Killjoys + Snowflake Challenge, days 2-5

[hamsterwoman]

An assortment of fannish things!

1) fandom_stocking extended its deadline to Wed, 1/11. I am usually impatient to see all the goodies revealed, but this year I'm greatly relieved, because between the stockings going up pretty late, crazy work, holiday, and feeling sick, I haven't actually managed to do anything yet, beyond browse and take notes,

Comments

[egelantier]

hooray, a writeup! johnny is absolutely my favorite too - if there's a character tailor-made for me, it's him, with his cheerful martyrdom and practicality and surprise badassery and easy, unshakeable, solid trust in dutch. s2 shakes it up some - it's sadder, overall - but also adds a lot of layers, and i'm very interested in how you see it. and i love dutch, but i realize that i love her in conjunction with johnny, within the structure of their relationship.

(d'avin i was very annoyed with for a very long time, until i realized that the show isn't peddling D'avin The Manly Dude to me, it's quite aware of D'avin The Human Disaster. in this light he's kinda adorable, poor asshole).

i also really really appreciate the way this show is made structure-wise - pretty much EVERY thing i initially took for a filler ended up being nothing like; it all comes together very, very satisfactorily. and yeah, the structures are all fucked up; it's on the human level where good things happen.

i also really love alvis and his conmannery revolutionary way, this mix of sly hypocrisy and absolutely bonafide worship and service; especially, once again, in conjunction with johnny and the whole johnny-as-possible-scarback routine.

(i totally cried in the final royale scene, with the bombing; i mean, i held on pretty well, and then there was this dancing elderly couple, and that's just UNFAIR).

and delle seyah! oh my god. by the way, don't miss it, rachelmanija wrote 10k of sizzling dubcon (of 'I'M NOT ENJOYING IT ah well i'm kind of enjoying it" variety) delle seyah/dutch fic that's not to be missed.

if you go for ginn hale, start with wicked gentlemen - rifter is technically a much better book, but this one is more... idk. enjoyable? compelling? iddy? i still love it best out of everything they wrote.

[hamsterwoman]

Are there people whose favorite Johnny isn't, and what is wrong with them if so? :D (He is not even the type of character I normally fall for -- I would've expected D'avin to be more my type, probably, because I tend to have a thing for stoically fucked-up soldier boys, but Johnny just... he is such a treasure, with his taking care of everyone and, as you say, cheerful martyrdom, exactly.

until i realized that the show isn't peddling D'avin The Manly Dude to me, it's quite aware of D'avin The Human Disaster.

I was apprehensive about that, especially D'av and Dutch UST early on (incidentally, one of the things I was pleasantly surprised by in the show is how readily the principals are shown sleeping with random people and it's not a big deal or a plot point, it's just, you know, of similar moral value to getting drunk -- something to do to take the edge off; IDK, maybe this is an artefact of watching a show that's not 20 years old for once, but I found it refreshing) -- anyway, I was apprehensive about D'av at first, too, especially in the context of having a female lead, but, yeah, it's not D'avin the Manly Dude, it's definitely D'avin the Human Disaster the show is interested in. I was actually most reassured by the way he acted after he and Dutch slept together (even though I would've still preferred that not to have been a thing), because I definitely could not take him seriously as a Manly Dude after the naked high five.

pretty much EVERY thing i initially took for a filler ended up being nothing like;

Yees, I was impressed with how seemingly episodic things like the gene bomb came back, and how the apparent "guess you're not in trouble with the RAC after all" resets were actually Khlyen smoothing the way behind the scenes, and Red 17 of course. It's very cleverly pieced together!

i also really love alvis and his conmannery revolutionary way, this mix of sly hypocrisy and absolutely bonafide worship and service

He is starting to really win me over in the last couple of episodes, especially the bit with the prayer beads at the very end. And, yes, as a foil for Johnny's martyrly tendencies, too -- and I loved the scene where Johnny successfully impersonated a scarback for the Rat King and then had to come back and be like, "But get hear a real blessing! or a doctor!" because he couldn't stand lying about that, and especially the Rat King's response.

and then there was this dancing elderly couple, and that's just UNFAIR

I completely agree on the unfairness of that final straw!

I'm sad but unsurprised to her that season 2 is sadder, but will definitely report back!

Oh, and rachelmanija's Delle Seyah/Dutch fic is definitely on my list to check out! (When I'm done with season 2, because I imagine I will need something to tide me over until s3 starts airing...)

And thank you re: the Ginn Hale reminder. I think Wicked Gentlemen was what both you and someone else had recommended to me, or at least that was what I remembered as most likely RTMI.

[egelantier]

s2 is definitely sadder and darker, and there's a couple storylines i could do without or at least wanted done in a different way. but there's a lot of funny/touching/badass/hot/amazing moments there - man, pree alone is worth a price of admission - and i think you will especially appreciate the development and resolution of khlyen storyline.

re: d'avin/dutch and the fallout; i'm actually very much in love with how the show approaches the usual tropes from unusual side. like, normally you'd expect the 'i stabbed you/i beat you/we fear you' angle, but here johnny doesn't give a fuck about the stabbing but is really angry about the fallout of their relationship, and dutch believes that he's innocent but is enraged about how he IS innocent, non-complicit in his dark past, unlike her (as she sees it); it was a wonderful little piece of complexity.

after ep7 ep8 is probably my favorite - with the acid rain, and with this neat little evolution of johnny's arc, where he totally is a person who will try to save everybody until the VERY LAST MOMENT, but then not hesitate to kill a guy with an industrial railgun. and he stood up for himself re: d'avin, and it was wonderful, too (for all that he held out for like 25 minutes).

(the whole industrial gun thing, by the way, is neatly foreshadowed by the hostage extraction episode - he might be a diplomatic sweetheart, but he has nothing against chocking out a shipful of intruders and then killing the last one with a blowtorch).

also, is the soundtrack not to die for? i stole so many songs from it.

[hamsterwoman]

I'm now 2.3 episodes into season 2, and definitely agree about Pree! I always liked his cameos in the first season, and it was so great to see more of him! (and now I wanna know about his criminal/warlord past. I hope there's fic, at least!) And I think I like the way the Khlyen thing is headed, if that's not a misdirection. (Also, Khlyen being a badass and stone-cold ruthless is just kind of nice to watch.)

with how the show approaches the usual tropes from unusual side.

I agree! (Also, I just love the "Sorry for stabbing you. Thanks for not dying." exchanges between the brothers XD)

dutch believes that he's innocent but is enraged about how he IS innocent, non-complicit in his dark past, unlike her (as she sees it); it was a wonderful little piece of complexity

Yes, it is! Mostly Dutch works better for me on the pretty + ass-kicking than deep emotional level, but she really got me in that scene.

I think episode 8 is my favorite overall -- the Rain (for the worldbuilding and the plot tension), and Dutch and D'av teambuilding (speaking of subverted/approached unusually tropes, I also really liked the scene where she stands in front of the target and tells him to shoot... and then backs out -- I definitely hadn't expected that, but it was a lot more realistic than what I *had* been expecting), but ESPECIALLY for Johnny's arc. (I'd forgotten about the blowtorch thing, but ooh, you're right!).

and he stood up for himself re: d'avin, and it was wonderful, too (for all that he held out for like 25 minutes).

Heh, yes. XD

The soundtrack is really, really cool! I normally don't notice things like that in what I'm watching, because I'm not a music person, but I was for sure noticing it here.

But... season 2 got rid of the theme song? And replaced it with "ooh ooh ooh"? WHY.

[egelantier]

oh, and unrelatedly: i've read coldfire trilogy for that one yuletide, and i'm... not a fan. the worldbuilding is really fascinating and it's well-written, but it's chock full of weirdly detached misogyny - i mean, one of the protagonists literally gets off on torturing and killing women, and the narrative is a bit... relaxed about it, and there are all these deaths, and just - and it's very very very very slashy but no-homo in a WEIRD way (apparently the author does not understand, after writing a scene in which one dude literally runs through literal hell with a literal other-dude-inspired boner, where do the fangirls get this weird "slash" thing from her pristine writings), and all combined, i don't regret reading it, but it weird me with a very weird taste.

[hamsterwoman]

a scene in which one dude literally runs through literal hell with a literal other-dude-inspired boner

Whaa.... XD

I am OK with a lot of deaths (especially if I know it's that kind of a book going in), and very dark protagonists (although how well they work for me really depends a lot on the writing style, it seems).

The worldbuilding sounds interesting (although I tend to be picky about how SF/fantasy blends work for me or don't), but IIRC, I was originally sold on Coldfire by people talking about Gerald Tarrant (in I forget what context, but based on what I do recall, I doubt it was "characters who are good people" :P)

Anyway, it's been on my to-read list for, IDK, probably 8 years, so who knows if I'll actually get around to it. But I'm rather heartened by the fact that I have several people on my flist who love the series and several who do not, so I guess regardless of whether I end up enjoying it or not, I'll have someone to talk about it with. XP