Reality is beastly, so, fiction:
Sep. 5th, 2016 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakDepartment fannish brattishness, aka, why doesn't the internet cater to me more, Better Call Saul subdepartment: most of the fanfiction can be divided into:
a) Post Breaking Bad stories which are really about Jesse, or at best Jesse and Jimmy/Saul. Of these, a third feels like the "Better Call Saul" tag isn't needed at all, because it doesn't use BCS canon, and Saul's characterisation is that of Breaking Bad. The stories which do warrant the BCS crossoverdom, use BCS characterisation and sometimes even BCS characters other than Jimmy/Saul himself, still are Jesse/Saul, and my problem here is that I don't buy it. Oh, I buy Jimmy as bisexual, no problem. I buy Jesse as repressedly bisexual. Saul appreciating the pretty in Jesse? Okay. Saul having some affection for the kid? Absolutely, he does try to help him out between the first and second half of season 5. But when the stories are trying to sell me on is Saul as actually in love with Jesse, and having been for some time. And that's where the mental "err, no, not sold" comes in. Because Saul was ready to write Jesse off and advising Walt to kill him long before Walt was ready to. For reasons of self preservation. And among other things, Better Call Saul the show illustrates the lengths to which Jimmy goes for people he actually loves - Kim and Chuck. Even taking into account years of increasing callousness between shows, I think if Saul had felt love for Jesse as opposed to some "poor kid" type of sympathy, he wouldn't have been so quick telling Walt to "send Jesse to Belize", and in fact wouldn't have told him that at all, because if you tell season 5 Walter White to kill his co-dependent sidekick, you risk him either doing just that or killing you for the advice. And that's before we get to the Jesse part of the equation. (On the one hand, somewhat easier, due to Jesse's tendency to attach himself to middle aged males, otoh, s5 Jesse after finding out Saul helped Walt to do the Spoilery Thing from the s4 finale doesn't react in a way that makes me think he'd have positive feelings towards Saul thereafter.)
b) Jimmy/Saul & Original Female Character: I don't begrudge anyone their Odenkirk crush. Enjoy. I'm not interested in the stories, though.
c) Jimmy/Hamlin: the show certainly offers both foe yay set up and post Pimento reveal reconciliation scenarios, so I totally see where this is coming from, but alas, Hamlin isn't doing anything for me. I mean, in this capacity - the character certainly is a good element of the show. So, no reading interest.
d) Jimmy/Nacho: um. They haven't interacted since mid s1? I don't see either of them being remotely interested? Moving on.
e) Jimmy/Kim: my BCS OTP, and I've read all the four or five stories in existence, alas.
What I'd like to see/want more of: screwed up McGill family dynamic, naturally; crossover case fic in which Kim and/or Jimmy represent someone from another fictional 'verse; Kim origin and early HHM years speculation; what Kim was up to during Breaking Bad speculation. In conclusion, more Kim. Oh, and the one crossover scenario where younger Jimmy (with or without Marco in tow) meets Mr. Wednesday and his partner Lie Smith and adopts a role model. Obviously.
a) Post Breaking Bad stories which are really about Jesse, or at best Jesse and Jimmy/Saul. Of these, a third feels like the "Better Call Saul" tag isn't needed at all, because it doesn't use BCS canon, and Saul's characterisation is that of Breaking Bad. The stories which do warrant the BCS crossoverdom, use BCS characterisation and sometimes even BCS characters other than Jimmy/Saul himself, still are Jesse/Saul, and my problem here is that I don't buy it. Oh, I buy Jimmy as bisexual, no problem. I buy Jesse as repressedly bisexual. Saul appreciating the pretty in Jesse? Okay. Saul having some affection for the kid? Absolutely, he does try to help him out between the first and second half of season 5. But when the stories are trying to sell me on is Saul as actually in love with Jesse, and having been for some time. And that's where the mental "err, no, not sold" comes in. Because Saul was ready to write Jesse off and advising Walt to kill him long before Walt was ready to. For reasons of self preservation. And among other things, Better Call Saul the show illustrates the lengths to which Jimmy goes for people he actually loves - Kim and Chuck. Even taking into account years of increasing callousness between shows, I think if Saul had felt love for Jesse as opposed to some "poor kid" type of sympathy, he wouldn't have been so quick telling Walt to "send Jesse to Belize", and in fact wouldn't have told him that at all, because if you tell season 5 Walter White to kill his co-dependent sidekick, you risk him either doing just that or killing you for the advice. And that's before we get to the Jesse part of the equation. (On the one hand, somewhat easier, due to Jesse's tendency to attach himself to middle aged males, otoh, s5 Jesse after finding out Saul helped Walt to do the Spoilery Thing from the s4 finale doesn't react in a way that makes me think he'd have positive feelings towards Saul thereafter.)
b) Jimmy/Saul & Original Female Character: I don't begrudge anyone their Odenkirk crush. Enjoy. I'm not interested in the stories, though.
c) Jimmy/Hamlin: the show certainly offers both foe yay set up and post Pimento reveal reconciliation scenarios, so I totally see where this is coming from, but alas, Hamlin isn't doing anything for me. I mean, in this capacity - the character certainly is a good element of the show. So, no reading interest.
d) Jimmy/Nacho: um. They haven't interacted since mid s1? I don't see either of them being remotely interested? Moving on.
e) Jimmy/Kim: my BCS OTP, and I've read all the four or five stories in existence, alas.
What I'd like to see/want more of: screwed up McGill family dynamic, naturally; crossover case fic in which Kim and/or Jimmy represent someone from another fictional 'verse; Kim origin and early HHM years speculation; what Kim was up to during Breaking Bad speculation. In conclusion, more Kim. Oh, and the one crossover scenario where younger Jimmy (with or without Marco in tow) meets Mr. Wednesday and his partner Lie Smith and adopts a role model. Obviously.
