Fanfic recs

[selenak]

One minor effect the US elections had on me; I've started to rewatch The West Wing and this time might get around to aquire seasons 3-7 on DVD. The reason why I only possess season 1 and 2 so far was two-fold: a) while I like The West Wing, I don't have the sense of fannish urgency about it which would make me buy very expensive DVD sets instead of waiting until the price has been lowered, and b) the divergence between the fictional universe of The West Wing, where the President was an erudite man occasionally geeking out in Latin, where when in the heat of the moment he had a "bomb the hell out of them" impulse his chief of staff (and indeed the rest of the staff) could be relied upon to say, NO, and reason him back to his better self, where said staff was infinitely human in their flaws but full of believable idealism, where instead of exposing a CIA agent to punish her husband for daring to reveal wilful ignorance and lies on the part of the goverment the President would hire a Republican because he wasn't afraid of opposing viewpoints among his staff, between all of this and the real world was just too painful.

Rewatching also means re-reading, so, two West Wing fanfic recs:

Chiaroscuro: great Charley portrait, set early in s2.

We don't notice time pass: Ainsley and Mrs. Landingham, set near the end of s2.

...and yes, I've heard that Obama has made the man Josh Lyman was modelled after his chief of staff.

***

Heroes: speaking of things I've heard, while I was sad last week when the awful news of the stupid network firing writers Alexander and Loeb made the rounds, I feel cheered up by the prospect of Bryan Fuller returning to the Heroes writing staff if Pushing Daisies gets cancelled. (While still feeling sorry for Pushing Daisies, which I'm not a fan of but which is a charming and original show, should it get cancelled; given that Dead Like Me also didn't make beyond s2, Bryan Fuller must be feeling like shaking his fist at the skies. Though I hear Dead Like Me gets a movie?)

Also, there is fabulous fanfiction to be read:

Three Times Nathan Didn't Become A Brother (And One Time He Did) : spoilers until episode 3.07 Eris Quod Sum, but entirely backstory. cadesama pulls off a believable child and later teenager point of view, which isn't easy, Nathan growing into the person he'll become, and through his eyes also a portrait of his parents, especially his mother, who, like Nathan, keeps changing towards who'll she'll be. Intense, dysfunctional and sad without being sentimental, just the perfect Petrelli backstory.

Comments

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

Sorkin seems to have had a kinder, gentler Josh in mind than the Wells seasons, in which he is quite a difficult person to live with at times. It's not so much a departure from character as it is a different writer's mindset towards their actions, because the Sorkin years certainly do imply that these people are difficult people to live and work with, but his rose-tint on the glory of public work washes out a bit of the harshness.

I still think they went too far with Leo, though.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Too far in the rose-tint?

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I actually think they're far weirder and fucked up people in Sorkin's writing, but his writing makes it easier for people to skim over the subtext. Because he doesn't put great big blinky lights on it.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

You're definitely more knowledgeable about the writing than I am--I'm not even sure about which writers wrote during which seasons. But now I'm tempted to start watching the whole thing all over again.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Now I'm concerned on Leo's account. I mean, I kow John Spencer died before the show ended, so I assume Leo does, too, but before that, is he written less or more flawed/good?

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

He goes through a dark period in which he becomes more Machiavellian, perhaps because this is the season (five) in which the other writers became unchained from Sorkin. In retrospect, much of season five reads like writers who could finally make the bare allusions and dip into black without being held to Sorkin's tonal constraints.

They realize their error by the end of the season and begin the radical course change that leads to the campaign narrative.