with her.

This is my favoured interpretation. No plans, just a lucky coincidence.

Remember that after the fact, the probability of even the most unlikely event becomes one. And authors write about events after the fact. So JAL wanted Eli to return at this very moment, and thus that is what happened, however unlikely it may seem.

Agreed.

[metoo]

I have long thought that when Eli returned, he didn't have the aim to try to convince Oskar to go with him. I thought that he just couldn't be alone anymore, and gave up the attempt, disregarding the consequences. This would be impulsive, but not unlikely for a kid of twelve.

However, I have to admit that in the novel it is clear that the idea of turning Oskar had been cultivated by Eli for some time, for how long we cannot say. But it was expressed the same night he left, Eli asked Oskar if he might want to become like Eli. However, Oskar said no, and Eli dropped the question without really trying. So it isn't too far flung to think that Eli did return not only because he was heartbroken (like Oskar was), but with the explicit intent to make a better try to get Oskar on the train.

I think I will consider editing my fan fiction about this. I'll make an experiment, and see how it turns out.

[TigerEyes]

I have long thought that when Eli returned, he didn't have the aim to try to convince Oskar to go with him. I thought that he just couldn't be alone anymore, and gave up the attempt, disregarding the consequences. This would be impulsive, but not unlikely for a kid of twelve.

However, I have to admit that in the novel it is clear that the idea of turning Oskar had been cultivated by Eli for some time, for how long we cannot say. But it was expressed the same night he left, Eli asked Oskar if he might want to become like Eli. However, Oskar said no, and Eli dropped the question without really trying. So it isn't too far flung to think that Eli did return not only because he was heartbroken (like Oskar was), but with the explicit intent to make a better try to get Oskar on the train.

I think I will consider editing my fan fiction about this. I'll make an experiment, and see how it turns out.

I personally feel that not just Oskar that feels like his heart was intertwined with Eli's but Eli's heart was intertwined with his too. I've thought about the scene and wondered what Eli may have likely been doing between that time. More likely, he thought about it and decided he just can't leave Oskar either. It's clear he doesn't want to repeat the cycle as before by getting helpers. Because of Oskar, things have changed for Eli, so i don't see it as a manipulation, at least, not in a bad way or an intent to make him a blood getter. I've thought about what it's like to be in Eli's shoes.

I feel that he didn't come to the pool knowing that there's an attack, otherwise, he would have gotten in sooner and wouldn't asked for an invitation as in the novel. I also thought, what if Oskar had said no? I think it would killed Eli. But i knew he wouldn't because we already knew he was heartbroken with Eli leaving anyway and is happy he returned.

(Off topic) I would love to see the fanfic of yours to see how it can play out. I'm still trying to write how it would work out if Oskar and Eli(as) were human again together. I would like some additional ideas from anyone who can offer any.

(Back on topic)

Considering the kiss Oskar received, i don't think it's a manipulation for Oskar to procure blood. Would Eli have convinced Oskar to come with him before the pool? Most likely because Oskar did say he would like to be with him. Of course, there's a “but,” but that may have been about the turning. I can be wrong. It could mean he have no idea how they can leave together. What could have happened if they left together after the kiss in the balcony together instead of after the pool scene? We know the bullies would still be alive, but they will no longer have "piggy" to "Play with." Of course, JAL wanted his bullies to suffer, so he wanted the pool scene done before they could leave together. But just hypothetically, what if they left before the pool scene?

[drakkar]

Could the kiss scene in the film be the part of the novel when Eli shows Oskar how she sees him?

For a few seconds Oskar saw through Eli's eyes. And what he saw was ... himself. Only much better, more handsome, stronger than what he thought of himself. Seen with love.
For a few seconds.

Since other critical sections of the novel had also been snipped off (bad pun very much intended), I'm disinclined to think so. The movie as released, sans outtakes and deletia, doesn't give us any clue Eli has any projective ability.

Or maybe it is. In the be me a little scene, we see old Eli, and my interpretation is that we see Eli through Oskar's eyes, as much of the film is.
What happens afterwards could also hint towards this; Oskar sits stunned in the sofa as if he has received a h... of a chunk of information. Then, as if shrugging something off/made a decision, he put on the Per Gessle record. Eli also seems very cautious coming out from the shower, perhaps uncertain about how Oskar will react to him being a boy. Then Oskar breaks the ice, offering Eli his mother's clothes, and Eli complies with the happy little twirl. Oskar is peeking out of curiosity from already acquired knowledge.

And then, the parting kiss becomes the book parallel, ....seen with love. For a few seconds.