Story 169: "In My Secret Life" by David Hearne
I was originally considering something fluffy after last week's horror and gloom, but then this fic lured me in with its spare, eerie tone and the unique way it makes use of several important loose threads the series left us with
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"You also have two fathers and two mothers. One bloodline is made from power and secrets. The other..."
The ghost struggled to find a word which pleased him. Then he shrugged and said, "The other side is based on love -- a very overrated concept, if you ask me."
"I didn't."
The ghost stopped smiling. "Be smart, boy. Choose the winning side. Otherwise...you're just another dead human."
What I can't figure out is, what is CSM trying to convince William of here? Originally I thought he was trying to convince William to join the colonists rather than the resistance. After all, that's the side I'm used to CSM being on. Yet Mulder and Scully must be the "bloodline made from power and secrets" he's speaking of, right? For one thing, the Van de Kamps are not William's bloodline at all. Yet an important part of the fic is that Mulder and Scully are out there somewhere, and that they love William, so it doesn't make sense for CSM to tell William the Van de Kamps side is the one based on love, because clearly they both are.
It seems like CSM is telling William the colonists are the winning side. Didn't he always place his bets that way? But he could also be telling William not to just sit around the farm with his loving mom and pop while there's a battle out there that won't be ignored. I find this all unclear and contradictory. To be honest, I'm a little aggravated by the idea that I was probably wrong about CSM's motives. I so much prefer the idea that CSM is arguing for the colonist's side. It strengthens the parable-like nature of the fic. I find it a lot more compelling and complex to think that William has ghosts on both his shoulders, trying to sway him both ways, and not just towards the "good" side.
I always thought when he came to the forked road at the end, one road was the road he could take to join with the colonists, and the other was the road to his parents and to resistance - maybe not literally, but metaphorically speaking. But now I'm wondering if I had the duality wrong. Perhaps the choice he had to make was whether to fight or stay home, and he ultimately made it in the second to last scene, when he awakened his special abilities, meaning he planned to fight. But then why does that scene end with the line: For a brief moment, he saw himself doubled in the reflection.? Doesn't that mean that there is still a choice he must make - a choice that is dividing him?
And for that matter, what is the point of the forked road if each fork isn't symbolic of a different outcome? Is it merely that one road will take him to his parents and the other won't? I don't like that, it doesn't have anywhere near the narrative power that the colonists/resistance duality has.
Argh. This was a much more simple comment when I began it. I've just nitpicked the narrative linchpin I thought this fic had into nothing, and now I have no idea what I think. *throws up hands*
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