There Is A Turbulent, Moon-Ridden Girl – But She Is Not Kind

[redbrunja]

This rant is kind of all over the place: bear with me.

So lately I've noticed that I am less and less into fanon couples*. By which I mean, the less canon interaction a pair has (especially if there is a canon love interest) the less invested I am in them. Which might be partially due to exhaustion - I am damn sick of getting super-invested in something I know won't happen and then watching it, you know, not happen.

In the same vein, there was a quote from the writers(?) of NCIS: LA about how season two really explored Kensi and Deek's relationship and it made me ridiculously happy. I'm not sure if in the back of my mind I thought all the conversations about their relationship partnership and that 'thing' they have were accidental or what, but hearing that there was deliberate thought put into their relationship (romantic or not) made me super-happy. As did this cute little article where the comparison is made to Bones and Daniella Ruah (Kensi) says that the comparison is flattering but that she wants to make sure that the relationship between Kensi and Deeks stays unique and its own thing. To which I snorted mentally and went, 'in that case, how about you just have lots and lots of sex while using birth control like rational human beings?!?!?!'

Which brings us to Bones. My mom watched the finale last night and I finally got to bitch about that pregnancy storyline to her (seriously, I have been holding that in for months). She was much forgiving of that plot twist, given that she still has a lot of fondness for Booth and Brennan and likes the idea of them having a kid. But even she was like, 'really? is that the ONLY plot twist writers know how to do with a female character who's been on for a couple of seasons?'

Honestly, at this point I think pregnancy in a show might be a straight-up dealbreaker for me. Because I hate it. I hate how it limits the storylines of these female characters I love and I hate how none of these women get abortions, ever. And you know what? The actress getting knocked up is no fucking excuse for writing a baby into a show. PLENTY of pregnant actresses have avoided getting their characters in the family way as well and it's not like the costuming department and the camera isn't going to be working around the baby bump for episode after episodes even if they do write the baby into the show.

Basically, I hate fictional babies and I want them to stop showing up in shows I watch (or have watched and am still kind of invested in). Because god knows, I really like IPS but have no desire whatsoever to get caught up on the last three episodes I haven't watched. Chances of me watching Bones next season? Less than zero. Do I care about the upcoming half of DW's season? Eh.

*This is in no way a statement about which is better - this is my own personal preference at this point in time.

Comments

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

There's all the littel plots and cases, just like Bones, but it feels like they've also thought way ahead in terms of character direction and change catalysts.

I... don't know if I'd got that far. I mean, I definitely think the baby thing on bones happened because the writers ran out of ideas and are terrified of actually having their leads in a relationship but I'm not certain that Castle is willing to go their either. I mean, season three was when Bones started to unravel, but they had the added disadvantage of a writer's strike. If Castle and Beckett don't start dating next season, I'm going to predict that the writers, like the writers on bones, have decided to they're just going to run out the clock.

[starandvine.livejournal.com]

'Running out the clock' is a great way to put it, I think. I feel like quite a few shows that kind of toe the line between 'procedural' and 'character-driven' genres tend to do this with their would-be couples. And it never makes any sense. Characters should be put together when it makes sense within the story. Dragging it out until the very last episode of the series isn't going to do anything but bore the audience to death or make them cease caring about the two characters in question because the storytelling has become unrealistic. (Ranting, I know, but this is a big pet peeve of mine). With Bones I started to lose faith after the Zack reveal, but really it was the idea that they were purposefully putting off Booth/Brennan because they were afraid of what would happen if they became a couple- like they wouldn't know where to go from there, or something.

While the pregnancy reveal in Bones didn't disappoint me, it's only because I've had no expectations for this show for a while now. But I definitely see your point about how limiting pregnancy story lines often are for female characters. In HIMYM both actresses (playing Robin and Lily) were pregnant (around the same time) but the show didn't put it in. Robin has never wanted kids, and Lily wasn't specifically trying for one yet with her husband, so it really made sense that the show did this. Now Lily is pregnant, and it makes sense within the story (though admittedly she and her husband trying for kids had some definite cliches thrown in there).

I've never seen IPS, but from the commercials it looked like a decent show, and even from my limited info on it I can say I'd be disappointed with the decision for the main character to have a baby (especially if the actress herself admitted she didn't feel it was right for the character).

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I feel like quite a few shows that kind of toe the line between 'procedural' and 'character-driven' genres tend to do this with their would-be couples. And it never makes any sense. Characters should be put together when it makes sense within the story. Dragging it out until the very last episode of the series isn't going to do anything but bore the audience to death or make them cease caring about the two characters in question because the storytelling has become unrealistic. (Ranting, I know, but this is a big pet peeve of mine).

You are preaching to the choir, here. Besides leading to frustrating tv, never getting main characters together really limits the number of stories that are told, which sucks.

In HIMYM both actresses (playing Robin and Lily) were pregnant (around the same time) but the show didn't put it in. Robin has never wanted kids, and Lily wasn't specifically trying for one yet with her husband, so it really made sense that the show did this. Now Lily is pregnant, and it makes sense within the story (though admittedly she and her husband trying for kids had some definite cliches thrown in there).

HIMYM is one of the examples I mention when I talk about tv shows doing it right - they didn't let a cast pregnancy manipulate the narrative arc (and as a bonus they had some really funny tv in-jokes about the pregnancies).