A Certain Slant of Light

Day 18 - Favorite title sequence.

I must confess, my first thought when I read this question was “Who has a favorite title sequence?” But then I realized that I do. The title sequence for The Borgias is just perfect: the Renaissance art interspersed with shots from the show, the creepy chant in the background (Gregorian chant? Extra creepy?), the drops of blood and/or ink that burst across the screen - it sets the mood perfectly for the show.

I also have a least favorite title sequence: the Lost Girl title sequence that hasn’t changed since episode one (at least, as of season 3; I’m still a season behind). Not only are the clips outdated, but that its canned summary of what the show is about is no longer accurate. Bo has known what she is for years now, the fact that she belongs to a world hidden from humans does not need to be reestablished every episode.

Having complained about the title sequence, I have to add that I am otherwise really enjoying season 3 of Lost Girl. Having spent two seasons indifferent to all of Bo’s love interests - Dyson, Lauren, that dark fae dude whose name I always forget - I am totally psyched about Tamsin and her Dark Secret Past.

She had me at that episode where she and Bo (and Dyson) get hit with the mental de-aging spell that makes them all act like eighth-graders, and Tamsin and Bo write poetry (“but real poetry! The kind that rhymes!” oh Bo) about their deepest secrets, and then they eat their poems so no one can ever read them, and then Tamsin is all “BUT EVEN ANGSTY POETRY CANNOT CONTAIN MY ANGST.” The details of which she does not reveal, because even in her de-aged state she knows her darkest secret must be kept secret (partly because it seems to involve betraying Bo and Dyson somehow).

Oh! And! And then! Tamsin goes on an episodes-long drunken bender, because she is all torn up about her conflicting loyalties, and then she shows up at Bo’s place while Bo is taking a bath and is all “I have always thought that loyalty and friendship were concepts invented to mock me, but now I see you living them, living them, how are you so perfect? Why must you be so perfect at me?”

And then Tamsin climbs into Bo’s bathtub fully clothed and is all touching Bo’s face and Bo is like “What. What even is this, Tamsin?” Never mind that Tamsin is clearly far too intoxicated to know herself exactly what she’s doing.

Aside from the whole face-touching scene (the face-touching. The face-touching. I clearly need to look for fic of this, but I don’t want to spoil myself for season four, I am so toooorn), the season finale is actually kind of a mess, because we never do learn exactly who Tamsin is working for or what her dark secret is (unless it is meant to be “being a Valkyrie”)... but the face-touching. Nothing will take this away from me.

Probably my favorite episode this season, though - and probably the ones that have the best argument for being actually quality - are the ones where Kenzie gets kidnapped by the kitsune who proceeds to impersonate her, because apparently there is never enough Kenzie In Peril in my life. (My other favorite Lost Girl episode is the one where Kenzie got kidnapped by Baba Yaga. Apparently I am also psyched about damsel in distress storylines as long as the knight in shining armor is the damsel’s BFF and not an actualfax knight.)

I was sorry the kitsune got unceremoniously stabbed at the end of that two-parter, though. All the kitsune ever wanted was a friend! I thought that was a sad and compelling backstory, and surely could have led to a redemption arc for the kitsune, particularly given that the show-runners think a slimeball like Vex can be one of the good guys. (Just as an aside, I find the repeated scenes of Vex using his powers to make the Morrigan into a usually-scantily-clad human puppet really gross.)

….Wow, that got far afield from the title sequence question. Apparently I have lots of Lost Girl feelings right now.

Day 09 - Best scene ever.

So many shows, so many scenes! But I still have Desperate Romantics on my mind, so I’m going to have to say the scene where Fred tells William Holman Hunt off for the way that he’s been treating Annie. I love this scene because it’s a sort of apotheosis for Fred, who transcends his usual nebbishiness by telling Hunt the exact truth about himself, and because it’s so rare for people (particularly men) on TV shows to be truly called on the extent of their assholishness.

Oh, man. But there’s also that absolutely fabulous scene in the first series of The Borgias, where Lucrezia rides across the battlefield between the French and Papal armies, with her long pale blue cloak fluttering behind her, to parlay with her brother and hopefully stop the French from sacking Rome. Oh God, that is the loveliest scene, it makes me catch my breath just thinking of it.

So far this year, I have written 91,061 words of fic. Last year I was totally impressed with myself for writing 42,242 words, and I’ve already more than doubled the total count for this year! I’m hoping to break 100,000.

With this in mind, I have started a fandom to-do list.

1. “Lucrezia Borgia, Vampire Hunter” (title subject to change without notice). This is the fic about Lucrezia saving Cesare from his vampire lover - you know if vampire lover was an option, Cesare would be unable to resist this bad love life decision - and will probably bring me up to my coveted goal of 100,000 words all on its own. It takes time to traverse the catacombs of Rome!

Also, it will fulfill my hc_bingo square “bruises,” leaving me with just one more square before I hit a bingo.

2. The final hc_bingo square is “drugged.” With help from carmarthen, I have concluded that the hangover from the fairy wine at a dancing night totally counts as “drugged” rather than merely “drunk.” The part where the heroine starts hallucinating antlers on passersby is totally a clue.

Having settled on a plot, I, uh, I kind of need to decide which fandom to use it with. I’m thinking maybe Black Swan, but I would have to rewatch the movie, and it’s kind of an intense movie…

OTHER POSSIBILITIES. Could this be the Northanger Abbey story that I’ve been waiting for? Or this is clearly something that Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle might do. OR, OR! Maybe this is the seed of the glorious Mae/Sin story for The Demon’s Lexicon that I have been yearning to write ever since the second book!

3. A Lost Girl fairy tale retelling for poeticknowledge, probably focusing on Kenzi, because Kenzi is my fave. Also possibly Trick, because I love him too. It will be done eventually, but I’m afraid it may take a while. ALTHOUGH I HAVE JUST SEEN THE END OF SEASON ONE. EXCLAMATION POINTS TIMES A THOUSAND.

4. Plus of course there are various and sundry Yuletide fics to write, but who knows what those will be. I actually have two ideas for my assignment. Choices, choices!

My rarewomen fics! As aforementioned, I didn’t manage to finish my assignment: I just wasn’t feeling the prompt and I figured someone else would give her a better story. But! I wrote three treats to expiate my guilt.

First, Requiem, a Les Mis story about Eponine and Cosette for anomilygrace: a canon AU where Marius dies instead of Eponine, and Eponine, pushed by a strange tortuous sense of guilt, goes to tell Cosette, because she knows no one else will think to.

Old blood from Eponine’s clothes smudged Cosette’s blue and white dress. Red and blue and white: the tricolor. A bitter, sobbing laugh burst out of Eponine, so raucous and sad that Cosette raised her head. Perfect Cosette, face blotchy and red. A thread of snot hung from her nose.

“I should go,” said Eponine.

I always feel kind of bad picking favorites...but this is my favorite of the treats I wrote. I'm kind of sad more people won't see it, it being buried pages deep in the Les Mis section.

Maybe I could add more chapters. More people would see it then. It could become an Eponine & Cosette epic! Yes/yes? (Seriously, do you think it would be worthwhile?)

Second: Vendetta, a story for The Borgias. It is about Lucrezia and Sancia and deals with ( spoilers for season two )

And for something completely different: Movie Night, an LBD fic about Lydia and Mary hanging out and trying to pick a movie to watch. Unlike the other fics, with their focus on Misery and Death, this is all sparkles and rainbows and unicorns! Like, literally unicorns. Or at least, discussion of My Little Pony.

Although an LBD fic with literal unicorns would be awesome. Lydia would laugh herself sick when it went right up to Mary and put its head in her lap. Possibly there would be something thematic about slut-shaming and purity of heart etc? Possibly that would be a bit too obvious.

( The Borgias through 2.5 )

Have I mentioned that the Borgias has all the best female characters? Lucrezia is still the most awesomest, but - Giulia Farnese! Vanozza! Caterina Sforza! If only Sancia got something to do aside from have sex with Juan, I daresay she would be wonderful too.

Still kind of scarred from the time that Juan and Sancia had sex on Neapolitan king’s “Last Supper with taxidermied corpses”. But you have to think that someone willing to do that must have great reserves of badassery. Bring her into the fold, Borgia women!

***

So I’m just about done with season 2 of the Borgias, in need of a new series...and guess which series Netflix just got! Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries!

Which carmarthen has told me are awesome, and even if I didn’t already have that recommendation I would probably watch them because I love the twenties so so so much. (Which is why I am also looking forward to the new Gatsby movie so so much. We’re already planning a Gatsby outing.)

Possibly I should get, like, champagne to drink while I’m watching Miss Fisher's. I feel like a twenties series kind of deserves alcohol. Even if it is in Australia, where presumably they did not have Prohibition.

The Borgias! I have finished the first season and am sad, very sad that I will have to wait till Monday to start the second, WOE.

A few thoughts:

One thing I quite unexpectedly enjoy about this show is it's treatment of religion. It's never quite clear where the line between "using religion as a cover for ambition" and "honest belief" lies: does Rodrigo really believe it when he tells Cesare that God will forgive them for using simony to win the papacy?

But it's clear that the characters' devotion is at least as much honest as cynical, which I think is so much more interesting than it would be to present the Borgias as soulless proto-athiest scions of evil.

The scene in the final episode where the King of France meets the Pope really brought this home. King Charles' reverence for the Pope comes across as quite sincere: the fact that he seems really rather starstruck by the sight of a pope in a simple habit, as befits a holy man, and the way he asks forgiveness for his sins - and then slides smoothly into angling to get the Pope's blessing for invading Naples.

And of course Rodrigo is totally playing the king with this simple-holy-man shtick...but we know, from other things he's done, that he really does see him as chosen by God, even if he had to help God out by buying off half the cardinals to vote for him.

As a side note, King Charles is kind of awesome. I'm hard pressed to even explain what I find so appealing about the character, aside of course from the fact that he likes Lucrezia, because I approve of everyone who likes Lucrezia.

Although I think the fact that he likes Lucrezia's shows off his better side: he's brusque, and cruel in battle (LUCCA. OH MY LUCCA. I loved Lucca when I was in Italy) but he's not personally unkind, and he's sincere: he admires bravery in others.

I think if he and Lucrezia married, they could probably make a go of it. Sure, he's older than she is and, as he likes to remind us, ugly - but I think he would admire her spirit, as Rapey Sforza did not.

AND SPEAKING OF SFORZA. The annulment proceedings! "You've been accused of impotence, Sforza! The only way to prove yourself innocent is to have sex, right here, in front of the entire laughing college of cardinals!" Was...was this actually part of a Catholic canon law?

Or are the show-runners just really committed to fanservice, of the "Here, have a historically-appropriate version of fuck-or-die! Have fun tying yourself into a pretzel to inflict it on...well, not Cesare...maybe Juan?"

Speaking of "committed to fanservice," I am pretty sure the only reason Lucrezia and Giulia didn't take Paolo with them is because the show runners wanted to toss in another flogging scene. Does Paolo come back later? Or are we meant to assume that Sforza beat him to death?

Watching The Borgias! It is good in the way that Rome is good (I've heard the shows were made by the same people?), in that it is an overwrought costume drama with lots of pretty, pretty costumes

Seriously, though, there are so many scenes with popes and cardinals sweeping down hallways, their robes billowing behind them! You would think it would get old eventually, but so far it looks awesome every time.

Also stabbings.

And banquets! The banquets look truly glorious and make me hungry. And pretty, pretty people!

(Although I thought Micheletto should be cuter. The weak chin just really doesn't do it for me. /shallow.)

And random historical cameos! THEY HAD SAVONAROLA YES YES YES.

...I'm not even sure why I'm so excited about this, it is not like I am a big fan of Savonarola. Although I sometimes consider reading George Eliot's Romola because it's about Savonarola, never mind it's by George Eliot, so maybe I am?

Anyway, Lucrezia is my faaaaaavorite, with Cesare running a close second. (Also, this is probably the most incestuous show in the history of forever. Like, Cesare carries Lucrezia to her bed on her wedding night incestuous. Then he sits by her bed and pets her hair as she sleeps.

Also, they probably have the least creepy relationship out of anyone on the show, which tells you a lot about this show.)

But Lucrezia! Lucrezia is so pretty! And she wears such pretty, pretty clothes! (This show brings out my shallow side, I am sorry.) She's naive - I actually think she's a little too naive, but I also think it's for Dramatic Effect so her learning curve as she learns to understand politics and comes into her own, because of course eventually she's going to be completely badass.

I also really like her relationship with her father's new courtesan Giulia Farnese, who acts as a sort of mentor figure for her (and is also smashingly beautiful. How are there so many beautiful people on this show?). I was sad when Lucrezia and Giulia's kissing lesson got cut short. :(

But at least it lasted long enough that Lucrezia's first kiss wasn't with her husband Rapey Sforza!