Torchwood fan wibbling

[rm]

Just listened to the Torchwood audiobook In the Shadows and man, was that ridiculous and satisfying.

But then! Someone had to go and link me to this: http://tinyurl.com/l8u2nu which arguably contains implied spoilers for Children of Earth that are really fucking distressing even if I've been saying for months that Ianto is not going to die and the rumour mongering is just the usual fan wank and drama.

Really, it's so ridiculous. Hello, I went through the Snape thing. I was ready for that. I'm only bummed his death wasn't more epic (snake bubble to the head? really?). But Ianto! Not my favorite character, but the one it would definitely break my heart to see go. I'd analyze that for you all, but it's so hardly necessary I'd like to pretend to keep my dignity on the subject, but NOW I'M REALLY FUCKING FREAKED. And can't, apparently, stop listening to really depressing stuff on last.fm.

Trauma!

Comments

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I feel your "snake bubble to the head" pain. I continue to suffer from "felled by drapery" myself.

Oh and "I'm a leaf on the wind." WHAT THE FUCKERY WAS THAT ABOUT?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word. I mean, we knew Snape was a goner, but come fucking on, that deserved to be fucking EPIC.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

It did! Because damn if Snape wasn't this constant, conflicted influence in Harry's shadow. He was the noblest motherfucker around, he sacrificed so much and then "POONK! SNAKEBUBBLE!"

Not. Okay.

There was a "let's all kill Ianto" phase in the fandom a couple of winters ago. I kept running into deathfic, deathfic, deathfic, and ended up writing a drabble as sort of a passive-aggressive meta/personal canon thing. Not sure it's comforting, but...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Well, I mean, Kali and I wrote deathfic of a sort... so... you know.

And yeah... honestly, I was also annoyed that Snape wasn't actually filled with remorse or conflicted conscience. He was just a creepy stalker!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There's really nothing to do except to get the gin ready and brace ourselves.

LOTS OF GIN.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's more or less crazy that I can totally deal with characters I identify with getting killed, but totally can't deal with it when their romantic interests are killed off.

Also, I'm one of those people who is desperately allergic to gin.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Vodka for you. Whisky. Other spirits.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm generally a vodka person, but yeah, I think whisky may be appropriate to the occasion. I'm really glad Patty saw me sob like a lunatic through all three hours of Benjamin Button, as that will perhaps make my reaction to this seem less absurd.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I wept for a week over Wash. I still can't watch "Exit Wounds" or read a transcript without going all wibbly.

I am so fucked.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad I knew Wash was a goner when I finally watched Firefly, because I adore him. (Predictably, I identify with Mal, but I love love love love Wash. Also, I'm all about the dinosaurs too).

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

J and I went to Serenity dressed as Wash and Mal respectively.

Yeah. That went well.

I think I mostly ID with Mal, but I bounce back and forth a little. Still, I was heartbroken when he bit it because I loved that character dearly, loved the way his relationships were written, etc.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I love that Wash is totally not the alpha, but it highly competent and not the least bit insecure about what he brings to the table and not particularly inclined to be pushed to be anyone other than he is. there are like NO characters like that on TV.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Seriously, that was a completely meaningless death in so many ways, and should NOT have been, and that's really why I have so much trouble accepting it. It made no sense story-wise, and was just... so many flavors of WTF, you could tell it was a lame excuse to give Harry the memories, and the death itself was just secondhand. I keep wanting to write circles around it just *because* it was so bad, even though I'm trying so hard to stick to canon even when canon sucketh. I could deal with a well-handled death, but this makes even the rest of the lame-ass gratuitous "oh I guess I should kill someone off to make it meaningful" deaths in that book just pause in comparison.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The only thing I'm okay with about Snape's death is if she was trying to make the point that death is just crass and stupid and sloppy and NOT ROMANTIC, but I don't actually think that's what she was trying to do.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

See, here's the thing with that. That trick is great, but you have to make the characters *see* that, and thus, the reader. She was so careful to explain death to small children with Dumbledore, but then doesn't do a damn thing about it in book 7. People die, and *nobody living suffers* for more than a few minutes. Hardly anyone even *reacts*. Cliche as a giant "Nooooo!" is, it would have been better, because it implies that somebody cares that someone's just died.

Had Harry had any emotional reaction to Snape's death whatsoever, instead of watching the flashback and then becoming obsessed with his *own* acceptance of death, it could have worked - in fact, the same scenes with Harry *using* Snape's death as a stepping stone to help him face his own? Would have been awesome. But no; it was almost mechanical.