I watched and enjoyed the second season of The Diplomat (the review for the first season is here, which I wasn't sure I would, given that back in the day when we all thought it couldn't come worse than the Bush administration (insert hollow laughter here), I found myself unable to marathan The West Wing and had to wait for the Obama era to watch it; the divergence from reality being too great. Welll, the divergence in the case of The Diplomat still is enormous - it's not that the poliictians on either side of the Atlantic aren't also capable of dastardly deeds, that's what drama consists of, after all. It's that humanity itself is by and large better in this show. (As it was in The West Wing, for which showrunner Deborah Cahn used to write back in the day.) I don't just mean the fact that most people in public service (again, on either side of the Atlantic), independent of political persuasion, are really dedicated to the public good - of course they're also ambitious, but the show doesn't treat this as an either/or thing, which I like - , and even the villains are 100% convinced to act in the general best interest and are workoholics. It's that I don't think the US electorate in showverse would ever vote for the Orange Menace, twice. He probably would not even have gotten through the primaries, and since so many more people with spines and ethics exist in showverse, there would not have been the transformation of his party into an authoritarian personality cult. You know, showverse might be uncomfortably close to WW3 at times, but I'd still rather live there. (Showverse does have a past questionable US president who was terrible, but not to the same degree.)

Anyway: the second season picks off where the first left off and and contiinues with its mixture of pulpy political thrillerness, walk and talk intrigue and confrontations and personal relationship drama, with the later not getting as much room as in season 1 due to this season being two eps shorter. The cast is the same as last year, minus the people who died in the s1 finale and plus Alison Janney as Vice President Grace Penn in the last few episodes, which was awesome. In terms of personal relationships, I continue to wonder if Keri Russell starring media can now guarantee me messed up, complex marriages designed to prove wrong the old tv assumption that people are only interested in the UST and the getting together part and as soon as a pairing actually is together, they lose interest. I mean, Elizabeth and Philipp in The Americans are very different form Kate and Hal in The Diplomat, but it's true for both relationships that the audience gets introduced to them as already existing, and it's one of the core emotional axis' on which the entire show revolves. (Meanwhile, Kate's UST ridden relationship with the British Foreign Secretary, alas, is much less interesting than in s1, but that fits with what happens, plot wise.)

Having just seen Ali Ahn as Alice in Agatha All Along and Rory Kinnear as Tom Bombadil in Rings of Power made it a bit odd to return to them as the London CIA station chief and the Not Boris Johnson British PM, respectively, but of course they're great in their parts. ( Spoilery remarks to follow. )

In conclusion, perhaps not despite but because of its increasing lack of a resemblance to rl marathoning the second season of this show provided me with good entertainment, and I look forward to the third.

Some - only some - of the delightful stories up at trickortreatex:

Babylon 5:

Haunted in Small Ways: in which Vir and Lennier see people who aren't there. Or do they?

Moments of Transition, Moments of Revelation: The AU I've been hankering for for eons, in which Sheridan does not return from Z'ha'dum, so Delenn and Ivanova have to carry on alone. Enter Neroon!

Ghosts

And things that go bump in the night: Trying to plan for Halloween in a house full of ghosts should be much, much easier than this. Alison pov, with the entire ensemble getting great moments.

Sandman (TV)

A place for one (or two): lovely Lucienne and Dream friendship story.

A good night's sleep: which modern Johanna Constantine can finally get.


Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

So this is Halloween Five times Christine Chapel planned Halloween, and one time she didn’t have to. As charming and warm-hearted as the show at its best.

West Wing:

Dead Man's Creek: in which Bartlet makes the gang go to a Republican-voting town on Halloween, because of course he does.

To get the obvious out of the way: two (not the only, but) key differences are a) European political system versus American political system and b) female head of government versus male head of government.

( Spoilers wonder what's next )

The Other Days

First, a definition of terms. „Heroine“ doesn‘ t mean „favourite character“, i.e. I won’t list my favourite female villains here, or those highly ambiguous ladies like Skyler White. However, I don’t just use “heroine” as equivalent of “main protagonist”, either, but as “female character prone to heroic actions” (which allows me to draft the occasional supporting character *g*). And all the characters I list are fictional. So. This being said. In no particular order:

- Jo Grant (Doctor Who): let’s be honest, I could give a Companions only reply post, and then it would be still incredibly hard to choose just five. But I have an incredibly soft spot for Jo, possibly because she was badmouthed to me so much before I got to “meet” her – she was presented as the epitome of the “bad” Companion, “useless screamer”, “brainless bimbo” and what not. Whereas I found her to be brave, with a talent to escape (Jo’s joke about being an escapologist is fact-founded), funny, kind, very loyal and loving but able to make up her own mind if she disagrees with the Doctor on something, and committed to making the world a better place beyond her time with the Doctor; when Russell T. Davies brought her back after decades for the Sarah Jane Adventures two parter “Death of the Doctor”, I was thrilled to learn Jo has spent those last decades travelling the world as a hippie activist and matriarch of a large family of hippie activists. In a word she likes to use, Jo is groovy. And I love her to bits.

- Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): Buffy wasn’t originally my favourite on BTVS, that was Cordelia, but she became my favourite heroine and BTVS character in the later seasons and has remained so in the years since. Quips, penchant for shoes, inferiority and superiority complex all wrapped up into each other, strong capacity for friendship and uneven love life, the entire package.

- C.J. Cregg (The West Wing): because C.J. is who I along with a lot of other people want to be when I grow up, even though I’m nearer to fifty than to forty now. First she made being the press secretary of the White House heroic (nobody managed this one before or since), and then she moved on to saving the world on a daily basis as chief of staff. Also she’s tall and never made an attempt to hide it. And nobody sings The Jackal the way she does.

- Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): because Jadzia is a scientist, a good fighter and knows how to party; because she really enjoys hanging out with other species, and not just the “cool” ones (Dax & Quark friendshipper forever!), and not with that somewhat patronizing air some Federation types have; and because she is arguably ST’s first on screen canonically bisexual regular character. Also? She has a way with words. “Pity. You’d be surprised what I can do in a pair of size 8 boots.”

- Sister Julienne (Call the Midwife): the show made the entire Midwife profession look heroic (long overdue, that), and I love all the characters in various degrees, but Sister Julienne, the head of Nonnatus House, played by Jenny Agutter, is the graceful, quietly strong anchor for everyone else. Not that she’s always serene and invulnerable to loss of confidence; we’ve seen her upset and grieving, and having a crisis, too. But then she rallies, be it alone or with the help of her colleagues whom she has supported through their crisis (this show is great on female solidarity). If I had to pick a fictional medical professional to be at my side when I’m in bad shape, I’d pick Sister Julienne no matter whether this involved a gynological problem or not. I’d have complete faith in her ability to help me through. Now that’s a heroine for you.


The other days

Just a sample of the goodness, which, you know, you can find and comment (or kudos) on here.


The Charioteer:

Washing-up, Ward B : Nurse Adrian compares notes with Andrew. Both great as a friendship story and as a direly needed reaction and revelation story.

Greek Mythology:

and wake to start the world again: Wherein Pandora is curious, Prometheus proud, and Athena has a different plan than Zeus. An inventive twist on the myth of Pandora.

Ivanhoe:

Apart Yet Not Afar: In which Rebecca saves Ivanhoe's life (again) some nine years after the novel, he returns the courtesy, and the author actually pulls off Sir Walter Scott's style, which is awesome. Most of the (few) post-Ivanhoe fanfics I've come across were about getting Rebecca and Ivanhoe together; this one decidedly is not.


Star Trek:

Waiting: Saavik during the months between The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home, with flashbacks to her life pre Wrath of Khan. I'm always delighted to come across fanfiction featuring Saavik, and this one does a wonderful job with her, and with the various other characters she deals with, including but not limited to Spock, Kirk, Amanda, T'Pol (from Enterprise), and, best of all, Number One. (The original female first officer from the unaired ST pilot.)


West Wing:

Cast me gently into morning: When Ellie catches Zoey's interview on TV, she is prompted to go up to New Hampshire to see how her sister is really doing. Hooray for sibling interactions, and a great take on Ellie helping Zoey deal with the aftermath of the s4 cliffhanger.

Thanks for playing! It was fun.

Uther, what is it that you most want for your son? What about for Morgana? Do you see any contradiction in these goals?

G'Kar, when did you know you could not only forgive Londo Mollari, but actually become his friend?

President Bartlet, after he finishes work in the Santos administration, should Sam Seaborne once again consider running for office? Will you support him?

Jack, why didn't you stop the bullet for Owen?

I would like to ask Robert Fraser what he thinks about the relationship between John and Paul. Or John what he thinks of the relationship between Paul and Robert.

I define "conflict" as something that comes from within the characters for the purpose of this meme, not as something external (i.e. interference by third party, higher circumstances etc.).

1.) Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. (X-Men in various incarnations.) Now these two exist in dozens of somewhat differing continuities, in comicverse, canon AUs like Neil Gaiman's 1602, in cartoons, and now, depending on whether or not you count First Class as a prequel or as a reboot, also in the movieverse, but for me for any incarnation of Xavier and Magneto to emotionally hook me, three core elements have to be maintained: a) the relationship starts as friendship, b) the fallout is for ideological reasons, not because of sudden loathing,, disrespect etc., and c) said ideological reasons are passionately held by both parties and thus while the basic affection remains, they really can not be surrendered. I like a reconciliation and fix it story as much as the next fangirl (and when the occasional canon continuity does it, as when Excalibur had Xavier and Magneto living together in Genosha, I feel mushy), but to me the conflict is part of the attraction the characters hold for me. I need both of them to have right and wrong elements in their reasoning, not just one side to be right, and I don't want a happily ever after where one of them basically says "okay, I realize now you were right all the time, let's have sex lunch".

2.) Laura Roslin and Gaius Baltar (Battlestar Galactica). As much as I agree with a lot of the complaints re: the later BSG seasons, I will always maintain the Laura-Gaius dynamic was pure genius and one of the best things about the show. Why? Because it's never as simple as "noble president and worthless selfish traitor", though yes, Roslin is noble, and Baltar is selfish (and occasionally a traitor). The clash between looking-out-for-number-one Gaius and living-for-her-people Laura wouldn't have gripped me half as much if it wasn't also between Laura's ruthlessness and Gaius' surprising lack-of-hate-for-any-side humanity now and then; if the "how do I treat Gaius Baltar, knowing what he did?" didn't become a core ethical challenge for Laura Roslin, and Gaius Baltar hadn't these "why-don't-you-like-me-Laura-dammit-I-just-saved-your-life-AGAIN" blinkers. Also the actors are golden in any scenes they share.

3.) Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons (Damages). Starts out as your basic pragmatic user-mentor/idealistic protegée dynamic and becomes something vastly more complicated. (Attempted murder early on will do that for you.) As will projected family issues, potential successor power play and jockeying for who-needs-whom-more positions. I wasn't completely happy with the writing of Ellen in the fourth season, but the third season was fantastic in this regard, and my s4 nitpicks notwithstanding, the Patty & Ellen dynamic, whether as allies or antagonists or both (especially both), whether they're screwing each other over or helping each other beat the system or both, is pretty much unique for female characters on current tv. A difficult conflict? You bet. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

4.) Toby Ziegler and Jed Bartlet (The West Wing). I still regard it as a personal failing that I'm unable to write the big epic post show story about these two I want to, but I did try to capture what fascinates me about this very, VERY conflicted relationship in this short vignette. What do I see as their core conflict? There's the big ethical dimension, to be sure (Toby appointing himself as conscience of not just the administration in general but Jed Bartlett in particular, the president not always living up to the man Toby wants him to be), but another aspect I see is that this is in its way a twisty take on the writer and muse story. And I love this about it.

5.) Londo Mollari and G'Kar (Babylon 5). In a way the reverse of the Magneto and Xavier dynamic in that they start out as enemies and end up as, well, that's incredibly difficult to summ up in brief, given entire manifestos get written about it. I was torn whether or not to include them because the original Narn and Centauri conflict that forms their background and to some degree them wasn't started by them. But their own decisions of how to deal with this and the other situations they find themselves in are so crucial that I decided they qualify anyway. Just as Londo would not have responded to any other Narn the way he did to G'Kar, the same is true for G'Kar and any other Centauri, both in their enmity and their later alliance-of-necessity-turned-friendship-turned-whatever-you-want-to-call-it. To give but one of many examples: take G'Kar's immediate reaction in a core s2 scene from The Coming of Shadows upon learning a certain spoilery plot point has just happened. Is it "those damned Centauri are at it again" or "I never should have trusted any Centauri!"? Nope. It's "he betrayed me!" The personal is political and the political is personal, indeed. And is the conflict between them a difficult one? Given that it forms the core arc of the arc show to end all arc shows, you might say so, yes. :)

30 – Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link!

Considering I have currently 156 stories listed at the AO3 archive, which don't include the occasional drabble, you'll forgive me if I can't narrow it down to one. However, after a lot of ponderings and narrowing it down etc., here's the short list I came up with:

The Burying Kind: this is a crossover between Angel and Six Feet Under. Well, technically I should say "between Angel, Buffy and Six Feet Under" since some BTVS characters show up as well and the BTVS backstory is important, but it does take place after BTVS has ended, during AtS' fifth season and the fourth one of SFU. It was born out of a remark kangeiko made, that given both shows are set in Los Angeles, it would only make sense if Angel hired Fisher & Sons (who were Fisher & Diaz at that point) to ( do something spoilery for the fifth season ). This sounded like a fantastic idea to me, and the result was one quite ambitious ensemble story in which I could tackle grief, friendship, sibling relationships, post traumatic stress syndrome and the like, and take full advantage of the quirks of either show, such as SFU's use of "ghosts" (which is why David Fisher doesn't blink when he sees an AtS one, not realising this is the genuine article) and gleefully draw conclusions. (Come on, you just know Olivier would be a client of Wolfram & Hart's artist division, with all the lawsuits he's bound to get!) The greatest challenge for any crossover is to write it in a way that makes it enjoyable to read for people familiar with both canons but also for people who only know one of the canons in question, i.e. you have to give some background information but find ways of doing so that don't feel annoying to people who already know. Also, the character interaction should make sense and be about more than "wouldn't it be cute if X met Y?". And of all the many crossovers I wrote, this one to me feels where I achieved all these goals best.

Runaways: one of the two Heroes stories I'm proudest of and love best, with an actual plot (borrowed from Brian K. Vaughan) and again, what I consider an achieved goal of ensemble use and interaction in a way that works emotionally, providing both humour and angst. Plus I'm still smug about having come up with John Williams tunes as a method of communication. :)

Five in One: sometimes I write stories that are also meant as meta (sometimes on a character or several, sometimes on fandom; sometimes on a source, here it was all of the above). This BtVS one is a case in point, written not sine, but cum irae et studio; it dealt with several issues I had, was a great way to exorcise them (for the time being) and still works imo as a story. Or five. About five of Spike's victims, from their point of view.

City Girls: this, on the other hand, is a labour of love, for both Buffy Summers and the city of Rome. (Some Dawn love also contributed.) Inspired by the AtS episode Damage casually mentioning Buffy and Dawn were living in Rome. Having spent three months near the place myself in the mid-90s, something clicked in me. I still consider this my definite Buffy character portrait.

Quark's Day: inspired originally by altariel's reply to a "describe a story I never wrote" challenge, this is my DS9 ensemble story par excellence, set directly after the Second Occupation arc of season 6 has ended, and of all the many DS9 stories I wrote the one that best declares my love for the entire show, not just one aspect or character. (I also think it's my best Quark character portrait, but then, I would. :)

In Vino Veritas: it's rare that one gets to pioneer a slash pairing. This is by no means one of my best stories (though it has some good dialogue), and definitely not my best Babylon 5 story, but it was the very first Londo/G'Kar slash story, and allow me to bask in my pioneer pride and love it for this.

Death and the Maiden: one of the rare stories where you feel you have taken your writing to another level. Not just limited to fanfiction. I had never written anything as dark before, not in a way that still, many years later, makes me feel I did justice to the subject(s) instead of not quite coming through. It's a Highlander story dealing with Cassandra's backstory (and thus also with Methos, rape, brainwashing and the reinvention/discovery of self). Aside from authorial satisfaction, this was the story that made honorh write feedback the second time and thus brought me my second oldest internet friend, so I have an additional reason to treasure it.

aadler suggested two additional questions for this meme a while ago, to wit:

31 – Which fanfic authors and/or stories have had the most influence on your writing?

Back in ye olde Highlander days, when I was just cutting my teeth writing in another language (i.e. English), Mary Galasso a) was one of the few gen writers (HL was somewhat like Merlin today in that it was overwhelmingly a slash fandom, with some het thrown in, and not much gen), b) told me about this new show she was watching called Buffy the Vampire Slayer and c) kind enough to beta my early efforts, so definitely her. (Conversely, MacGeorge wrote fabulous and very hot D/M stories, but they influenced me as a reader in my early stage of slash discovery, not as a writer (seeing as I never wrote D/M).) katallison wrote this absolutely fantastic HL story called Last Set Closing in which Duncan visits an aged Joe partly ravaged by dementia which stll is one of the best things I've read in any fandom and showed me you can tackle such subjects in fanfiction in a non-superficial, non-patronizing way. Without facile solutions, and without feeling like a gratitious angst pile, either. (As I imagine many people do, I had an elderly relation suffering from dementia at the time, so it really hit home.)

32 – Are there any stories you want to write that you’re afraid to tackle? If so, what and why?

One comes immediately to mind. Basically the first idea I had after finishing my West Wing marathon was that I wanted to read, or, since a satisfying version didn't exist, write a story about Toby, incensed that the President dared to pardon him and with a whole lot of other issues besides, drives out to New Hamsphire and gets conveniently snowed in chez Bartlet so that he and Jed can have it out. I still want to read or write that story, and it still scares the hell out of me, because you probably need to be a first rate playwright to do it justice, not least because these are two of the most verbally adroit and intelligent characters in a show full of great talkers, but also because there are so many things they wouldn't say without going ooc. In the end, I backed away, but I did use some muddled ideas about that relationship (which was the most fascinating one on the show to me) for my brief character study Words and the Men.




( The rest of the questions )

Name your 5 favorite fictional marriages.

A meme after my own heart. Fiction that dares to tackle marriages (well, in ways other than killing one partner of in the first ten minutes to start the drama) is sadly still in the minority.

1.) Jed and Abbey Bartlett, The West Wing. It's not that they don't occasionally argue (from anything going from the interpretation of Bible quotes to whether he's being a jackass about having broken a promise); they do. But you're never left in doubt they're crazy about each other. She has his number and he has hers. The only thing I regret about the Jed/Abbey marriage as depicted on WW throughout seven seasons is that Abbey didn't show up more often than she already did.

2.) Zoe and Wash, Firefly. He was the cheerful babbler to her stoic warrior; they adored each other, and he even put up with her annoying Captain. (Well, there was the ship to fly as a bonus as well...) Seriously, I just loved Zoe and Wash together.

3.) Arvin and Emily Sloane, Alias. All the way back in season 1 when Sloane was the unquestioned blackhat antagonist, the first thing the show did to indicate his life wasn't all about plotting evilly was to show him worried about his cancer-ridden wife. Who later turned out to be Emily, played by Amy Irving, and a great example that being a kind female character doesn't equal being a doormat. I've cared about other couples on this show, though mostly I'm into the characters rather than the 'ships, but I can say none of them moved me as much as Arvin and Emily did in the s2 episode Truth Takes Time, at a point where Emily knows the truth about him, they've both betrayed each other in different ways, and yet what they feel for each other overcomes that. The scene between them in the kitchen makes me cry each time I watch it. And in the s4 episode In Dreams when we go into Sloane's mind and see Emily again, I cry as well. There there was an Alias 'ship who struck a stronger chord/ for me than that of Emily and our evil overlord. (Well, not a het one anyway.)

4.) Saul and Ellen Tigh, Battlestar Galactica. I always call them my Edward Albee couple because the resemblance is undeniable, but it's worth observing that their marriage gains in functional dimension and loses in -dys dimension whenever Bill Adama isn't around. (Proof: New Caprica and Adama-less flashbacks, show finale.) Leaving observations based on my Bill grudge aside: Ellen and Saul are the type of couple who can bring out the worst but also the best in each other. They can't do without each other, and I still get a kick out of the fact that ( finale spoiler ).

5.) Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, Torchwood. If there is one thing that drives me more crazy than others about Gwen-related arguments, it's that many people behave as if her relationship with Rhys begins and ends in the season 1 episode Combat. Which is like drawing your Londo Mollari characterisation exclusively from When the rocks fall, no hiding place in s3 of Babylon 5, or your Buffy and Faith characterisation exclusively from the AtS episode Sanctuary (hang on, actually a lot of people do that...). Because the Gwen and Rhys relationship as it's played out throughout three seasons is so much more. Their arguments and reconciliations always strike me as immensely real. Neither of them is perfect (no, Rhys isn't, either, watch Adrift if you think he always is). But guess what, Gwen is a character who learns from her mistakes. (I'll see your Combat and raise you a Meat and Something Borrowed.) By the time we arrive at Children of Earth, she and Rhys give a great illustration of why I like them as a couple so much; they make each other laugh and have each other's back even when arguing. They adore ach other just as they are; Gwen and Rhys are quite aware of each other's faults, they don't put the other on pedestals. And they are the cutest stowaways on trucks ever. Gwen/Rhys OTP!

One of the episodes which make you go "I love my show!". Because it was great, and I do.

( I love my show! )

In other news: halfamoon offers a great post about C.J. Cregg of West Wing fame !