Yuletide I

Yesterday, I had time only intermittently to read my and other stories (and to check my comment box in a playing-it-cool-yet-fretting-away fashion  ). Still I come bearing recs; this is a great Yuletide so far.

The Americans:

My gift was in this fandom, a Martha exploration set in the last season’s climactic episode, so spoilers for this and Martha’s entire arc:

Among Strangers

This Yuletide finally produced more than one Americans story, which I love, and all five are good, but this exploration of a young Elizabeth/Nadya and her life in Smolensk is particularly awesome:

One Day in the Life

Benjamin January Mysteries

And still of a Winter’s Night

Wonderful case fic, in which Shaw asks Ben not just for his but also Dominique’s help, and all the usual suspects are drawn into solving a mystery that fits perfectly with Barbara Hambly’s novels.

Black Sails

Has a staggering twelve stories to offer, all of which I haven’t even read yet, but so far, this is my favourite:

A Certain Poetry

How Anne and Jack started – and they’re both perfectly drawn as younger versions of themselves who are in the process of discovering who they’ll be to each other.

Deutschland 83

Never rains but it pours

The Rauch sisters, Lenora and Ingrid. I loved this portrait of two different, complicated women who were arguably the most interesting characters of the show to me.

Fairy Tales

De Morte Prologus

“Gevatter Tod” – “Godfather Death” – is one of lesser (relatively speaking) known Grimm fairy tales (and btw one where Wilhelm Grimm kept changing the ending for from edition to edition); I adore what this writer has done with the Death-as-a-Godfather situation.

More Christmas Specials, and a Darth Real Life announcement

Doctor Who:

Aka when happens when Stephen Moffat looks at the last decade or so of movies having a go at Superman, thinking "nah!" and "I want to do a Golden Age Superman story, dammit! And a Superman/Doctor Who crossover!", and proceding to do just that. ("Miss Schuster and Miss Siegel": I see what you did there, Moff.) The result is the most Moffatian thing that ever Moffated (seriously: Doctor makes child friend, proceeds to involuntarily influence/mess up/yet ultimately improve child's existence, Doctor having a high regard for babies, check, Doctor and child having quirky adorable scenes, check (not for nothing did RTD once write to the Moff that he's awesome with children), check, determined girl/ life long adoring and crushing caretaker guy, check, ( more spoilery trope )

, check, River Song-Doctor relationship continuity impact, check, otoh Doctor behaves ooc at one point so plot can continue as planned, check (see also the crack matter in s5 and not looking for the little girl anymore after the start of s6).

Also a downside: setting the story in an extremely white contemporary New York where ( something we don't miss at all about Golden Age narratives happens )

.

The result is a story which does indeed do Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane far better than many a recent big screen effort. And I do appreciate the direct continuity to last year's The Husbands of River Song. Otoh, said direct continuity makes it even more obvious last year's was the far better Doctor Who story. In conclusion, I wasn't bored, it's very very Stephen Moffat, but I don't think I'll have any urge to rewatch.

Call the Midwife: Early on I was a bit sceptical whether "let's do a Christmas special that's set in 1962 South Africa is in any ways a good idea, because obvious white savior trope danger in Apartheid country is obvious, but it turns out they pulled it off, at least imo. Our gang was gradually made aware of the every day rottenness of the apartheid situation, and they didn't solve it, but the story wasn't about their enlightenment, either. It was about them doing what they always do in difficult circumstances, and in some cases succeeding, but not in all. ( More spoilery details follow )

In conclusion: very much enjoyed this one. And now back to Darth Real Life; from now on, I'll have to drastically reduce my fannish life for a month or so in his service, so safe for some more Yuletide talk, you won't be hearing much from me until February.