(no subject)
Um, would anyone happen to know where I might find high-quality Methos-centric Highlander fanfiction? I've never read Highlander fic before. Any rating, any pairing, any topic is fine, as long as it's got Methos and is written well. (From what I've seen so far, writing a complicated morally ambiguous 5,000 year old immortal well is quite a challenge.)
I ended up celebrating my colloquium by watching my two favorite Highlander episodes, "Comes a Horseman" and "Revelation 6:8." Then I watched them again. Then I decided to watch all of the Methos episodes that I have on tape. Then I decided that I need more; thus, fic. Most of what I've found so far has involved Methos behaving like a 12-year-old girl with a crush on Duncan, so if anyone could point me in a more productive direction I'd appreciate it. He's such a wonderful character; I'm sure there must be great fic out there somewhere.
I haven't read my LJ in a week. I suppose this has to do with souled Spike's failure to hold my attention--I'm turning to Methos and Jaime Lannister instead. Alas, neither actually has the potential to hold my attention long-term--Methos' story has been over for years, and who knows when the next Song of Ice and Fire book will be out (plus, Jaime has a miniscule fandom). But for the time being, this is entertaining me.
While watching these episodes I became curious as to what my reaction might have been when I first saw them, so I pulled out my old diary and checked the date that the episosdes aired. Sure enough, post "Revelation" I devoted three pages to expounding on the wonderfulness of Methos. I was fifteen at the time--six years ago. I may be fairly new to online fandom, but I've always been a fan. It amuses me how little I've changed.
I think in the end, I love Methos much more than Spike. Methos is a lot like Jaime Lannister in that they both took the hard path toward redemption--struggle and suffering and choice. No magic deus ex machina soul for them.
While searching for Methos fic I found this old message board archive where people were arguing about whether Methos' development could be blamed on a "dark quickening" turning him evil, or a good quickening turning him good. The argument with which I agreed was that the story was so much better when there wasn't some kind of external force compelling him to change by effecting some essential part of his nature--rather, he evolved slowly over time. He's still the same person who went around horribly murdering innocent people and getting off on the power--no supernatural excuses. He's still capable of doing those things, a part of him still wants to do those things, but he chooses not to.
Souled Spike just seems like a victim of fate, in contrast. (And yes, I know all the arguments about how he chose a soul, but it's still utterly lame). With a soul, he'd never seriously go back to committing evil. He's just a big fluffy puppy in a ridiculous leather coat, a pathetic poet playing at being a badass. But there's no real danger there--despite ME and their little gotchas, he's never going to decide "screw this redemption thing, killing people is fun." We know he'd be overwhelmed with guilt and turn back into a sniveling little wuss the instant he screwed up, so there's no real risk to the character anymore. He's a pale shadow of what he used to be.
Now, it you compared unsouled Spike to Methos, it's a much more difficult choice. Unsouled Spike (post-"Intervention" and throughout the end of season five/all of season six) was changing on his own, through choice, and always held a risk and a danger and was interesting. But I think I like Methos better for a couple of reasons. (Many of which are based on feelings I have about unsouled Spike that only emerged after seeing souled Spike). I have no respect for Spike. He doesn't think deeply, and he has no self-respect (and no real sense of self). He used to have these flashes of insight into people, but those have been gone for years. He used to have a cleverness, too--impetuous, impatient, but not at all stupid. Now he's pretty much just plain stupid. And he used to have this really biting sense of humor, but now it's just like bad "head boy" jokes. Please. All of his witty observations and harsh truths disappeared when he got his soul--like being a good guy means being passive and weak, giving up your individuality, your voice, and just being a slave instead. (And, well, on Buffy, that pretty much is the definition of a "good" man, since all men are inherently evil nasty violent rapists and can only be worthwhile when they're down licking women's boots).
Okay, tangent. Anyway...
Now, Methos, on the other hand, has the most brilliant, biting sense of humor. He never stops seeing into people and telling the truths that no one wants to face. Despite his insistence to the contrary, he is, in his way, very wise. He understands that the world is so much more complicated than Duncan wants to believe, that morality isn't black and white, and he won't let his friends get away with deluding themselves. And he's so deliciously morally ambiguous. He's sneaky, brilliantly manipulative, and puts his own survival above anything else. The really delightful thing is watching him change, watching his crises of conscience. He's survived 5,000 years by putting himself first, yet Duncan inspires him to put others first, and totally despite himself, he finds himself letting his care for his friends get the best of him. He risks himself again and again to help other people, despite his resolution not to. Watching Duncan bring out the best in him is so cool--like watching Dawn bring out the best in Spike, or [Storm of Swords spoiler] Brienne bring out the best in Jaime.
And the thing I really love is that with Methos and Duncan, it's an exchange. They teach each other and grow together, as friends and as people. Methos becomes a better person, puts himself at risk to help others, makes hard choices even when they hurt. Duncan learns that the world isn't as simple as he'd like to think, that morality is incredibly complex and can't just be dumbed down into black and white. With Buffy and Spike, there was no exchange (although, god, there should have been, and what an amazing story that would have been). It was just "Buffy is Spike's beneficent goddess, and he should be grateful to be allowed to lick her oh-so-precious boots." The series flirted with the idea that morality was more complicated than black-and-white, but in the end Buffy was up on her high horse espousing simplistic morality, her ignorance validated in the name of "female empowerment." Blecch. Now, don't get me wrong, "Highlander" had many flaws as a series, but in the end, it grew from a very childish "good vs. evil" moral view to a very complex understanding that the world is much more complicated. "Buffy" never did that; it had the chance, in season six, and rejected it in favor of a regression back to season one. I'm sad for the lost potential, and I mostly just despise the show for failing when it had such possibilities. It's one thing for a bad show to suck, but Buffy could have been so much better.
*sigh* I really need to update my website. Maybe next week....
So, anyone going to see Common Rotation at the Bitter End this weekend?
I ended up celebrating my colloquium by watching my two favorite Highlander episodes, "Comes a Horseman" and "Revelation 6:8." Then I watched them again. Then I decided to watch all of the Methos episodes that I have on tape. Then I decided that I need more; thus, fic. Most of what I've found so far has involved Methos behaving like a 12-year-old girl with a crush on Duncan, so if anyone could point me in a more productive direction I'd appreciate it. He's such a wonderful character; I'm sure there must be great fic out there somewhere.
I haven't read my LJ in a week. I suppose this has to do with souled Spike's failure to hold my attention--I'm turning to Methos and Jaime Lannister instead. Alas, neither actually has the potential to hold my attention long-term--Methos' story has been over for years, and who knows when the next Song of Ice and Fire book will be out (plus, Jaime has a miniscule fandom). But for the time being, this is entertaining me.
While watching these episodes I became curious as to what my reaction might have been when I first saw them, so I pulled out my old diary and checked the date that the episosdes aired. Sure enough, post "Revelation" I devoted three pages to expounding on the wonderfulness of Methos. I was fifteen at the time--six years ago. I may be fairly new to online fandom, but I've always been a fan. It amuses me how little I've changed.
I think in the end, I love Methos much more than Spike. Methos is a lot like Jaime Lannister in that they both took the hard path toward redemption--struggle and suffering and choice. No magic deus ex machina soul for them.
While searching for Methos fic I found this old message board archive where people were arguing about whether Methos' development could be blamed on a "dark quickening" turning him evil, or a good quickening turning him good. The argument with which I agreed was that the story was so much better when there wasn't some kind of external force compelling him to change by effecting some essential part of his nature--rather, he evolved slowly over time. He's still the same person who went around horribly murdering innocent people and getting off on the power--no supernatural excuses. He's still capable of doing those things, a part of him still wants to do those things, but he chooses not to.
Souled Spike just seems like a victim of fate, in contrast. (And yes, I know all the arguments about how he chose a soul, but it's still utterly lame). With a soul, he'd never seriously go back to committing evil. He's just a big fluffy puppy in a ridiculous leather coat, a pathetic poet playing at being a badass. But there's no real danger there--despite ME and their little gotchas, he's never going to decide "screw this redemption thing, killing people is fun." We know he'd be overwhelmed with guilt and turn back into a sniveling little wuss the instant he screwed up, so there's no real risk to the character anymore. He's a pale shadow of what he used to be.
Now, it you compared unsouled Spike to Methos, it's a much more difficult choice. Unsouled Spike (post-"Intervention" and throughout the end of season five/all of season six) was changing on his own, through choice, and always held a risk and a danger and was interesting. But I think I like Methos better for a couple of reasons. (Many of which are based on feelings I have about unsouled Spike that only emerged after seeing souled Spike). I have no respect for Spike. He doesn't think deeply, and he has no self-respect (and no real sense of self). He used to have these flashes of insight into people, but those have been gone for years. He used to have a cleverness, too--impetuous, impatient, but not at all stupid. Now he's pretty much just plain stupid. And he used to have this really biting sense of humor, but now it's just like bad "head boy" jokes. Please. All of his witty observations and harsh truths disappeared when he got his soul--like being a good guy means being passive and weak, giving up your individuality, your voice, and just being a slave instead. (And, well, on Buffy, that pretty much is the definition of a "good" man, since all men are inherently evil nasty violent rapists and can only be worthwhile when they're down licking women's boots).
Okay, tangent. Anyway...
Now, Methos, on the other hand, has the most brilliant, biting sense of humor. He never stops seeing into people and telling the truths that no one wants to face. Despite his insistence to the contrary, he is, in his way, very wise. He understands that the world is so much more complicated than Duncan wants to believe, that morality isn't black and white, and he won't let his friends get away with deluding themselves. And he's so deliciously morally ambiguous. He's sneaky, brilliantly manipulative, and puts his own survival above anything else. The really delightful thing is watching him change, watching his crises of conscience. He's survived 5,000 years by putting himself first, yet Duncan inspires him to put others first, and totally despite himself, he finds himself letting his care for his friends get the best of him. He risks himself again and again to help other people, despite his resolution not to. Watching Duncan bring out the best in him is so cool--like watching Dawn bring out the best in Spike, or [Storm of Swords spoiler] Brienne bring out the best in Jaime.
And the thing I really love is that with Methos and Duncan, it's an exchange. They teach each other and grow together, as friends and as people. Methos becomes a better person, puts himself at risk to help others, makes hard choices even when they hurt. Duncan learns that the world isn't as simple as he'd like to think, that morality is incredibly complex and can't just be dumbed down into black and white. With Buffy and Spike, there was no exchange (although, god, there should have been, and what an amazing story that would have been). It was just "Buffy is Spike's beneficent goddess, and he should be grateful to be allowed to lick her oh-so-precious boots." The series flirted with the idea that morality was more complicated than black-and-white, but in the end Buffy was up on her high horse espousing simplistic morality, her ignorance validated in the name of "female empowerment." Blecch. Now, don't get me wrong, "Highlander" had many flaws as a series, but in the end, it grew from a very childish "good vs. evil" moral view to a very complex understanding that the world is much more complicated. "Buffy" never did that; it had the chance, in season six, and rejected it in favor of a regression back to season one. I'm sad for the lost potential, and I mostly just despise the show for failing when it had such possibilities. It's one thing for a bad show to suck, but Buffy could have been so much better.
*sigh* I really need to update my website. Maybe next week....
So, anyone going to see Common Rotation at the Bitter End this weekend?