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

[aprilvalentine]

Wow, Hensen's happy about it? That... actually helps a little. Not in show terms, but outside the universe I've also been ragingly angry that this fantastic actress lost her job for this piece of trite bullshit so TPTB could feel "edgy".

Yes, she is. She's been going around doing interviews -- was even on Letterman Wednesday night -- and has said she feels Carter's story was finished, she had come full circle, had a beginning, middle and end and and that Taylor would have his father so he wouldn't be alone, yadda, yadda. Further, she has known since the very beginning that she was not to be part of POI for the full run of the show. Nolan got her to commit to it by telling her she wouldn't be locked in "for a seven year contract" and she felt that since she prefers doing feature films, that would be a way to do television without the long contract. Without anyone else knowing this, she has been aware all along but until about Valentine's didn't know exactly when Carter would go. She only told her mother and grandmother about Carter's upcoming death in the ep. She said on Letterman, "I felt like I was cheating on my lover!" that she was keeping this secret that she was not going to continue on the show.

So yes, this wonderful actress didn't lose her job, but it still doesn't justify the gaffs like the horrible retcon which could have been avoided by a little better writing in those scenes. If John had just said something like how he had never thanked her for the part she played in helping him turn around, instead of making it seem like when he'd been thanking Finch all this time he hadn't meant it.

Did you know the kiss wasn't scripted? (can't remember if this was mentioned in your post or comments) JC put that as an adlib? Nolan and Plageman at first didn't think it would work as they apparently saw the scene in the morgue as a comrades in arms thing (so why the shippy dialogue, I ask?) but when they saw it it was so organic they felt it worked. I saw it not as a romantic kiss myself, but only by squinting and trying to ignore the words coming out of Reese's mouth.

Apparently TPH will appear in Carter flashbacks -- though I fear to see them. What are they going to do, show us some dates she had with Reese before she died?

In the middle of the night last night (yes, this ep is still making me lose sleep!) I found a promo for next week. First I saw an extended preview of the "next week's episode" thing. Then, I found this whole little video with not only some clips from next week but comments by JC, ME, KC and Plageman talking about what's going to be happening. Don't know if you do spoilers or not or I'd elaborate. Sometimes I don't do spoilers, but this whole thing has got me combing the web trying to stave off shock. Part of me says there may at least be some good parts in The Devil's Share, in regard to Reese and Finch, but I fear there will be consequences to Reese losing his shit about Carter. Argh.

Like you, this fandom meant so damn much to me. I hadn't fallen this hard since Sentinel. I dabbled in a few others (and survived the horrid death of Ianto Jones in Torchwood -- fridged to give Jack, his canon lover more manpain) but seriously, I thought I could trust Nolan and Plageman and in fact, as more and more fans have been complaining about the addition of Shaw and Root and the end of last season and the start of this one, I've continued to advocate trusting them, but now... my faith is shot. They haven't come out and said, as Russell T. Davies of Torchwood said, "if you don't like what I did, watch another show" but seeing them think they did such a great job is almost as annoying.

I think of Sentinel, of Blair dead in that fountain and cancellation happening the next day. And us waiting for 9 months to get the show back and when it aired, the hue and cry in fandom when Jim kissed Alex right in front of Blair. Sentinel fandom survived but in today's fan world, I don't know about POI. The stakes are so much higher in POI, the writing so far above the usual network fare that seeing it deteriortate, with the writers still patting themselves on the back for their originality and adherence to continuity, make my stomach hurt. Only time will tell.