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Fandom whore? Moi? Never. (The reason I've suddenly replaced that-show-I-posted-about-non-stop-for-weeks-on-end with that-new-show-I-plan-to-post-about-non-stop is that I'm still not quite ready to address the former's cancelation. I know I shouldn't be particularly surprised or upset by this, but... still. That doesn't mean it can't hurt something fierce. I was just getting over the sucker punch of the finale, yeah? Bad timing for my fragile emotional state! I cope via avoidance -- thus, epic Gene Genie indulgence, ohhh yes.)
First of all, THIS SHOW IS SUCH A FUCKING TEASE. JESUS. I thought an added benefit of Gene/Alex was that its enormous UST had a better chance of actually being addressed/resolved than Gene/Sam, but I was wrong. I've been diligently avoiding spoilers, but I kind of want to know -- should I just give up hope right now? Are they stretching it out true Moonlighting style and making us wait as long as humanly possible for anything to happen between the two of them? And, you know, even though people always point to Moonlighting as an example of why you shouldn't actually let your characters get together -- lies. LIES. I think it's a good example of why you should spend time establishing a relationship between your characters before immediately just throwing them in bed together, but then why there also should at some point be an emotional follow-up to the chemistry and the bickering and the over-involvement in one another's lives. Anyway. Long story short: I am shallow. I need sexytimes.
So to move on to ships with actual developments, OMGOMG Chris/Shaz. I LOVE THEM BEYOND ALL MEASURE. The strip scene? "Delightfully postmodern," indeed! Mostly I just love that all of the secondaries seem to be getting more to do lately. They can actually help solve crimes! Who would have guessed? The Chris/Ray good cop-bad cop in 1.04 was quite lovely. And actually, speaking of Ray -- you know, he's never really been my favourite, so I was surprised by just how shocked and upset I was that he was one of the Masons in 2.02. RAYMONDO. NOT ON. I also spent much of series one deeply convinced that they were setting up a Ray-is-hugely-closeted storyline, but... hmm. If so, it has yet to come to pass!
(Okay, this post is about to experience a definite drop in coherent organization...)
MATTHEW MACFAYDEN IN 1.07. LOLOLOLOLOL FOREVER AND ETERNITY. THAT IS ALL.
The series one finale! Man! I guess I was prepped by LoM for the whole "travel in time, find our your dad is an arse, relive all your childhood emo," and I wasn't really a huge fan of either of Alex's parents, but still. Blowing up sucks any day of the week. ALEX! D: D: D: Man. I totally should have seen Gene's rescue of wee!Alex coming, given the show's general trend of declaring that THIS MAN IS IN FACT A GIANT OOSHY HERO, ALL SHALL LOVE HIM but it still completely blindsided me and oh ohhh Gene. Remember when Sawyer rescues Claire from her exploding house and everybody had those "somebody get this man some shining armor!" icons? Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt in that moment.
So, general Gene thoughts... Again, even though I feel like the shows are different enough in tone, character, etc. for it to be unnecessary to decide whether LoM or A2A is "better" than the other, it is still hard for me to talk about them without doing at least some comparison. I gather that for some people it was difficult and/or possibly a complete dealbreaker to switch from Gene the Self-Assured Means-Business Balls-Busting Badass to Gene the Soon-to-be-Obsolete, but I find it rather fascinating. First of all, I again love how much it pays tribute to Gene/Sam. Those were his glory days, that was when he could butt heads over methodology but still know he was safe as Manc Lion, that was when he went home at the end of the day and knew how the world worked, what his place in it was, and where he was in control. Then to see how much losing Sam completely unseats him and makes him realize his age and his vulnerabilities (during the tarot reading in 2.02, when Gene goes completely deer-in-the-headlights at the world "Tyler"? My heart might have skipped a beat. Oh!). The arguments with Sam were always underlied with the understanding that they could challenge each other because ultimately they respected and trusted each other, and that's what made it safe and that's what made it work. And now all that's gone and Gene has to be a man on the defensive instead of the offensive, which is a completely alien position for him. I guess what I'm getting at is that I love that the show seems to be so much more about Gene feeling the fish-out-of-water. Alex has her "I must stay in control" mantra, and all of the social changes going on are the ones that lead to the development of her world -- so really she's getting closer to herself while Gene is getting farther and father away. By the end of 2.02, though, it does at least seem that they can meet somewhere in the middle (Alex's "I thought I'd lost you" speech, UM BRB FANGIRLING). Argh, though, it's just so deliciously bittersweet now but I'm sure it can only end in tears. I thought LoM had pretty much the most satisfying ending possible but I don't know how the same sort of thing could work here; of course Alex is going to choose to go back to Molly above everything else, as well she should, butbutbuuut I want some Gene/Alex happiness, too. Is that too much to ask? Well of course it is. Maybe she'll find 2008 Gene in Alicante, "oiled up, skin sizzling in the midday sun like a burnt sausage"? ...It could happen. Or maybe I could just stop speculating and start watching!
Oh, but, last comment on Things I Like -- so I had ribbed the show earlier for being all about the 80s fluff and not enough about the "real world" being shot trauma, so I like that it's finally been addressed at the end of 2.02 as Alex had completely forgotten which "world" she's supposed to belong to. Creepy! And interesting!
And, okay, REALLY really last comment, but I am a wee tiny bit obsessed with absolutely everything in this clip. The Sam/Gene! The Gene emo (Gemo, if you will)! Gene actually being quiet and reflective! The lkjdsflkjasfdjadfsjf omg knock me dead physical chemistry of Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes (seriously how are they even allowed?)! The way Alex drinks her wine! The music (I fear this show is going to make me waste far too much money procuring cheesy 80s songs)! IT IS ALL TOO MUCH.
First of all, THIS SHOW IS SUCH A FUCKING TEASE. JESUS. I thought an added benefit of Gene/Alex was that its enormous UST had a better chance of actually being addressed/resolved than Gene/Sam, but I was wrong. I've been diligently avoiding spoilers, but I kind of want to know -- should I just give up hope right now? Are they stretching it out true Moonlighting style and making us wait as long as humanly possible for anything to happen between the two of them? And, you know, even though people always point to Moonlighting as an example of why you shouldn't actually let your characters get together -- lies. LIES. I think it's a good example of why you should spend time establishing a relationship between your characters before immediately just throwing them in bed together, but then why there also should at some point be an emotional follow-up to the chemistry and the bickering and the over-involvement in one another's lives. Anyway. Long story short: I am shallow. I need sexytimes.
So to move on to ships with actual developments, OMGOMG Chris/Shaz. I LOVE THEM BEYOND ALL MEASURE. The strip scene? "Delightfully postmodern," indeed! Mostly I just love that all of the secondaries seem to be getting more to do lately. They can actually help solve crimes! Who would have guessed? The Chris/Ray good cop-bad cop in 1.04 was quite lovely. And actually, speaking of Ray -- you know, he's never really been my favourite, so I was surprised by just how shocked and upset I was that he was one of the Masons in 2.02. RAYMONDO. NOT ON. I also spent much of series one deeply convinced that they were setting up a Ray-is-hugely-closeted storyline, but... hmm. If so, it has yet to come to pass!
(Okay, this post is about to experience a definite drop in coherent organization...)
MATTHEW MACFAYDEN IN 1.07. LOLOLOLOLOL FOREVER AND ETERNITY. THAT IS ALL.
The series one finale! Man! I guess I was prepped by LoM for the whole "travel in time, find our your dad is an arse, relive all your childhood emo," and I wasn't really a huge fan of either of Alex's parents, but still. Blowing up sucks any day of the week. ALEX! D: D: D: Man. I totally should have seen Gene's rescue of wee!Alex coming, given the show's general trend of declaring that THIS MAN IS IN FACT A GIANT OOSHY HERO, ALL SHALL LOVE HIM but it still completely blindsided me and oh ohhh Gene. Remember when Sawyer rescues Claire from her exploding house and everybody had those "somebody get this man some shining armor!" icons? Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt in that moment.
So, general Gene thoughts... Again, even though I feel like the shows are different enough in tone, character, etc. for it to be unnecessary to decide whether LoM or A2A is "better" than the other, it is still hard for me to talk about them without doing at least some comparison. I gather that for some people it was difficult and/or possibly a complete dealbreaker to switch from Gene the Self-Assured Means-Business Balls-Busting Badass to Gene the Soon-to-be-Obsolete, but I find it rather fascinating. First of all, I again love how much it pays tribute to Gene/Sam. Those were his glory days, that was when he could butt heads over methodology but still know he was safe as Manc Lion, that was when he went home at the end of the day and knew how the world worked, what his place in it was, and where he was in control. Then to see how much losing Sam completely unseats him and makes him realize his age and his vulnerabilities (during the tarot reading in 2.02, when Gene goes completely deer-in-the-headlights at the world "Tyler"? My heart might have skipped a beat. Oh!). The arguments with Sam were always underlied with the understanding that they could challenge each other because ultimately they respected and trusted each other, and that's what made it safe and that's what made it work. And now all that's gone and Gene has to be a man on the defensive instead of the offensive, which is a completely alien position for him. I guess what I'm getting at is that I love that the show seems to be so much more about Gene feeling the fish-out-of-water. Alex has her "I must stay in control" mantra, and all of the social changes going on are the ones that lead to the development of her world -- so really she's getting closer to herself while Gene is getting farther and father away. By the end of 2.02, though, it does at least seem that they can meet somewhere in the middle (Alex's "I thought I'd lost you" speech, UM BRB FANGIRLING). Argh, though, it's just so deliciously bittersweet now but I'm sure it can only end in tears. I thought LoM had pretty much the most satisfying ending possible but I don't know how the same sort of thing could work here; of course Alex is going to choose to go back to Molly above everything else, as well she should, butbutbuuut I want some Gene/Alex happiness, too. Is that too much to ask? Well of course it is. Maybe she'll find 2008 Gene in Alicante, "oiled up, skin sizzling in the midday sun like a burnt sausage"? ...It could happen. Or maybe I could just stop speculating and start watching!
Oh, but, last comment on Things I Like -- so I had ribbed the show earlier for being all about the 80s fluff and not enough about the "real world" being shot trauma, so I like that it's finally been addressed at the end of 2.02 as Alex had completely forgotten which "world" she's supposed to belong to. Creepy! And interesting!
And, okay, REALLY really last comment, but I am a wee tiny bit obsessed with absolutely everything in this clip. The Sam/Gene! The Gene emo (Gemo, if you will)! Gene actually being quiet and reflective! The lkjdsflkjasfdjadfsjf omg knock me dead physical chemistry of Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes (seriously how are they even allowed?)! The way Alex drinks her wine! The music (I fear this show is going to make me waste far too much money procuring cheesy 80s songs)! IT IS ALL TOO MUCH.
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