Doctor Who season finale & assorted fic

[enemyofperfect]

READ

Many fanfics, as usual! Favorites include:

The Man in the (Summer Weight) Suit by st_aurafina, an exquisite time travel fix-it for Person of Interest. I want to say more about it, but I don't know how to to do it justice without spoiling it. It's really good. 4k.

Pinioned by AbigailMoment, a painful (and at times grisly) but also deeply endearing Good Omens fic in which Crowley does much to protect Aziraphale. ~6k.

New Lands for the Living by DramaticEntrance is another wonderful time travel fix-it, this one for Star Wars, and with a more convincing Poe/Luke romance than I could have imagined. There's loneliness, but also teamwork, friendship, love, and even hope. 50k.

Taste of Freedom, also by DramaticEntrance, is a lovely Leverage AU in which Parker tries to rob Eliot, but finds his bare apartment so distressing that she starts bringing him stuff instead. 10k.

like nails in my feet by Riona a Silent Hill 2 fic, which probably functions as a complete warning if you know that game. If you don't... well, it's from the perspective of a man who murdered his terminally ill wife. He feels bad about it, which might make it better or worse, depending on your perspective. Riona excels at psychological horror, and this is no exception. 1k.

suddenly becoming one you have never read by susiecarter is for a pairing I'd never heard of -- GQ/Croc from Suicide Squad -- but it's also amnesia fic, so I guess that worked out okay! It's... emotional hurt/comfort while one party is severely injured and hiding in a sewer? But like, in a warm and fuzzy way! ~3k.

I also read and enjoyed several original short stories recced by forestofglory.  My favorite was Give the Family My Love by A T Greenblatt (also available as a podfic!) which is about a perilous trek to an alien library while the Earth may be dying, and about relationships, and about hope. 5k, or 42 minutes in audio form.

PLAYED

Become Nothing by AbigailMoment, enthusiastically recommended here.

WATCHED

Brooklyn Nine-Nine through episode 7x05, "Debbie", but honestly, the only thing I have to say is about "The Jimmy Jab Games II, and that is Jake is canonically willing to try pegging if Amy's into that! I'm so happy.

Doctor Who spoilers through episode 12x10, "The Timeless Children":

It's funny, because I think I would ordinarily be dismayed to have a protagonist made so inherently special that their entire super-special species only derived their specialness from said protagonist in the first place, but... it's an amazingly angsty concept, in this particular case, and also, I think I mind it less than I would if the Doctor were currently a man? So as it is, I'm basically just like... wow, countless years of mind wipes and being used as a tool by the people who owe her everything. That's... delicious.

Plus it's just so hilarious that what made the Master angry enough to murder his entire home planet is just that the Doctor is really more special than he is. Like, sweetheart! You're so petty! Though I do have to say that Sacha Dhawan does a lot to sell his character as tormented enough to be interesting -- I'll be a little sad if he doesn't end up reprising this role.

Other than that, let's see... Graham continues to be a sweetheart, honestly, and I'm glad that the fam are all alive -- and Ethan too! I don't know why Ethan is so endearing, but he is! It was also really fun in "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" when the Doctor's relationship with Yaz was explicitly compared to Bryon's relationship with his mistress. Please feel free to keep getting shippier, show! The Doctor has been canonically attracted to women before, why should that have changed now?

It was also extremely hot when she threw the Master on the ground. But fandom is large; we contain multitudes.

Comments

[st_aurafina]

Jake is canonically willing to try pegging if Amy's into that!
His face!! So excited and intrigued!! It was a great moment.

when the Doctor's relationship with Yaz was explicitly compared to Bryon's relationship with his mistress.
lilacsigil and I looked at each other and said "Did they just...?"

(And thank you for the rec!)

[enemyofperfect]

I was delighted to see that the AO3 has several pegging fics written in direct response to that moment. Good to see you have your priorities straight, B99 fandom!

lilacsigil and I looked at each other and said "Did they just...?"

Right???

(You are very welcome! It's such a good fic!)

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you so much for the rec! ♥ ♥! I'm really glad you like my efforts at psychological horror. It's a genre I might never have started writing in at all if it hadn't been for Silent Hill 2.

[enemyofperfect]

Now that you mention it, I can totally buy that! It's been a pleasure seeing you return to your roots, in that case.

[pauraque]

I don't watch DW but I'm glad you liked the last episode! A few people on my flist were upset by the revelation of the Doctor's specialness, which has had the gears in my head turning in a more general way. I think there is a preference in fandom for protagonists who are not special, but are ordinary people making extraordinary choices. Is it because a sense of predestination undermines the character's agency? It's not a trope I've thought a lot about, honestly.

[enemyofperfect]

Ohh, this is such an interesting question. I think in my case, it's less about agency for the destined protagonist, and more about a discomfort with the implied... inequality, I guess? Of presenting some characters as being inherently better or more important than other people.

Not that there's anything wrong with enjoying stories on a level of "wow, this character has $special_trait, that's so cool!" But sometimes I think, what about the farmhands who aren't secret royalty or the kids who don't get adopted by magic horses? And sometimes I feel like the harder the story tries to convince me that the hero is the center of the universe, the less I end up caring, because I can't relate to someone who is the only truly important person in their world -- I relate to characters who need other people, whose lives are profoundly affected (for better and worse) by the people around them. So maybe it's not that protagonists shouldn't have special qualities, but that I start to lose interest if their specialness seems to come at the expense of the characters around them.

[corvidology]

I found it 'delicious' too as the doctor has always been so certain about the past.

[enemyofperfect]

Oh, that's a really interesting point! It totally does function as taking that certainty down a peg, too. That's nifty.

[unavee]

Ooh, these recs sound great! Time travel fix-it, yay! Thank you for providing some of my weekend reading :)

[enemyofperfect]

You are extremely welcome, and I hope you enjoy! :D