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Friday, November 15th, 2002 03:38 pm
svreview: ryan, s2e8
Mmm. Diary.
I go into almost withdrawl when I'm away too long. Frankly, it's sort of disturbing.
Backdated Entry:
Added: 8/31/2004
My apologies to Val and Pearl-o and the others last night for quasi-ignoring. I was working on something. *g* Ask me tonight and I'll show you what it is.
I'll do my review of the Tuesday ep later. Just to point out, I officially and publicly withdraw all my nasty objections to L'il Ryan. Was he a little Mary Sued? Yes. Was he just a little too long-suffering? Yes. Was I seriously manipulated into crying through the end? Hell yes.
Ask me if I care.
Bestest part--though really, all over, I liked this episode--was finally they gave me the one thing I've been asking for since last season--another Hothead. In which Lex isn't reviled by someone or being morally compromised.
Lex WON. And he's fucking hot when he wins. When he wins free and clear and without doing something that can end him in a federal prison. I mean, come on. Slam Evil Mad (tm) Doctor (who was also an agent in much unlamented Dark Angel, in case you out there recognized him but not from where) RIGHT into the pavement, thank you VERY much, and double slam Corrupt Smallville Mayor Cigarette Smoking Man (Hee!).
I was lucky I was BREATHING through that. Lex is at his personal best when what he wants coincides with the right thing to do. Later, episodes like this are gonna hurt, you know. THIS is what he can be, what he could become.
Besides the wonder of Hero!Lex, the bonding with Ryan. Working out the ages, roughly, I get the feeling Ryan is just about much-lamented Julian's age or so, which makes me think that the combination of orphaned, sick kid and age, not to mention the automatic 'you're a quasi-Kent, therefore I am inclined to be your new doormat' thing going on probably hit Lex's family-buttons. Which is, at least in my mind, part of the reason Ryan responded so much better to Lex this time. If he's reading surface thoughts, he probably picked up all those warm and toasty Kent-family feelings, unlike last time, when Lex was absorbed with Evil!Daddy.
It's sweet. And I can interpret this ANY old way I want. *g*
Anyway, extremely surprised that Lex visited Ryan in the hospital--the writers usually don't follow through with secondary relationships well in this way, and I was doing the blurry-eye thing during most of that scene.
Yes, anvils fell from heaven like manna. Everywhere. But. For some reason, they weren't nearly as annoying as usual. I'm not objective--I loved this episode so much for the sheer lack of anti-Lex going on and the wonderful way the characters interacted that really, I can't judge artistic merit. The bit with Ryan, Lex, and the comic book discussion in the hospital worked for me, especially the discussion of the path to the dark side.
Emotionally, I responded to this episode with perfect contentment. There were plotholes, but eh. There was the Evil Mad (tm) Doctor, who disappeared after Act II or so, but I didn't care. There were issues with how Clark would ever explain getting four hundred miles to get the doctor when Lex KNOWS where the guy was, but blah. Clark was marvelous as grief-striken, desperate, determined. Lex was flawless as the friend who understands, sympathizes, and gives good advice, as well as the guy willing to commit multiple felonies AND call up the judge who belongs to a family that thinks he's the antichrist's heir to badger into getting a custody order. Jonathan didn't annoy me, Martha was wonderful. I pretty much tuned out the entire Lana-subplot, because it was either that or beat her for being such an utter brat. If the writers were actually trying to make her unsympathetic, they achieved their goal admirably. I have never felt less in sympathy with her. Ever.
Clark, despite being wonderful through most of the episode, managed to break my excellent mood with him by being a brat to Lex when Lex was mentioning psychic powers. Which I think was the writer's way of Making Sure the Audience Understood Lex Could Have Ulterior Motives For Being Nice.
*rolls eyes* Whatever.
Ryan and Clark were great together. Ryan, in fact, managed to be absolutely cute without being saccharine or obnoxious, and it's scary how much I liked him. Like he had a personality change. Gah. I make myself sick sometimes.
Okay, so I did review it. Huh. Didn't know I had it in me. For better stuff, check out Eat Crowe, where the analytical people do their ultra cool thing. Recomended Hope's analysis, LaT's thoughts, and Witchqueen. I haven't read any farther than those. I'm behind. What a surprise.
Anyway.
On one of my lists is the discussion of the concept of a muse. Ooh, redux of an earlier-this-year thing. But anyway. The description of when people apply the muse clicked something for me--the description of a story written hard and fast, where the entire story is pretty much--well, if not written in your head, so much as it takes over and consumes energy. Of the maybe ten stories outside the L & L series that I've felt that way about, I worked out what's been making me run myself so hard in Smallville--or rather, what kicks my muse into gear.
People.
*thinks*
For Dust, it was Te and Wendi. Te did a lot of real-time chat prodding, manipulating, pushing, questioning, etc. Wendi did it over email after I sent her a new installment each day, where she'd give commentary and thoughts on what had happened and where it could be going. 3IT was Wendi dominant, with Hope, Andy, and Beth pushing as well.
This isn't--entirely weird. Seven Days, the first story I wrote that had that same kind of burn, clicked from being a sort of casual thing into a couple of sections every night when I got betas to send it to and give critique and comments. Jus Ad Bellum possibly stalled for so long because I didn't allow anyone but Minisinoo near it for reading, so didn't have any insta-response. Huh. I write faster when being prodded. Think cattle prod.
Shut UP Jack. *g*
But anyway, the idea of a muse, or the sudden swell of irrestible creativity, really does fascinate me just because it's not necessarily just a thing with writing or even with the creative arts, music, etc. Ask any math major when they suddenly discover some really obscure way to work out an equation, or a scientist with a great new discovery. It makes me think on how the subconscious really works, or whether it has anything to do with the subconscious at all.
I'm remembering a theory class in psychology I took, about people who could multitask with an unnerving degree of concentration, almost as if they were able to think on two different things at the same time. The human brain, technically, doesn't allow for much of that--hence the joke about walking and chewing gum.
I still don't get that one. *pouts*
But anyway. I wonder, just a little, if pure creativity like that, the sudden and inexplicable drive, is a form of that kind of mental split--something not necessarily the dominant mental processes working out the equation while you're comtemplating dinner and how to cook, oh, say, lamb shanks or cornish game hens, so to speak, and then this part presenting it as a fait accompli to the thinking part of the brain with a smug grin, and the thinking part wondering, well, where the HELL did that come from?
I really wish I'd paid more attention in class now. *sighs*
So many bizarre theories, so little time. I need more chocolate.
Anyway, I'm feeling icked still, so recs tomorrow after I've read and cheered myself up. A really sweet person recced me The Very Secret Thoughts of Clark Kent by Viridian to cheer me up. Yes, you've all read this already. I'm still trying to figure out if I can add some quotes here. I want to quote the entire damn STORY.
Wow. Seriously, seriously good and I STILL laugh. *hee* Happy fic. Oh so happy.
Here. Cuddlefic. Jack said this is what I should have posted for the cuddlefic challenge. Post "Bent in the Undergrowth".
It should worry me that apparently, I am on a cuddling spree. Strangely, I'm not.
So, to Bethy and Jack. *hugs*
I go into almost withdrawl when I'm away too long. Frankly, it's sort of disturbing.
Backdated Entry:
Added: 8/31/2004
My apologies to Val and Pearl-o and the others last night for quasi-ignoring. I was working on something. *g* Ask me tonight and I'll show you what it is.
I'll do my review of the Tuesday ep later. Just to point out, I officially and publicly withdraw all my nasty objections to L'il Ryan. Was he a little Mary Sued? Yes. Was he just a little too long-suffering? Yes. Was I seriously manipulated into crying through the end? Hell yes.
Ask me if I care.
Bestest part--though really, all over, I liked this episode--was finally they gave me the one thing I've been asking for since last season--another Hothead. In which Lex isn't reviled by someone or being morally compromised.
Lex WON. And he's fucking hot when he wins. When he wins free and clear and without doing something that can end him in a federal prison. I mean, come on. Slam Evil Mad (tm) Doctor (who was also an agent in much unlamented Dark Angel, in case you out there recognized him but not from where) RIGHT into the pavement, thank you VERY much, and double slam Corrupt Smallville Mayor Cigarette Smoking Man (Hee!).
I was lucky I was BREATHING through that. Lex is at his personal best when what he wants coincides with the right thing to do. Later, episodes like this are gonna hurt, you know. THIS is what he can be, what he could become.
Besides the wonder of Hero!Lex, the bonding with Ryan. Working out the ages, roughly, I get the feeling Ryan is just about much-lamented Julian's age or so, which makes me think that the combination of orphaned, sick kid and age, not to mention the automatic 'you're a quasi-Kent, therefore I am inclined to be your new doormat' thing going on probably hit Lex's family-buttons. Which is, at least in my mind, part of the reason Ryan responded so much better to Lex this time. If he's reading surface thoughts, he probably picked up all those warm and toasty Kent-family feelings, unlike last time, when Lex was absorbed with Evil!Daddy.
It's sweet. And I can interpret this ANY old way I want. *g*
Anyway, extremely surprised that Lex visited Ryan in the hospital--the writers usually don't follow through with secondary relationships well in this way, and I was doing the blurry-eye thing during most of that scene.
Yes, anvils fell from heaven like manna. Everywhere. But. For some reason, they weren't nearly as annoying as usual. I'm not objective--I loved this episode so much for the sheer lack of anti-Lex going on and the wonderful way the characters interacted that really, I can't judge artistic merit. The bit with Ryan, Lex, and the comic book discussion in the hospital worked for me, especially the discussion of the path to the dark side.
Emotionally, I responded to this episode with perfect contentment. There were plotholes, but eh. There was the Evil Mad (tm) Doctor, who disappeared after Act II or so, but I didn't care. There were issues with how Clark would ever explain getting four hundred miles to get the doctor when Lex KNOWS where the guy was, but blah. Clark was marvelous as grief-striken, desperate, determined. Lex was flawless as the friend who understands, sympathizes, and gives good advice, as well as the guy willing to commit multiple felonies AND call up the judge who belongs to a family that thinks he's the antichrist's heir to badger into getting a custody order. Jonathan didn't annoy me, Martha was wonderful. I pretty much tuned out the entire Lana-subplot, because it was either that or beat her for being such an utter brat. If the writers were actually trying to make her unsympathetic, they achieved their goal admirably. I have never felt less in sympathy with her. Ever.
Clark, despite being wonderful through most of the episode, managed to break my excellent mood with him by being a brat to Lex when Lex was mentioning psychic powers. Which I think was the writer's way of Making Sure the Audience Understood Lex Could Have Ulterior Motives For Being Nice.
*rolls eyes* Whatever.
Ryan and Clark were great together. Ryan, in fact, managed to be absolutely cute without being saccharine or obnoxious, and it's scary how much I liked him. Like he had a personality change. Gah. I make myself sick sometimes.
Okay, so I did review it. Huh. Didn't know I had it in me. For better stuff, check out Eat Crowe, where the analytical people do their ultra cool thing. Recomended Hope's analysis, LaT's thoughts, and Witchqueen. I haven't read any farther than those. I'm behind. What a surprise.
Anyway.
On one of my lists is the discussion of the concept of a muse. Ooh, redux of an earlier-this-year thing. But anyway. The description of when people apply the muse clicked something for me--the description of a story written hard and fast, where the entire story is pretty much--well, if not written in your head, so much as it takes over and consumes energy. Of the maybe ten stories outside the L & L series that I've felt that way about, I worked out what's been making me run myself so hard in Smallville--or rather, what kicks my muse into gear.
People.
*thinks*
For Dust, it was Te and Wendi. Te did a lot of real-time chat prodding, manipulating, pushing, questioning, etc. Wendi did it over email after I sent her a new installment each day, where she'd give commentary and thoughts on what had happened and where it could be going. 3IT was Wendi dominant, with Hope, Andy, and Beth pushing as well.
This isn't--entirely weird. Seven Days, the first story I wrote that had that same kind of burn, clicked from being a sort of casual thing into a couple of sections every night when I got betas to send it to and give critique and comments. Jus Ad Bellum possibly stalled for so long because I didn't allow anyone but Minisinoo near it for reading, so didn't have any insta-response. Huh. I write faster when being prodded. Think cattle prod.
Shut UP Jack. *g*
But anyway, the idea of a muse, or the sudden swell of irrestible creativity, really does fascinate me just because it's not necessarily just a thing with writing or even with the creative arts, music, etc. Ask any math major when they suddenly discover some really obscure way to work out an equation, or a scientist with a great new discovery. It makes me think on how the subconscious really works, or whether it has anything to do with the subconscious at all.
I'm remembering a theory class in psychology I took, about people who could multitask with an unnerving degree of concentration, almost as if they were able to think on two different things at the same time. The human brain, technically, doesn't allow for much of that--hence the joke about walking and chewing gum.
I still don't get that one. *pouts*
But anyway. I wonder, just a little, if pure creativity like that, the sudden and inexplicable drive, is a form of that kind of mental split--something not necessarily the dominant mental processes working out the equation while you're comtemplating dinner and how to cook, oh, say, lamb shanks or cornish game hens, so to speak, and then this part presenting it as a fait accompli to the thinking part of the brain with a smug grin, and the thinking part wondering, well, where the HELL did that come from?
I really wish I'd paid more attention in class now. *sighs*
So many bizarre theories, so little time. I need more chocolate.
Anyway, I'm feeling icked still, so recs tomorrow after I've read and cheered myself up. A really sweet person recced me The Very Secret Thoughts of Clark Kent by Viridian to cheer me up. Yes, you've all read this already. I'm still trying to figure out if I can add some quotes here. I want to quote the entire damn STORY.
Wow. Seriously, seriously good and I STILL laugh. *hee* Happy fic. Oh so happy.
Here. Cuddlefic. Jack said this is what I should have posted for the cuddlefic challenge. Post "Bent in the Undergrowth".
It should worry me that apparently, I am on a cuddling spree. Strangely, I'm not.
So, to Bethy and Jack. *hugs*