enemyofperfect | Let's play a game!

Let's play a game!

As a fan, I seem to spend a lot of time rationalizing the random, baffling, and/or downright offensive things canon throws at me -- and actually, it's pretty fun to do, at least when I'm not too upset about the need for it. So why should I wait for weird plot developments to hone my elaborate justification skills?

In that spirit: Make an outrageous statement about a fictional character, and I will attempt to explain why it is self-evidently true.

Recommended fandoms: Person of Interest, Sleepy Hollow, Elementary, Criminal Minds, Burn Notice, Firefly/Serenity, the Star Trek reboot (pre-Cumberbatch only), and -- straying a little farther from the fannish track -- Fairly Legal, Common Law, or the short-lived BBC series Outcasts. Feel free to try anything, though, especially if you wouldn't mind an answer based entirely on Wikipedia blurbs and Google image search. :D

ETA: Oh my gosh, I love you guys, your prompts are the best, and I'm totally going to get to all of them. It might take me a few days! But this is way too much fun for half-measures, I tell you what. <3

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John Reese IS a kitty.

...I can't top that *waits to see result*

Oh my gosh, I almost hesitate to tackle this one. I mean, your emphatic capitalization seems to imply that Reese's felinity has already been the topic of considerable study, and what can I possibly have to add? The evidence is everywhere: he goes where he isn't wanted, and can't be found when he is; he's both playful and deadly (sometimes at the same time); you can call him yours, but the more important question is whether he chooses you; when he wants your attention, he is very difficult to ignore; he brings back food as a sign of affection, and sometimes leaves still-living prey where he knows it will be found; he lands on his feet; he makes the most incredible messes and walks away jauntily; if he falls behind in his grooming, it's a sign that he isn't feeling well; he is difficult to herd; he can fend for himself, but may accept the offerings of those he likes and trusts; he is called by many names, but answers only when he feels like it.

Clearly Reese is a cat. Clearly he annoyed someone very powerful (possibly by swiping at their knees?) and, when given a choice between incarceration or serving out his time in the human military, he chose the latter option. This is why Finch, supreme adept of the information age, didn't know how it was that Reese signed up until Reese told him -- I'm sure the paperwork is waived for sufficiently promising feline recruits. The CIA's interest in him was blatantly speciesist -- if they'd paid attention to anything but his genus, they'd have noticed that as gifted in the art of the hunt as he might be, what he really wants out of life is someone he can rub his face all over and a nice keyboard to lie on -- but no, they thought he was going to be their nice tame killer. :/ I'm just glad he's found his forever home now.

As for what kind of kitty Reese is, though -- I do have a few more thoughts about that, but they required illustration. And song, actually.

Proof accepted. :) And you are awesome.

Oh this is fun!
Jessica is alive.

Oh my gosh, this one gave me actual feels.

It's pretty easy to assume that Jessica's dead, I guess for two main reasons: one, it really looks like she is, and two, it seems like if she were still alive, someone would know. But it's possible to imagine that she faked her death, and certainly, given Peter, she had motive. I doubt she could have done it alone -- I mean, there are autopsy reports, this was a pretty thorough job -- but maybe she could have if she'd had help.

Like, say, Finch's help. We know he knew about her at some point, and he would have been really motivated to help her, not just because she was in trouble, but also because of Ordos. He's great at hacking records and can certainly afford bribes, and I don't know if that would have been enough, but Jessica was a nurse, and she'd have had friends at the hospital and maybe even the morgue, and maybe that made the difference.

But what about the specifics of her death the event, as opposed to her death the seemingly ongoing condition? I'm thinking, maybe the car crash wasn't staged. Finch would have been out of his depth, still actively grieving Nathan's death and in no position to maintain his usual standards of stealth. What if he spooked Peter into running -- what if Peter actually knocked Jessica out while insisting that she needed to come with him immediately -- and what if Finch then panicked so comprehensively that instead of calling the police, he chased them personally, in basically the most desperate and least qualified car chase ever?

And maybe Peter just took a turn too quickly and crashed the car that way -- or maybe Jessica came blearily to, and wrenched the steering wheel to the side.

If we say that Peter blacked out on impact and that Finch and Jessica were able to lay the groundwork for her disappearance before he regained consciousness, I think it makes sense that Peter would have made up his story about avoiding a deer. I mean, what else would he do, say that he was fleeing at speed from a stranger who saw him beating his dead wife?

But this is just trying to say that it's possible that she's alive, not that she has to be. Why would we imagine something this intricate when it's so much simpler to believe that she's dead?

I will now ask a completely unrelated question. Why does Finch think that all Reese ever wanted to do was protect people?

He says so in the pilot, but why on earth does he think that? I mean, it's true, but how do you get that from the broad strokes of Reese's life to date? Maybe in the CIA's files on Reese there were notes about his inconvenient reservations about this target and that mission, but I don't get the sense that they ever really cared about what went on inside his head, just so long as the job got done. And even if we posit some psych eval that explained him with perfect insight, how do you get from there to a man as cautious and slow to trust as Finch saying and believing something like that about a man who has him pinned to a wall and is credibly threatening his life?

I think Jessica must have talked about John a lot.

She and Finch would have had a lot to bond over. Both healing from recent injuries, both fleeing their old lives and mourning loved ones left behind: a mother in her case, a fiancée in his. And they would both be in true mourning, too, grappling with the death of Nathan -- and of John, because when Reese fell off the map after Ordos, it really must have looked like he was dead, mustn't it?

Finch would have been able to confirm that for Jessica. I think she must have suspected.

I don't know how long she would have spent with Finch before striking out on her own. Perhaps a few hours, perhaps a few weeks. If it stretched to months, we could imagine that she was with Finch when the Machine gave him Reese's number when he reentered the country on a collision course with Peter, but I think I like it better if she left before then.

If Finch knows that Jessica's alive, that of course raises the question of why he hasn't told Reese. And I think the answer to that must be, she wouldn't want him to. It's a little dicey ethically if he's acting on speculation instead of respect for her explicit wishes, which is why I hesitate about sending her off sans forwarding address before Finch learns that Reese is alive. But here's the idea I like best, and that I think fits the emotional evidence:

Jessica could have told her mother she was still alive, if she thought she could trust her to keep her secret. She could have wished that John was there to start her new life with, even though it wouldn't bring him back.

But I don't think she did either of those things. I think she missed them both, so much; and I think she thought about her mother, clinging to a picture of what Jessica's life should be, and about John, so clearly wanting to be with her years after he told her not to wait -- still wanting to ride to her rescue years after her marriage to someone else! -- and refused to make their mistake, which was the same mistake she'd been making her entire life: she would not give her loyalty to dreams and might-have-beens. She would not make herself smaller to fit within a picture frame; she would not tie herself to anything she couldn't carry with her.

She's lost so much, the woman who walks away from Finch and into a new life, the woman who is no longer Jessica Arndt -- and yet she wouldn't take any of it back, even if she could. She tells Finch that, before she leaves. By that point, he's already binding himself ever more tightly to his own past -- watching over Grace, taking up Nathan's doomed mission, settling in for a long lonely vigil over the Machine -- but she's cast hers aside utterly. There's no certainty in her future, but she faces it with a lopsided grin and a courage Finch perceives and cannot quite comprehend.

When Finch sees Reese in person for the first time, perhaps six weeks later, he says to him, "I'm so sorry" -- not because the woman Reese loved is dead, but because she isn't.

Finch doesn't know where she is now, but he could probably find her if he looked long enough; he helped her build her new identity, after all. She wouldn't want him to find her, though, not even to let her know that John's alive.

In her whole life, Jessica was never really alone. She lived in other people's shadows: her mother's; John's; Peter's. When she needed it, she had the help of Finch and others, but in the end, she saved herself.

She's living in a new story now. Finch doesn't try to drag her back to this one, even in spirit.

So he doesn't tell Reese, though he does fall in love with him.

And somewhere else in the world, a woman with a new name is living.

This sounds fun! Okay, since the fic is percolating in my brain (I blame finally starting to catch up/roommates):

Aaron Hotchner is a serial killer.

Donnelly is alive and well, and is working undercover for The Machine.

Oh hell, that man is just too stubborn to die. Did we see where Stanton shot him? It was probably in the vest. I'm sure he must have been wearing a vest -- he probably sleeps in one. Stanton knew it, too; she wanted to leave him alive. Her employers had noticed that he was a damn good agent, and a ruthless one, too, and they figured they might as well at least try recruiting him before wasting that kind of potential.

So they faked his death and tended his wounds, and Greer made a very nice speech promising him answers about the man in the suit -- answers Donnelly's own government wanted to keep from him! -- and Donnelly glared beady-eyed death at him and took the job. And then ran straight back to the FBI to tell them everything he'd learned about this terrifying organization and its messed up hiring practices, obviously. The FBI's interests are primarily domestic, though, and Decima? That's the ISA's concern. So congratulations, Special Counsel told him: you're our new deep cover agent. I couldn't think of a better man for the job.

Donnelly reports to Hersh, now, while he works his way ever closer to the heart of Decima; the last couple of episodes of season two were a very interesting time for him. There isn't much room in his life for hobbies at the moment, but he still wants to catch Reese someday, or at least catch up to him. He's heard that the man in the suit is dead, of course, but then, so is Donnelly.

He hasn't said a word to anyone about Carter. If anyone's going to talk to her, it's going to be him.

As for whether he's aware of the degree to which ISA's actions are steered by a highly intelligent Machine -- that, I really couldn't begin to guess.

This is great. Thank you! So fun to read. :).

This is scarily plausible. I fully expect to see it pop up in season four. :)

Zoe is a spy for the Alliance.

You're right, it is fun coming up with elaborate justifications for things. Like researching for essays without actually having to write the things.

Hee, yes!

In the spirit of not writing an essay, I'll skim over the many fascinating particulars of Zoe's covert employment -- the details of timing, the agreement she hammered out to protect Wash, the extent to which the Alliance's various hands (blue and otherwise) are or are not kept apprised of each other's actions -- and content myself with demonstrating the simple fact of it, which is pretty easily done: I mean, what else is a woman of her abilities doing playing second fiddle to a guy like Mal?

Finch is Dumbledore's nephew

hehehee

Joan Watson is polyamorous.

James T Kirk would never cheat on anyone he dates. If they expect him to be monogamous by god he will be monogamous. If he doesn't want to be monogamous he will dump the person he's dating.

Harold is asexual.

:3

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Let's play a game!

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so much teal deer, I can't even

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