POI 3x09

[arduinna]

I've seen a few people's reactions, but not that many; I'm on vacation trying to hermit out and be peaceful and calm and rested, and watching people be angry/unhappy isn't helping me stop be angry/unhappy about this. But neither is stewing on my own. And so I vent.

I was completely flummoxed by the sudden "oh Joss I love you so" coming out of nowhere; I'm sorry, but seriously, that level of sudden declaration was never telegraphed at ALL. Reese never showed a flicker of jealousy about Beecher (concern, sure -- just like Fusco and Finch were concerned. But not jealousy.) He's never made a single move -- which, hi, the lesson he learned from losing Jessica was "keeping my mouth shut about how I felt was the biggest mistake of my life". There is absolutely no reason Reese would have kept silent and inscrutable about feeling like he literally owes his continued existence to Carter.

Especially since that retcons not only the pilot, but the entire series to date. Carter didn't change Reese's life; Finch did. Reese has repeated that nonstop for 2.25 seasons now: he says it to Finch, he says it to old friends, he says it to enemies, he says it to random strangers on the street he happens to be walking past, all of which Finch hears directly. Finch has known exactly how much he means to John pretty much all along; he knows he's the one who let John reach a place where he could actually say, out loud, "I guess I'm happy" with that little smile that said he meant it.

Carter became a huge part of that changed life, but she wasn't the reason he crawled out of his bottle and started living again. Finch gave him a job, gave him a purpose, gave him trust back again. Finch made it possible for Reese to become friends with other people, including Carter.

This has been the entire premise of the show! From day one!

*HANDS*

So I had a very very confused few minutes of "well, at least the Reese/Carter shippers will be happy, but... what? Why did this show suddenly need a giant blazing canonical het ship, instead of the team of friends/comrades/compatriots that's been working so well?" and then UH, NO, I suspect the Reese/Carter shippers are NOT HAPPY AT ALL.

That moment in the morgue should have been a mutual "it's been an honor" speech. Carter and Reese connected first and most strongly on their shared military background, and they've always been comrades in arms. It would have been an even more powerful moment, in fact, because hey, I could have actually believed it and had an emotional response to it, instead of sitting there going "what? what is he saying? wait, why is that a romantic hand on her cheek? WHAT?"

And y'know, if Carter really had to die (why! why would Carter need to die!!!) avenging a fallen comrade? Would actually be just as good a motivator for Reese as "oh no, the woman I have sekritly loved for two years has died, right after I told her I love her out of nowhere". Better, even, since once again, it would be a motivation I could believe.

It's such lazy, stupid fucking writing, the way they did it -- and this is not a show where I'm automatically braced to cope with the stupid, lazy writing. It instantly diminishes everything Carter did during her season of awesome, because sure, maybe she got 98% of HR, but Reese, man. Reese is going to get the badass that got Carter. And I love Reese! I love it when he wins! But this is Carter's win, goddammit! She worked her ass off for this, and made a clean bust, like the cop she is. And now all that work is "oh well, she tried, but she just wasn't good enough." And at the same time, they've managed to diminish John, whose emotional depths apparently no longer encompass strong friendships. He can only truly care about the women he's in love with. Which is contrary to everything we've learned about him so far, as he's developed friendships (and even one that hey, possibly includes sex -- you can't tell me he wouldn't care what happens to Zoe, even if she didn't change his life and give him his only reason not to swallow a bullet. Argh.)

What the hell were they thinking?

And they were thinking, is the thing. They were so, so careful to slowly set up Taylor's safe existence with his now-good-citizen dad, and show how he was okay and well-adjusted there. Her death didn't leave her son in the lurch (or in any danger, the way Lee was in danger). Her city was safe; her son was safe; her ex was the good man she used to know; her boyfriend was avenged; her job was returned to her: all that was left for her to do was give John a reason to go on a berserker rage kick by dying.

*deep breath*

Okay, I'm still not calming down, so I'll stop, since all I'm doing is rehashing the same thing. But goddammit. I really liked 98% of this episode, a LOT. Fusco! I love, love, love when he gets to be the badass he always was; he may not be a leader, but he's one hell of a strong, loyal soldier. The only thing that matters more to him is Lee, and even there, he did what he could to buy time for the cavalry (and for his thumb-breaking to work, which I thought was thumb-dislocating from the way he was moving his hands whenever he could). Shaw! Who waited for orders, then made the right emotional call, and had an actual moment with Fusco! They are weirdly turning into a great little team, and I think his ability to break himself out (and throttle someone with all those broken fingers) has done a lot to win her respect (and her call to save Lee instead of Lionel has won his). Root and Finch! (which, hey, there are the writers I know and trust, building a thing where it's less certain that Finch is doing the right thing -- although omg, Finch, you don't lock someone in a cage and walk away with a blithe "I may never be back, but here, have a muffin").

But that last 2% outweighs it all. DAMMIT.

I don't even know what to do next week. I love this show. This is my fandom in a way nothing else has been my fandom in years - maybe not since SG-1, or even Sentinel. I trusted these writers, these showrunners.

I don't want to lose my show, and I'll probably keep watching, and just somehow find a way to make it work. But part of me really, really wants the ratings to just fucking TANK. Because this is not the show that anyone signed on for.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I am so very sorry.

[quarter_to_five]

Yes! Everything you said. It's such a reduction, of all of them. It reduces Carter (duh,) but it also reduces Reese and it reduces Finch and it reduces the complexity of the show and the complexity of the characters and the relationships they can have and the emotions they can have and it's annoying as all hell. The cowardice of it!

[hedda62]

Absolutely, all of this (and I have been reading people's comments all day, and it's… nice that we all agree? Except we all agree it sucks). Just GRRR.

Finch, you don't lock someone in a cage and walk away with a blithe "I may never be back, but here, have a muffin"

Ha! Quite. I suppose he may have thought the Machine would sort it out if he was killed. And it's the Root and Finch story I'll be hanging on for, but I can't hold out much hope for course adjustment that holds. Sigh.

[starfish]

ALL OF WHAT YOU SAID WAS TRUE. TONIGHT I MUST USE THE ALLCAPS OF OUTRAGE.

Seriously, though, the depths of my disappointment are immeasurable. See icon.

[sholio]

*huuuuugs* I have been feeling so bad for the POI fandom today! I know what it's like to have a show suddenly pull the rug out from under you. Stupid show-writing people. >:|

(If it hadn't been for that 2%, I'd have been really tempted to watch this episode on the basis of everything else I'm hearing about it -- I haven't been watching this season, but ♥ FUSCO! ♥ But ... just knowing about that other thing is bad enough; I don't think I can bear to watch it, and I feel so bad for everyone who went through it in realtime.)

[thevetia]

Yes, my reactions exactly, right down to the "What? What is he saying? What are they doing? WHAT?" followed by "WAIT!" pausing the TiVo and yelling at the TV "I don't believe it!"

For me too, PoI has been my fandom like nothing since SG-1. I was talking to klia and saying how I feel that I've had my favorite banquet food yanked away and transformed into crawly mealworms. I need to find a mental place where I can deal with this betrayal of trust, because I still love the story of PoI, I still love Finch (now apparently with unrequited care for Reese!) and Reese and Fusco and the Machine and Root and that whole world, including Carter.

So if you find a way to do that, could you let me know?

[klia]

thevetia and I ranted at each other about most of this today -- twice, in fact -- and I'm totally with you about everything. I loved so much of the ep, and then they did... that. I mean, I don't think I hallucinated 2-1/2 seasons of Reese and Finch doing anything to help and/or save each other, right? No wonder I feel blindsided. JFC, we could sue for whiplash.

So, so angry and upset. GAH. I think the last time I was this upset about something a show did was probably the ending of Life on Mars. I know a lot of people liked it, but I thought it was a cheap and easy wrap-up, and it made me feel like... well, like Loki after Hulk smashed him.

[copracat]

I read an article (in EW?) where Henson said that Caviezel improvised the kiss and it was decided to leave it in. It looked like it came out of left field because it came out of Caviezel's head.

[aprilvalentine]

Here by way of Natlyn...

I don't even know what to do next week. I love this show. This is my fandom in a way nothing else has been my fandom in years - maybe not since SG-1, or even Sentinel. I trusted these writers, these showrunners.

This is me just exactly. Never been in SG-1, but this show has grabbed me more than Sentinel or anything in years. I was into Torchwood, but couldn't trust those showrunners, who killed Ianto after telling fans we'd "love the direction they were taking the Ianto/Jack relationship" (and when we complained, he told us to just watch another show if we were sad. Thanks. I will.) I have been, like so many of us, all week, just going back and forth from outrage to despair. It's not even the kiss that had me upset (which if you don't know, JC threw in adlib instead of it being scripted) or that Carter was killed the way she was -- TPTB and TPH are just as happy as clams that it was so wonderful, btw. weird, I know. But why make it all about "true luv"??? As you said, John told everyone it was Finch, even (I had to laugh at your phrasing) random people he passed on the street. That's what made me so furious -- to retcon the whole show this way. Good lord. They've downplayed Reese and Finch's friendship all season but I never truly expected this. It would have been so much better, more realistic, more believable and more in character for it to be comrades in arms saying, as you said, "it's been an honor" instead of the silly, weak, out of left field romantic crap. And the poor fans of the het ship, to be thrown that bone only to have it yanked away is worse. They had shown them as friends who respected each other -- why go there on this show??? And when they introduced her son's father with his PTSD issues, I thought there was another fundamental reason she would probably be telling herself never to get involved with Reese, respect him though she may have, she knew he could go off the deep end at any time. Why they just didn't have her go join the FBI after bringing down HR, I don't know. Sigh. TPH was always to be off the show before it ran its course, we have now learned, so why kill her? Why not allow her to reap the benefits of her success with bringing down HR? She could be off the show then and alive and we wouldn't all be going nuts like this. Thanks for your venting and allowing me some more of my own, lol.