NCIS, Clex Kinks, and Comics
One of my favorite things about NCIS is how many things happen in an episode that don't advance the plot but don't slow it down. It's magic - I can't quite figure out how they do it. How Kate and DiNozzo can fight about DiNozzo invading Kate's privacy, how Abby and Kate and McGee can all talk over each other for at least thirty seconds before Gibbs stops them, how we can have the doppelganger investigative team - and none of it turns out to be a plot point, none of it turns out to reveal some theme vital to the episode's conclusion - it's only there for us to enjoy. It tells a story about the characters, about that workplace, and that's its only purpose. I love that.
Last night's episode "Doppelganger" had so many terrifically funny moments that I had to keep notes. First, I adore how McGee and DiNozzo call Gibbs "Boss." Second, I loved the doppelganger investigators more than I can explain. It was incredibly effective at showing us who are characters are, and who they see each other as being. Third, I love Abby saying "hinky." Fourth, I just love Abby. She knows how to read Gibbs, and what's more, she doesn't need his approval. She's not constantly trying to impress him. So when Gibbs barks out a command to DiNozzo, Tony falls all over himself to get started or to explain that he was just about to get on it and Gibbs ignores him. When Gibbs orders Abby to get working on the blood spatter, Abby lowers her head and sulks and sings something like, "Yo ho, yo ho" as she gets on it, and Gibbs smiles that wonderful smile. Abby knows how to handle Gibbs, and Gibbs likes it like that. Fifth, McGee doing the technical geek language translation for Gibbs was hilarious. Gibbs' not-quite-technophobia is handled so well on the show; it's not something Gibbs sees himself having to know, and so he's not bothered by it. Sixth - are we at six? Should I have given up this list thing at third? - Gibbs has very strange taste in women. I adore you, Gibbs, but that woman had "sneaky prescription-stealing supervisor" written all over her. And she comes on too strong even for me, and I'm a pretty big personality. Still, the line about the power tool? Hot.
Clearly, I've been spending more time reading Smallville fanfic than I've spent watching the actual show, because throughout the first half hour of tonight's re-run, Obsession, I was really only thinking, "Um, where's Lex?" And when he did show up, I was waiting impatiently for him to start flirting with Clark. Come on!
Copious fic reading has helped me discover my ultimate Clark/Lex kink: Lex completely undone by a mostly clueless Clark who wants Lex without knowing he wants him. There's something so perfect about watching Lex squirm while Clark figures it out.
I have new comics to read, thanks to the Really Nice Comic Guy at the store, who is incredibly kind and spent a half an hour using his impressive knowledge of everything in the store to help me find new things to read without once making fun of me for not understanding most of the X-Men comicverse. He remembered everything we talked about last week, what I was reading and what I liked, and it was just nice, because most of the other Comic Guys I've talked to have tried to send me in all these weird directions, insisting I give up on the superheros and read what they thing I should be reading. They've been quite snobby, which wasn't what I'd expected from comic geek guys. Anyway, Really Nice Comic Guy suggested I start reading Secret War, written by Brian Michael Bendis, which looks really good. I also left with the book (trade? graphic novel?) Exiles written Judd Winick, a sort of X-men Quantum Leap where new, young characters have to go correct things that have gone wrong with Big Marvel Universe moments. I also bought The Origin of Generation X, which he said was the book that got him back into X-Men after an extended absence, which I thought was an extremely high recommendation. He even ordered God Loves, Man Kills for me. (Oh, Magneto!) This was a great trip to the store.
The one thing I was looking for that the store did not have was one of the recent What If series, called "What if Magneto Had Formed the X-Men?" It was apparently so popular that it disappeared from all the stores in the area. Do any of you know where I could find a copy? Do you have one you'd be willing to loan? I'm crazy about What Ifs, if you hadn't guessed that about me by now, and I want to read this very much. I promise I'll write you a Charles/Erik story set in that alternative universe!
Last night's episode "Doppelganger" had so many terrifically funny moments that I had to keep notes. First, I adore how McGee and DiNozzo call Gibbs "Boss." Second, I loved the doppelganger investigators more than I can explain. It was incredibly effective at showing us who are characters are, and who they see each other as being. Third, I love Abby saying "hinky." Fourth, I just love Abby. She knows how to read Gibbs, and what's more, she doesn't need his approval. She's not constantly trying to impress him. So when Gibbs barks out a command to DiNozzo, Tony falls all over himself to get started or to explain that he was just about to get on it and Gibbs ignores him. When Gibbs orders Abby to get working on the blood spatter, Abby lowers her head and sulks and sings something like, "Yo ho, yo ho" as she gets on it, and Gibbs smiles that wonderful smile. Abby knows how to handle Gibbs, and Gibbs likes it like that. Fifth, McGee doing the technical geek language translation for Gibbs was hilarious. Gibbs' not-quite-technophobia is handled so well on the show; it's not something Gibbs sees himself having to know, and so he's not bothered by it. Sixth - are we at six? Should I have given up this list thing at third? - Gibbs has very strange taste in women. I adore you, Gibbs, but that woman had "sneaky prescription-stealing supervisor" written all over her. And she comes on too strong even for me, and I'm a pretty big personality. Still, the line about the power tool? Hot.
Clearly, I've been spending more time reading Smallville fanfic than I've spent watching the actual show, because throughout the first half hour of tonight's re-run, Obsession, I was really only thinking, "Um, where's Lex?" And when he did show up, I was waiting impatiently for him to start flirting with Clark. Come on!
Copious fic reading has helped me discover my ultimate Clark/Lex kink: Lex completely undone by a mostly clueless Clark who wants Lex without knowing he wants him. There's something so perfect about watching Lex squirm while Clark figures it out.
I have new comics to read, thanks to the Really Nice Comic Guy at the store, who is incredibly kind and spent a half an hour using his impressive knowledge of everything in the store to help me find new things to read without once making fun of me for not understanding most of the X-Men comicverse. He remembered everything we talked about last week, what I was reading and what I liked, and it was just nice, because most of the other Comic Guys I've talked to have tried to send me in all these weird directions, insisting I give up on the superheros and read what they thing I should be reading. They've been quite snobby, which wasn't what I'd expected from comic geek guys. Anyway, Really Nice Comic Guy suggested I start reading Secret War, written by Brian Michael Bendis, which looks really good. I also left with the book (trade? graphic novel?) Exiles written Judd Winick, a sort of X-men Quantum Leap where new, young characters have to go correct things that have gone wrong with Big Marvel Universe moments. I also bought The Origin of Generation X, which he said was the book that got him back into X-Men after an extended absence, which I thought was an extremely high recommendation. He even ordered God Loves, Man Kills for me. (Oh, Magneto!) This was a great trip to the store.
The one thing I was looking for that the store did not have was one of the recent What If series, called "What if Magneto Had Formed the X-Men?" It was apparently so popular that it disappeared from all the stores in the area. Do any of you know where I could find a copy? Do you have one you'd be willing to loan? I'm crazy about What Ifs, if you hadn't guessed that about me by now, and I want to read this very much. I promise I'll write you a Charles/Erik story set in that alternative universe!