Vicissitude and Season

1) Watched the "White Collar" finale last night! I enjoyed it and thought it was close to the best ending possible. ( spoilers )

2) I've been watching "Luther" in down time (there were some headaches last week) and like it a lot at least through the beginning of the second season where I am now, although there's a sort of pile-on mentality with regard to tragedy and conflict that gets exhausting. So much happens to DCI Luther in the course of a few episodes that you don't wonder he keeps throwing things, though that doesn't make him less of a jerk (toward the maintenance staff if no one else) or paradoxically less lovable. The hero with anger management issues is a bit of a cliche by now, but Idris Elba pulls it off beautifully, and all the supporting cast is great too. I particularly enjoy Saskia Reeves, and Indira Varma (who ( spoiler ), and of course Paul McGann. I think the show does men better than women, though, including the creepy second lead (who is a spoiler unto herself), though perhaps not if you view her as a sort of metaphor for guilt or a twisted guardian angel.

3) And I did read Code Name Verity and predictably loved it. What is this "young adult" business though, OMG. No, I suppose I would have loved it as a teenager too, but it would have haunted my dreams; I'm used enough to unreliable narrators and tragic twists to be immune to that now, but the power's still there. It was odd reading it after seeing so many spoiler cuts regarding it - ( and now I give you one of my own; take it seriously )

I'm sort of caught up on TV shows now (not entirely on Castle yet, and obviously not on Breaking Bad), and the visual dump is having the usual where-did-I-see-you-last effect where guest actors are concerned. I was less affected in this regard by Aaron Staton in last night's POI, or by Lisa Edelstein on Castle, than by Warren Kole (last seen as Creepy Stalker Ian on the never-speak-of-this-again POI "Bechdel episode") turning up as a plot-significant FBI agent on White Collar, and getting coffee with Neal in Washington Square. Spotted there earlier: Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson (I have only caught two Elementary eps this season, though). I really wanted them all to run into Harold and Bear.

Also, if Peter Burke gets the DC promotion, he should obviously move into the apartment Rick Castle found. I'm sure it's awesome.

So: White Collar and Castle gave me the same "not what I thought the season would be about!" whiplash effect regarding early plot developments (well, White Collar's was worse). Plus ça change, I guess. Once Upon a Time is the same old *headdesk*-ooh! combo, and I have no fannish urges about it (Captain Yawn) but I want to see what happens with Henry. Sleepy Hollow has sucked me in, even though I keep protesting with whimpers of historical inaccuracy. The Good Wife is just as beautifully tense as I could have imagined. And POI… if they are doing what it looks like they're doing next week (well, in three weeks, more likely), you'll be able to hear the fandom screaming from space.

Though not me, because I'll be watching the Nov. 26 episode probably five days late. Ack.

And another crossover, this one a touch more likely:

Faith, the one where Peter Burke goes to a funeral and meets Harold Finch and talks about baseball and believing in people. For L, because we lured each other into White Collar and Person of Interest, and they go together!

(Also, subtle Lost joke, because I couldn't help it.)

I still want someone to write the Awesome Non-White Ladies Having Lunch crossover (Diana Berrigan, Joss Carter, and Lanie Parish), or, considering the end of the "Castle" season (that I finally got to), Joss being asked to counsel Kate Beckett on her career choices ("Did I hear right that you got headhunted for the FBI?" Dead silence). They must know each other, after all...

So here at chez Hedda we watch three currently-running shows set in the present day in New York City, and I think I'm the only one reading this who does watch all three, but I mention it because the urge to blend universes is strong and compelling, though I'm not likely to ever do it, mostly since for whatever reason fic set in NYC is harder for me than fic set in, say, Oxford or Vorbarr Sultana. But I swear all these people should be running into each other. (I am, for example, somewhat tempted to write Peter Burke going to Donnelly's funeral. And Sara and Zoe must be acquainted. Possibly they met at a book party Elizabeth arranged for Rick Castle. Carter and Beckett going out for drinks? Elias trying to recruit Mozzie? The possibilities are endless.)

And clearly the writers are meeting up, at least in the zeitgeist zone, because WTF LOST FATHER PLOTS. I have to say I like the "Castle" one better than the "White Collar" one, mostly because it's simpler and could be dealt with in one wildly fantastic episode.

For the record, I think both Finch and Reese had ordinary two-parent childhoods somewhere in suburbia, and Reese's parents at least are still alive, though of course they don't think he is.

But meanwhile, back to the songfic prompts. Here's for kivrin, who wanted a Peter-centric "White Collar" thing, and happened to pick song #11, which was Florence + The Machine, Never Let Me Go, which struck me immediately as one of the least Peter Burke-like songs I could think of. I did manage to work out how to approach the challenge - I mean, all the water imagery made it rather obvious, really, but it did turn out as Peter thinking about Neal.

Anyway. *flails* Spoilers for early part of current season.

( Peter Burke is not an imaginative man )

So, that makes thirteen fics, now, in a little over three months. Since I write fanfic in spurts (or dribbles, or in this case alarming cascades) it's somewhat easy to pick out trends. Last year's Gregor Vorbarra Is The New Black was a really obvious one. This year I could call The Year Of Original Characters, not so much in the first lot (although the Antoniettis in "Rich and Strange" were an interesting bunch, and I am definitely the ficcer of minor canon characters for "Lewis" (I still need to write that Philip Horton fic)) but "Further Up and Further In," which was by definition full of OCs, seemed to release whatever inhibitions I have against tossing non-canon voices into the Vorkosiverse. (I think I had one, last year. Of course, an OC who tries to seize the throne is pretty significant.)

One could also call it The Year Of Getting Simon Illyan Laid, of course. Or, The Year Of Getting Simon Illyan Laid Using Original Characters.

I'll be getting a Lewis Secret Santa assignment soon, and I'm not ruling out more Vorkosigan fic, though I really do have other things to do. Are we doing Winterfair this year?

I don't think I'll be writing "Person of Interest" fic, not least because when we barrel through to the end of season one this week there will be no way to watch season two (legally. Which doesn't mean I won't manage it. But I wish all the networks would just get with the program and realize how people are watching TV these days). Yes, yunitsa and I did have the little exchange:

yunitsa: Yay, Mr. Finch :) I suspect he'd fit in quite well in the Vorkosiverse, being damaged and prickly, though the surveillance stuff would have to be slightly different. If anyone could write that crossover it's you :D

hedda62: I can see Finch being installed somewhere in the bowels of HQ and surveilling to his heart's content, and it's only when Simon catches on much later that he realizes Finch is controlling his own little empire. NOT GOING TO WRITE IT.

yunitsa: And Reese is an ex-armsman for some corrupt Count, maybe, whom he's illegally recruited to do his legwork. SURE YOU'RE NOT.

But since she's the only one who would read it, I really am not going to. She's written some lovely fic, much of it using Reese's POV, which led me to say that I thought Reese was a better character for text than for TV (not least because Jim Caviezel, while decorative, is not exactly the world's most expressive actor, especially when playing such a buttoned-up personality. Rather than, say, while being tortured on a crucifix).

They are both impressively buttoned-up, in fact. I'd said, earlier in my viewing (the show takes a while to get going, so if anyone does decide to watch it, hold on till mid-season) that I couldn't help comparing it unfavorably to "White Collar" - not that the plots are that similar except in the Together They Fight Crime sense, but they are both clearly meant as bromance - because WC has two great advantages: one, that Peter and Neal already have a relationship (adversarial but admiring) before the show starts, and two, that they are both extroverts. Finch and Reese are both SOOOO introverted, to the degree that they tend to suck heat and light out of rooms they're in (but it burns inside, baby). Okay, so Lewis and Hathaway are both introverts, too, though Lewis is (what I aspire to on my best days) an outgoing introvert. But they both like to talk, at least, and it's not all business. (Finch and Reese do have partners in Fighting Crime who balance their nonexpressiveness. I love Carter; she's wonderful. And Fusco's not bad, either.)

Yes, okay, I am pretty good (witness Simon and Gregor) at writing fic about characters whose self-expression is mostly internal. But no. Not this time. Decidedly not.

Oh, Mr. Finch. Bird names! You do know where my heart lives, don't you.

That's my new slogan as of now. Oh, Mozzie, how are you so adorable.

Am back. Enjoyed my time in Emeryville and Oakland IKEA-fying an apartment (which is, technically, in East Oakland, but it's in a Vietnamese neighborhood near Chinatown and quite close to the lake, so I think reasonably okay), and in Berkeley climbing steps and drinking coffee out of glasses and noting a parrot dining in a restaurant, and in San Francisco getting my hair blown the heck away, and not so much enjoying the part where we got stuck in traffic waiting for the Bay Bridge to reopen after an accident (immediately after observing a tractor-trailer car-carrier get stuck on one of those hilly city streets where it absolutely should not have been. The rear wheels were in the air and I don't know how they resolved it. It was a trafficky kind of evening). Also there was modern art and a vineyard tour. In the same place. And food, and cool plants. And much of the GPS lady.

I did not leave my heart in San Francisco, but my husband left my shoes in San Diego.

Working on the bubble fic edits. It will be far longer when I'm done, naturally.

1) I had a White Collar dream last night. Actually, it was more like something I was writing than something I was living, and I woke up knowing it would make an excellent and witty fic, but of course I can remember none of it now. It had Sara and Peter and Neal, that's all I know. Oh well; don't need anything else to write anyway.

2) The Betans are in beta! Oh ha. I'm not very satisfied, but perhaps penwiper26 can work her magic and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Will try to post by early next week. I'm going to look at the other prompts and see if there's anything I can write without torturing myself, but I do have to say that George's telegrams are acquiring an urgent edge, and it is almost September.

3) Other people's fic! I had a wonderful time the other night reading radio_silent's The Watchman, which is a delightful Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover featuring a spot-on Eleven and lots of timey-wimeyness. Also enjoyed Lewis fics As Holy Palmers Kiss by ariadnes_string, lovely hot and slightly kinky Lewis/Hathaway, and Mastermind by Lindenharp, Hathaway reluctantly joins in on a pub quiz. And do read the wonderful Vorkosigan fic coming out for the ficathon, as well. :)

I'm working away at what I guess is the obligatory angsty Lewis-longfic (over 9K words so far, God help me), with (since this is my first British fandom in a while) a lot of googling and help from sites like The Septic's Companion, which I am fond of for entries like this:

"skip: n dumpster. It’s odd that something as revolting should develop such a pleasant name. The dumpster was invented by a man called Skip Mandible. This is a lie."

I will also be participating in the 2012 Bujold Ficathon and have already picked up a prompt whose sheer wackiness seduced me immediately. That should be good motivation for finishing the Lewis fic.

And then, having taken my summer break, I must get back to final pre-submission edits on Time for Tea. I am already getting telegrams from George that read:

YOU HAVE LEFT ME FOR A YOUNGER MAN MAN ABOUT MY AGE STOP STOP STOP

And I assure him that it's really Robbie Lewis I've left him for, whereupon Wilfrid gets into the act. This happened last year too, if you recall.

Am all caught up on "White Collar" now; really enjoying this season with its entwined plots and potential exploration of backstory yes please. I also have to say (you could have guessed) that it's interesting to watch it at the same time as "Lewis." Bromance ahoy. Why I want to write fic for one and not the other I don't know.

Olympics continue fun, though I didn't watch last night because I needed sleep and was spoiled already anyway. Time delay is annoying but inevitable. I do have to say "yay Michael Phelps" though.

For my own use and perhaps because yunitsa might be interested, list of "Lewis" episodes I've watched twice under the cut.

( Just bear with me here )

And the pilot episode has been taken off YouTube. Blast!