Drive-by recs

[selenak]

Citizen Kane:

The Hay Scale: a glimpse at young Charlie Kane and Jed Leland, which manages to capture so much about the relationship and about Kane, and does so in an elegant subtle way. It's one of those "you can imagine the actors saying those lines" cases.

Buffy:

Ophelia's Reconstruction, set during the summer between season 5 and 6, this is a Tara point of view. I loved Tara pretty much from the moment she showed up in Hush, and this story is a good demonstration of why. It also does justice to the reality of grief, and offers great glimpses at Xander and Dawn. (The Xander scenes in particular made me wish we'd have gotten more interaction between him and Tara on screen.)

The Three Musketeers:

Some day, I'm going to write my own Dumas meta. Meanwhile, I'm glad when other people do. This post takes on one of my pet peeves* - Milady de Winter (one of my favourite villainesses), the backstory which is supposed to make us feel sorry for Athos but even when I was a teenager made me feel sorry for Milady instead, and the general rendition of her fate.

Comments

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you so much for the rec!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And thank you for writing a fabulous story!

[lynnb.livejournal.com]

It's been such a long time since I've read the Musketeers sagas, and your comments have given me the incentive to pick them up again. I read The Three Musketeers first in high school, and loved it, even though at the same time I found their flaws and foibles amusing :) I also thought Athos' rage at Milady was overwrought; in fact, I think the executioner had more of a beef with her - something to do with his brother. One can say Athos' treatment of her led her down the path of evil, but people still have free will. I do think she had a predisposition for being, if not full blown evil, then for deviousness and lawlessness. At least I feel that way :)

When I was a teenager, Athos was the man, but as I got older, and read the other books in the series and watched as they all got older, I came to love and admire D'Artagnan the most; of the four of them, he succeeded the best in learning to live in the real world, and succeed, without compromising his integrity and his own sense of loyalty.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course Milady isn't a misunderstood lamb, she's quite responsible for her choices later, BUT in the episode with Athos specifically, I regard her as the one wronged. She didn't do anything to him but marry him without telling him about her past (and what kind of husband needs a fall from a horse to see his wife's shoulder for the first time anyway, I ask you?), and he, according to both of them, immediately responded by hanging her on the next tree. Not for her crime - he had no idea what she had done or hadn't, he just knew by the mark on her shoulder she had to be a criminal -, simply because his sense of honour was outraged by the idea of having married a criminal. This makes him a man of his time, but not necessarily a sympathetic one, and certainly not the victim in this marriage.

D'Artagnan: kills me in the last novel, when the others are either corrupt, gone or otherwise lost. I really feel for him there.

[lynnb.livejournal.com]

and what kind of husband needs a fall from a horse to see his wife's shoulder for the first time anyway, I ask you?

LOL! Yes, I wondered at that myself ;) I agree that Athos was not in the right in that case. I just felt that it couldn't be the sole cause for Milady's future choices.

I think Athos began to be redeemed first by his affection for D'Artagnan, then when he became a father.

D'Artagnan broke my heart after Athos' funeral, when he sadly told himself to just go forward.

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the Buffyverse rec. Loved it to pieces and glad you brought it to my attention.

PJW

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome!

[oceloty.livejournal.com]

Lurker and admirer of your fanfic here. HLH shortcuts has a Highlander re-imagining of Dumas you might find interesting (if you haven't seen it already).

Milady's Tale (http://community.livejournal.com/hlh_shortcuts/26335.html)

[redfiona10.livejournal.com]

Have you read 'The Dumas Club', it does some interesting things with the whole situation.