Face to Fate: the end
I should talk about the plot, I really should, but I'm too busy obsessing about the otps. If I have an OTP kink, this show has it. Slow growth from tolerance to friends to lovers? Check. Hotheaded girl + a cool, emotionless guy? Check. Playboy reformed by love? Check. Parental disapproval? Check. Super Bad Boy reformed by love? Check. Insane levels of obsessessive sacrifice and devotion? Oh my, yes, check.
First of all, I haven't squeed about Frankie/Tavia much, but I really do love them. I loved how they went from barely tolerating each other to friends to lovers, and I loved when everyone was telling them how perfect they were for each other and they were both "Huh? Wha?" I swear, that is the ONLY time anyone ever one upped Frankie...his face...it was like his brain just shut down. And I loved all the times Raymond called Frankie on liking Tavia and would talk about leaving the lovers alone. One of my favorite things in ships is people who go from friends to more than friends without realizing it and everyone around them knows it but they don't(this is one of the reasons I'm one of the few who prefers Mars-the-manga to Mars-the-drama, because by the time they realized they liked each other romantically, everyone already thought they were the hottest couple in school) They're like Huang Rong and Guo Jing if Raymond/Selena and Derek/Nancy are Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu...one is a pair of legendary lovers known for being great heroes and leaders and partners, both in life and romance and its a coming together of equals, and are held up as examples to generations, and the other is this huge, epic love that gets related as a romance, but they're only known for their love, not for the entirety of their lives or their accomplishments.
Then there's Derek/Nancy: I swear, if there's a single "forbidden love" or "bad boy reformed by love" scene that these two didn't have, I haven't heard of it. I love when they decide they want to be together and he's determined to kill Frankie because that was his agreement with Big Bad and she doesn't try to stop him even though she doesn't like it. Then, of course, Scum Dad finds out about them and wants Nancy to marry his disciple(and I love that Nancy and Tavia both liked him at first and he knew and loved it, then he didn't even realize when both got over him and fell in love with better guys) and the disciple doesn't love Nancy but he wants to marry her, even though he knows she's unhappy and loves someone else because then he'll be the heir. Hate hate hate hate hate for the power hungry jerk. And then Frankie pretends to leave because he knows Derek still wants to kill him, and then Frankie is all "ok, we could fight, but did you know Scum Dad is forcing your girlfriend to marry someone else? You might want to..." *waves at Derek's back as he runs off at the speed of light*
Incidentally, somewhere around this point Frankie became rather Hanizawa Rui-like in that I just automatically started to assume he'd show up and fix EVERYTHING because of his fixit-sense and hey, he did...
Then Derek convinces Nancy to run away with him *squees* and Tavia helps them but Scum Dad still catches them and is going to kill them both after Nancy refuses to go back and marry the other guy but Frankie shows up to save them (it is entirely possible that I went "hheeeerrrreeee he comes to save the ddddaaaaayyyyyy" at that...out loud...) And then the last battle when Derek was losing because he no longer has the killing rage that drove him for so long(because of Nancy) and his opponent has this super-armor on that he can't get past and Nancy runs in and yells that he can't die because she's pregnant and a baby needs a father...Best. Motivator. Ever.
And Raymond/Selena...I started shipping them when he showed up wounded and told her you went to friends when you were hurt and needed help and he didn't have many so she'd be seeing a lot of him, but I kinda went to crazy shipping when Evil Doctor threatened her and Raymond just turned to him and very calmly, like he was saying "your shoe's untied," "If you harm Yin Leh-yoi, you will die." YES! I'm all for psycho protective moments(and Raymond has plenty of those, so does Derek) but somehow, it's just so much more effective when it's delivered as a statement of fact, no questions. And then to help him, she becomes a thief again and even breaks into the bad guys strong hold, and then when he just wants to stay there with her instead of looking for a cure for his disease because he knows that if he looks, she'll try to help and he doesn't want her to die because of him, but also he wants to help Frankie, she sends him off because she knows he's worried...but then they end up needing her help when Scum Dad frames them and she gets caught and is hurt so bad that Raymond can't help her, so he goes to Big Bad because he knows that there he can at least keep her alive until he can find out how to cure her.
And you know, Raymond is really one of my favorite kinds of characters...the one who doesn't care about anyone or anything and is only moved to action by those he cares about...to protect a friend or loved one, he'll win a war or destroy a country, but he won't just because it's" the right thing to do" or anysuch. Raymond would have laid down his life for Frankie because Frankie was his only really friend, but he'd kill Frankie, and anyone else, for Selena, even though he knew that it (almost) made him someone she could never love again in the process. Normally they chicken out with this kind of character and make him more of a good guy, nut not here. Raymond isn't a good guy(or a bad guy) because of any moral sense, but because of Selena and Frankie. I loved how, at the end, he was all "We're going back to the inn. No visitors. Ever." and Selena was all "Everyone come try the soup." and his face was "dang it...I lost."
Sigh...I don't know of another show where I've just flatout ADORED all the otps this much...
BTW,
calixais watching Young Warriors of the Yang Clan and squeeing over Hu Ge and Eddie Peng and a couple guys I don't know but who are apparently quite awesome and I wanna watch so bad...
First of all, I haven't squeed about Frankie/Tavia much, but I really do love them. I loved how they went from barely tolerating each other to friends to lovers, and I loved when everyone was telling them how perfect they were for each other and they were both "Huh? Wha?" I swear, that is the ONLY time anyone ever one upped Frankie...his face...it was like his brain just shut down. And I loved all the times Raymond called Frankie on liking Tavia and would talk about leaving the lovers alone. One of my favorite things in ships is people who go from friends to more than friends without realizing it and everyone around them knows it but they don't(this is one of the reasons I'm one of the few who prefers Mars-the-manga to Mars-the-drama, because by the time they realized they liked each other romantically, everyone already thought they were the hottest couple in school) They're like Huang Rong and Guo Jing if Raymond/Selena and Derek/Nancy are Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu...one is a pair of legendary lovers known for being great heroes and leaders and partners, both in life and romance and its a coming together of equals, and are held up as examples to generations, and the other is this huge, epic love that gets related as a romance, but they're only known for their love, not for the entirety of their lives or their accomplishments.
Then there's Derek/Nancy: I swear, if there's a single "forbidden love" or "bad boy reformed by love" scene that these two didn't have, I haven't heard of it. I love when they decide they want to be together and he's determined to kill Frankie because that was his agreement with Big Bad and she doesn't try to stop him even though she doesn't like it. Then, of course, Scum Dad finds out about them and wants Nancy to marry his disciple(and I love that Nancy and Tavia both liked him at first and he knew and loved it, then he didn't even realize when both got over him and fell in love with better guys) and the disciple doesn't love Nancy but he wants to marry her, even though he knows she's unhappy and loves someone else because then he'll be the heir. Hate hate hate hate hate for the power hungry jerk. And then Frankie pretends to leave because he knows Derek still wants to kill him, and then Frankie is all "ok, we could fight, but did you know Scum Dad is forcing your girlfriend to marry someone else? You might want to..." *waves at Derek's back as he runs off at the speed of light*
Incidentally, somewhere around this point Frankie became rather Hanizawa Rui-like in that I just automatically started to assume he'd show up and fix EVERYTHING because of his fixit-sense and hey, he did...
Then Derek convinces Nancy to run away with him *squees* and Tavia helps them but Scum Dad still catches them and is going to kill them both after Nancy refuses to go back and marry the other guy but Frankie shows up to save them (it is entirely possible that I went "hheeeerrrreeee he comes to save the ddddaaaaayyyyyy" at that...out loud...) And then the last battle when Derek was losing because he no longer has the killing rage that drove him for so long(because of Nancy) and his opponent has this super-armor on that he can't get past and Nancy runs in and yells that he can't die because she's pregnant and a baby needs a father...Best. Motivator. Ever.
And Raymond/Selena...I started shipping them when he showed up wounded and told her you went to friends when you were hurt and needed help and he didn't have many so she'd be seeing a lot of him, but I kinda went to crazy shipping when Evil Doctor threatened her and Raymond just turned to him and very calmly, like he was saying "your shoe's untied," "If you harm Yin Leh-yoi, you will die." YES! I'm all for psycho protective moments(and Raymond has plenty of those, so does Derek) but somehow, it's just so much more effective when it's delivered as a statement of fact, no questions. And then to help him, she becomes a thief again and even breaks into the bad guys strong hold, and then when he just wants to stay there with her instead of looking for a cure for his disease because he knows that if he looks, she'll try to help and he doesn't want her to die because of him, but also he wants to help Frankie, she sends him off because she knows he's worried...but then they end up needing her help when Scum Dad frames them and she gets caught and is hurt so bad that Raymond can't help her, so he goes to Big Bad because he knows that there he can at least keep her alive until he can find out how to cure her.
And you know, Raymond is really one of my favorite kinds of characters...the one who doesn't care about anyone or anything and is only moved to action by those he cares about...to protect a friend or loved one, he'll win a war or destroy a country, but he won't just because it's" the right thing to do" or anysuch. Raymond would have laid down his life for Frankie because Frankie was his only really friend, but he'd kill Frankie, and anyone else, for Selena, even though he knew that it (almost) made him someone she could never love again in the process. Normally they chicken out with this kind of character and make him more of a good guy, nut not here. Raymond isn't a good guy(or a bad guy) because of any moral sense, but because of Selena and Frankie. I loved how, at the end, he was all "We're going back to the inn. No visitors. Ever." and Selena was all "Everyone come try the soup." and his face was "dang it...I lost."
Sigh...I don't know of another show where I've just flatout ADORED all the otps this much...
BTW,
calixais watching Young Warriors of the Yang Clan and squeeing over Hu Ge and Eddie Peng and a couple guys I don't know but who are apparently quite awesome and I wanna watch so bad...