Meta: Why Ten is like Wesley.
I have had what I can only describe as a backwards epiphany. And I’ve even managed to think up an metaphor for it...
The thing is, that for years I’ve been saying that Ten is *broken*, and damaged. (This is not exactly news, just look at ‘Handlebars’). But for me it was like a tune that I knew well. I fitted Ten beautifully, but I was sure I’d heard it somewhere before. I thought maybe it was Angel’s tune, and certainly there are similarities, but Angel’s tune fits Jack much better. I thought it might be Buffy’s, but that wasn’t quite it either, despite certain overlaps. And then yesterday, I suddenly realised what the words to that tune were, and - they were Wesley’s:
When you strip everything else away, the self that Wes Ten is left with is like glass; sharp, brittle. Damaged. Wes Ten has the potential to snap. More than potential, even.
Those are the words that have been in the back of my head whenever I’ve thought of Ten. And oh, it doesn’t end there...
The above description is taken from what might be the best Wesley meta ever, by ascian3, in her review/analysis of Lineage. I’ll just cut and paste and let the words speak for themselves:
Here's the thing about Wesley: he's gorgeous when he's desperate. It's not until he lets himself go that he's really everything he could be (sharp, coldly efficient, deadly) and he doesn't let himself go until there's literally nothing left. We saw glimpses of it when he was interrogating the robot. He was threatening to blow up the building, himself included, and he meant every word of it. When you strip everything else away, the self that Wes is left with is like glass; sharp, brittle. Damaged. Wes has the potential to snap. More than potential, even - keeping a woman in your closet for the summer is not the action of a sane man. Most of the time he's not that guy, but he's been there. He can be.
[...]
Wes is capable of giving everything he is and has and believes in, under the right circumstances. It's horribly powerful and terribly dangerous, because under the right kind of pressure Wes can do things. Like lock a woman in his closet. Like blowing up the building, and himself with it. Like stealing a child from its father. His intentions are good but it hardly matters, because at the edge of his tolerance Wes would probably burn the world to reach them. He has all the power of utter desperation at his fingertips, and it's never very far away.
I could rewrite this thing word for word, just changing the specifics. Like, say, ‘locking up your enemies for eternity is not the action of a sane man’.
Really, just take a moment to compare Wesley and Justine, and Ten and The Family of Blood. Or... imagine that Ten had been able to keep the Master. (“I’ll take away your bucket.”) I do worry that maybe I've read too much dark!fic, but... "He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. [...] He still visits my little sister once a year every year." Oh Ten. You really were monumentally screwed up.
Anyway, the line that stands out is this (let me just change the name):
His intentions are good but it hardly matters, because at the edge of his tolerance Ten would probably burn the world to reach them.
If that isn’t one of the best descriptions of Waters of Mars ever, I don’t know what is. It's horribly powerful and terribly dangerous. And oh, it kept us spellbound...
But there’s more. Let’s talk about love for a minute. This is from the_royal_anna’s post on AHitW/Shells:
Of course Wes will help Illyria. I talked about this lots after Lineage, but he has this overriding need to save. And there’s always been this battle in him, because he longs to find something good, something pure, something beautiful to save, something that will lift him beyond himself. But how can he save what is better than him? He needs something less than him, something more broken than him, something that needs saving.
And there, in a nutshell, we have Rose and the Master. (And maybe the Master’s brokenness is one of the things that so attracts the Doctor? An eternal project...)
I shall now do a little show and tell, because this bit of dialogue is just too prefect not to play with. Plus, I think it’s important to note, with both Ten and Wes, that although they’re ready to put their life on the line (in rather unhealthy ways) if necessary, they’re not actually suicidal. They don’t want to die, and although the pain and loss often seems too much to bear, they still know that life is good (“And since I don't actually intend to die tonight, I won't accept a lie.”/“I don’t want to go.”). Like this, see:
(I'm sure I don't need to point out that I'm well aware that there are many differences between them too, such as the fact that Ten doesn't tend to shoot people in the face, to mention just one. My point is that they're broken in the same way.)
And finally, I shall return once more to ascian3’s post. These are her final words:
Wes needs to learn how to stop clutching so desperately to the people around him. If he could just breathe a little, just learn to let go without letting go, he'd be okay.
And... hello Eleven! :)
ETA: One more thing. From yhlee's review of TGiQ:
"I can't believe I forgot how Denisof as Wesley can stand there and exude pain. It's like a superpower."
I rest my case:
The thing is, that for years I’ve been saying that Ten is *broken*, and damaged. (This is not exactly news, just look at ‘Handlebars’). But for me it was like a tune that I knew well. I fitted Ten beautifully, but I was sure I’d heard it somewhere before. I thought maybe it was Angel’s tune, and certainly there are similarities, but Angel’s tune fits Jack much better. I thought it might be Buffy’s, but that wasn’t quite it either, despite certain overlaps. And then yesterday, I suddenly realised what the words to that tune were, and - they were Wesley’s:
When you strip everything else away, the self that Wes Ten is left with is like glass; sharp, brittle. Damaged. Wes Ten has the potential to snap. More than potential, even.
Those are the words that have been in the back of my head whenever I’ve thought of Ten. And oh, it doesn’t end there...
The above description is taken from what might be the best Wesley meta ever, by ascian3, in her review/analysis of Lineage. I’ll just cut and paste and let the words speak for themselves:
Here's the thing about Wesley: he's gorgeous when he's desperate. It's not until he lets himself go that he's really everything he could be (sharp, coldly efficient, deadly) and he doesn't let himself go until there's literally nothing left. We saw glimpses of it when he was interrogating the robot. He was threatening to blow up the building, himself included, and he meant every word of it. When you strip everything else away, the self that Wes is left with is like glass; sharp, brittle. Damaged. Wes has the potential to snap. More than potential, even - keeping a woman in your closet for the summer is not the action of a sane man. Most of the time he's not that guy, but he's been there. He can be.
[...]
Wes is capable of giving everything he is and has and believes in, under the right circumstances. It's horribly powerful and terribly dangerous, because under the right kind of pressure Wes can do things. Like lock a woman in his closet. Like blowing up the building, and himself with it. Like stealing a child from its father. His intentions are good but it hardly matters, because at the edge of his tolerance Wes would probably burn the world to reach them. He has all the power of utter desperation at his fingertips, and it's never very far away.
I could rewrite this thing word for word, just changing the specifics. Like, say, ‘locking up your enemies for eternity is not the action of a sane man’.
Really, just take a moment to compare Wesley and Justine, and Ten and The Family of Blood. Or... imagine that Ten had been able to keep the Master. (“I’ll take away your bucket.”) I do worry that maybe I've read too much dark!fic, but... "He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. [...] He still visits my little sister once a year every year." Oh Ten. You really were monumentally screwed up.
Anyway, the line that stands out is this (let me just change the name):
His intentions are good but it hardly matters, because at the edge of his tolerance Ten would probably burn the world to reach them.
If that isn’t one of the best descriptions of Waters of Mars ever, I don’t know what is. It's horribly powerful and terribly dangerous. And oh, it kept us spellbound...
But there’s more. Let’s talk about love for a minute. This is from the_royal_anna’s post on AHitW/Shells:
Of course Wes will help Illyria. I talked about this lots after Lineage, but he has this overriding need to save. And there’s always been this battle in him, because he longs to find something good, something pure, something beautiful to save, something that will lift him beyond himself. But how can he save what is better than him? He needs something less than him, something more broken than him, something that needs saving.
And there, in a nutshell, we have Rose and the Master. (And maybe the Master’s brokenness is one of the things that so attracts the Doctor? An eternal project...)
I shall now do a little show and tell, because this bit of dialogue is just too prefect not to play with. Plus, I think it’s important to note, with both Ten and Wes, that although they’re ready to put their life on the line (in rather unhealthy ways) if necessary, they’re not actually suicidal. They don’t want to die, and although the pain and loss often seems too much to bear, they still know that life is good (“And since I don't actually intend to die tonight, I won't accept a lie.”/“I don’t want to go.”). Like this, see:
(I'm sure I don't need to point out that I'm well aware that there are many differences between them too, such as the fact that Ten doesn't tend to shoot people in the face, to mention just one. My point is that they're broken in the same way.)
And finally, I shall return once more to ascian3’s post. These are her final words:
Wes needs to learn how to stop clutching so desperately to the people around him. If he could just breathe a little, just learn to let go without letting go, he'd be okay.
And... hello Eleven! :)
ETA: One more thing. From yhlee's review of TGiQ:
"I can't believe I forgot how Denisof as Wesley can stand there and exude pain. It's like a superpower."
I rest my case: