Character Musings: Ashley Magnus

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I hadn't planned to do an Ashley one of these, but I just found and read a story by penknife that pretty much pulled every heartstring I have in relation to Ashley and how much I wish we got to see more of her, so here we are.

Oh, Ashley Magnus! How I adore you. A bit because you were tiny and blonde and kickass, and had a smart mouth and deep respect for your mother, but also because you were smart and exactly the right kind of fearless, and because I think had you been given the chance, you'd have come up somewhere half way between your parents and been a better person than either of them for it.

We don't know that much about Ashley outside the scope of the show, besides the part where Helen loved her. They have, I think, the most interesting mother/daughter relationship I've ever seen on TV, though if I'm being honest, they are also one of the few TV mother/daughters that aren't hostile towards one another, which probably helps my opinion of them. Because as much as I love Sydney Bristow and Irina Derevko, or Xhalax and Aeryn Sun, you always had to be cheering for one of them over the other. And this time, like with Jo and Ellen Harvelle, I got to cheer for them both, and it was awesome.

What I loved the most about Ashley, after her fighting abilities and her the way she always had something to say, of course, was how well she fit herself into her mother's world, even before she knew what it entailed. She's knows her mother is crazy. She knows her mother uses people rather mercilessly. And she knows her mother loves her, so she (mostly) does as she's told. I love the idea that Helen hoped she'd be a scientist, to be as unlike John as possible, but when Ashley proved otherwise, Helen gave her the best training she could, and in doing so, acquired a nearly perfect partner for her work.

I like to think that Ashley went to public school. Or at least went to school outside of the Sanctuary. And Helen taught her how to lie when necessary, and which truths to tell. And that they would laugh and laugh over "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essays that Ashley could never turn in, and then sober, and write something like "We went to the beach and I found a pretty seashell" instead. I don't think Ashley liked it very much, because she learned way more at home, but she would have been in high school just as girls' hockey was on the upswing, and I can see her getting into that in a big way. ;) I also think it was part of a deal with her mother: you finish high school and then you can work for me full time. And Ashley did it, because she loves her mother.

I never loved Ashley more than when she took her mother's hand on that balcony in Rome. It's the weakest and most desperate we ever see Helen in the entire course of the series, and for a loooooong moment, I was afraid that Ashley would be written as petulant (which she would have a right to, I acknowledge, but I'm still glad they didn't go that way). But then she reached out and met her mother half way, which I think is a hallmark of their relationship. Yeah, she angry, and yes, she'll probably insist on more answers now, but she's doing it like an adult and I really, really love her for that.

(In the webisodes, obviously, it's different because she hears the news directly and ungracefully from a far, far more evil John, so her spiral out of control is more understandable. I liked that aspect of the webisodes, I won't lie, but I'm glad that for the show they chose, as they did for everything else, a storyline that was more sustaining.)

The only really weird part in Ashley's story is her complete lack of reaction when John lists James Watson as one of The Five. When James shows up in "Revelations", it's clear she knows him, and quite well, but when John tells her that James also has a superpower, she goes right to Tesla (which, I know, is based on the episode. But still. She could have had a small facial reaction or something!).

There is a fair bit of murkiness in some of the finer points of Ashley's background in terms of her conception (which I've gone on and on about exhaustively in other posts so I won't bore you with it again), and in the full extent of her pre-Cabal powers (in a nutshell: I think she had the potential of both parents before it was unlocked by whatever they gave her when she was held captive, and then after she nicked the Source Blood, the more vampiric traits emerged. I also think she was Really Ashley up until she passed out after returning to the Sanctuary).

I miss Ashley a lot. I love Kate and Will (well, I love Kate. I'm still on the fence about Will), but the Magnus/Henry/Ashley dynamic was just SO AWESOME. They were like the Winchesters would be if the Winchesters were cool at all. I think we, the viewers, got robbed of an amazing storyline in Ashley's re-discovery of herself, and in her aligning herself with her newfound understanding of her mother's (and father's...and vampire uncle's) world. I imagine season two with her in it, and it's only more amazing. And then I imagine her squaring off with Adam Worth after Helen gets sick, and I kind of want to explode with GLEEE.

One of the most fascinating scenes with Ashley is her final appearance to Helen at the end of Eulogy. I was really moved by their complete role reversal at that moment. Made all the more cool by it's close mirroring of Ashley's actual death, it really let Helen grieve, and I think it's been a really, really long time since Helen let herself grieve properly for anyone. And even if it's only Helen's idea of what her daughter was like, it means that Helen viewed Ashley as a smart, capable woman, who was wise in addition to being kickass, and you can't really ask for more than that.

Thank goodness no one ever really dies in science fiction!

Oh, and the fic! Homework, by penknife. Ten pounds of awesome in a five pound bag.