But I had an idea of how I wanted to handle this episode in this thing I am writing- what other thing I am actively working on? What backlog of things I promised to finish up? that was dealing with the breakup and now I am going to have to go back and rethink it because you have me all sympathetic for Leslie now. And I have to rethink how I would want to play it.
And that sucks because I had all these sexytimes planned. I was going to make sexytimes and now I have to deal with plot instead.
sigh
(Also, I think you need to- to quote Kiss Me Kate, brush up on your Shakespeare. I propose you come to Chicago and we go to the Chicago Shakes Theatre and we eat deep dish pizza)
No. Do NOT let anything I wrote stand in the way of sexytimes! That's just not cool. (Although, how many fics do you have any progress at the moment, hmmm?)
I swear, I'm not as illiterate as I seem lately. I've read some Shakespeare, just not Hamlet, and just not recently. That does sound really fun, though.
You do a great job analyzing the state of Leslie/Ben. I agree that neither of them are handling things very well. I see both sides here: it really does hurt Ben too much to spend time with her, while believing that they'll never be together again
( ... )
I watched the preview clip too, and I know some people are nervous, but I'm just really looking forward to it. They really have been doing such a great job with these two so far, being realistic, but keeping the lighter tone of the show too.
I can't get a read on Ron at all lately. You're right, he doesn't seem like too big of a fan of Ben, which surprises me. He had such a perfect understanding of why someone like Justin was wrong for Leslie, for example, I would have expected him to get why someone like Ben was right for Leslie. But yeah, he does have that protective nature, and there's something inherently iffy about a boss dating a subordinate. I can't wait to see how he reacts.
April was perfect here. Loved her as the moon. Loved her as Leslie's friend. I was thinking of prompting follow-up fic of April interacting with Ben and/or Leslie after all that. But my prompt-to-fill ratio is abysmal.
Some random thoughts: 1) I believe the quote from Hamlet is "something is rotten in the state of Denmark," which is even more perfect given your analysis
( ... )
I'm trying really actively not to be irked with Leslie. Like you pointed out, what's the alternative? Them not being in the same room ... or possibly Ben getting over her enough that he could be around her ... not great options. I don't think Ben's awesome breakup lets her off the hook either. I can just see how she expected, from that, for their friendship to continue, and so this turn of events is surprising to her enough that she loses her head for a while. I liked it less when we weren't seeing visible evidence of her being affected by the breakup. So ... yeah, I'll take it too
( ... )
What I think is amazing about how Leslie and Ben have been depicted post-breakup is that they're both being kind of awful in different ways, but they're both still sympathetic. They're struggling and they're trying but they're coming at it from different angles so there is conflict. I think their actions stem from the same place (they loooooove each other), but Leslie trying to cling to Ben and Ben trying to pull away as a form of self-preservation results in this kind of pull-and-pull (and in my head their different reactions are resulting from Ben knowing he is in love with her and Leslie not having really acknowledged the extent of her feelings to herself). They are also being extremely in-character, which is one of the reasons I find them so sympathetic. Their actions are coming from an organic place
( ... )
Yeah, for all that I'm irked by Leslie myself, it's great television, and I like the way you put that - it's organic. I'm opposite-of-irked at the show itself!
And I also agree that him taking himself out of Parks supervision is also something that makes sense. And that no, no way would she be OK with being friends if he was. Oh, Leslie.
Can't wait to see how the next part knits together.
I just realized I never responded to this, and the reason was that it was such an eloquent lovely comment and I agreed with all of it and vowed to come back when I had a chance to give it the response it deserved, something more than just Yes Yes All of This!
Do you still write about Parks in your journal? I always love your thoughts ...
I know I haven't written about Parks in... oh god since like "Pawnee Goddesses" or something? But I was sick with pneumonia for weeks and therefore didn't have the energy or inclination to write about television. But you can bet I'll be writing about this past episode (though I just had a quick glance over your thoughts and I should just link to your post instead).
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I mean, this, this that you wrote is awesome!
But I had an idea of how I wanted to handle this episode in this thing I am writing- what other thing I am actively working on? What backlog of things I promised to finish up? that was dealing with the breakup and now I am going to have to go back and rethink it because you have me all sympathetic for Leslie now. And I have to rethink how I would want to play it.
And that sucks because I had all these sexytimes planned. I was going to make sexytimes and now I have to deal with plot instead.
sigh
(Also, I think you need to- to quote Kiss Me Kate, brush up on your Shakespeare. I propose you come to Chicago and we go to the Chicago Shakes Theatre and we eat deep dish pizza)
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I swear, I'm not as illiterate as I seem lately. I've read some Shakespeare, just not Hamlet, and just not recently. That does sound really fun, though.
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I can't get a read on Ron at all lately. You're right, he doesn't seem like too big of a fan of Ben, which surprises me. He had such a perfect understanding of why someone like Justin was wrong for Leslie, for example, I would have expected him to get why someone like Ben was right for Leslie. But yeah, he does have that protective nature, and there's something inherently iffy about a boss dating a subordinate. I can't wait to see how he reacts.
April was perfect here. Loved her as the moon. Loved her as Leslie's friend. I was thinking of prompting follow-up fic of April interacting with Ben and/or Leslie after all that. But my prompt-to-fill ratio is abysmal.
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1) I believe the quote from Hamlet is "something is rotten in the state of Denmark," which is even more perfect given your analysis ( ... )
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And I also agree that him taking himself out of Parks supervision is also something that makes sense. And that no, no way would she be OK with being friends if he was. Oh, Leslie.
Can't wait to see how the next part knits together.
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Do you still write about Parks in your journal? I always love your thoughts ...
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