More Than The Dress And The Voice.
Just watched the fifteenth episode of Once Upon a Time, 'Red-Handed'. Dear Emma: if you are informing someone of a crime, and if you have discovered fingerprints that potentially link them to that crime, you don't say 'We ran the fingerprints through testing and there was a match' and then pause like you're going to announce the winner of the X Factor. That is the action of a terrible sheriff.
For the information of anyone PS3-possessing and interested: the pre-PS2 Final Fantasy games are currently half-price on the PlayStation Network! I downloaded Final Fantasy VIII, as I think my physical copy is, sadly, on its last legs; when your discs take over an hour to stutter through a ninety-second FMV, you know it's time for a replacement. The download cost me four pounds. Four pounds. That is fifteen hours of gameplay per pound.
Speaking of Final Fantasy VIII: I'd misremembered the scene on the bridge to Esthar. In my memory, Squall set the unconscious Rinoa down and confessed that he loved her. In reality, Squall sets the unconscious Rinoa down and opens up to her about his insecurities. I prefer the true scene, which is subtler than I remember and rather sweet. Perhaps it was just that the bridge to Esthar was where I finally clocked that there was supposed to be a romantic plotline between these two. (As I've mentioned before, I acquired VIII by a fortunate accident - I picked up a VII box knowing nothing about Final Fantasy; the confused shop assistant mistakenly put a copy of VIII in it instead - so I didn't have the 'Squall and Rinoa embracing' logo on the disc case to tip me off.)
Considering that the romantic plotline is the main focus of VIII, it does seem to develop quite abruptly. Rinoa displays interest in Squall from the beginning, but Squall's feelings about her seem much the same as his feelings about Zell or Quistis: he comes to care about her a lot, but there's no particular romantic draw. This state of affairs continues right up until the end of Disc Two. And then she's unconscious, and he's suddenly in love with her.
Contrast the end of Disc Two, when Rinoa is in peril and Squall is upset but realises he can't run to rescue her immediately because everyone is in danger, with the beginning of Disc Three, when Squall will do literally anything to save her. (Squall's love is rather a melodramatic thing. 'You'd better not do anything to hurt her,' he says threateningly and inexplicably to a medic.)
Squall's spent so much time building up his defences, trying to keep people out, because if he starts to care about someone he'll inevitably lose them and he can't go through that. And I suppose, prior to Rinoa's coma, he's able to cling onto some deniability. He can tell himself that he doesn't really need these people in his life; they're just working together out of necessity. As long as nothing presses too hard on that illusion, he can maintain it.
And then he loses Rinoa, and suddenly he can't pretend any more. He was trying to protect himself from the pain of losing someone, and now he knows that his efforts were a failure, because it's time for the practical losing-someone test and it hurts.
So does Squall conclude that he's in love with Rinoa because he feels the loss of her so keenly? He'd have taken the loss of any member of the party pretty hard, I feel. Would he have reached the same conclusion had Quistis or Zell been the one afflicted?
I do think Rinoa is quite good for Squall, though. I wouldn't say I 'ship them, exactly, but I think their relationship is a generally positive thing for the parties involved. I feel it's perhaps a more constructive force when it's purely friendly, because when romance is introduced, as I've mentioned, Squall gets a bit irrational and melodramatic ('even if you'll become the world's enemy, I'll be your knight' is a particularly worrying line), but with her help I imagine he'll grow out of that.
I also like that, when Rinoa agrees to be sealed for the good of the world, Squall doesn't immediately go 'NO YOU CAN'T GO'; he goes 'well, I hate this, but it's her decision'. Of course the rest of the party then go 'oh my God, Squall, you're an idiot, let's go and break her out of there', but I do really like that he respects Rinoa's right to make her own decisions, even if they're not what he wants.
Well, that was quite a lot of Squall/Rinoa rambling! I'm not quite sure what point I was trying to make up there. 'Squall/Rinoa is clumsily done! But a good thing! But I don't 'ship it! But I'm still going to write an entire entry about it!', apparently.
On a final note, there is a scene just after Squall and Rinoa land on the Ragnarok that amuses me immensely:
(Rinoa holds out her arms.)
Squall: (Now what?)
Rinoa: The space suit was in our way before.
Squall: (Huh?)
Rinoa: Give me a hug.
Squall: (...?)
I just love that, even when she outright requests a hug, Squall is standing there thinking I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE WANTS. Oh, Squall.
For the information of anyone PS3-possessing and interested: the pre-PS2 Final Fantasy games are currently half-price on the PlayStation Network! I downloaded Final Fantasy VIII, as I think my physical copy is, sadly, on its last legs; when your discs take over an hour to stutter through a ninety-second FMV, you know it's time for a replacement. The download cost me four pounds. Four pounds. That is fifteen hours of gameplay per pound.
Speaking of Final Fantasy VIII: I'd misremembered the scene on the bridge to Esthar. In my memory, Squall set the unconscious Rinoa down and confessed that he loved her. In reality, Squall sets the unconscious Rinoa down and opens up to her about his insecurities. I prefer the true scene, which is subtler than I remember and rather sweet. Perhaps it was just that the bridge to Esthar was where I finally clocked that there was supposed to be a romantic plotline between these two. (As I've mentioned before, I acquired VIII by a fortunate accident - I picked up a VII box knowing nothing about Final Fantasy; the confused shop assistant mistakenly put a copy of VIII in it instead - so I didn't have the 'Squall and Rinoa embracing' logo on the disc case to tip me off.)
Considering that the romantic plotline is the main focus of VIII, it does seem to develop quite abruptly. Rinoa displays interest in Squall from the beginning, but Squall's feelings about her seem much the same as his feelings about Zell or Quistis: he comes to care about her a lot, but there's no particular romantic draw. This state of affairs continues right up until the end of Disc Two. And then she's unconscious, and he's suddenly in love with her.
Contrast the end of Disc Two, when Rinoa is in peril and Squall is upset but realises he can't run to rescue her immediately because everyone is in danger, with the beginning of Disc Three, when Squall will do literally anything to save her. (Squall's love is rather a melodramatic thing. 'You'd better not do anything to hurt her,' he says threateningly and inexplicably to a medic.)
Squall's spent so much time building up his defences, trying to keep people out, because if he starts to care about someone he'll inevitably lose them and he can't go through that. And I suppose, prior to Rinoa's coma, he's able to cling onto some deniability. He can tell himself that he doesn't really need these people in his life; they're just working together out of necessity. As long as nothing presses too hard on that illusion, he can maintain it.
And then he loses Rinoa, and suddenly he can't pretend any more. He was trying to protect himself from the pain of losing someone, and now he knows that his efforts were a failure, because it's time for the practical losing-someone test and it hurts.
So does Squall conclude that he's in love with Rinoa because he feels the loss of her so keenly? He'd have taken the loss of any member of the party pretty hard, I feel. Would he have reached the same conclusion had Quistis or Zell been the one afflicted?
I do think Rinoa is quite good for Squall, though. I wouldn't say I 'ship them, exactly, but I think their relationship is a generally positive thing for the parties involved. I feel it's perhaps a more constructive force when it's purely friendly, because when romance is introduced, as I've mentioned, Squall gets a bit irrational and melodramatic ('even if you'll become the world's enemy, I'll be your knight' is a particularly worrying line), but with her help I imagine he'll grow out of that.
I also like that, when Rinoa agrees to be sealed for the good of the world, Squall doesn't immediately go 'NO YOU CAN'T GO'; he goes 'well, I hate this, but it's her decision'. Of course the rest of the party then go 'oh my God, Squall, you're an idiot, let's go and break her out of there', but I do really like that he respects Rinoa's right to make her own decisions, even if they're not what he wants.
Well, that was quite a lot of Squall/Rinoa rambling! I'm not quite sure what point I was trying to make up there. 'Squall/Rinoa is clumsily done! But a good thing! But I don't 'ship it! But I'm still going to write an entire entry about it!', apparently.
On a final note, there is a scene just after Squall and Rinoa land on the Ragnarok that amuses me immensely:
(Rinoa holds out her arms.)
Squall: (Now what?)
Rinoa: The space suit was in our way before.
Squall: (Huh?)
Rinoa: Give me a hug.
Squall: (...?)
I just love that, even when she outright requests a hug, Squall is standing there thinking I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE WANTS. Oh, Squall.