Contains spoilers for Torchwood-Children of Earth and House MD Season 5.
There's some major generalizations about segments of House MD fandom ahead. My apologies in advance.
Addiction is a progressive disease. So after being off LJ for a week, my addiction has progressed to the point where I'm using far more than I was before the break.
Right now I cannot stop myself from reading every Torchwood Post-CoE rant I can get my hands on. I'm just devouring the stuff, and obviously there's a lot of it. I'm only reading reactions to days 4 & 5 and then the whole thing. No point doing the days 1/2/3 since that's mostly the stuff I was avoiding in the first place.
I'm not going in and making any comments on these posts, except one ocassional where I took exception to the assertion that Jack has gotten over the Doctor, or even gotten over being left behind by the Doctor. The poster and I had a good exchange on this.
What's weird about this phase of my obsession is that Torchwood isn't even my main fandom. House MD is. It was House/Wilson that brought to LJ and back to fandom as an active pursuit in the first place, and as I'm reading the reviews and metas, and especially how betrayed certain people feel, I'm sort of reminded of the reactions to the two major ship contingents for House as the season ended.
This was supposed to be the season of House and Cuddy. David Shore, Katie Jacobs, and Lisa Edelstein, all gave interviews saying how this was the season the relationship was going to develop and that the House/Cuddy shippers would be very happy. Every snippet was devoured with glee by the House/Cuddy shippers and growled at by the House/Wilson devotees.
In the next to last episode, Under My Skin, it appeared that House and Cuddy had slept together. This made a certain section of the House/Wilson fandom furious, some because of the sex itself. Our slash pairing may not be "canon" but it's got so much chemistry and subtext and occasional fanservice that is nearly impossible for those wearing the slash glasses not to believe there's something going on and even non slashers tend to see something there, even if they only call it friendship. However, the big issue for some of us, wasn't really the sex. House is a canon straight character. There are those who hold out hope for a canon slash relationship, but most of us are happy with the subtext. (I'm always happy when one of them is having a sexual relationship, because of the angst factor.)
What had a lot of shippers (OK, ME!) pissed about the episode was that it also appeared that House had abandoned Wilson emotionally and was going to Cuddy for not just sex, but help with his addiction to Vicodin. This was a betrayal of the House/Wilson dynamic, as it was being set up in that very episode. We were furious. And the House/Cuddy shippers were deliriously happy and in some cases, not very pleasant about it. I'm sure the House/Wilson folks (OK, ME!) weren't always adorable either.
Cut to the following week, season finale, Both Sides Now.
Guess What? House didn't sleep with Cuddy. Didn't get emotional succor from Cuddy. Yes, he did have a sexual fantasy about here, but nothing happened.
Instant table turning. Relief and even jubilation in the House/Wilson side of the equation, as Cuddy literally turned House over to Wilson and it was Wilson who dealt with House's breakdown, and was shown dropping him off at a mental hospital.
What happened in House/Cuddy land? In some cases, "yeah, ok, that makes sense," but in others.
FUCK YOU DAVID SHORE...YOU LIED TO US. I HATE YOU. I'M MISERABLE. DIAF KATIE JACOBS. YOU SUCK.
Etc etc etc!
Ah fandom. The joy, the pain.
To take the analogy just a wee bit further...
I realize that what House went through isn't quite on the soul-destroying level as what Jack went through in those five episodes (and everything that's gone before) but in a more reality based realm, it was pretty bad, and he is at the end of the series, "broken." (Mmmmmm where have I heard that phrase before.)
Am I out on a limb here, or is House hallucinating to the point that he thinks he needs help (something he's spent 4 seasons studiously avoiding) not completely different than Jack needing to skip out on the same planet he was all about saving before?
Which also leads to the hope/likelihood/probabilty that when next we see either of them, there will already be some healing done and each on their way to the lovable bastards (of very different kinds) that we know them to be?
And more thing:
Back in 2007, I wrote People & Things a House/Torchwood crossover, which put House & Jack together for some smutty good times. It wasn't exactly fluff, but it reflected Doctor Who/1st Series Torchwood Jack and 1/2nd Series House, so it's a lot lighter than the state either character is in right now in terms of their respective canons.
(If anybody wants to know what I mean by "real!Jack," I'd say there's a good example.)
Is a sequel in order? I'm avoiding writing any fanfic for the rest of the month and then I'm starting my Halloween costume, but if there's an interest in my two favorite characters having a rematch for some mutual Hurt/Comfort, I'd like to know. Or not, because I love that story as it is and I like thinking about them like that, even though there was a touch of melancholy about it.
- Location:Desk of Doom
- Mood:
thoughtful
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
karaokegal- karaokegal (Captain Of The Innuendo Squad)
Comments
I really need to watch the rest of season five just to be able to follow the fandom outrage. That is probably not a good reason, but hell, I watched Torchwood to find out just how much it could disappoint me. And House does have canonically same-sex attracted characters, which seems to be the most important criteria in my media consumption at the moment.
I think 90% of the 5th season episodes are crap, but there's good H/W angst to be gleaned along the way. I won't spoil you more than the post may have already, but I'd definitely be interested in your opinions because I spent most of every episode screaming STFU at the TV SET and across the interwebs via the on-line House party.
Also I'd like to see if you think my House/Jack analysis holds up at all or is made of fail.
Edited because I DO KNOW the difference between cleaned and gleaned.
Edited at 2009-07-16 11:15 pm (UTC)
Or maybe because both House/Wilson and House/Cameron make sense at an emotional level while House/Cuddy is all sex and two people who never really connect at any level other than sex and Cuddy's neediness for House.
I think the real betrayal is that House fantasized Cuddy helping him rather than Wilson. Yes, it was only a fantasy and not real, so on Wilson's part he is still everything to House that he was before, but House fantasized that he went to Cuddy and it was Cuddy who helped him through it and not Wilson. Next morning he was very happy to think that he is in a relationship with Cuddy.
Shore has said there will be more Huddy next season as they deal with House's feelings for Cuddy now that they are out in the open so it looks like it's going to be more of the same. The show will continue to toy with Wilson's relationship with House because it's the backbone of the show but I think KJ's fantasy of House/Cuddy has ruined the show. HL deserved a nomination for his acting but I'm very unhappy that they got an Emmy nomination for the show overall because it confirms to Shore and Jacobs that they were on the right track last season.
My issue with H/Cuddy isn't that it's "all sex," so much as the fact that they have refused to deal with the BIG ISSUE. People tell me I'm stuck in the bast to still care about the infarction, but I think House is stuck there too. I'm sure that part of the reason he sent Stacy away was because there was no way to look at her and not think about it. Ditto Cuddy. IF they were going to go there, they really need to get it on the table.
I'm always torn with the H/Cuddy stuff because Hugh Laurie can sell a line like "I always want to kiss you," even though I KNOW it makes no sense. So far none of the H/Cuddy kisses, real or imaginary have heated up to the level of the H/Cam "kiss and stab" kiss or the House/Stacy stuff. (I hated Stacy, but I believed in House desire for her as well as his conflicted love and hate.)
Since I'm more interested in subtext than fanservice, I'm not as angry at Katie and Dave about H/Cuddy than I am at them for keeping the Newbies around, but in the House/Torchwood analogy, there also something to be said for the way they do like to put the fanservice out there, knowing all the while they're not going to follow through---no not even St. Doris will get to go that far--and over in Torchwood land, TPTB gave the J/I fans some crumbs, but basically spent six months saying "you'll love how they're relationship progresses" and giving them only the crumbs and then the devastation.
(DE is one of the best writers the show has got and the only one who provides any real context to House/Wilson but I find they let her re-write canon as she pleases. Right now, I'm really pissed off at her for Cameron's idiotic "I can't kill what's left of my husband" in Both Sides Now. She could have left it as Cameron wanting the sperm as an insurance policy, which makes sense given what she has been through, and Chase's understanding of that would have provided a solid grounding for their relationship making them both look good but she wanted to make Chase look really good and grown-up and so she sacrificed Cameron and make her look like a neurotic nutcase to make Chase look even better.)
So far none of the H/Cuddy kisses, real or imaginary have heated up to the level of the H/Cam "kiss and stab" kiss or the House/Stacy stuff. (I hated Stacy, but I believed in House desire for her as well as his conflicted love and hate.)
I hated Stacy too because she was so self-centred, she was House with a vagina, and their relationship was very immature. But three years later, I can see more nuance in what Sela Ward brought to the role although I still don't watch any SW movies.
HL is uncomfortable doing romantic scenes (so is RSL but he's adorable when he is). He only turned up the chemistry with SW in her last 4 episodes when it was clear Stacy was going to leave. The kiss with Cameron was hot but it was also the kiss-off to all future overt House/Cameron shippiness and I wonder if that's why he let himself go all out.
I'm beginning to hate the effect of the internet and what it has produced in terms of fanservice rather than leaving it to the show itself to do it well. I'm too far behind in Torchwood episodes but the obviousness when they play to House/Wilson is far less appealing than the subtle moments and the House/Cuddy fanservice produces the most inauthentic storytelling I've ever seen.
I'd say it was on the same soul-destroying level. House's world was based on his rationality, but by the end of "Both Sides Now" it was clear it had shattered. So both House and Jack literally have to build whole new worlds for themselves from scratch. They're facing it differently though: House is choosing to face his demons now while Jack chooses to run away. Usually it's the other way round.
Great point.
Is there a fic there?
Or something like that. *g*
It's about numbers, money and renewal. The actors are out their plugging their show by promising and leaving implications of more scenes w/ships that are popular. They have to do this, it's part of their PROMOTION of the show, which is part of their job. They are not lying to anger people; I know that BSG people say and know that RDM liked to do the opposite of what fans wanted to give his shows shock value--but hey, that's how he works. Remember TW is a steady job for some, they have to do their part.
Writers/Actors do not lie, as remember, the writing is still going on as the show is being filmed. Actors ask for changes, writers don't like a scene, it's a fluid process; another thing to be taken into consideration.
I was devastated after the ending of BSG, but I just wanted closure, lanto and Jack got that, Kara and Lee did not, and that was all the fans wanted--they were both so damaged by then being together, wasn't really possible.
So, I want to also say in watching Exit Wounds, I realized COE was like watching a completely different show. I don't know if that was the intent, but the show is now going to be different. I'm fine by that, as long as they don't keep doing the Brit thing of killing people off after like 13 epis.
I loved Jack, and I loved Gwen in this series, and I can't wait to see how they will repair their relationship after his leaving earth. Jack has finally become a fuller, more interesting character by being broken and his healing process and return to TW will make him all the better and more real. But give him some love, please and less deaths!!!
k
Moran has claimed there was more J/I stuff, but it got cut out. (Thank god.) So MAYBE his claims that he was following up on the clinging for hours swill were not as blatantly misleading because he didn't know it was being cut. Ditto JB and GDL. BUT they all knew about the death, so they were in a very dicey spot in terms of keeping the fans invested without spoiling them.
I love Jack Harkness. I want him, if not "happy" than at least to be the guy I fell in love with. Empty Child Jack. Utopia Jack. Gun Scene Jack. Dancing with Gwen Jack. Hands all over Owen Jack. Etc etc.
I still think the other half of not being able to stay for Gwen is that he will have to come back for her. Whether it's as a friend or an eventual lover, and certainly to save her adorable arse the next time some beastie has a gun on her.
I realize there's a lot of fans out there who want Jack to go on a Doctor-sized mope over Ianto and NEVER have another love interest and my answer that is, Wow, you must hate him a lot. He has to recover from what happened with his family, sure. But losing a team member/lover of convenience? How many times has that happened to him already.
On the other hand I'm still paranoid about some kind of resurrection in S4, if not in Dr. Who.
House is too much, but I love him. Even when I hate the show, I love him. The more of a prick he is, the more I like him. The only times I hate him are when the writers try to compromise that.
*snerk*
Going into another Comic Con not having watched the second season of Torchwood (or the fourth season of Dr Who) is making me feel kind of left out, and I must admit I'm scanning through your posts to catch your reactions as a way of semi-keeping up. Especially since I plan to attend the screenings of Planet of the Dead/Children of Earth that they're doing Friday night, and while I'm not a fan of outright spoilers, I had to stop by here to make sure I wouldn't be walking into a shmoopy gag-fest or something equally nauseating. I gather I'm in luck. :) Also, looks like Barrowman will be in attendance, after all. I hope we get to see him and Tennant interact. Would you be interested in a recap of the Sunday panels, or will you just watch the videos when they get out?
Planet of the Dead is remarkably light-hearted, or at least considerably lighter than a lot of what's gone down on the Dr. Who lately. Some people did find the female lead somewhat Sue-ish, but I kind of liked her. As for Children of Earth, my understanding is that they're going to show the last episode. It's BLEAK, baby. Fucking DARK as hell. You won't gag over any schmoop, but you might need a prozac.
Hey, at a choice between two pictures of John, which is preferable: John shirtless with jeans, grinning and splashing water, or one of him sitting/standing in a suit or a sweater? They have ones of him dressed as Robin Hood, one of him as Aladdin, a couple of him singing on stage for Anything Goes, as well. Also one b&w picture from some show I don't know with him and the other male lead in t-shirts and boxers getting their junk grabbed by the female lead standing between them, her grinning wickedly and them both looking faux-shocked. (I snagged the shirtless water picture, which I figured would be all right, but I could always grab a different one). They have one of him looking gay and wearing green fairy wings, but he's posing with GDL (who also has wings), so that kind of spoils it.
Oh goodness, If John pulls the same kiss on David as he did on GDL and Naoko last year, color me over the moon. :} Also, I have a camera this year, so yay!
If they're only showing the last episode of CoE, I won't stay for that. I prefer my stories whole and at once. :)
My understanding is that they're only showing episode 5, but you're there and I'm not.
I doubt that there will be a John/David snog, which is actually cool because it shows way more respect for their partners than GDL seemed capable of, but damn it would certainly cause my ovaries to explode.
Please do drop by the Prism Comics booth and say Hi to Tommy Roddy, if you get a chance. THANKS!
Well, each episode is an hour? 'cause the event is only two hours long. Probably the last episode.
I could see John doing it and then making a comment about getting in trouble with Scott later, but grinning while he says it (or waving at him, if he's attending, assumably getting permission beforehand). Or I could see them teasing people by leaning in and pretending like they're going for it and then backing off last-minute.
If I get a chance, I will most assuredly do so. :)