Two More Thoughts About Monsoon

[grav_ity]

Having slept on it, I'm a bit pissed that Will was written as being so petty in this episode. I'm pretty sure it's not in character, and it bothers me. I mean, imagine that scene if Abby had been all scarred and swollen. It would have been played for laughs and I would have been ENRAGED. Thank goodness it wasn't. And thank goodness Abby dumped him over it. Because REALLY. I wish it hadn't happened.

I was unaware of this until people pointed it out, but apparently The Kiss got some people's backs up. Because never, in fiction, does the hero kiss some random girl at the end of the episode. It just NEVER HAPPENS. Not Kirk, not Shepperd, and certainly not James Bond.

Oh wait. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. And Sanctuary was brave enough to flip it, which is even cooler, because there are not enough canonically bisexual people on TV. I did a fairly major "It's Canon" dance over James having The Machine in "Normandy" and an epically famous one for the "jam in the sandwich". I AM DOING THAT KIND OF DANCE NOW.

UGH, fandom. I love you, but sometimes you are a train wreck. *pets fondly*

(But seriously. BITE ME is what I have to say. And also HATERS TO THE LEFT.)

Comments

[eldanna.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

Having watch the episode again, I guess I skimmed over how MUCH of a jerk Will was acting. You're right, it doesn't seem in character, but since it happened I am so glad ABBY DIDN'T TAKE IT. I do hope they get back together though, after much apologising.

[shadadukal]

after much apologising.

Yes this. I was under the impression they got back together at the end of the ep, which was a bummer but grav_ity and no you think they didn't so I'm holding out hope that I read it wrong.

[eldanna.livejournal.com]

I got the sense that Abby was okay with Will making much apology, but that she was telling him she really did want to get back together. As long as he is never a jerk again. It was a bit hard to tell, though. I suppose the next few episodes will answer the question!

[oparu.livejournal.com]

Will was a jerk, and I didn't like it. Abby was awesome. I wish she got more credit from fandom.

there are not enough canonically bisexual people on TV. I did a fairly major "It's Canon" dance over James having The Machine in "Normandy" and an epically famous one for the "jam in the sandwich". I AM DOING THAT KIND OF DANCE NOW.

I WILL COME DANCE WITH YOU.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

ALL THE DANCING!

[shadadukal]

I haven't run first hand into people being annoyed at the kiss and I'm glad of it because WTF? What you said. Especially about there not being enough canonically bisexual people on TV. I so wish I could have seen something like this growing up. It would have been so helpful. And I hope this scene helps some teens out there. Thank you Amanda Tapping, Sandrine Holt and the rest of the Sanctuary crew for this!

[oparu.livejournal.com]

I so wish I could have seen something like this growing up. It would have been so helpful. And I hope this scene helps some teens out there. Thank you Amanda Tapping, Sandrine Holt and the rest of the Sanctuary crew for this!

THIS is so true and important. Having something like this show ten years ago would have helped me SO damn much.

[shadadukal]

Yes, same here.

I've got fandom to thank for realizing it was okay to be attracted to both men and women. Not everybody ends up in fandom and this happened later for me than I needed to. Seeing this kind of stuff on TV & in movies (or in books for people who read) is so so very important.

[jerusha]

Yeah, I kept expecting Will to deny that he'd done it, and I hate that he was such a jerk. This is what's keeping me from really loving Will.

OTOH, THE KISS OMG. I think I squeed out loud when I saw it. I was so excited that they went there. They've hinted at Magnus' bisexuality before, but this was proof. Also, it's nice to have a bi character. I think that brings the total of confirmed bi characters on shows I watch to 2.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I just...Will frustrates me sometimes.

KISSING!

[ceilidh]

Repeating my comment from my post on the subject: I don't see Will's action as petty at all. Maybe not the best action, but not terrible. He put something down there that made the guy break out in hives. Unpleasant but not deadly. Then he told her the full grown steno can kill or maim someone and they were not prepared to deal with that (obviously not, given Gavin fed the thing candy that made it ballistic). Will also could not just let the FBI have the steno. He had just found out about Abby's "real job" and knew they were looking for it, and given that Abby was still in her date clothes I took it to mean all this happened very fast and there wasn't time for complicated plans. Was he supposed to just do nothing and let the government get the steno? I'm sure Abby wouldn't have done anything bad to it, but she works for the government and we know what they're planning for abnormals.

I do wonder what people would think of Will had he just allowed Abby to do her job and take the steno away to the government!

[amenirdis.livejournal.com]

What you said. I am utterly infuriated by straight women saying that it wasn't good enough because it wasn't part of a relationship and it was "for the male gaze." As a bisexual woman myself, I have a newsflash:

BI WOMEN LIKE TO KISS WOMEN! THEY LOOK AT WOMEN'S BODIES IN CUTE TANK TOPS AND THEY THINK THEY'RE HOT! It's about sex. It's about sexual attraction.

I can't thank Amanda and team enough for going there.

[jeanniewal.livejournal.com]

HEAR HEAR!

Visiting from squee elsewhere. Haven't seen this episode yet, but can't wait now!

[amenirdis.livejournal.com]

It's really good in that Helen/Charlotte is treated exactly as if Helen were the male lead and Charlotte the female guest star. She's the pretty girl of the week who the hero gets to rescue and gets a kiss at the end of the episode. Which is awesome! Absolutely awesome! It's not some big deal, it's not some bizarre situation. It's not non-con. It's the star kissing the girl of the week. Only they're both women!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

That is exactly it! If it had been a Kirk or a Bond (and seriously, I only need to SAY THE NAME for everyone to know what I'm talking about), it would have been "natural". Heck, if it had been Will it would have been natural (and off the top of my head, Will's done that at least once and so has Henry). I think the "way" they did it actually makes me like it more.

[amenirdis.livejournal.com]

Me too. It wasn't some "it's ok because they love each other" justification. It was just "why not?" And you know what I mean when I say that moment was very Charles!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I was thinking Elza...but yes. :)

[amenirdis.livejournal.com]

Elza/Charles! That kind of moment! There is a lot of resemblance between Helen and Elza, isn't there?

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I enjoy it. :)

[jeanniewal.livejournal.com]

:D Wonderful!

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

That thing with the bats - I can understand sending the Feebs on a snipe hunt (possibly literally), but using a critter than causes actual bodily harm? Helen will be annoyed, I imagine.

not enough canonically bisexual people on TV

Only one other I can think of. But seriously? I know I was actually cheering when I saw it - it offended people?!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

The only other one I can think of is HG from W13, yes (though, tbh, John and James are both as close to canon as you can get without actually being canon!).

Stay off tumblr. That's pretty much my only advice. ;)

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

Forgot about Helena. Was thinking Kalinda from Good Wife. Amused that none of the canon bi ladies are wilting wallflowers.

I have one use for tumblr - picture finding. If it's more than five words, it's the wrong medium.

I wonder, though - has Amanda just decided to write her own fanfic and film it? Because that plane was kinda ridic.

Though the vfx for the guy with the eyes was pretty awesome in its subtlety. And he was kinda cute, too (as with the Canadian guy, it must've marked him for death).

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I did think that about the effect for the eye guy!

And yes! I was very sad when the cute Canadian identified himself as such. I was all "Oh, dude. You are so dead."

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

Why couldn't they have had the Canadian be CSIS and the Miami Vice throwback be the obligatory badass-proof is what I want to know?

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Shhhhh! We don't talk about CSIS any more! We're trying to be stealthy!

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

Also, I was shocked by the reveal of what Charlotte did at the end. By the time she was running around with Helen being ninja!sidekick, I had her pegged as Feliz(Felix/w-e).

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I didn't think she was Feliz, THOUGH THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME, but I was very impressed with what she did. People were all "I can't believe Helen kissed her!" and I was all "SHE BLEW UP AN AIRPLANE AND SAVED THE WORLD BY INJECTING HERSELF WITH A VIRUS! That's EXACTLY what you do to get a kiss from Helen Magnus!"

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

I was certain Feliz was already on the ground, and it was a toss-up between Charlotte and the actual Feliz - and I am willing to extend Amanda so much intellectual credit at this point...

And it's not like she used a gun to blow up the plane. She stood back and helped people kill themselves with their own stupidity. Helen's eyes must've been dilated right open.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

YES! SHE BLEW UP THE PLANE WITH HER BRAIN! And, you know, nitro. BUT STILL!

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling Charlotte's going to suddenly find herself the recipient of an endowment to study all sorts of bizarre animals, if she wants to do such. Naturalist who'll go to lengths to study and will do insane things to protect the world? I mean, it's practically Helen, v2.0.

So here's the serious question - do we want Charlotte to be recurring?

For: awesome strong smart woman to give Helen sexytimes and to be generally competent on-screen.

Agin: reduces passionate kiss to instant relationship (add UHaul joke here) and reduces effect of Helen's personal woman's lib, where it is all about the sex.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

"SHE BLEW UP AN AIRPLANE AND SAVED THE WORLD BY INJECTING HERSELF WITH A VIRUS! That's EXACTLY what you do to get a kiss from Helen Magnus!"

Oh, is that all it takes??? ;-P

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING! LEMUR RESEARCH IS NEXT! ;)

[thatandall.livejournal.com]

The Will thing really shat me off. Mocking Gavin when he first arrived was all fine and dandy, but to actively undermine Abby like that was gross. I like Abby a lot, so I cheered when she dumped him. But then I was glad when they made up. Because like I said, I like her a lot.

I read some truly disgusting reactions yesterday, on here and on Twitter. The haters can get all the way the fuck out, please and thank you. Everything about Helen's storyline was amazing. EVERYTHING. AMAZING. I've never been so proud to be a fan of this show and this magnificent woman. ♥

DANCING. DANCING ALL UP IN HERE LIKE NO ONE'S WATCHING.

[colej55.livejournal.com]

I'm not a real Will fan because I think that most of the time, he doesn't strike me as sympathetic/empathetic enough to be a good psychiatrist. The fact that he would cause mild bodily harm to protect and capture an abnormal seemed like part of the job. It was expedient. And also consistent with the Will that I see.

I was a bit shocked by the ending because 1) it caught me completely off guard, and 2) I'm not used to watching women kiss. However, I wasn't particularly bothered by it. Helen is old and she's been around the block more than once. When I watched the episode the second time, the ending made me smile.

I'm personally very conservative, but certainly not a hater. To quote my mother, "'To each their own,' said the milkmaid as she kissed the cow." ;)