Not Dead
Periodic "I'm still around" post.
Winter's been kicking my butt this year. We haven't gotten too many big snows, but man, the cold is draining. All I want to do at the end of every. single. work day is curl up under piles of blankets and nap. I don't usually get into this state until well into February, and it's been like that since the second week of January this year. So, yeah, not much going on in real-life.
Fandom-wise, network TV has actually been pretty good to me lately. Some lovely woobie-ness happening.
White Collar
I'm always a little so-so about White Collar because USA shows are always so safe. It's frustrating at how they get right up to the edge of big changes or twists and then pull back to the status quo again and again. But this season has been a nice mix of different plot-threads that appealed to me. The stuff in the first half with Neal having his secrets in large part to protect Peter, the (temporary, of course) rift between them when Peter found out, Neal having an obsessive assassin ex-semi-girlfriend still floating around to cause trouble later... and of course, cliffhanger with Neal all kidnapped. Given it being USA, the conclusion to that cliffhanger won't be nearly as whumpy as I would like, but it leaves me at a good point for making up my own endings in the long wait for the next season.
Supernatural
I thought this show had burned me out long ago on the Dean-angst, but the end of this week's episode with Sam calling Dean out on non-consensually saving Sam's life, and Dean going "You would've done the same" and Sam going "No, I wouldn't" and Dean looking like Sam's just stamped out the last little light of hope in his soul... oh, boys. Took me right back to the end of the first season when I was so squeeful that Dean's "good little soldier" angst was actually going to be part of the show, not just subtext.
I've probably mentioned here or on whumpable that one of the elements of h/c that pings hard for me is characters with self-esteem issues who get validation through the h/c that they matter to those around them. And that "trope" works best when the character's issue aren't just a woe-is-me pity-party, but when there's a sense that their whole life experience has made it just an objective FACT from their perspective - that it's "jut the way it is". (*cough*Ezra*cough*) That statement from Sam, and Dean's face... guh... they're finding my buttons and pounding on them like a six-year-old with one of those gopher-game mallets. :) Of course, now the rest of the season needs to involve Dean getting into trouble and Sam turning out to have been lying like a rug about letting Dean die and Dean ending up nice and validated, but I'm not sure the writers have it in them to follow it through properly the way Kripke did with Season 1. *fingers crossed*
Nashville
Dude, just... this song, this scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5lVCDvPQY
Quick context: Will Lexington is a gay cowboy who's struggling like WHOA with his identity and the stress of denying who he is to fit into the country music scene. Best friend Gunnar is aware of what he's dealing with and offers him lyrics he wrote that are apropos and would be awesome for Will's new album, but the song hits too close to home and Will dismisses it. Later, Gunnar comes home to Will singing it anyway, and both the song and Will's sad-woobie-face are beautiful. :)
And then Will tells Gunnar that Gunnar's the only one who'll ever hear him sing it, because there's no way Will's going to put something that emotionally raw and honest out there for the world to see and my heart breaks a little. Good stuff.
Sherlock Holmes
Less canonical woobie in this so far, but I'm also really smitten with the Russian Sherlock Holmes from last year that some kind person is subtitling. It's really refreshing to have a Sherlock who's not quite such a prat as the BBC and Elementary ones are, and I love how Watson's kind of an unexpected BAMF who's perfectly capable of taking some of the stuffing out of Holmes when necessary. Really hope enough people check it out to generate some fic...
Winter's been kicking my butt this year. We haven't gotten too many big snows, but man, the cold is draining. All I want to do at the end of every. single. work day is curl up under piles of blankets and nap. I don't usually get into this state until well into February, and it's been like that since the second week of January this year. So, yeah, not much going on in real-life.
Fandom-wise, network TV has actually been pretty good to me lately. Some lovely woobie-ness happening.
White Collar
I'm always a little so-so about White Collar because USA shows are always so safe. It's frustrating at how they get right up to the edge of big changes or twists and then pull back to the status quo again and again. But this season has been a nice mix of different plot-threads that appealed to me. The stuff in the first half with Neal having his secrets in large part to protect Peter, the (temporary, of course) rift between them when Peter found out, Neal having an obsessive assassin ex-semi-girlfriend still floating around to cause trouble later... and of course, cliffhanger with Neal all kidnapped. Given it being USA, the conclusion to that cliffhanger won't be nearly as whumpy as I would like, but it leaves me at a good point for making up my own endings in the long wait for the next season.
Supernatural
I thought this show had burned me out long ago on the Dean-angst, but the end of this week's episode with Sam calling Dean out on non-consensually saving Sam's life, and Dean going "You would've done the same" and Sam going "No, I wouldn't" and Dean looking like Sam's just stamped out the last little light of hope in his soul... oh, boys. Took me right back to the end of the first season when I was so squeeful that Dean's "good little soldier" angst was actually going to be part of the show, not just subtext.
I've probably mentioned here or on whumpable that one of the elements of h/c that pings hard for me is characters with self-esteem issues who get validation through the h/c that they matter to those around them. And that "trope" works best when the character's issue aren't just a woe-is-me pity-party, but when there's a sense that their whole life experience has made it just an objective FACT from their perspective - that it's "jut the way it is". (*cough*Ezra*cough*) That statement from Sam, and Dean's face... guh... they're finding my buttons and pounding on them like a six-year-old with one of those gopher-game mallets. :) Of course, now the rest of the season needs to involve Dean getting into trouble and Sam turning out to have been lying like a rug about letting Dean die and Dean ending up nice and validated, but I'm not sure the writers have it in them to follow it through properly the way Kripke did with Season 1. *fingers crossed*
Nashville
Dude, just... this song, this scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5lVCDvPQY
Quick context: Will Lexington is a gay cowboy who's struggling like WHOA with his identity and the stress of denying who he is to fit into the country music scene. Best friend Gunnar is aware of what he's dealing with and offers him lyrics he wrote that are apropos and would be awesome for Will's new album, but the song hits too close to home and Will dismisses it. Later, Gunnar comes home to Will singing it anyway, and both the song and Will's sad-woobie-face are beautiful. :)
And then Will tells Gunnar that Gunnar's the only one who'll ever hear him sing it, because there's no way Will's going to put something that emotionally raw and honest out there for the world to see and my heart breaks a little. Good stuff.
Sherlock Holmes
Less canonical woobie in this so far, but I'm also really smitten with the Russian Sherlock Holmes from last year that some kind person is subtitling. It's really refreshing to have a Sherlock who's not quite such a prat as the BBC and Elementary ones are, and I love how Watson's kind of an unexpected BAMF who's perfectly capable of taking some of the stuffing out of Holmes when necessary. Really hope enough people check it out to generate some fic...