THG fic: "Spin Control" [23/24]

[trovia]

Title: Spin Control
Pairings: Finnick/Haymitch, Kat/Peeta
Characters: Finnick, Haymitch, Chaff, Peeta, Gale, Kat; plus appearances by Mags, Johanna, Caesar Flickerman, President Snow, Effie, Claudius Templesmith, Beetee, Prim, Thresh, Rue, District Twelve ensemble and various OC
Rating: adult
Warnings: forced prostitution & non-con; people dealing

Comments

[roguedemon]

The grave look he gave Finnick had no resemblance to the iconic absentminded scientist that the Capitol’s celebrity news reporter liked to gently mock, but otherwise was ignored. This, Finnick realized with startled recognition, was the man who’d befriended Haymitch, because simple people bored him too much. This was the man who had won his Games by making even water and lightning into a weapon, possibly the most dangerous of victors in that way.

I really loved the glimpse we got of the real Beetee here, I'm sure you're not surprised. It was interesting to see Finnick realize that Beetee's facade of the harmless eccentric genius is just that -- Finnick's never really met Beetee before now, in a way. And of course that made Finnick much more likely to be shocked when Haymitch told him what Beetee used to be like. :) This makes me wonder even more what these guys are really like when they're hanging out together. It also makes me wonder how many victors make the mistake of thinking that Finnick is really a shallow flirt or, well, that any given victor's facade is who they really are. I'm sure that very few people really take the time to get to know Johanna.

I loved how you pointed out what a badass Beetee is. A certain writer has presented Beetee as this clueless guy who is booksmart but can't really take care of himself in the real world and can't form connections to other people. I saw this in fic, and I've seen a whole meta essay that said that Haymtich is much more impressive than Beetee because he has real savvy in comparison to Beetee's Ravenclaw bookishness. Aside from the obvious problems with downgrading Beetee as a character, I don't see how anyone can fail to notice that Beetee is extremely dangerous. Not only did he win his first Games, he could very well have won the second, and that's not something a guy who is helpless outside his lab could pull off. I've also gotten tired of the whole idea that Beetee is so socially inept that he can't talk to people unless it involves science. People that think that must have never actually met an actual tech wizard. Of course, Collins is partially to blame when she portrayed Beetee as someone who couldn't start a fire with matches. Which was a stupid as calling Annie a poor mad girl. And of course, we never see Beetee in canon when he isn't in professional mode, either inventing something or talking about what needs to be done. But he understood that Finnick was suicidal. That says to me that there's a lot more to him. You have him talk like a real person here, and that's awesome.

The look Beetee gave him now from above the rim of his glasses was almost pitiful. “A rule change in the Games, Finnick.

Um, does that pitiful look mean that Beetee is thinking that Finnick is way too slow on the uptake, or is he feeling sorry for Finnick because he's obviously so freaked out?

[trovia]

Yeah, I imagine Beetee is a very complex person who changed a lot through the years on top of everything. I'm writing him with millari's younger version in mind, and she and I talked a lot about how he changed rather drastically when he acted as mentor to Wiress. I find him very fascinating. It surprises me a little, honestly, because frankly I think he's not much more than a stereotype in the books, and a badly written one at that, although he has so much interesting potential. I don't know where the idea of Beetee being socially inept comes from, though. Just look at the easy rapport he has with Wiress both in the books and the movies, but especially in the movies, and like you said the observations he makes about Finnick. Never mind that he immediately draws Kat in. Maybe that's the problem - Kat is drawn to the weird and useless allies and maybe that's why people assume that there must be something wrong with Beetee. He's objectively an awesome ally.

...I'm assuming you mean the thing where Beetee committed suicide? I vaguely recall reading that. I certainly agree that you shouldn't underestimate Haymitch just because he has no great education, but going the other way and devaluing Beetee doesn't make sense.

Ugh, though, I've recently been having so many annoyed thinky thoughts about high intelligence and how much of a taboo that is in society. You don't get to talk about your own intelligence; you're immediately penalized and called arrogant, as if that makes it less true. At the same time, fictional portrayals of geniuses are ridiculous, and they raise the bar for real people with a high IQ because suddenly you have to live up to that and be always right, or be Sherlock, or something, otherwise nobody believes you. It's all so silly. Beetee is a particularly bad portrayal of a genius character, and people who discuss him are often fueled by those very misconceptions and taboos.

Um, does that pitiful look mean that Beetee is thinking that Finnick is way too slow on the uptake, or is he feeling sorry for Finnick because he's obviously so freaked out?

Both. :) For all Beetee and Caramel are all to happy to play enabler to Finnick's scheme, they both have a sense that you shouldn't get in the way, that they won't stop Haymitch if Haymitch wants to do a crazy thing because doing a crazy thing is within his rights. It's a bit of an overcompensation, a reaction to the fact that their agenda is taken away all the time, so it's a twisted sense of respect that sometimes goes wrong. I've mentioned that mindframe once or twice before in the story, like when Finnick was musing about why none of the other victors have ever offered to help Haymitch with his alcoholism. Beetee and Caramel obviously had never taken any steps to really put their foot down about that. Once Haymitch made clear that this was how he would handle his life, period, they backed off. But enabling Finnick to stop him is different. So Beetee is sorry that Finnick is in this mess. But he also is a little impatient with folks who have normal-sized brains. ;)