Being Human: Rook's e-mails. Part 4. Fresh blood
Rookileaks is back, which means, of course, a new portion of TL;DR from me. Today on the agenda:
- Rook's sense of humour
- The government looking after vampires
- A fan theory regarding Rook and Hatch that makes me scream.
1. So, does Rook have a sense of humour? I think he does because the whole exchange about Titania and Mrs Frith makes me imagine Rook dying of lulz inside. He seems to have a sort of dry sense of humour, a little sarcastic. To me, the fact that he's not losing his shit (like he's prone to do pretty much in every scene he appears in throughout series 5) but instead making casual remarks like "And how is your lovely wife? I do hope she is well." suggests that he simply finds the whole matter too funny to bitch about it. Otherwise, there'd be a shitstorm, because seriously, does he have time to deal with Alistair's family crises? XD And now I want a scene of Rook dryly sassing the hell out of everyone. Preferably Hal b/c he deserves it.
2. Poor Giles. I bet he did hate Rook for something; otherwise, why would he be so dead-set on setting him up for Titania's abduction? XD Professional rivalry? Rook infringing upon the wholeness of the Giles/Alistair ship? XD Anyhow, poor Giles got sacked and now we have Kate. Which kind of sucks because at least Giles appeared briefly in 5x01. I don't like to have characters, however minor they may be, whose appearance I can't picture (mostly b/c I end up picturing something completely different). Is Kate young? Is she old? Is she pretty? Is she intimidating? Is she played by Toby Whithouse in drag? Could be any of these and I don't knoooow. >_<
3. The e-mail about Alistair's divorce brings me back to Rook's sense of humour. For all I know, he is being serious, but I refuse to believe it. XD I mean, really! He takes a pretty long break from his bitching about the DoDD (he usually starts straight away) to discuss Alistair's personal life. Arguably, he's just trying to climb back into Alistair's good graces, but he doesn't really have to, now that Alistair knows he didn't take the dog and even did what he could to find her. So the way I see it, it's pure (and not even that veiled) sarcasm.
4. Speaking of humour, Rook did joke in the series too. "Perhaps it's the decor." My point is: he needs to do it more frequently. XD
5. Once again, we get lovely insight into the work of the DoDD and the supernatural situation not only in the UK but abroad too.
There is a programme of blood distribution to registered T2s (btw T[number] irks me a bit because I instantly imagine the Terminator film franchise XD). Unsurprisingly, I have problems with how it ties in to the show. How do you get "registered"? How do you apply for blood? The DoDD is obviously aware of more vampires than the "registered" number; yet most vampires don't seem to know about them. Hal certainly didn't and neither did Mitchell. If they had known, wouldn't it have been better to register and get blood to keep themselves grounded? Once again it brings to mind the issue if freshness and quantity. The way Hal and Mitchell present it, just a little blood is enough to make them go completely bonkers. But is that true? BH started out presenting a unique case of vampires who can't measure out their consumption of blood: it's all or nothing for them. But the current canon makes it look like it's more and more possible to survive off smaller doses of bottled blood. We've seen vampires feeding off donors before: Herrick's gang kept some against their will just for that and Richard in series 3 kept masochistic volunteers. But something tells me the DoDD can't do either. So the only explanation is that they have bagged donor blood, for medical purposes, and Mitchell said many times in series 1 that it does not work! I guess I should give up and admit that this is a retcon or a plothole or whatnot, and stop wrecking my brain over this. But I caaan't! Continuity issues, BH has them.
More importantly: say there is an unregistered Type 2 on the DoDD's radar (f.ex. Mitchell). The DoDD knows he is dry (and therefore, according to Rook, dangerous). WHY don't they approach him and propose an alternative? And don't tell me they did. Mitchell had far less willpower than Hal; he would have agreed. I actually think it is a better alternative because they snap anyway, all of them, and maybe taking blood in measured doses would actually placate them. IDK.
6. News about Carl! <333 He's in a relationship with a werewolf. <3 *melts*
What I find interesting is Rook's statement than Brazilian werewolves have greater rights and that there might be a public scandal if any harm comes to Carl's new bf in the UK. Does it mean Brazilian werewolves have rights as werewolves? Like a new species? They don't have to hide what they are? This opens some really interesting possibilities. Perhaps supernaturals in general are more widely accepted in South America and that's why the Old Ones chose to stay in Bolivia.
7. Continuing from my previous ruminations about Rook's attitude to supernaturals, I still maintain that he might be exaggerating his own hatred of them for the sake of impressing a point. He does seem to think of all of them as animals and he does seem to look down on them, but strictly speaking, he's not far off the mark. He treats them as animals, but not in the sense of an insult; more like one is expected to treat a wild animal that seems docile but might attack any minute. Given Rook's position, it's probably a wise thing.
Take Bobby f.ex. I didn't get the impression that Bobby was particularly mistreated (apart from the fact they were too lazy to buy an answering machine for him off the Ebay when Tom did it at once). I think the fact that Bobby stayed locked up for 33 years had more to do with the DoDD's lack of faith in him as a human than as a werewolf. Bobby was no well-adjusted and they did nothing to change that. He was a bit slow and naive and it would have taken a lot of patience to educate him and make sure he gets a good job and safe conditions to keep himself in check. I'm guessing the DoDD simply doesn't rehabilitate their wards. As Tom says, they love locking people up. It's the flaw of the organization, not just Rook's personal flaw. The DoDD has no time (and no desire, I'd say) to fix the supernaturals, so if said supernatural is not well-adjusted already, then he stands no chance of a normal life. F.ex. I think that if they ever got George, they would have had to let him go because George could take care of himself. Bobby couldn't. They certainly believed they were doing both Bobby and the world a favour. Rook admits to Hatch that he doesn't believe supernaturals can rehabilitate. It doesn't sound like he hates them or doesn't want them to succeed; he just doesn't believe it's possible. He's sceptical like that. That said, yes, I do think Rook is paranoid and racist when it comes to supernaturals, but it's not nearly as extreme as he would like to believe. If anything, the fact that neither Tom, nor Bobby had killed anyone at the Barry Grand should make him see that some supernatural have a better control of themselves than others.
8. Meanwhile, this:
I stumbled upon a freakish fan theory that Hatch might possess Rook (like steal his body or something) and that's how he regains his power. Honestly, I don't believe they'd go for that, but I can be no less paranoid than Rook, especially when it comes to my favourite characters. I'd always assumed that Hatch is only ever played by Davis, but then again, Robertson is a series regular, while Davis isn't. So who knows? Needless to say, I don't want this to happen for a number of reasons, mostly because it's stupid and banal. This is my main issue with series 5: it's getting extremely banal and predictable. They keep promising us shocking turns of events but so far I haven't been shocked once.
On a random note: I might be reading too much into this, but I compare the Rook & Hal and Rook & Hatch scenes from 5x01 and 5x04 and I see paralles. It's an interesting role reversal. In 5x01, Rook is the temptor, he offers Hal a deal and he is in the position of power. This time, Rook is on the other end, damned and soaked in blood, as Hatch puts it, and I can only imagine what that means for him in the long run.
- Rook's sense of humour
- The government looking after vampires
- A fan theory regarding Rook and Hatch that makes me scream.
1. So, does Rook have a sense of humour? I think he does because the whole exchange about Titania and Mrs Frith makes me imagine Rook dying of lulz inside. He seems to have a sort of dry sense of humour, a little sarcastic. To me, the fact that he's not losing his shit (like he's prone to do pretty much in every scene he appears in throughout series 5) but instead making casual remarks like "And how is your lovely wife? I do hope she is well." suggests that he simply finds the whole matter too funny to bitch about it. Otherwise, there'd be a shitstorm, because seriously, does he have time to deal with Alistair's family crises? XD And now I want a scene of Rook dryly sassing the hell out of everyone. Preferably Hal b/c he deserves it.
2. Poor Giles. I bet he did hate Rook for something; otherwise, why would he be so dead-set on setting him up for Titania's abduction? XD Professional rivalry? Rook infringing upon the wholeness of the Giles/Alistair ship? XD Anyhow, poor Giles got sacked and now we have Kate. Which kind of sucks because at least Giles appeared briefly in 5x01. I don't like to have characters, however minor they may be, whose appearance I can't picture (mostly b/c I end up picturing something completely different). Is Kate young? Is she old? Is she pretty? Is she intimidating? Is she played by Toby Whithouse in drag? Could be any of these and I don't knoooow. >_<
3. The e-mail about Alistair's divorce brings me back to Rook's sense of humour. For all I know, he is being serious, but I refuse to believe it. XD I mean, really! He takes a pretty long break from his bitching about the DoDD (he usually starts straight away) to discuss Alistair's personal life. Arguably, he's just trying to climb back into Alistair's good graces, but he doesn't really have to, now that Alistair knows he didn't take the dog and even did what he could to find her. So the way I see it, it's pure (and not even that veiled) sarcasm.
4. Speaking of humour, Rook did joke in the series too. "Perhaps it's the decor." My point is: he needs to do it more frequently. XD
5. Once again, we get lovely insight into the work of the DoDD and the supernatural situation not only in the UK but abroad too.
There is a programme of blood distribution to registered T2s (btw T[number] irks me a bit because I instantly imagine the Terminator film franchise XD). Unsurprisingly, I have problems with how it ties in to the show. How do you get "registered"? How do you apply for blood? The DoDD is obviously aware of more vampires than the "registered" number; yet most vampires don't seem to know about them. Hal certainly didn't and neither did Mitchell. If they had known, wouldn't it have been better to register and get blood to keep themselves grounded? Once again it brings to mind the issue if freshness and quantity. The way Hal and Mitchell present it, just a little blood is enough to make them go completely bonkers. But is that true? BH started out presenting a unique case of vampires who can't measure out their consumption of blood: it's all or nothing for them. But the current canon makes it look like it's more and more possible to survive off smaller doses of bottled blood. We've seen vampires feeding off donors before: Herrick's gang kept some against their will just for that and Richard in series 3 kept masochistic volunteers. But something tells me the DoDD can't do either. So the only explanation is that they have bagged donor blood, for medical purposes, and Mitchell said many times in series 1 that it does not work! I guess I should give up and admit that this is a retcon or a plothole or whatnot, and stop wrecking my brain over this. But I caaan't! Continuity issues, BH has them.
More importantly: say there is an unregistered Type 2 on the DoDD's radar (f.ex. Mitchell). The DoDD knows he is dry (and therefore, according to Rook, dangerous). WHY don't they approach him and propose an alternative? And don't tell me they did. Mitchell had far less willpower than Hal; he would have agreed. I actually think it is a better alternative because they snap anyway, all of them, and maybe taking blood in measured doses would actually placate them. IDK.
6. News about Carl! <333 He's in a relationship with a werewolf. <3 *melts*
What I find interesting is Rook's statement than Brazilian werewolves have greater rights and that there might be a public scandal if any harm comes to Carl's new bf in the UK. Does it mean Brazilian werewolves have rights as werewolves? Like a new species? They don't have to hide what they are? This opens some really interesting possibilities. Perhaps supernaturals in general are more widely accepted in South America and that's why the Old Ones chose to stay in Bolivia.
7. Continuing from my previous ruminations about Rook's attitude to supernaturals, I still maintain that he might be exaggerating his own hatred of them for the sake of impressing a point. He does seem to think of all of them as animals and he does seem to look down on them, but strictly speaking, he's not far off the mark. He treats them as animals, but not in the sense of an insult; more like one is expected to treat a wild animal that seems docile but might attack any minute. Given Rook's position, it's probably a wise thing.
Take Bobby f.ex. I didn't get the impression that Bobby was particularly mistreated (apart from the fact they were too lazy to buy an answering machine for him off the Ebay when Tom did it at once). I think the fact that Bobby stayed locked up for 33 years had more to do with the DoDD's lack of faith in him as a human than as a werewolf. Bobby was no well-adjusted and they did nothing to change that. He was a bit slow and naive and it would have taken a lot of patience to educate him and make sure he gets a good job and safe conditions to keep himself in check. I'm guessing the DoDD simply doesn't rehabilitate their wards. As Tom says, they love locking people up. It's the flaw of the organization, not just Rook's personal flaw. The DoDD has no time (and no desire, I'd say) to fix the supernaturals, so if said supernatural is not well-adjusted already, then he stands no chance of a normal life. F.ex. I think that if they ever got George, they would have had to let him go because George could take care of himself. Bobby couldn't. They certainly believed they were doing both Bobby and the world a favour. Rook admits to Hatch that he doesn't believe supernaturals can rehabilitate. It doesn't sound like he hates them or doesn't want them to succeed; he just doesn't believe it's possible. He's sceptical like that. That said, yes, I do think Rook is paranoid and racist when it comes to supernaturals, but it's not nearly as extreme as he would like to believe. If anything, the fact that neither Tom, nor Bobby had killed anyone at the Barry Grand should make him see that some supernatural have a better control of themselves than others.
8. Meanwhile, this:
I stumbled upon a freakish fan theory that Hatch might possess Rook (like steal his body or something) and that's how he regains his power. Honestly, I don't believe they'd go for that, but I can be no less paranoid than Rook, especially when it comes to my favourite characters. I'd always assumed that Hatch is only ever played by Davis, but then again, Robertson is a series regular, while Davis isn't. So who knows? Needless to say, I don't want this to happen for a number of reasons, mostly because it's stupid and banal. This is my main issue with series 5: it's getting extremely banal and predictable. They keep promising us shocking turns of events but so far I haven't been shocked once.
On a random note: I might be reading too much into this, but I compare the Rook & Hal and Rook & Hatch scenes from 5x01 and 5x04 and I see paralles. It's an interesting role reversal. In 5x01, Rook is the temptor, he offers Hal a deal and he is in the position of power. This time, Rook is on the other end, damned and soaked in blood, as Hatch puts it, and I can only imagine what that means for him in the long run.