Definitely ready for this part to be over. Also, fandom stuff.
I have eight working days left, including today, until I start my new position. I'm so ready for this part to be over with. I've been working super hard to make sure I leave almost nothing hanging for whoever takes over after me, but I'm awfully tired and stressed about it. We find out next week what's going on with that, which kind of belies the whole "we have plans A, B, C, and D for when you move to corporate hq" spiel my boss gave me at my (extremely complimentary) review. Are we at plan M now? Is Hardison dead? (Oh, Leverage! I miss you.)
Anyway! Whatever! Let's move on to fandom.
I'm hideously uncomfortable with this whole "Elena has a sire bond to Damon" thing that they have going on. We've had multiple examples of it on the show, all of which were explicit demonstrations of how the person with the bond lacked agency and was unable to consent to the actions which they were ordered to take. So don't give me any of this "it doesn't change your feelings toward the person" shit, TVD, when it comes to Elena and Damon. It's creepy and wrong, and if you're going to go the Elena/Damon route (must you really?), why aren't you going the "but Damon wants to be a better person" route. If you're going to redeem him, go for a full-on redemption. Or just acknowledge that he's a creepy guy with major consent issues. I don't ask that you make him behave differently, show, just that you have some narrative awareness of how he acts.
But him telling her what to do when she's under the influence of the sire bond is explicitly removing all her consent and agency from the relationship, and it's creepy and wrong.
This would be why I'm so far behind on the show. I really can't take the utter lack of agency of the main character this season. Also, the fact that Elena has somehow completely forgotten the fact that Damon abused and raped and terrorized Caroline first season bothers me. I mean, sire bond, whatever, if her feelings haven't changed, how do you explain that? He's a bad person. He's nominally good to Elena (don't get me started on that any more than I already have, at least), but he's not good. Also don't get me started on this whole Shane-and-Bonnie expression thing. (I'm behind by six episodes, but I'm catching up slowly, as I can bear to watch them.)
Seriously. TVD. Own your consent issues! Because you really, really don't.
This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.
Anyway! Whatever! Let's move on to fandom.
I'm hideously uncomfortable with this whole "Elena has a sire bond to Damon" thing that they have going on. We've had multiple examples of it on the show, all of which were explicit demonstrations of how the person with the bond lacked agency and was unable to consent to the actions which they were ordered to take. So don't give me any of this "it doesn't change your feelings toward the person" shit, TVD, when it comes to Elena and Damon. It's creepy and wrong, and if you're going to go the Elena/Damon route (must you really?), why aren't you going the "but Damon wants to be a better person" route. If you're going to redeem him, go for a full-on redemption. Or just acknowledge that he's a creepy guy with major consent issues. I don't ask that you make him behave differently, show, just that you have some narrative awareness of how he acts.
But him telling her what to do when she's under the influence of the sire bond is explicitly removing all her consent and agency from the relationship, and it's creepy and wrong.
This would be why I'm so far behind on the show. I really can't take the utter lack of agency of the main character this season. Also, the fact that Elena has somehow completely forgotten the fact that Damon abused and raped and terrorized Caroline first season bothers me. I mean, sire bond, whatever, if her feelings haven't changed, how do you explain that? He's a bad person. He's nominally good to Elena (don't get me started on that any more than I already have, at least), but he's not good. Also don't get me started on this whole Shane-and-Bonnie expression thing. (I'm behind by six episodes, but I'm catching up slowly, as I can bear to watch them.)
Seriously. TVD. Own your consent issues! Because you really, really don't.
This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.