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selenak..in reverse order.
Call the Midwife: don't have much to say other than it was lovely as usual. I'm a bit torn on Avril reversing her decision, because it's easy to read that as a 'maternal instinct over everything!' thing, and sometimes it really IS better, if a mother knows she can't handle having a child, if she gives it up for adoption right away. But Avril wasn't the only character in that position, and Yvonne did stick to her decision, so that was balanced. This was the first episode where we see old Jenny, whose voiceover was the narrative voice throughout and apparantly is here to stay, but I'm not sure whether the framing scenes with Vanessa Redgrave had any other point than to ressure us of this, given that young Jenny has left the show and it is now later seasons Blake's 7. :) Not that it wasn't nice to see her, of course. As to the rest of the gang, everyone was as endearing as always. Cynthia deciding to become a nun came a bit as a surprise, but makes sense for the character, and I like the way the show treated it as valid a choice as Sister Bernadette's/Shelagh's reverse choice had been. Trixie got to voice a likely audience objection - that Cynthia wouldn't do this if she had had a boyfriend - and had Patsy point out in reply that boyfriends aren't a life goal and that Cynthia isn't rushing the decision but making an informed choice. And then we got a scene parallel to Shelagh's sisters being there for her at her marriage - Trixie and Patsy being with Cynthia as she becomes a Postulant. This is still my comfort show, and the way it treats not just one but a myriad of choices women make as valid is a great part of why.
Now, as to Yuletide. I'm trying not to let the usual Yuletide angst get to me (i.e. repeating the "self, the recipient and a few others liked your stories on the first day, you can't expect more with small-even-for-Yuletide fandoms and no one having recced them elsewhere so far" mantra). Here are a few more stories I loved reading:
Euripides: Bacchae
Agave in Illyria: Half poetry, half prose, gorgeously creepy and cruel in its take on two sisters who went through some of the most gruesome fates Greek myths have in store.
Benjamin January Mysteries:
Escargots: casefic! With Rose as the leading detective, co-starring Olympe and Augustus Mayerling. Set while Ben is off in Washington, and immensely enjoyable to read.
Where there's a will: lovely missing scene about Chloe and Dominique making the transition to the friends we see them be in the last few novels.
The Musketeers:
Knife to a musket fight: in which Porthos gives Constance more self defense lessons. Fantastic friendship story, and the last line packs a punch.
Hilary Mantel: A place of greater safety:
Our wars will be our own: because if Camille, Lucille and Danton didn't have a threesome, they ought to have had.
Pride:
Step into Christmas (the admission is free): Steph spends Christmas with Gethin and Jonathan mid movie; the story has the great characterisation and warmth the film did, and is lovely to read.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
Start with the first ten: in which John Henry becomes. John Henry, Savannah, Catherine Weaver and James Ellison were the other family in SCC, and I'm always thrilled to discover fic dealing with that. This one manages to come up with a John Henry perspective which feels plausibly A.I., and specifically an A.I. which developes as radically as John Henry does. I loved it.
Watership Down:
The Mercy of Frith: The story of Blackavar, one of the most intriguing minor characters in the novel. Intense and marvellously written.
The Wire:
Whereever you go, there you are: Randy and Carver, years post show. Heartbreaking, yet also hopeful.
Call the Midwife: don't have much to say other than it was lovely as usual. I'm a bit torn on Avril reversing her decision, because it's easy to read that as a 'maternal instinct over everything!' thing, and sometimes it really IS better, if a mother knows she can't handle having a child, if she gives it up for adoption right away. But Avril wasn't the only character in that position, and Yvonne did stick to her decision, so that was balanced. This was the first episode where we see old Jenny, whose voiceover was the narrative voice throughout and apparantly is here to stay, but I'm not sure whether the framing scenes with Vanessa Redgrave had any other point than to ressure us of this, given that young Jenny has left the show and it is now later seasons Blake's 7. :) Not that it wasn't nice to see her, of course. As to the rest of the gang, everyone was as endearing as always. Cynthia deciding to become a nun came a bit as a surprise, but makes sense for the character, and I like the way the show treated it as valid a choice as Sister Bernadette's/Shelagh's reverse choice had been. Trixie got to voice a likely audience objection - that Cynthia wouldn't do this if she had had a boyfriend - and had Patsy point out in reply that boyfriends aren't a life goal and that Cynthia isn't rushing the decision but making an informed choice. And then we got a scene parallel to Shelagh's sisters being there for her at her marriage - Trixie and Patsy being with Cynthia as she becomes a Postulant. This is still my comfort show, and the way it treats not just one but a myriad of choices women make as valid is a great part of why.
Now, as to Yuletide. I'm trying not to let the usual Yuletide angst get to me (i.e. repeating the "self, the recipient and a few others liked your stories on the first day, you can't expect more with small-even-for-Yuletide fandoms and no one having recced them elsewhere so far" mantra). Here are a few more stories I loved reading:
Euripides: Bacchae
Agave in Illyria: Half poetry, half prose, gorgeously creepy and cruel in its take on two sisters who went through some of the most gruesome fates Greek myths have in store.
Benjamin January Mysteries:
Escargots: casefic! With Rose as the leading detective, co-starring Olympe and Augustus Mayerling. Set while Ben is off in Washington, and immensely enjoyable to read.
Where there's a will: lovely missing scene about Chloe and Dominique making the transition to the friends we see them be in the last few novels.
The Musketeers:
Knife to a musket fight: in which Porthos gives Constance more self defense lessons. Fantastic friendship story, and the last line packs a punch.
Hilary Mantel: A place of greater safety:
Our wars will be our own: because if Camille, Lucille and Danton didn't have a threesome, they ought to have had.
Pride:
Step into Christmas (the admission is free): Steph spends Christmas with Gethin and Jonathan mid movie; the story has the great characterisation and warmth the film did, and is lovely to read.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
Start with the first ten: in which John Henry becomes. John Henry, Savannah, Catherine Weaver and James Ellison were the other family in SCC, and I'm always thrilled to discover fic dealing with that. This one manages to come up with a John Henry perspective which feels plausibly A.I., and specifically an A.I. which developes as radically as John Henry does. I loved it.
Watership Down:
The Mercy of Frith: The story of Blackavar, one of the most intriguing minor characters in the novel. Intense and marvellously written.
The Wire:
Whereever you go, there you are: Randy and Carver, years post show. Heartbreaking, yet also hopeful.
