It occurred to me three people and a dog might be interested.

[verasteine]

Excerpts from my notes for The Only Easy Day, concerning Joe and Steve's relationship.

After reviewing 2.03, particularly their first scene on the rifle range:
Initially, there's a lot of affection and respect between them, especially respect and admiration from Steve's side. Joe is clearly proud, has assumed a parental role that's slightly more

Comments

[perspi]

AS:LDFKJSL:KJRE:LKJF:LKEJOIEFFORHA:LFDKSJ

DISCUSSION FAILED

*glee*

[verasteine]

Um, yay? Glad it, er, was useful, I guess.

[perspi]

No, see, I just got kind of excited, and sort of fizzed out. :D

I love the insight into Joe's motivation here -- and I really think that the Joe you gave us in The Only Easy Day was using Steve in ways Steve wasn't quite aware of (either through willful blindness or because Joe is good at hiding it).

[verasteine]

I struggled, when researching this fic, with figuring out how much Steve is aware of Joe's motivations, and how much he is just thinking Joe is doing his best. There are some very dark readings of canon possible (such as that Joe betrayed Makoto to Wo Fat in order to try and persuade Steve to stop investigating) if you take everything together, and there's moments, critically one in 2.13, where Steve can be read as being afraid of confronting Joe.

So yeah, that's a long winded way of saying that we, the viewer, could definitely see that Joe was up to no good, but Steve, with affection and prior relationship in his mind, wasn't wanting or able to see. And I tried to call that out using, um, porn.

[eumelia]

As you know, this is helpful to me!

[verasteine]

There's, um, more. I could send you all the notes?

[eumelia]

*gulp*

Send me everything!

*grabby hands*

[verasteine]

It's a lot less articulate, but I shall ship.

[gwalchmai345]

How did I manage to overlook this? I love your insights into Joe and Steve's relationship, thanks for sharing them with us! Your notes regarding 2x13 made me wibble. That scene gets me every time, even after trying to get it out of my system via fic, and I think you've put about everything I see and feel in that scene into words here.

Joe and Jack both have used Steve as a tool, a means to an end, not a human being that's dented and damaged and hurting.
This makes me want to hug Steve so, so badly. You know, it's kind of wonderful how different a man Danny is compared to Steve's two "father figures".

[verasteine]

That scene is a killer. There's so much power in how the conversation goes; when I was writing up the notes I kept having to pause because each line is so laden with both emotion and meaning and there's so much power to it.

Danny is completely outside of what Steve is used to. Danny doesn't try to compete with Steve, he actively rejects competition, even, while every other male role model (and we've seen with Doris, also female role models) in Steve's life not only competes with him, but undermines him by holding him to too-high standards. Poor Stevie.

[gwalchmai345]

Danny doesn't try to compete with Steve, he actively rejects competition, even, while every other male role model (and we've seen with Doris, also female role models) in Steve's life not only competes with him, but undermines him by holding him to too-high standards.
Oh, I love this! *has epiphany* I didn't really realize before that it's all about the competition (probably because Steve's Dad and my Dad have so much in common in that regard that I tend to accept it all as "the way things are" if I don't remember to shake myself out of it)... and that that's something Danny refuses to be part of. Now that you said it, I can remember several scenes where Danny did just that. *loves him* And yes, poor Stevie. No wonder he shows so many softer and utterly adorable sides when he's with Danny. *wibbles*

P.S. I need a "lightbulb" icon. *g*

[verasteine]

I realised this in discussion with someone else, so it takes convos to be brilliant ;). But Danny frequently won't compete, or even actively mocks Steve for thinking something is a competition. That's what sets him apart from a very great many people in Steve's life. And it's probably the reason Steve trusts Danny as much and indeed, opens up to him do much.

hehe :).