14 is my lucky number

[xparrot]

So, Supernatural 2x14 leaves me with nothing to say. (And anything I would say, astolat has already said, at eloquent length.) Just. Fanfic, people. I know I've said it before, but yes. I don't see how there can even be fic for this show that isn't Wincest or AU or something, because if what you've written is a decently spooky gen story, true to canon but with quadruple the normal expected levels of classic angst and brotherly smarm, then you're probably actually a writer on the show and have just forgotten. In case you were wondering why CW keeps sending you checks in the mail.

(I also have to note that I liked Jo in this ep. She handled herself well, considering what she was up against, and her last line to Dean, the "no, you won't," was sad and wry without being self-pitying. And when Dean untied her and didn't even ask if she was okay - damn, cold, even if he did have Sammy to consider. He does think of her as a little sister - a hunting sister; he's got enough respect not to coddle her. Though I wish she had knocked him out and driven him to Bobby's herself, because Dean behind the wheel, shot and rush-job taped up, with a probable concussion, a week without sleep, God knows what blood-alcohol level and he might have popped a few painkillers, too...I was worried for the Impala, man. (and then Sam lets him drive at the end. Um, Sammy...))

Also, Dean punches him. Oh, Winchesters! <3

Then there's my all-naye's-fault latest habit, Scrubs, which is just, gah. Good. So good. Not only is it clever and funny and touching and surreal and oh, yes, funny, but it joins the short list of TV shows that have actually made me cry, not just a little moisture in my eyes but genuine pull-the-blanket-over-my-head tears. It's the comedies. They always get me because they catch me off-guard. Dramas, I'm ready for--and Scrubs goes dramatic enough I should have been braced, should have seen it coming, but--the ep is 3x14, "My Screw Up," the return of Ben (Brendan Fraser's char. This show's guest stars rock.) I'm so impressed by the scripting, how they pull it off. And yes, it's an obvious movie homage, but all the same, they use the format of the show so well, the surreality and the odd time distortion and the multi-thread plotlines, keeping you off-balance enough that you don't realize the pathos that is actually occurring--they keep up the comedy, you're laughing right up until the moment JD says, "Where do you think we are?" and it all comes together, everything falls into place and breaks your heart. All the more because you were laughing that second before. Beautifully done. Damn comedies. *sniff*

And last but not least, special mention to Smallville 6x14, because ladies and gents, the HoYay has returned. In all honesty I can't tell you about most of the ep, as it was Lana-focused and thus, per our honor code, we didn't watch most of it. (Though I'm seriously starting to wonder if they actually are going to make her an obsession-inspiring krypto-freak, the number of guys she's turned dark-side for "love" of her is becoming alarming...) But that doesn't matter. All that matters is the final scene, because bitter snarky Clex - is still Clex. And that scene was Clex like first season Clex was Clex.

No, seriously. What was up with that? So supposedly in the show, Clark and Lex were best friends who aren't anymore. But guys who were once friends, and aren't now? Guys don't act like that. Even with the guys who sorta-kinda stole their girlfriends. Girls, maybe, girls will snipe like that, all bitter and vicious - in front of an audience, to make a point. Alone they're more likely just to snub each other. Grudge-carrying guys, on the other hand, tend to either ignore each other, or beat each other up. Clark and Lex are not acting like men who have called off a friendship. Hell, they're not acting like proto-nemeses; their jabs were way too petty ("A little honest work, Lex--you should try it sometime." Oh Clark, honey, please) for any kind of epic good-vs-evil light-vs-darkness dichotomy. Clark and Lex are acting like--since I've been watching Scrubs so eagerly--Jordan and Cox. Old lovers who are still carrying feelings despite their best efforts to purge them. Lashing out trying to hurt one another, to make sure they still have an impact on the other, to make sure the other is still hurting as much as they are.

And Lex's expression, when he says "Right before you tried to kill me" - that moment he can't quite believe it, even as he laughs it off.

But don't take my word for it--witness the ending song-fic (and yeah, I hate songfics. I'm not writing this. The show did. I'm just transcribing here.)

(both of them, incidentally, looking Pretty like Pretty things)

"I understand the allure of trying to unravel the mystery of Clark Kent. I suffered from it once, too. When I thought you mattered," Lex says, petty and vicious as a girl dumped on prom night (sorry, Chloe), as a guitar starts up in the background, Rise Against's "Roadside."

Clark takes a step forward, another, to loom over Lex, using his height as he almost never does, that strength he spends every hour every day trying to hide flexed for this one moment. "Are we done?"

Lex only sniffs, shakes his head. He's faced death before, he's faced killers, and monsters, and his father; and this posturing man-child can't intimidate him, for all he knows full well the true power he's confronting. His eyes search Clark's face. "Nothing left but the formalities."

He hands Clark the wedding invitation. Tell me what I'm supposed to do, With all these leftover feelings of you, croons the music. Clark reads the names, looks up, staring. Lex half-smiles, "Don't look so surprised, Clark. Lana still cares about you, I know that." 'Cause I don't know.You were my best man at both my weddings before; you stood beside me twice, when I thought I was in love. "And I know what it would mean--to her--having you there."

And tell me how I'm supposed to feel, When all these nightmares become real, the song continues. Clark looks at Lex, eyes narrowing, trying to see. Wishing x-ray vision could pierce not just the skull but the mind itself. But Lex's thoughts are, as always, opaque. Clark glances down, up again. Strong, now. He's not the immature kid Lex used to know. "Is that really what you want, Lex?"

"What I want?" And Lex's eyes don't leave Clark's face. He shifts, would take a step forward but there's no space left between them to close. "What I want is to make Lana happy for the rest of her life." She's the prize; I'll put her in a pretty glass case, keep her dusted and polished and show her off to all my visitors. "And I want you to be there on our wedding day." There's anger for an instant, not sniping but real anger, and if he were Kryptonian his eyes might bore a straight hole through Clark's. Staring at Clark, willing him to see. I stood here once in friendship. I spoke to you and smiled and it was real. And I don't think you see the places inside me that I find you, And I don't know how we separate the lies here from the truth. "To see what you lost."

He nods at Clark, gaze examining him, up, down, quick and complete. That same way he used to watch him, but dismissive now when once he was admiring. Longing. But that's gone now; that's over. Now he's just making sure. Lex smiles. "Make sure you RSVP," Lex says as he turns and walks away, hands in his pocket. Casual. This means nothing. "We need a head count for the reception."

Clark stands there and watches him go. And I don't know how we woke up one day and somehow thought we knew, exactly what we're supposed to do. Staring at nothing. Or something that was once there, and he might never have again.

And roll credits. And roll me squealing, because, yeah. Sure it's over. You just keep telling yourself that, Lex. Right up until the point Superman shows up and you can dedicate your life to the cause of eradicating the only thing that ever hurt you more than your own self could...

Comments

[nekokoban]

"My Screw Up" -- is that the episode with the gay chicken? Because that was the first full episode I ever saw (my dorm roommate was a fan so I'd catch bits while she watched), and pretty much when I decided I needed to see more.

Having med students for friends makes it 5000x funnier, too, without the vaguely sick sense of "oh my god this is my LIFE" that they all seem to have. XD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the ep! "I am the king of gay chicken!" (I, uh, at first I was picturing two roosters going at it, and then I remembered the bit. Amused the heck out of me because my bro and one of his college friends used to play 'gay chicken' all the time...wonder where the concept originated, that was before Scrubs started to air...) But. Yes. It's that ep and it's just. Gah. Tears your heart out.

I'd never seen any of the show before, started with the first ep, er, like, less than two weeks ago, and are tearing through them at a tremendous rate. It's good stuff! (med students? heee...that'd be...terrifying, really...)

[nekokoban]

I remember that! It made me laugh aloud, O Brendan Frasier, I love your kooky deliveries. XD And then yeah, the end of the episode comes and stomps your heart to bleeding pieces. :<

On a universal whole, all of my med student friends have complimented Scrubs on being the most medically-accurate TV show of the host of "doctor dramas," and also being the most true to a med student's unfortunate life. XD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee...somehow I am totally not surprised that it's medically accurate. The writing's tight enough that I'd expect them to be sticklers for details...

[ayabai.livejournal.com]

omg, the my screw up ep where you realize in the end that his best friend has already died? it double KOd knifed me straight through the heart. WHY SCRUBS WHY.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

YES. Ow. I sort of love the show for being able to do that to me. That moment of realization when you understand what's going on...it's totally got your number and all you can do is shake you head and whimper, "No..."

[yma2.livejournal.com]

I think that the thing with tradgedy in comedy, and with all good... media, is the mix.
Take Buffy, for example... hell, for a GOOD example of this. The reason why Buffy works so well (at least in the first three seasons,) is that it at one point has you rolling on the floor, and the next has you clutching your gut in pain because of the line some character just casually mouthed off.
The opposite is also true. There's nothing sadder than laughing along with a character's lame joke in the middle of a tradgedy, because it's all they can think of doing. Or there's nothing more touching than seeing that one, beautiful ray of hope in a dark fic/TVsho/Book/whatever only to be plunged back into darkness.
In my opinion it's something a lot (and I DON'T number you amongst these, hell, I don't number them at all to be fair....) of long fanfic does. If you're writing something of any major leanth then don't make it entirely dark or entirely fluff, a bit of a mix is important to keep the reader going. IT adds suprise and poinience in a fluff/humour fic and adds hope in a dark fic. Shorts can get away with being very much one or the other, but anything else... you need the mix.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I think the reason this is true is because of human nature; humans aren't on one setting all the time, unless they have pretty severe psychological problems. Even in the worst trials, we're likely to resort to gallows humor to keep ourselves going; even in times of joy and laughter we're often haunted by worse things that went on before, or might happen. If something is relentlessly dark, or relentlessly funny, it becomes unrealistic, untrue, and we lose the empathy we have for the characters. (This is why humor is more important in drama than vice versa. Even if we don't care about the chars, we can still laugh at them - Seinfeld or Simpsons, you don't especially like those chars, but they're still funny. But if you lose empathy in a drama then you don't care what's happening, and then there's little point to watching...)

My main problem with the new Battlestar Galactica is that it is so grim. Justifiably so, under the circumstances, but it can get overwhelming. And one reason Babylon 5 is arguably my favorite show ever is because it manages so much humor, even in the midst of incredibly epic and terrible events.

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

You didn't miss anything in not watching the Lana scenes in "Trespass," but those final moments, with Lex and Clark in the barn, made slogging through the rest of the episode worthwhile. I want so desperately to make things better between our guys, but I know the show will only make things worse, and it's killing me, yet I keep watching for Lex and the CLex. *whimper* SV is a cruel, cruel show.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I figured TWoP will fill me in on the unwatchable Lana-ness, if anything of import happened there. But man, that last scene. I'm sorry, I cannot read it as anything but utter and absolute (if depressing and broken) Clex...

Yeah, Smallville is the abusive boyfriend of my fandoms...I know he won't change but I keep coming back anyway, hoping and getting hurt for it... (No, that's not a Clana-shaped bruise! I just fell down the stairs again!)

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Actually, to be fair, there ARE two plot developments you should bear in mind from the Lana scenes. First off, the chisel (or whatever) Lana stole -- the one Lex stabbed redK!Clark with while Clark was choking him, which left the chisel all bent and twisted -- is now missing from Lana's drawer. So the crazy security guard might have taken it (in which case, who knows when/where it may turn up), or Clark might have recovered it, or Lex might have found it; we don't know yet. I'm hoping Lex has it, but it'll probably turn out to be Clark. Also, Lana found her 'detoxed' kryptonite necklace in Clark's room, and it certainly seemed as if she recognized it as hers, only with the crystal clear now instead of green. (I was amazed at the continuity.) So something may well come of that. *sigh* If they have Lana find out the truth about Clark, but keep it from Lex, it will only make me want Lana dead all the more....

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, we saw those bits! (we fastforward through the Lana scenes, so while we miss the dialogue we catch the major action, usually...)

Does anyone know how Lana got hold of the chisel-whatsit? It was on the ground when she helped Lex away, did she run back & fetch it or what? and how did it get so twisted anyway? Even if you smash a chisel against a wall, it won't bend like that...did Clark grab it & squeeze or what? (mysteries, mysteries...!)

And yeah, Lana lying to Lex along with everyone else...grr. One of these days they'll realize that if they'd only told Lex from the start, they wouldn't have a supervillain on their hands >_>

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

How Lana got hold of that chisel/whatever is a mystery to me. As you say, it was on the ground when she and Lex left, and there was no sign of her reaching down to grab it then; I can only assume she must have sneaked back at some point, without anyone realizing. (And you would think that, after the kidnapping, Lex or his so-called security would have been keeping a damn close eye on her, so that's baffling in itself.)

And absolutely Lex would have done his best to help and protect Clark, if Clark had just trusted him with the truth at any point in the first four seasons. After all, it's canon in "Asylum" that Lex kept quiet about what he'd seen Clark do during that whole nightmarish month (or however long) in Belle Reve, even after Clark had abandoned him to be grabbed by Lionel's people. Lex even kept quiet about Clark's abilities when Lionel had him strapped down and was preparing to FRY HIS BRAIN, so -- if Lex wasn't willing to betray Clark then, to try to bargain with Lionel and protect himself -- I don't think he'd have betrayed Clark under ANY circumstances. I don't blame Lex at all for the turning-supervillain thing; I blame Lionel and Oliver and Jonathan and Clark and everyone else who tortured and betrayed Lex along the way.

[utopiantrunks.livejournal.com]

Dude, Smallville comes on before Supernatural, so I saw that conversation when I tuned in for the latter. I was like, dude, I don't even watch this show and that's the the most slash-minable canon conversation I've ever seen. Natch, I thought of you. XD

And shit, that episode of Scrubs made me cry, too. Both times I've seen it. GAH. X_x I love that show, too.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

^_^ There is a reason the Clex is one of my ultimate OTPs. When they do slash, they do slash. There's little room for platonic friendship between all the eye-fucks...

Scrubs is brilliant. I don't know how I managed to miss it for this long. Ah well, means there's lots more of it to enjoy!

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Also, as one who has never watched "Scrubs," I have to ask: what is this about gay chicken? *very much needs to know*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Two (straight) guy best friends (one of whom is Brendan Frasier) have a scene where they play "gay chicken" - they go in for the kiss, slow and romantic, and the first guy to freak out and pull back loses the game. It's hysterical. My bro & one of his friends used to play it (they'd go pretty far, too. didn't hurt that most of the female friends in that group were raging slash fen and would cheer him on...)

(Scrubs is totally worth watching, btw, snappy writing, LOL humor, and loveable chars make it a total win!)

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

Wow. How far into the kiss did they go in the "Scrubs" scene? And why have I never before heard of this game?!? *grumbles about unfair universe*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

To about one inch away. And isn't it the best game ever? bless all boys, gay & straight, who are comfortable with their sexuality ^^

[sholio]

My SPN 2x14 torrent FINALLY finished (I really gotta figure out why they've been so friggin' slow lately ... this took over 24 hours to get done) and OMFG. *makes incoherent noises*

Although DAMN IT ALL, I wanted some comfort at the end! I know we got the brotherly bantering and that was awesome, but I wanted huuuuuuugs. *whines* This show is absolutely awesome on the angst and the fanfic-ly plotting, but it does tend to leave me making sad squeaky noises for want of a little brotherly affection. I should be over this by now, because I have such a long established history of falling for characters who are total emotional cripples (I just mainlined a bunch of Saiyuki Reload manga this week, speaking of loveable emotional cripples...) but I think it drives me more crazy than usual on SPN because the overall tone of the rest of the show leads me to expect it and then AARGH. The Stargate fandom calls this "endingus interuptus", when the show ends about 5 minutes before the "comfort and recovery" scenes (which SGA and SG-1 are both notorious for doing -- I think one of the reasons why SGA has such a fanatic bunch of h/c fanficcers is because it gives us these highly promising h/c setups -- not SPN caliber, but still promising -- and then cuts away before the payoff).

and then Sam lets him drive at the end. Um, Sammy...

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Dear God, Sam, have some sense...!

Oh, and Bobby is awesome. I was all "OMG, don't kill Bobby!" and was so happy that he is, in fact, not an idiot when confronted by a fellow hunter behaving strangely. In fact, I may have mentioned this in the past, but I think one of the things I adore this show is how it generally draws its recurring-guest-character pool from the blue-collar end of the socioeconomic spectrum. I *love* that! It's just very different from Hollywood's usual idea of what the "characters on the run" archetype tend to encounter.

Anyway, about the fanfic thing, yeah ... I can definitely see potential for missing scenes and tags, but long fics? Not so much. What would you WRITE?!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

(you might want to try getting the torrent from http://www.torrentsforall.net/ - it's a private tracker so you gotta sign up and must maintain a certain upload ratio, but that means there's always lots of seeds...)

The hug! the hug! I still hold out hope that we are going to get a hug, and it will be such a hug that it will justify this whole long drought of non-embraces. This show has far more closure than SG (I've never seen SGA but SG1 has that amazing habit of ending the instant the plot is completed. Sometimes it's a great story-telling technique used to the best advantage; sometimes it's frustrating as hell. Did make for a heck of a lot of fun ep tag fics...)

Well, maybe Sam, his memory being fuzzy, didn't realize how hurt etc. Dean was. But still. Sometimes you just gotta knock him out and take the keys (I'm surprised they don't carry around tranq guns for just that purpose >_>)

And yay, Bobby! The blue-collar thing is cool for TV, and I like it all the more because these are educated blue-collars. How many redneck hicks have the literature around that Bobby does and can recite latin?

You can't even really write missing scenes or tags for SPN, because so much of what happens emotionally in an ep gets referenced later...the plot arc isn't constant but the char arc is, mostly. Yeah. No room for fic! Unless you're going non-canon, because I don't think the show is actually going to go Wincest (no matter how much fun it seems to have in implying it...) Or crossovers...

[lukita.livejournal.com]

Personally I think Lana's powers is improbability, cause how likely is it to watch one's parents smushed by meteor rock?

God, I didn't even noticed the lyrics while watching. Yeah. That just made the scene ten times better.

Supernatural does nothing for me, but I'm thinking about picking up Numb3rs since you pimped it out a few weeks ago.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I only caught some of the lyrics while watching it, was pretty amused when I looked them up. Except SV is notorious for idiotically meaningless song choices, they never seem to listen to more than a line of lyrics when choosing them...still. It's such a music vid. I don't care how bad the rest of the ep is, that scene was Clexian gold.

Numb3rs is greatly entertaining. I haven't cared for the last few eps quite as much but it's still a solid show.

[naye]

Have seen. Incoherent squeaky noises in my head drowned out all of that... thinking, yes, none of that. Just the squee! "I'd rather die."

And HEE to evil!Sam... JDM was a bit better at it, but he tries, and oh, DEAN. <3

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it just? so? and? yeah? FANFIC! Oh, I love my crazy getting-possessed refusing-to-kill-each-other brothers ^^