The mess that was Law & Order: Los Angeles
There's probably, like, no one on my friends list at this point who even watched this show, so I guess this post is more for me than anyone. Oh Skeet, why do you have to be in so many good shows that get cancelled before they have a chance to catch on? (And "Jericho," which wasn't a good show that I'm happy got cancelled. Except the Mimi/Stanley and Bonnie dynamic, that was always fun to watch. But still, don't bring it back. Let Skeet move on to something that possibly won't put me to sleep.)
Anyway, LOLA. SPOILERS for the entire and only season of "Law & Order: Los Angeles" ahead!!
This had the potential to be a pretty decent show, and Skeet was good in it, but the "Oh no, the ratings aren't exactly how we want them, let's change everything mid-season!" hysteria ruined it all. I got all the discs from Netflix so I could get the episodes with Skeet in them, plus the ep that was supposed to be the season finale. In it, Skeet played Detective I Have a Lousy Name, it's Rex Winters, Haha, Silly Huh? Horrible name aside, I still liked the character. Of course, this Homicide detective has a partner, T.J. Hard to Spell Last Name. You know I'm a big fan of slash, but my Slash Goggles were not on with this show. Not at first. I'm not a big fan of bald heads, especially shaved heads, and T.J. had a shaved head. No Slash Goggles. Rex and T.J. were just work partners and friends.
Slowly, as I watched more episodes, those pesky Slash Goggles began to creep up my face and over my eyes.
First there's the fact that Skeet can generate chemistry with a rock, even a big, lumpy, dirty one. Skeet would speak to the rock with a sincere, wounded look and I would sigh happily, mesmerized. It's probably the thing he does best. Besides be fucking sexy. So, I began to think how nice it would be to see Rex and Baldy make out in the car.
But! Rex is married! He has 3 kids with wife Casey. He and the wife had some chemistry too, but less. In one ep, we can see there is definite tension in the marriage. There is a distance there. The couple seems to love each other, but they feel more like roommates who raise children together than husband and wife. Maybe it's because they've been married for so long; all the thrill has gone out of the marriage. The Slash Goggles are firmly planted in place now.
Although, I don't like cheating. So my little head canon created the scenario of an open marriage, where Rex can have a thing on the side with his partner and frigid Casey looks the other way because she knows men need sex, and sometimes things happen between partners - that's how she and Rex got together, after all (that's canon, not something I made up!). Maybe there were attempts at threesomes to bring some lovin' back into the marriage. I'm not sure how they went at this point. At times, it seemed like Casey was a little uncomfortable around T.J., which only supports my head canon. She wants to accept T.J., but a wife is bound to be jealous sometimes in a situation like that.
The show only did more to support the view through the Slash Goggles. There was the episode where T.J. was attracted to the witness who turned out to be a porn star and Rex obviously did not like it, and T.J. even made the comment about what, was Rex jealous? Once Rex is murdered, Casey clearly does not want to go to T.J. or be hugged by him. She seems very uncomfortable when he hugs her, and T.J. seems to notice. Then once Rex's female boss hugs her, Casey clings to her and breaks down. I'm not sure what basis there was in the show for why Casey would react to T.J. that way, so head canon fills in the blanks. This is the man who had a better sexual and romantic relationship with Rex than Casey was able to; of course she'd feel some resentment toward him when Rex is gone. (Rex was shot in a drive-by at his home. T.J. wasn't even there and had no reason to be, so I can't see why Casey would feel resentment toward him in the show canon. Unless she's mad because he could have been a target just as much as Rex could have been, and why did they choose Rex?)
Even the fact that T.J. shaved off his mustache after Rex died says something to me. That's a big decision for a confirmed 'stache wearer to make.
And of course, there is the episode where T.J. goes after the drug lord who had Rex murdered. Could be interpreted as a man wanting justice for his partner and friend who was taken from the family he loved, ooooooorrrrrrrrrr... a lover who wants revenge and justice for the murder of the man he LOVED! Ahhhhhh, it all fits into my twisted, slash-loving head canon!
I'm requesting the fandom again for next year's Yuletide in hopes I can get some yummy Rex/T.J. action one of these years. Don't know if I'll ever find the time to write some myself. That's all I need, another fandom to write in that is so obscure that no one will read my fanfic. :P Although, upon reading this again, I see that I practically have the story written already. It sounds a bit like a Harlequin romance novel: While they were working, Rex always took the lead and seemed like the more forceful one, but when he and T.J. were alone, Rex showed needy, vulnerable sides of himself that almost no one else got to see. XD Oh God, sex scenes with a character named REX... the things I do in the name of Skeet Ulrich...
Only three days of work left!
Anyway, LOLA. SPOILERS for the entire and only season of "Law & Order: Los Angeles" ahead!!
This had the potential to be a pretty decent show, and Skeet was good in it, but the "Oh no, the ratings aren't exactly how we want them, let's change everything mid-season!" hysteria ruined it all. I got all the discs from Netflix so I could get the episodes with Skeet in them, plus the ep that was supposed to be the season finale. In it, Skeet played Detective I Have a Lousy Name, it's Rex Winters, Haha, Silly Huh? Horrible name aside, I still liked the character. Of course, this Homicide detective has a partner, T.J. Hard to Spell Last Name. You know I'm a big fan of slash, but my Slash Goggles were not on with this show. Not at first. I'm not a big fan of bald heads, especially shaved heads, and T.J. had a shaved head. No Slash Goggles. Rex and T.J. were just work partners and friends.
Slowly, as I watched more episodes, those pesky Slash Goggles began to creep up my face and over my eyes.
First there's the fact that Skeet can generate chemistry with a rock, even a big, lumpy, dirty one. Skeet would speak to the rock with a sincere, wounded look and I would sigh happily, mesmerized. It's probably the thing he does best. Besides be fucking sexy. So, I began to think how nice it would be to see Rex and Baldy make out in the car.
But! Rex is married! He has 3 kids with wife Casey. He and the wife had some chemistry too, but less. In one ep, we can see there is definite tension in the marriage. There is a distance there. The couple seems to love each other, but they feel more like roommates who raise children together than husband and wife. Maybe it's because they've been married for so long; all the thrill has gone out of the marriage. The Slash Goggles are firmly planted in place now.
Although, I don't like cheating. So my little head canon created the scenario of an open marriage, where Rex can have a thing on the side with his partner and frigid Casey looks the other way because she knows men need sex, and sometimes things happen between partners - that's how she and Rex got together, after all (that's canon, not something I made up!). Maybe there were attempts at threesomes to bring some lovin' back into the marriage. I'm not sure how they went at this point. At times, it seemed like Casey was a little uncomfortable around T.J., which only supports my head canon. She wants to accept T.J., but a wife is bound to be jealous sometimes in a situation like that.
The show only did more to support the view through the Slash Goggles. There was the episode where T.J. was attracted to the witness who turned out to be a porn star and Rex obviously did not like it, and T.J. even made the comment about what, was Rex jealous? Once Rex is murdered, Casey clearly does not want to go to T.J. or be hugged by him. She seems very uncomfortable when he hugs her, and T.J. seems to notice. Then once Rex's female boss hugs her, Casey clings to her and breaks down. I'm not sure what basis there was in the show for why Casey would react to T.J. that way, so head canon fills in the blanks. This is the man who had a better sexual and romantic relationship with Rex than Casey was able to; of course she'd feel some resentment toward him when Rex is gone. (Rex was shot in a drive-by at his home. T.J. wasn't even there and had no reason to be, so I can't see why Casey would feel resentment toward him in the show canon. Unless she's mad because he could have been a target just as much as Rex could have been, and why did they choose Rex?)
Even the fact that T.J. shaved off his mustache after Rex died says something to me. That's a big decision for a confirmed 'stache wearer to make.
And of course, there is the episode where T.J. goes after the drug lord who had Rex murdered. Could be interpreted as a man wanting justice for his partner and friend who was taken from the family he loved, ooooooorrrrrrrrrr... a lover who wants revenge and justice for the murder of the man he LOVED! Ahhhhhh, it all fits into my twisted, slash-loving head canon!
I'm requesting the fandom again for next year's Yuletide in hopes I can get some yummy Rex/T.J. action one of these years. Don't know if I'll ever find the time to write some myself. That's all I need, another fandom to write in that is so obscure that no one will read my fanfic. :P Although, upon reading this again, I see that I practically have the story written already. It sounds a bit like a Harlequin romance novel: While they were working, Rex always took the lead and seemed like the more forceful one, but when he and T.J. were alone, Rex showed needy, vulnerable sides of himself that almost no one else got to see. XD Oh God, sex scenes with a character named REX... the things I do in the name of Skeet Ulrich...
Only three days of work left!