What do you think of Sasha and Payson as a couple on the show?
I love them.
Honestly Payson put a lot of trust into him when he said to her she’d have to start her gymnastics career practically from scratch, and he helped her on her journey to becoming an artist gymnast rather than the power gymnast she once was.
Sasha is very kissable and I understand why Payson kissed him, you work with somebody for that long in such close proximity, it’s almost as if it’s a right of passage. The relationship between a gymnast and her coach is incredibly strong as it is, but especially in Payson’s case, since she had to start all over.
Also, he knew she wasn’t ready when she tried to petition onto the team in France. He all but begged her not to do it because he was afraid she’d hurt herself trying to be the power gymnast she once was before she fell and broke her back. He knows her better than she knows herself.
He went to ballet lessons with her to help her with her fundamental training. He took her to see the ballet to help her understand the art behind gymnastics and behind any kind of artistic piece. He helped her train even though the NGO said he wasn’t to train any of the girls. Even though Payson’s father was against it at first, they rented out a gym space for them to use and Sasha helped her train away from the Rock.
He stormed the World trials demanding the NGO see what Payson can do because he believed in her, because he knew that she was ready for this. Not like in France when she thought she was ready, he knows she’s ready and would never set her up for failure.
She went to Romania on a detour instead of going to the meet in Hungary and refused to leave the bar he was working at until he came with her. He refused to leave, so she gave him back the medal.
“When you gave this to me to hold, it represented something special. Not just athletic triumph but everything I believed you stood for: courage; strength; kindness; perseverance; and never ever giving up. Now when I look at it all I can see is a quitter. You quit on me, you quit on the Rock, you quit on everybody. So here, I don’t want it any more.”
She gave it back to him because she believed he didn’t believe in her or her team mates enough to come back. She thought it was a misrepresentation of the person he’d become and she didn’t want to be associated with someone like the person he’d become. She wanted to be like the old Sasha. The one who taught her to follow her dreams, to keep pushing on, to never give up. And he realised when she’d left that she was right. So he stopped being a coward and he listened to Payson Keeler and went back to training the girls NGO be damned.
So yeah, I love them. :}