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Act 4, Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If We Were Villains, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Free Will
Identity and Disguise
Love and Sexuality
Theatre and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
Oliver spends the Christmas of 1997 at home in Ohio, but he decides to leave after his family has a massive fight over Caroline flushing her food down the toilet. Leah cries and tries to stop him from leaving, but Oliver flees the house despite his guilt at leaving her behind. He takes a cab to the bus station, calls Meredith, takes a train to New York City, and makes his way to her apartment on the Upper East Side. She and her older brother Caleb are the only ones there. Oliver finds the décor chic and cold, and even Meredith’s room feels devoid of personality—except for her many photos of their friends. For the first time, Oliver realizes the extent of Meredith’s loneliness.
Again, Oliver doesn’t have much patience for his family. Leah seems to need him there, but he leaves her behind anyway. All in all, he acts like a different version of himself when he’s at home, which echoes Richard’s criticism of him in suggesting that his friendly, “nice guy” schtick might not align with Oliver’s true character. Meredith’s home also contradicts her warm and confident Dellecher persona; she’s a lonely young woman, not a fiery temptress. The scene points yet again to the idea that archetypes and typecasts cannot adequately convey the truth of a human personality.
Themes
On New Year’s Eve, Oliver and Meredith go to Times Square and drink champagne in the street. They kiss at midnight and wander the city for a while before returning to the apartment and having sex. Oliver expects to think of Richard afterward, but instead he thinks of James. They spend the rest of the break exploring the city’s bookstores and cafés and having sex at night. They talk about post-graduation plans, realizing that graduation is approaching quickly. Oliver imagines that all of the fourth-years will end up moving to the city after graduation and that they can rent an apartment together, but Meredith points out that it wouldn’t be the same as living in the Castle used to be. When they get back to Dellecher, Oliver realizes that he’s still jealous of James and Wren, and he seeks solace in Meredith.
Oliver is used to feeling guilty after having sex with Meredith, but this time the source of his guilt has shifted—his thoughts of James indicate that he feels like he’s betraying him somehow by having sex with Meredith, or by being in New York when James gets lonely during breaks, too. This scene is the first time the fourth-years seem to think of life after and outside of Dellecher, and for once, there’s optimism on the horizon. Once they’re back at Dellecher, though, everything comes rushing back, and Oliver finds himself dragged back into his darker, more obsessive emotions. In this way, Dellecher seems to become a corruptive force for the fourth-years, too.
Themes
