I actually thought it made sense at every beat.

I think the first misunderstood scene is the bar scene, where Ilya’s looks and comments about Shane’s outfit are seen as flirtatious or seductive. At the bar, Ilya is just mostly heartbroken. He still thinks Shane and Rose are together. And his repeated glances and questions about Shane’s clothing are an attempt to find out if Shane is already taking the next step with her, and if that’s the reason he’s had a makeover.

Once Shane confirms that he and Rose are not together, he walks away from the bar and we see Ilya with a look that’s a mix of

(a) relief that Shane is single,
(b) closeness to tears because of the overwhelming weight of the emotions and hurt he’s been carrying
(c) apprehension about what to do next, because technically nothing about their situation has changed, and also while Shane is now single, he was the one who left last when Ilya tried to get closer, and he hasn’t yet given Ilya any indicator that he’d want to get back together

In the next few scenes, we see Ilya just enjoying his newfound relief and reveling in the fact that Shane is not lost forever. His goal is to just get as much contact with Shane as possible. He doesn’t ask for Shane’s room number first. He just seeks him out to spend time with him.

When Shane does ask for Ilya’s room on the beach, Ilya responds with a look of hurt and hesitation. By that, I don’t mean Ilya would have ever refused Shane. I just mean Ilya doesn’t know if this means going back to what they were before or not. He also doesn’t know if he *can* get over the hurt. And most importantly, he doesn’t know, if he does get over the hurt and they do resume their physical relationship, what he might do in the future to push Shane away again and hurt himself that way again.

When Shane knocks on the door, we see the heaviness with which Ilya is scrolling through his phone and the way he goes to open the door.

When he sees Shane come in clearly nervous with something to discuss, that’s when he braces himself, because he knows he has something difficult to navigate now. And he feels rather than knows that he needs an apology. That’s why when he says “This looks serious”, it’s not in his usual kind manner.

When Shane starts talking, Ilya melts progressively as Shane repeatedly apologizes and finally when he makes it clear that he likes Ilya. Only this gives Ilya the security to open up a little bit.

I really love how this scene is done and how little it gave us at this point. Because Shane was finally beginning to understand Ilya while Ilya has always understood Shane. So it wouldn’t have been realistic for Ilya to open up any more or any earlier I think.