theme of the week: the undying

[isunshower]

ya so remember how last time i said i was getting really into doctor who? the writing project i mentioned was intentionally crafted to be "what is the most self-indulgent thing i could possibly write" (it has whump, friends at the table aliens, barbershop quartets, outsider art, and mythology that i've heard of through a game of YA telephone) and it's going to live on my google drive forever and i love it dearly and i'm never going to finish it. yall know how it is. i've hit season two of torchwood, i'm maybe 1/3 through it, and like. damn i wish they would give jack harkness consistent characterization. damn i wish jack/ianto had literally any kind of buildup instead of being thrown together for the sake of having a gay relationship onscreen (don't get me wrong i do love jack/ianto as a ship but i think fanon jack/ianto is superior to what we got in at least the early seasons of the show i have not watched coe yet). but you know what this show does well? RHYS AND GWEN. rhys isn't comic relief, he's perceptive and brave and while he's loyal he is, yknow, capable of getting mad at gwen in ways that matter and make you think oh god what if he leaves her (because there are definitely moments where gwen would deserve it... eyes her retconning him in season one). he finds out aliens exist and after the whole "getting shot" situation he says "i'll never see the sky the same way again" and is ultimately happy and full of wonder and not all that scared. the writers were going to kill him off but they decided they liked him too much. and like, he's just some guy? there's that tumblr post about how unapologetically working class rose tyler is but like, same for rhys williams? he manages truck drivers for a living and likes to go to the bar with his buddies and he's such a sweet love interest anyway. also mad props to the writing team for, as in poor taste as most of their jokes are, like, kai owen is a more heavyset dude than anyone else in the main cast and NOT ONCE does anyone take a shot at rhys' weight. he's built like my best friend. i love him.

ok. /endrant. in other news, seems i've got the "undying character wants to die so bad" bug because i just finished the book of elsewhere by keanu reeves and china mieville. no hate to keanu reeves but this was a very difficult read. probably mieville's fault my ex was really into his work but i find him insufferable and unnecessarily wordy. by the end i did have a pretty good handle on what was going on but the lore drop at the end made me a bit lost and made me expect a little more resolution out of the ending. maybe it's because i didn't read the comics this is an au of? maybe because this is apparently about freud and the death drive (which is actually lacan)? idk i found it difficult to focus my attention and the words on the page just slid all over the place.