The Favorites

“Since my very first juvenile competition, I’d worn my mother’s Art Deco engagement band as a good luck charm. When I was small, it hung on a gold chain around my neck. By sixteen, the ring fit my middle finger—and I’d started keeping it on my person at all times.”

Kat’s mother’s engagement ring is the only lasting connection she has with her mother, and growing up, she wears it as a good luck charm. However, she sells this ring with no regrets or hesitation to finance her and Heath’s training program at Sheila’s academy. This ring, and Kat’s easy parting with it, is symbolic of how Kat prioritizes her dreams over her relationships. It also foreshadows how Kat will lose important relationships in her life as she pays The Cost of Ambition.

“They looked at Kat Shaw and saw white trash, and they looked at Heath Rocha and saw a foreigner. Never mind that he was as American as any of those snobby-ass judges.”

Ellis Dean comments on the preconceived notions that awaited Kat and Heath when they began their professional journey. Ellis is one of the few voices in the story who honestly calls out the elitism and politicking in the sport, illustrated by his down-to-earth tone and straightforward language. Through Ellis’s opinions, offered throughout the documentary-style narrative, Fargo offers an honest glimpse of the darker side of elite sport.

“Now I look back and think: maybe if I hadn’t been so caught up in my fantasies of being Sheila Lin’s star pupil, I would have seen Heath’s reticence for what it really was. Yes, he was used to change. He was used to loss. He was also used to anything that seemed too good to be true—anything that seemed good at all—being ripped from his grasp as soon as he touched it. No wonder he held on to me so tightly.”

Because she is narrating from a point in the future, looking back at events, Kat can offer a retrospective take on Heath’s reticence when they first joined the academy. A mature and wiser Kat is now able to see the root of Heath’s insecurities surrounding Kat and her closeness to the Lins. This passage also outlines the amount of pressure that Heath inadvertently places on Kat within their relationship, expecting her to fulfill all his emotional needs in place of a family.

“That was the whole idea for the summer intensive. My mother wanted to motivate us, to surround us with world-class skaters and coaches and specialists, to give us everything we needed to become the best. […] But she also wanted to remind us how easily we could be replaced.”

Garrett sheds light on Sheila’s real motivation for introducing a summer training program: to both pressure and motivate them into performance. Garrett is most susceptible to this pressure, especially since it comes from both his successful mother and his sister. For Garrett, the pressure weighs heavier than the others, even causing him to hide an essential part of who he is from his family: his sexual orientation.

“The Lins moved through the world with such ease, getting whatever they wanted without having to struggle or strive or even ask. When I was with them, I felt caught in a slipstream. Sticking close would take me where I wanted to go. As long as I stayed a step behind.”

Kat reflects on how she realized that the Lins would guide her to success. She is aware of the huge gap between her own upbringing and the privileged lives of the Lins; while Hearth is daunted by and resentful of this, Kat sees it as an opportunity to advance through proximity to them. At this point in the story, Kat turns increasingly calculating and manipulative, willing to use people and relationships for her ambition without much thought regarding their feelings and desires. Alongside her growing closeness to the Lins, she inadvertently distances herself from a possessive Heath.

“With Bella, I didn’t have to explain. She felt the exact same ache. And that meant she knew me in a way Heath, despite all our history, never could.”

Kat feels increasingly closer to Bella in a way she never has with Heath. Kat and Bella’s relationship, just like Kat and Heath’s, outlines The Complexity of Relationships Formed Under Pressure. Kat and Bella are kindred spirits in the kind and intensity of ambition they feel. They understand each other perfectly, and their competitive ambitions bring them close despite their differing backgrounds, later allowing them to understand and forgive each other for the betrayal and hurt they introduce into their dynamic.

“Of all the skating disciplines, ice dance is the most invested in traditional gender roles. Even skaters who are clearly queer are expected to pretend like they’re into their partners—on the ice, and sometimes off the ice too. Audiences love a love story.”

One of the interviewees, the journalist Inez Acton, reflects on the gendered and heteronormative nature of ice dancing. This, along with the pressures of being Sheila’s son, is one of the reasons why Garrett felt pressured to keep his sexuality a secret: A huge part of his marketability as a successful ice-dance partner came from his perceived desirability to young girls and women. He believed that he would damage both his marketability and the Lin legacy if he were openly gay.

“Ellis shrugged. ‘When I started out, I did. But at some point, you’ve got to be realistic. So here’s my question for you: do you think you can get to that level skating with Heath?’ I could have hesitated. Pretended to consider. I could even have lied. Instead I looked Ellis right in the eyes, and I told the truth. ‘No. I can’t.’”

Kat admits to Ellis that she doesn’t believe Heath can help her get to the next level within the sport; this is the conversation that Heath overhears before he runs away and disappears for three years. Fargo borrows this moment from Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: In the classic, Heathcliff overhears Nelly Dean advising Catherine against marrying Heathcliff because of his social status, despite Catherine’s love for him; following this, Heathcliff flees the house and only returns three years later.

“Garrett had never known me as Kat Shaw from Nowhere, Illinois. I could leave her behind, as abruptly and heartlessly as Heath had left me. With Heath, I could be myself. But with Garrett, I could be someone better.”

After Heath’s disappearance, Kat decides to partner with Garrett after all, and part of the appeal is the opportunity to reinvent herself. Kat’s self-worth and happiness are entirely tied up in winning; additionally, in her early years, she did not believe that her background and upbringing primed her for victory. Thus, in shedding her old self and reinventing herself completely, Kat believes that she is giving herself the best chance of achieving her dream.

“As the national anthem played, I rested one hand over my heart and the other over the medal, trying to ground myself through deep breaths and the cool sensation of the gold against my palm. Not real gold, only plated silver. Scratch it hard enough, the finish would come right off.”

Kat receives her first gold medal at the Nationals and reflects on how, if she scratched the medal hard enough, the shine would come off. This reflection is symbolic of how the thrill of victory does not last forever; eventually, it dulls, leaving one to keep chasing more success again and again.

“Her betrayal stung, but his was worse. Because Heath hadn’t simply improved since leaving me—he’d transformed. He wasn’t the same skater he’d been when we were together. He was the skater I’d always dreamed of him becoming. His love for me hadn’t been motivation enough to reach his full potential. His hatred, though? That made him capable of anything.”

Kat feels betrayed by Heath’s return and partnership with Bella. Significantly, she is less bothered by Bella’s actions than she is by Heath’s. As ambitious as she is, Kat understands Bella’s ploy for victory by whatever means possible. What she is hurt by is that Heath’s love for her was not strong enough to motivate him to be a better skater, which is all she had wanted all along. Even in her moments of heartbreak, Kat’s pain stems from her ambition.

“Now I know Garrett better, and I understand what he was trying to tell me: the Sheila Lin I idolized wasn’t real. She was a carefully constructed character, a beautiful mask not even her own children could glimpse behind.”

Kat reflects on how Garrett’s hints about his mother were meant to alert her to the difference between Sheila’s public and private personas, highlighting the theme of The Gap Between Public Perception and Private Lives. Although Sheila presented a facade of elitism and power, her beginnings were not very different from Kat’s. Unlike Kat, however, no one except Sheila was privy to the truth about her real self; she maintained the persona around every person in her life, including her children, ultimately leaving her lonely.

“All that guilt eating me alive every minute of the day, and it still felt like a welcome reprieve from the pressure I’d been under. How messed up is that?”

Garrett reflects on how it ultimately felt like a relief that he was not selected for the Olympic team because of Kat’s accident. Once again, Garrett offers a glimpse of what it felt like to grow up as Sheila’s son: He had no option but to ice dance, given her legacy; he also had no option but to succeed, as failure would be the deepest of disappointments. Being given an automatic out from performing was a welcome relief from the pressures he constantly lived with, and with his question at the end, Garrett highlights how he felt guilty at his relief, a reaction that shows how complicated his relationship with the sport is.

“‘Your friendship means so much to me, Kat.’

‘More than winning?’ I asked. I just wanted to see if she would lie.

Bella met my eyes without hesitation. ‘Of course not.’

[…] There she was—my cutthroat, ambitious best friend.”

Bella visits Kat while she recovers from an injury and convinces her to return. This exchange between the two women sheds light on the complex relationship: They are unfailingly honest with each other, even about their deepest desires, because no one else but the other understands that winning takes priority over all else. Ironically, this shared understanding about why relationships must come second to their sport is precisely what allows for a strong, unshakable bond between the two.

“I smiled and laughed when I was supposed to, and tried not to think about how Heath’s distraction could have lost us points, maybe even cost us the title. I kept my hand hooked around his elbow, so the ring stayed visible in every picture. I answered question after question. None of them were about our performance.”

Kat is disturbed by Heath’s unexpected and very public proposal, but her thoughts reveal her priorities: They are not about their relationship but about the impact of this engagement on their performance and, subsequently, her career. Although Kat and Heath have parted and reconciled once already, at this stage in her journey, Kat continues to prioritize ambition over all else. Once again, she does not recognize the high cost she will have to pay for this focus.

“After so many years of performing intimacy for all the world to see, the fire between us had guttered out. And I had no idea how to reignite it.”

Kat reflects on how, despite the entire world being obsessed with Kat and Heath’s public displays of affection for each other, their love life has petered out in private. The difference between Kat and Heath’s public persona as a couple and the reality of their relationship in private is one of the biggest examples of the disparity between public perception and private lives in the book. Kat uses the metaphor of fire to illustrate both the initial intensity of their relationship and its fragile, lackluster presence now.

“Kat Shaw shredded that script and set it on fire. I looked at her and thought: that’s the kind of woman I wish I could be. I know I wasn’t the only one.”

Inez Acton, the journalist, describes how Kat lashing out at her for asking questions about Kat’s relationship rather than her career was an inspiring moment. Kat frequently rejects the norms surrounding female athletes and sheds light on the problematic ways in which they’re perceived and treated with her blunt and unapologetic responses. Her insistence on redirecting the conversation to her accomplishments rather than her relationship is one such example.

“She couldn’t remember the name of the man who’d fathered her children, but she knew exactly how many Olympic golds he’d won. To Sheila, he’d merely been a means to an end. That’s what the twins were to her, too—a means to extend her legacy, to keep winning when she could no longer compete herself. And look what it had done to them: Garrett, burying his true self to protect the family brand. Bella, willing to betray anyone to gain the upper hand, no matter the damage she left in her wake.”

When Kat realizes the lengths to which Sheila has gone to protect and enhance her legacy, she finally comes face-to-face with the true cost of ambition: human connection and relationships. This total lack of concern for her relationships is highlighted by her perception of the twins’ father as “a means to an end.” Kat sees how Sheila’s single-minded focus on winning has not only left her feeling lonely but also had negative impacts on her children’s self-worth. This is a pivotal moment in the story, as it is when Kat decides to step away from the toxicity that comes with the intense competitiveness of elite sport.

“Finally, I located the card, tucked between the stems. As I pulled it out, a thorn nicked my fingertip, drawing blood. I stuck my finger in my mouth as I read the message. Two words. No signature. Welcome back.”

Kat receives yellow roses alongside an anonymous card welcoming her back when she returns to Los Angeles. Although this seems like an innocent and admiring gesture, Kat pricking her finger on the thorn serves as an instance of foreshadowing: The roses have been sent by Francesca, who will use these flowers time and again to sabotage Kat and Heath at the Olympics and snatch away their win.

“Working with Bella felt less like being coached and more like a collaboration among equals—although sometimes I felt like the least crucial member of the team. Bella called the shots, Heath selected the music and created all our choreography. All I did was skate.”

When Kat returns to the sport one last time, she experiences an entirely new dynamic with Bella and Heath. Devoid of the earlier pressures of competing with each other or expectations from a romantic relationship, the dynamics between Kat, Bella, and Heath uncomplicate themselves; they are finally able to operate as friends and equals, united in pursuit of the same goal.

“I fell into bed sometime around four, but I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Francesca Gaskell’s Disney-princess face gazing up at the American flag. Maybe we’d made a mistake, trying to come back. Maybe we were too old, too tired.”

After watching the Grand Prix Final in December, Kat is unable to sleep, contemplating whether her and Heath’s return to the sport is a mistake. This is an instance of both irony and foreshadowing: Kat views Francesca as a “Disney princess,” sweet and innocent. However, she is later revealed to be their antagonist, the one who sabotages Kat and Heath’s Olympic chances.

“‘There are lots of different kinds of love.’ Love like a steady, warming campfire that keeps you alive in the cold. Love like a raging blaze that burns down everything in its path until nothing but ash remains.”

Kat and Bella discuss different kinds of love as Kat checks on Bella in the hospital. Kat again uses the metaphor of fire to describe the love she shares with Heath—a fire that keeps one warm and alive in the cold but can also burn everything down in a different instance. Born out of deep, mutual need, Kat and Heath’s love for each other is so intense that it has indeed threatened to destroy each other at different times in their lives.

“Happiness couldn’t be won. It couldn’t be hung around our necks while a crowd of thousands cheered. It wasn’t a prize, something we had to suffer and toil to earn. If we wanted happiness, we had to create it ourselves. Not in one shining moment on a medal stand, but every single day, over and over again.”

Kat reflects on the need to disconnect happiness and contentment from competitive victory when she realizes the lengths that Francesca has gone to for victory. This realization completes her character arc and is a culmination of the experiences she has had throughout her professional journey, and it allows her to feel sympathy rather than anger toward Francesca. An older, wiser Kat has finally reached a point in her life where she sees that only she is responsible for her own happiness—not her skating partner or the medals he may be able to help her win.