Where’s Robin?

Earlier today, Robin Bengtsson dropped his video for Take A Chance on Me, which was filmed in London a few weeks ago.

I mean, the song mentions Robin in Leicester Square, so it looks like he went to Leicester Square! As well as a whole bunch of other places in the city.

Eurovision and transport guru Elainovision was on the analysis like a flash:

So while we’re not sure where Robin Bengtsson arrived at Leicester Square from, we can presume his way *back* looked something like this. pic.twitter.com/pjWeQOCO3z

— Who’s Your Daði? 🇱🇹🇮🇸 (@elainovision) March 3, 2020

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I didn’t get a chance to analyse it this afternoon, but as soon as I was done work, I sat down and looked at a shot by shot analysis of Robin Bengtsson’s London junket.

Let’s see if he used his time in the city wisely!

The video starts with some shots of the Underground system, including this establishing shot of…

Leicester Square station! (Of course! Also don’t ever, ever, ever try to find someone at Leicester Square.)

We then see Robin staring moodily at a body of water, which is….

…the Thames! Robin is actually on the north bank of the river along the Victoria Embankment, gazing across to the Royal Festival Hall (which is the building on his right.) It’s a short walk and pleasant walk from Leicester Square station, actually, so everything in the video makes continuity sense so far.

He then gets in an elevator because the lyrics require him to rise at some point in the song. And where is this lift?

It’s at the Heron Tower on Bishopsgate, near Liverpool Street station – a good choice for shots of rising, as it’s one of the tallest buildings in London. But how can identify it from this shot? The giveaway is the big neon sign behind him for Sushi Samba, located in the building.

Again, it’s a pleasant half hour walk from the Embankment, so maybe he’s just getting his broody pacing in.

We then return to the Underground, with a shot of a…

Piccadilly line train (you can tell by looking at the line diagram on the left hand side of the car, as it’s got the Heathrow loop), heading for…

…Piccadilly Circus station – a dead giveaway from the tiling. Robin will return to this station multiple times in the video. Look for the Eros sketched on the wall and the beautiful Travertine marble in the ticket hall. (Look, I’ve given tours of Piccadilly Circus station so let me get carried away here.)

But then we have a sudden jump cut to…

Oxford Circus station! Again, the tiling here is the giveaway, along with the ‘Central line’ sign in the background of the shot.

It’s easy to get from Liverpool Street to Oxford Circus and then Piccadilly Circus, but not the other way around, so at this point, our continuity is starting to fizzle, especially since our next shot is…

…Leicester Square, with the very strange Swiss-donated cuckoo clock in the background. You’ll see this as you make the walk from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square, so if we ignore the weird shot of Oxford Circus, we’ll have sort of returned to continuity.

Robin then goes back to Piccadilly Circus station (see that Eros) and then we get a shot of him riding on a train.

But wait –

See that grey thing in the background behind Robin? It’s the connector between carriages on a walkthrough S stock train – none of which call at Piccadilly Circus. So we can assume that Robin took the Bakerloo line down to Embankment and transferred there to the District – confirmed a minute later by:

…a clear shot of Robin on a sub-surface train.

Then we go back to locations we’ve already seen, until Robin surfaces on the street:

…And with the Hippodrome Casino in the background, it looks like Robin is at the intersection of Newport Place and Little Newport Street, about a block away from Leicester Square. The light is fading, so it looks like Robin has returned to Leicester Square to try to find the person he saw on the Underground, which is really a lousy idea.

But then he has a good idea – why not go to….

…the highly Instagrammable Covent Garden Infinity Chamber, a five minute walk from the Hippodrome Casino and total catnip for the type of basic bitches Robin Bengtsson is attracted to.

Blah blah blah – more shots of lifts and sub-surface trains and then we get a moody shot of Robin walking alone….

…on Meard Street in London, a ten minute walk from Covent Garden. (The identifying feature here is the Honest Burger sign on the right.)

Some quick cut shots of places we’ve already been before and suddenly…

…we find ourselves at Notting Hill Gate station, which Robin could have reached from Embankment or Oxford Circus, two places where we’ve already established his presence earlier in the day.

Robin spends a lot of time pacing up and down the platform lip syncing to his own song, and I get it. I do the exact same thing, just on the Jubilee line.

We now get more of Robin’s soulful journey into the dark, as he walks down…

…New Row in Covent Garden. Maybe he’s going to go to the Flight Centre to book trips to find this woman, because he’s doing a pretty awful job of finding her in London. Like, standing on a street corner outside….

…the Sondheim Theatre near Piccadilly Circus isn’t going to do you much good now, is it?

We then finally get proof that Robin has actually ridden a deep-tube train, as he’s looking mournful at…

…the end of a Central line carriage! (not Piccadilly line, sorry – should have known from the windows.)

With less than a minute to go in the song, Robin throws us a curveball, with a trip to…

…the Tate Modern?!?!? It’s south of the river, so if Robin wants to find that woman in Leicester Square, he is really, really lost.

But maybe he’s into museums, because the next place he ends up is…

…the Orange Street Congregational Church, which is right behind the National Gallery of Art. (Or maybe he’s going there to pray.)

His night ends with him…

…pulling into Paddington (again, an easy trip from either Notting Hill Gate or Embankment), looking sad and lonely.

So, on the whole, how do we rate Robin’s day in London?

Well, he took in some culture (Tate Modern), scenery (Thames River), hip(ish) dining (Sushi Samba), the West End (Les Miserables), Instagram Traps (Covent Garden), and the Lord’s house (Orange Street Congregational Church.) And he did so while experiencing at least four of London’s amazing Underground stations.

So cheer up, Robin – even if you don’t get the girl, it sounds like a jam-packed winner of a day for you!

OH – and Londoners – I’ve been trying to identify the following locations – so if you have any ideas, please tweet me @dudepoints and I’ll update this post!