Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 249

More ACK.

At some point, during some reboot, all the older posts on Argh lost their formatting. That means that anything that’s older than a year ago is a complete mess.

I have no idea what I’m going to do about that . . . there are 1,391 published posts on this blog so not going to be reformatting all of them . . . but I figured I’d give you a head’s up. The old stuff is now hard to read.

Cherry Saturday 8 – 22 – 2015

Today is Senior Citizen’s Day.

Since it’s our day, we have a request: Please stop calling us senior citizens.

(Our patron saint is Betty White.)

Cherry Saturday 8 – 22 – 2015

Today is Senior Citizen’s Day.

Since it’s our day, we have a request: Please stop calling us senior citizens.

(Our patron saint is Betty White.)

The post Cherry Saturday 8 – 22 – 2015 appeared first on Argh Ink.

Ack. Hack.

Sorry about that. The blog got hacked.

OTOH, if you need Cialis . . .

Plotting Action

One thing that struck me about so many of the suggestions about what Cat could do to get the vagrants out of the crypt: a lot people wanted Cat to talk, that is, they wanted her to persuade people to do things. I think sometimes it’s a female thing; if we’re confronted by danger, we’re really smarter (most of the time) to try talking our way out. But from a story point of view, and I think sometimes from a real world point of view, action is better.

The post Plotting Action appeared first on Argh Ink.

Sense8: Doing Romance Right

Somewhere around my third or fourth viewing of this series, while I was still trying to figure out what the hell went wrong with such great stuff, I realized that I was staying for the romances, both the romantic couplings (and tripling) and the romance of the ensemble. I stayed because I loved the characters and I wanted to see them come together (not a double entendre). So I looked closer at the four love stories in the series and at the building of the ensemble. Ensemble later; let’s talk about how amazingly good the love stories in this series are.

I used the four basic steps of building a love story (a vast simplification of a vastly complex human emotional arc) as a rubric for this post. This is entirely arbitrary and should not be interpreted as The Only Way To Structure A Love Story. It is, however, a pretty good approach for arcing a relationship.

The First Meet:

People love to tell the story of how they met, how the attraction did or did not start right away, the things that made that day different because the other person was there. Everybody loves beginnings. This is also the place where smart writers foreshadow or bookend. And it’s almost always where the romance contract with the reader starts.

The Attraction/Joy/Limerance/Immature Love/Joy

But as everybody knows, a lot of those beginnings turn into endings when politics, religion, tastes in music, film, or books, social preferences, and a whole host of other ways to disagree show up. Maybe she kicked a puppy or he said he thought The Princess Bride was a stupid book, but the deal breaker hit and the deal was broken. OR there was no deal breaker, people got to know each other, they really liked each other. they had great sex, and they fell in limerance, aka the crush, infatuation, “being in love” as opposed to “loving.” In theory, the two emotions most likely to move people from “like” to “love” are joy and pain. Joy’s what happens when the courting goes well.

The Test/Pain

It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. Or until the rent comes due, or somebody gets jealous, or somebody’s parents disapprove, or until an evil corporation begins pursuing you to lobotomize you. When things get tough, people who love each other stick together. It’s the flip side of joy; pain will drive apart people who don’t care enough about each other, but it will bond lovers who will risk everything for each other. This is why there are so many passionate wartime romances and office affairs: stress. It’s also why romances with outside antagonists (rather than lover vs. lover) are so much easier to write: the stress the antagonist puts on the couple spurs their attachment.

The Commitment/Mature Love

But if you’re really going to sell a romance to a reader or a viewer, you need to show them the probability of mature love, lasting commitment. Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving gave the best explanation of the difference between immature love (limerance, infatuation, conditional love) and mature love (unconditional love). Immature love, he said, is “I love you because I need you” (I need you because you’re great in bed, because you take care of me, because you make me laugh, etc.). Mature love is “I need you because I love you” (because of the intrinsic youness of you, regardless of what you look like or do for me, I just love YOU). Mature love is unconditional (“love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”) and unending, and it’s the key to writing satisfying love stories.

It’s also damn difficult to write. Psychologists figure that it takes anywhere from six months to three years to move through limerance to mature love, and most stories don’t last that long, so mature love has to be foreshadowed. Think of it as Chekhov’s Commitment. It’s hanging there on the wall in the last act, and you know it’s going to fire in the future.

So using that admittedly arbitrary rubric, let’s look at love in the Cluster.

WARNING: HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE SERIES.

AMANITA AND NOMI (Classic Romance)



Back to bitching: The writers completely screwed up introducing this couple. They already had a tougher love story to tell because Amanita and Nomi are committed and together as the story opens. That means they do interminable as-you-know conversations where the two remember how they got together.



The First Meet Amanita kissed her in a bathroom and they fell in love. Eh.

But there’s another First Meet, the first meet that the viewer/reader has with the couple. The first time we see Nomi she’s injecting something into her thigh (my two guesses were insulin or heroin, both wrong) while Amanita’s in a bathtub. The first time we see them as a couple, it’s sex with a lubed dildo thrown on the floor. Yeah, I’m not seeing the romance here.



The Attraction

This is the one that made me want to throw something at the TV. They do a flashback that shows Amanita defending Nomi, and then Nomi tells Amanita that’s when she knew she loved her because nobody had ever stuck up for her before.

Okay, time for a small rant: THAT’S CONDITIONAL, NOMI. It means that if there’s a time when Amanita doesn’t stick up for you (I know, never gonna happen), you won’t love her. It’s a TERRIBLE reason to give for loving somebody. ARGH.

So anyway, that’s when Nomi knew. No idea when Amanita knew.

But then in Episode Five, the “WWNDoubleD?” episode, when Amanita and Nomi break into Metzger’s apartment, it’s all right there in the way they work together, the way their skills and personalities complement each other, the understated delight in being together, the sense of shared fun and excitement . . . that’s when I really believed they loved each other.



The Test

Well, Amanita passes the Test for sure. She sets a hospital on fire, throws an iodine-soaked tampon at a Fed, and accepts without question that Nomi can talk to seven people who aren’t there. Amanita’s in this for the long haul. Nomi is never tested, but I have no doubts she’d burn down a hospital for Amanita, too. And I LOVE how they work together throughout the last episodes, thinking as one as they solve problems for the rest of the Cluster. This is a great example of how an outside antagonist can push lovers to demonstrate commitment; Nomi and Amanita were always going to pass the test, but it’s nice to have Whispers there for them, handing out number two pencils.



The Commitment

They were committed before the show began, but by the end, with all those tests, experiencing all that joy (the break-in, all that sex) and all that pain (saving Nomi from the lobotomy, getting their apartment trashed, on the run from the Feds and Whispers), there’s no doubt they’re bonded. Great love story.

LITO, HERNANDO, AND DANI (Romantic Comedy, OT3)



This is another already-committed couple that we get the first meet for in conversation, this time Lito telling Nomi about it so it’s not As-You-Know chat. But this couple is about to become a triple, possibly the most delightful One True Threesome ever put on film. I love this love story.



The First Meet

Dani is the beard that Hernando picked out for Lito to take to the premieres he’d really like to go to himself. Dani tries to seduce Lito who says no. Dani goes to Lito’s apartment with the press so Lito has to let her in, then goes upstairs and finds Hernando in Lito’s bed. In one of the greatest reversals in all of rom com, after she pops the champagne bottle in her hand from her surprise, she says, “This is fantastic, I love gay porn,” and climbs in bed with them. The guys, a little taken aback, sip champagne from glasses and she drinks from the bottle. I fell in love with all three of them right then and there in Episode Two.



The Attraction

This stuff is just so much fun. The three go to a wrestling match together where Hernando talks about the Manichean struggle and the demon in all of us; Dani’s fascinated, Lito just looks at Hernando with love and tells her that Hernando is brilliant. Hernando and Lito are lifting weights on the balcony while Dani watches happily; they begin to make love and Dani takes pictures and then takes care of herself (she really likes gay porn). Dani makes Hernando go to dinner with them even though Lito is terrified he’ll be outed; she tells Hernando to act like a bodyguard, which he does, and then he’s amazed by how much he likes doing it. Lito’s just turned on. Dani’s just happy they’re all out together. They’re all so damn happy and having so much fun together. Joy, joy, joy, JOY.



The Test

Dani’s pictures end up in the hands of rat bastard blackmailer Joaquin. Dani sacrifices for the guys, telling Joaquin she’ll marry him to stop the blackmail so Lito can keep his career. (Dani passes the test.) It’s too much for Hernando, who tells Lito he can’t stay with somebody who’d sacrifice another person for a career.

You know what I love about this? It can’t be solved if everybody just talks. They talk, and it doesn’t matter, this has to be solved with action. If Lito doesn’t act, then he’s putting his career above his relationship with Hernando because Hernando can’t violate his principles to stay with somebody who would let Dani sentence herself to life with a brute. It’s a brilliant, brilliant test, and Lito passes it (with some help from Wolfgang) to bring her home in a moment that’s truly heartwarming. And again, props to Joaquin for forcing the tests on everyone; without him, this would have been Three’s Company.



The Commitment

They’re committed, my god, did you see what they did for each other? I LOVE THIS ROMANCE.

WILL AND RILEY (Traditional Romance, Romantic Suspense)



And at last we get a real First Meet, which makes investing a reader/viewer in a romance so much easier. The hard part here is this is such a traditional, throwback romance: it’s the Hero and the Girl (“Be careful, Will”), so it’s going to take some chops on both actors’ parts to rise above the cliches.



The First Meet

The writers really foreground this couple, practically shoving the romance contract at us. The first connection any of the sensates have with each other is when Will hears Riley’s music playing. Later, Will turns his squad car siren on and Riley hears it in London. And then at the end of Episode One, they’re the first to see each other and to talk, meeting in the church where Angel killed herself after connecting them. If it wasn’t for the whole supernatural suicide thing, this would be a classic cute meet. Cute Cop meets Cute Girl at the scene of a crime, Cute Girl has a great, shy smile, so does Cute Cop, they chat (“So where are you from”) and find out that she’s in London and he’s in Chicago and there’s something weird going on but hey, they’re both attracted, polite about it, but definitely attracted. Very Cute Meet. Then she disappears because there’s gunfire in London, which is also intriguing. What this woman needs is a cop to protect her.



The Attraction

It’s a stretch to say that Riley and Will date, but they do have a great bar scene where they prove what’s happening is real when Riley calls Will from her phone and his phone rings. There’s some careful banter, and when Will asks the wrong question, Riley leaves. Next time, he’s more careful with the questions; she’s in Iceland and he’s in Chicago and they visit each other’s homes, chatting on the surface while all kinds of awkward sexual tension is going on underneath (seeing each other half naked in their respective bathroom mirrors after the first chat in the church helped with that), which pays off when Will finally makes his move and kisses her. Good kiss. Then they meet on the fourth of July for another kiss. Really good kiss. This is SUCH a traditional 50s romance, and yet it works because these two actors absolutely sell it; their evident chemistry doesn’t hurt either. It’s just lovely, quiet romance writing. And then there’s the scene in the hospital when they’re finally in the same place in reality and he touches her hand, and there’s some brilliant filmmaking that shows the totality of their connection.



The Test

Will passes about fourteen tests, saving Riley over and over again, but the real test is at the end, when he tells her she’s going to have to save them all and then sedates himself to take Whispers out of the game, trusting that she’ll come through for him. It seems a little inconsequential that all Riley has to do to pass the test is get in the ambulance and drive, but it means she has to leave her grief and guilt behind her and act, which is huge. For Riley, it’s a bigger test than anything Will’s done. And once again, Whispers comes through as the test-giver. As an antagonist for the overall story, he’s mostly weak and pretty ineffectual, but as source of testing for the romances, he’s extremely useful.



The Commitment

This one is going to have to be Chekhov’s Commitment because they really haven’t had enough time to develop a relationship, but given that Will has gone through hell and back for her (well, he would, he’s a Hero), and that Riley left her dead baby to save him and the rest of the Cluster, and that scene in the hospital where they pretty much merged emotionally, I’m gonna go with they’re committed. Also I love them and want them to be together forever.

WOLFGANG AND KALA (Romantic Comedy morphed into Romantic Suspense)



And speaking of traditional, classic romance, how about Beauty and the Beast? The Rake and the Virgin? This story has been told over and over and it’s REALLY retro (virgins just aren’t as thick on the ground as they used to be), and yet this is probably my favorite of all the romances, which is saying something because I’d watch twelve hours of any one of these love stories.



The First Meet

One thing I hadn’t noticed until I watched this strictly for the relationships is that Wolfgang and Kala are linked from the first episode: Kala thinks it’s raining on a sunny day in Mumbai because she can hear the thunder at the funeral Wolfgang’s attending. Then in Episode Two, Wolfgang is having sweaty sex in Berlin and Kala gets overheated at her pre-wedding party; she stands by the buffet to cool off, and Wolfgang gets hungry for Indian food and then looks up from his cafe table to see Kala walk by in Mumbai, and Kala looks over her balcony rail and sees Wolfgang. Comparatively speaking, they’re more in touch than Will and Riley. It’s a very subtle way of setting up that romance contract, enough to make the reader think, “Hello? Is that happening?” And then there’s that karaoke and the romance contract is right there. But their actual first meet, the first time they talk, comes after the attraction is well established; he’s outside a cafe in rainy, cold Berlin and she’s on a warm, sunny roof in Mumbai. They talk about science and miracles while all that previous attraction (see next section) simmers underneath. It’s a great first meet because they have a lot to talk about.



The Attraction

They’re aware of each other in that am-I-hallucinating puzzlement until Wolfgang starts singing “What’s Up” in that Berlin karaoke bar late one night and finishes at Kala’s home early the next morning. Kala’s finance Raj may have gotten the Bollywood production number, but Wolfgang’s in her bedroom. Then he shows up nude to stop Kala’s wedding, and the next day, Kala opens her closet door to find Wolfgang’s boxers and turns around to find Wolfgang naked in her bed. There’s more sexual tension in this romance than in all the others combined, including the ones where people are actually having sex. Kala does not need a naked demon in her life, but she smiles whenever she sees him. Wolfgang tends not to smile at all, but he smiles all the time when he’s with Kala. She tells him to stay away, and he says, “I try not to think of you, but every time it brings me straight to you.” She tells him their connection is a miracle, like gravity. He says, “Thank god for gravity.” Excuse me, I have to go mop up my melting heart.



The Test

Big test. BIG test. Kala knows Wolfgang is going to face down his uncle and he’s probably going to die, so when Wolfgang shows up in her lab to say goodbye, she’s back in Berlin with him. Our do-nothing Good Girl builds her Bad Boy a nice bomb and hands it to him so he can wipe out his enemies, then stands beside him horrified as he confesses to strangling his father when he was twelve and then empties his gun into his uncle. He tells her to marry Raj: “I’m a monster.” She’s still crying in the next scene (understandably) even while she works to save Riley. BIG TEST.



The Commitment

One thing to note about Wolfgang and Kala: Their test is not created by an outside antagonist; this conflict is Wolfgang vs. Kala. Yes, his uncle and his cousin are trying to kill him, but that’s his suspense plot. Yes, she’s being manuvered into marriage by her fiance and her family, but that’s her romcom plot. Wolfgang vs Kala is two worlds colliding: A lethal thief at war with a family who will kill everyone he loves, and an innocent chemist under pressure by a family who loves her to the point of oppression. The Lover vs. Lover plot usually ends with one Lover destroying the other’s life because it’s become a prison, but for Wolfgang vs. Kala, they both need rescued from their families, their ideas of reality destroyed so they can be set free from their pasts. Making a commitment would mean Wolfgang giving up his nihilism and Kala giving up her conformity to her family’s values and both living life together on their own terms. And one of the most frustrating things about this is that their test is never scored; the season ends with their love story still up in the air. Based on YouTube alone, the internet will riot if Kala marries Raj and leaves Wolfgang alone in his grimdark, self-loathing existence–hey, there’s a reason Beauty and the Beast goes back to Greek myth: It’s POWERFUL–but until we know the fallout from everything that happened to them, there’s no ending and therefore no commitment for this couple, not even foreshadowing. That’s a cold, rainy non-climax for a romance.

And then there’s Sun and Capheus who do not have a romance, they’ve just had The Meet, which is good because I’m against Pairing the Spares as being too tidy, except . . . .

They’re opposites (Sun is sad and Capheus is joyful) with the same values (fighting for what’s right), and when they talk together they give each other such comfort and such good advice. (Their First Meet is when Sun shows up as Jean Claude Korean Lady and beats up the thugs who stole Capheus’s mother’s meds, and that’s also excellent.) I understand why Sun’s alone; she’s carrying a lot of emotional weight and she’s solitary by nature. Why the hell Capheus doesn’t have dozens of women around him is a mystery to me: He’s handsome, he owns his own business, he works hard, he’s kind, he takes care of his mother, and he has a smile that lights up the whole world. If they pair the spares here, it could be the best thing that’s ever happened to Sun (which isn’t saying much because this woman has had nothing but grief in her life), and Capheus would get Jean Claude Korean Lady with him permanently, which, since Capheus is straight, is the closest he’s ever going to get to sleeping with his hero. Really, it’s kinda perfect.

So you want to know why I stuck with this series for twelve hours? SUCH GOOD LOVE STORIES.

New Show. Huh.

No, I’m not done with Sense8, that show has made me think more about story than anything I’ve watched since Life On Mars. But while I’m thinking about romance writing and ensemble writing, there’s this sizzle reel for a new show:

Maggie Lawson: She was great on Psych.

Jane Lynch: She’s great in everything.

Premise: Way too cute.

Still, Jane Lynch . . . “It’s an observation, not a judgment.” I’m using that one.

And the bit with the brother flirting against his will was funny.

But it feels very one note, even Lynch.

I dunno. What do we think?

ETA: In OMG news for fans of Elementary, Sherlock’s father is finally going to show up on screen. Played by John Noble. Jonny Lee Miller and John Noble with father/son issues. Must go stock up on popcorn.

Sense8: Episodes Eleven and Twelve: Now We’ve Got A Great Show

Warning: HUGE SPOILERS IN THIS POST.

Turns out it takes a disaster to make a village Cluster.

I think one of the things that made me nuts about this series was how good these last two episodes were. The whole season could have been this focused, this kind of character-in-action that builds character and depth ten times faster than people discussing their lives, but instead they decided they had to do Set-Up. And they knew that was going to be a problem:

This is from a Straczynski interview:

“I know folks are going to be confused by the first hour because you only know what the characters know, and they don’t know what the hell is going on with them for the first hour. It’s like, “What the hell is this all about?” So Episode 1 is “What the hell?” and Episode 2 is “Eh?” and Episode 3 is “Okay, I got it.” So there’s going to be some measure of consternation . . .”

They knew. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I love the idea that it’s okay to confuse your viewers for three hours because there’s payoff later. Not if nobody makes it through the first three hours there isn’t.

Episode 11: “Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes”

But this episode? They got everything right.

Capheus has his showdown with the thugs holding Kabaka, refusing to give them Kabaka’s little girl. They hand him a machete to kill Kabaka with. Sun takes the machete.

Sun’s a little tense because she’s just found out her brother killed her father to keep from going to prison. She does beat the crap out of him, screaming “You will pay!” as the guards break in, and then the thugs hand Capheus the machete, and Sun blows off a little steam. I’m not usually a violent-movie kind of person, but Sun? I will watch Sun kill thousands and cheer.

Meanwhile, Nomi’s got new computer equipment (Bug’s back!) and she and Will confer over how to save Riley, and you know when this would have been good? Episode Three or Four. Will’s in Chicago really, but he’s also in San Franciso planning with Nomi, and holding Riley’s hand in that hospital in Iceland, and then Kala gets accosted by zealots in Mumbai and he kicks them out of the temple, and then Capheus shows up and says, “I think I’m going to die” and Will says, “Nobody’s going to die” and leans out a bus window in Nairobi and sucker punches a thug, taking his gun and giving it to Capheus. I think Will’s got the hang of this Cluster thing, and it’s a pleasure to watch. He’s so calm while he’s punching people, skipping from city to city, always going to back to Riley’s bedside to hold her hand. This guy is such a hero he should be mock-worthy, but the actor just nails the Good Guy that is Will.

Okay, ALL the actors in this show are outstanding.

Then Capheus takes a bus to a gun fight and saves himself by being a complete badass. That’s pretty wonderful, too.

Kala’s in a car in Berlin trying to talk Wolfgang out of killing his uncle. She finally tells him she loves him and that she knows he loves her, too (good motivation for that since she’s terrified he’s going to die), and he tells her that he has to kill his uncle or she won’t be safe. After all the fun flirting in the Bollywood romcom that has been Kala-and-Wolfgang, she’s finally in his grim-dark movie, so when he kisses her, it’s a real kiss, not goofing around, a good-bye kiss. Then he drives for the house. Kala weeps, and that takes her to Sun’s cell where Sun tells her crying won’t help Wolfgang. “This is what life is: fear, rage, desire . . . love.” Kala says, “What should I do?” and Sun gets her great line of the series: “I take everything I am feeling, everything that matters to me, I push it all into my fist, and . . . I fight for it.”

Oh, and Jonas stops by to tell Nomi and Will that Whispers is heading for Iceland to take Riley, and that he knows Will will be on the next plane. It’s a trap. Will gets on the next plan. He’s a hero, damn it. Also he loves Riley and he’s not exactly going alone: It takes a disaster to build a Cluster.

(Note: Try not to name your characters with the same beginning letter. Out of nine major characters, three start with W: Will, Wolfgang, and Whispers. Good names, bad idea.)

So here’s one of the many things that makes this episode excellent: It sets up expectation that means that the next episode, the finale, is un-missable:

• Sun’s in prison and she’s not getting out, and her brother’s getting away with murder.

• Capheus defeated his gangster, but the guy’s still alive and vowing vengeance.

• Kala’s admitted she loves Wolfgang and is weeping for him at work; she HAS to tell Raj she’s not going to marry him now.

• Wolfgang’s headed into his uncle’s mansion that’s full of his uncle’s bodyguards and mob buddies. He’s gonna die.

• Will’s flying to Iceland to save Riley, with Nomi on the keyboard, doing hacker magic stuff to pave the way.

• Whispers is flying to Iceland to grab Riley and Will and bring down the Cluster, probably with Jonas’s help because I do not trust that guy.

Who’ve we got left? Right, Lito and OT3; they’re probably still in bed. But please notice, everybody else is in motion against antagonists in plots we understand and can therefore anticipate. This is key.

And thank god, this is Netflix, so we can click that remote and go right to . . ,

Episode 12: “I Can’t Leave Her”

This is a weird title for the finale of a show about eight people bonding mentally and physically. Very singular in that it refers to Riley’s breakdown over her baby, and Will’s refusal to leave Riley, which I think is just another clue that they weren’t thinking of this series as a whole story even at the climax when they finally bring everybody together.

Terribly weak opening: little Will at his therapist’s twenty-some years ago. They better pay off all that missing little Sarah girl stuff by the end of this episode because it’s just hanging there. Yes, I know, Whispers lobotomized her, but it better mean something to THIS story in particular or I’m going to be annoyed at the waste of story real estate. Also, the therapist is an Exposition Fairy. Way to kill the pacing, people. Sarah better show up lobotomized in Riley’s hospital, that’s all I’m saying.

Will’s in Iceland, and Riley’s reliving her accident in her coma. As flashbacks go, it’s horrifying–no wonder she’s so shadowed–but also terrible in the never-write-this sense is her husband whispering for her to come with him. You’re dead, Magnus. Also a cliche. Time to let go. But Will’s there, too, saying, “I’m coming for you.” Of course he is. Nomi and Amanita do the computer thing, and Will gets a fancy car loaded with the coordinates and a plan to distract the guards (Amanita is once again amazing). Riley’s still remembering the horror, trying to break out of a crashed car with a baby in her arms and, in a nice callback to Sun, smashes the window with her fist. I don’t think you can actually do that, but I like it anyway. Then there’s a shot of Riley in the middle of a frozen nowhere singing a song about a dead baby to her frozen newborn, promising her that she won’t leave her as she lays down to die with her child. This is the stuff that stays with you.

No wonder she’s staying in her coma.

Then she’s delivered to BPO, and Yrsa tells her to kill herself to protect her Cluster, a flashback to Angel in the church, but the whole Cluster is there, and Will says, “Don’t, I’m coming for you. Don’t give up.” She drops the gun, the Bad Guys inject her full of meds, and Jonas joins Will in the car as Will prepares to shoot his way into BPO.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang’s visiting his uncle, who really wants to know what happened to his son (that would be Steiner, the sociopathic cousin Wolfgang blew up the day before). Wolfgang shoots a lot of people who are shooting at him, and then Will is there, stopping him as he turns away, thinking they’re all dead–“I know the way bullets sound when they hit Kevlar”–and Uncle sits up and starts blasting, along with a lot of non-dead bodyguards. It doesn’t look good for Wolfgang, who escapes thanks to Will. I’m gonna go with Will’s the Leader here with Nomi as his Lancer (see Five Man Band). Wolfgang’s out of bullets, so he shows up in Kala’s lab: “I guess I’ve come to say good-bye.” Seconds later, they’re both behind the kitchen counter in Uncle’s house with the bodyguards blasting at the door, and Kala saying, “This was your plan?” So Kala builds a bomb (SCIENCE!)and hands it to him: “I’m not ready to say good-bye.” He kisses her, lights it, and blows up the bodyguards.

I could watch that scene forever.

Then he goes downstairs, tells his uncle that he killed his father (at twelve, by strangling him and then putting him in a car and torching it; when these writers do the Ancient Wound Memory bit they really wound people) and then he fills his uncle full of bullets in front of Kala. It’s a hideously terrific scene, beautifully written, beautifully acted, a virtual suicide for Wolfgang. “Marry Raj,” he tells Kala. “I’m a monster.” When this show is good, it’s really good.

Meanwhile Will races his fancy red car toward Riley as Whispers races his black helicopter toward Riley. (Bob Mayer: “Black helicopters always make a scene better.”) Nomi and Amanita do computer magic, Will destroys the car in a scene that’s actually funny in the middle of all the trauma, and finally we get a Cluster scene.

Whispers is mad because he can’t Riley to look into his eyes because she’s unconscious; this is the first time Whispers has shown anything but creepy arrogance, so it’s a nice change. Jonas mocks him; that’s fun. More fun: Lito shows up to help Will and Nomi: “Do I know you?” Will says. Lito nods: “We had sex.” Will tries to think of something to say. “Uh. That was . . .” Lito: “Very special.” “We’re on the clock here, fellas,” Nomi said. Then Lito seduces a nurse to get Riley’s room number. He’s magnificent.

And it just gets better. Will sees Riley’s room: “Shit, four guards.” Sun: “Is that all?” Sun defeats the guards and kicks the door in. Riley hallucinates Will coming to get her in the ice, but he’s really there in her hospital room, where he really touches her for he first time and feels everything she’s feeling; it’s beautiful. Nomi shows up and says they have to wake her up but she doesn’t know how; Kala shows up and says, “I do,” and hands Will a hypodermic that brings Riley out of her coma gasping. Riley and Will head for the garage and the getaway ambulence, but so does Whispers, and in one of the few real surprises, Will looks through the glass door of the elevator and meets Whispers’ eyes. Well, just hell. There are no keys in the ambulance, but Capheus shows up to hotwire it. Will’s in the ambulance with Riley, but so is Whispers, firmly insides Will’s head now. Jonas shows up to tell him it’s over and to give up. But Amanita saves the day (Honorary Cluster Member) except that it means taking Riley up into the mountain where her baby froze to death. Meanwhile Whisper’s black helicoper is blocking them, and Whispers knows Will won’t crash the ambulance into the helicopter that’s blocking him and kill them all. “You can’t do it,” he says. “Maybe I can’t,” Will says, “but I know who can,” and Wolfgang is behind the wheel, blood in his eye, not worried about a higher body count since he’s already way past the I’m-still-human mark and feeling suicidal anyway. Whispers blinks and they get away.

But then they’re in the mountains and for some reason Angel shows up on the road and the ambulance swerves and Riley’s giving birth again. Will stops the ambulance and Riley runs, in a fugue state, still trying to save her baby. Okay, I know they’re really pushing the Damaged Flower bit here, but this is a woman who’s haunted by a newborn daughter who froze to death, who’s witnessed a multiple shooting in a drug theft gone bad that left her spattered with blood, who was almost suffocated with a plastic bag by a sociopathic drug dealer, who had some kind of brain bleed triggered by music and ended up in a hospital pumped so full of drugs that the nurses can’t understand why she’s still moving, who almost committed suicide because she had people in her head telling her to do it but who didn’t because she had people in her head telling her not to, who has seven imaginary friends who just shot her full of adrenalin so she could escape from an organization that wants to lobotomize her, and who is now back in the exact place her daughter died, her evolving brain trying to process everything, which is harder because there are seven other people in there. Normally female characters who break down weeping unable to move annoy me, but in this case, Riley, you’ve earned it. Cry all you want, in the fetal position if necessary.

And then this show does something brilliant. There’s Will the Hero and Riley the Broken Flower, and Jonas and Angel are there, telling Will to kill both himself and Riley to protect the rest of the cluster. (I knew those guys were bad news.) And Will says, “No.” Well, of course, he says, “No,” he’s the Hero, but here’s the thing about heroes: they save the day. And he can’t, as long as he’s conscious, Whispers can get to them. So he shoots himself full of sedatives and tells Riley that she’s going to have to save them, and then he passes out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hero abdicate like that, not just hand the gun to somebody else, but leave, telling the Girl that she has to save them all. “If you don’t, we’re all going to die.” But to Riley, cradling her frozen daughter, that means she’ll have to leave her again instead of dying with her as she promised. It’s an amazing scene.

And then ARGH we miss actually seeing Riley finally DO something because they can’t waste story real estate on that (cut the damn therapist and give Riley some agency), but we get this last great image of her holding Will (and injecting him with more sedative) as her friend sails them away to . . . god knows where, they’ll never be safe anywhere now that Will’s looked into Whisper’s eyes. But they’ll also never be alone because the camera pulls back to show that the Cluster is with them, all eight of them, in spirit only, of course, but for the Cluster that’s still powerful. Also really disconcerting if you have any interest in privacy, but right now they’re just all glad they survived.

So fascinating characters and a plot that finally comes together, and yet the ending was pretty widely panned. Why? Because it’s not a freaking ending, it’s a midpoint. Whispers is thwarted but not defeated, Will the Hero is going to have to spend the rest of the story in drugged stupor and if he gets out he’s still suspended from the police force, Sun’s still in prison and always will be since her rat bastard brother took her get-out-of-jail-free card, Capheus is still up to his ass in murderous gangsters, Nomi and Amanita are on the run from the government and from Whispers, Riley’s still got a drug dealer after her, Kala’s still engaged (okay, not a biggie), and Wolfgang’s been foreshadowed as suicidal (watch that execution scene again; that’s a symbolic suicide) and . . . who did I miss? Oh, Lito. He’s in bed with Hernando and Dani, but Joaquin’s still out there with those pictures and a thirst for revenge. Also Jonas and Angel: good or bad? And why do we keep seeing Angel, she’s been dead since the first seven minutes of the series. And what the hell was all that about Sarah, the little girl Whispers lobotomized in Will’s flashbacks? And why does Whispers want them dead? Yeah, I know they’re too powerful, but you’d think he’d try to control them, not off them. And why not just off them; what’s with the lobotomies, is he building a zombie army (which would be pretty cool, I have to admit).

In other words, they escaped, they didn’t resolve anything. I’m okay with some unanswered questions, but not with ALL questions unanswered. The Cluster fought back and made things worse (which is good in storytelling) but they’re only at the midway point. THEY DIDN”T FINISH THE DAMN SEASON.

I’ll come back later when I’m calmer, but it’s really annoying when you have two great episodes like this (not counting the therapist) and then no ending, no climax, no satisfaction. AAAAAAAAAARGH.

Back later this week to talk about series structure and ensembles and romance writing. You know a show is good when you have that much to discuss after two weeks of bitching.

Cherry Saturday 8 – 15 – 15

Today is Relaxation Day.

Unless people telling you to relax makes you tense. In that case, never mind.

Sense8: Episodes Nine and Ten: Lito and Wolfgang Rock

So I think we’ve pretty much covered all the weaknesses of this series (until we get to the end). So let’s celebrate: Lots of stuff happens in these two episodes and the sensates are connecting all over the place, although sometimes I wonder how they know each other. Eh, details. This stuff is good.

Episode 9: “Death Doesn’t Let You Say Goodbye”

Can I have another “Skinny Bitch” title, please? Or another “Demons”? This philosophy crap is getting old.

This episode is depressing, but in a good way: you see a lot of characters hit bottom–Will’s been suspended, Riley mourns at the gravesites of her husband and baby, Lito’s lost without Hernando, Nomi doesn’t know where Amanita is, Sun is in prison, Capheus has to go tell Kabaka he’s quitting, Kala’s dealing with police over her future-father-in-law’s stabbing, and Wolfgang’s being threatened by his psychopathic uncle. What’s good about that? Kala goes to the hospital and comforts Raj’s mother by praying with her, which is probably a comfort for her, too (who knows). Lito visits the museum where he had his first date with Hernando, and his despair draws Nomi, also in despair over Amanita, and their heartfelt talk changes things; I’m not a fan of a A Lot Of Talk, but that’s a beautiful scene. Sun’s father comes to see her and tells her he values her and needs her and that he’s going to tell the truth about the embezzlement; it’s probably the first kind thing he’s ever said to her and it made her cry and me, too. Capheus sees Riley on his bus and they talk about loss, her husband and baby and his little sister (please, not Amanita) and as always, she has a shadow on her face and he’s joyful and positive. Will sees Riley even though he’s with Jonas and she’s with Yrsa and we don’t trust either Jonas or Yrsa, but Riley and Will are falling in love and ignoring all naysayers. And Wolfgang . . . Wolfgang gets the next episode.

The big thing plot-wise is that Yrsa tells Riley that Jonas and Angel were Quislings, which I am willing to believe, except Jonas is giving Will so much information that I’m not seeing how he’s not helping. Also Yrsa? Not a great human being herself. Mostly this is people in trouble having quiet conversations which, if this were a normal episode of TV, I’d say was a problem. But since there’s no shape to the episodes and it seems pretty clear that you’re just supposed to binge the whole story, I’m taking this as Part One and Episode Ten as Part Two of this act. I think they broke me on structure bitching; even I got tired of hearing me.

Episode 10: “What is Human?”

You know what, don’t title these episodes, just give them numbers. So much less annoying.

This episode opens with Wolfgang walking through one of the Holocaust Memorials as other members of the Cluster pass before and behind him; I don’t know whether he’s blase about seeing all of them because he’s used to it or because he has grimmer fish to fry. They’re all faced with huge decisions, and as the fence told Wolfgang earlier, the memorial is a good place to think. Back in American it’s the fourth of July, so fireworks and brats for Will, oh and kissing Riley. Kala is trying to decide whether to tell the truth about what his father said to Raj; Wolfgang is trying to decide if he needs to kill his family to protect Felix and Kala. This is why people get impatient with the Kala scenes; Kala is great, but her problems? A little lightweight compared to thinking about wiping out your entire family tree because they’re all sadistic psychopaths who tried to kill your best friend.

Then Steiner shows up in the hospital and threatens comatose Felix, and Wolfgang makes his decision and acts, but–how much do I love this?–he only survives because Lito comes through for him. In return he tells Lito that when you make a mistake, you either live with it or fix it. Lito can’t live without Hernando, so it’s time to get Dani back. He goes to Joaquin and tells Dani it’s time to come home (the expression on her face is wonderful), and then he and Joaquin fight, Lito surviving and triumphing because Wolfgang comes through for him. There have been a lot of wonderful scenes in this series, but this bookended pair may be my favorites:

I love it that Wolfgang’s scene is shot in gritty realism and then Lito’s scene is like one of his action telenovelas (LOVE the cigarette like a gunshot which is an echo of Wolfgang pitching his cigarette the same way as he gets in his car). This is the best example of scene pairing I’ve ever scene, each scene excellent with its own balance of humor and violence, and then each scene elevating the other in comparison. Scenes as foils; it’s brilliant.

I really think the best relationship of all of the eight is Lito/Hernando/Dani. There’s some ground-breaking gender/relationship theme for you, and nobody ever talks about it, they just show them loving each other. Perfect. I’ve had enough Nomi and Amanita sex scenes to last the rest of the series because they’re all the same, but I’d love to see what actually happens with Lito, Hernando, and Dani. Whatever it is, she seems happy.

Also great in this episode: Will and Riley’s kiss because I’m a romance writer and it’s a great kiss, but also because Riley smiles whenever Will kisses her, and it’s such a nice change.

And then at the end there’s a tour de force as all of the cluster join Riley in the symphony hall where her father is playing, and something about the music makes them all remember their births, almost all of which have informed who they are (possibly all and I missed on the details). Will is born in the back of his father’s squad car, literally born into the police force. Wolfgang is born in a tub of water, and since I’m pretty sure that as soon as he surfaced, he met his father, that was probably the last bit of safety he knew; explains why he’s naked in water so much. Riley’s born listening to her father play, Sun’s mother gives birth alone in a cemetary, Nomi’s born by C-section as her semi-conscious mother says, “Michael,” but Lito’s birth is my favorite: born into a room full of family where everyone, including his mother in the throes of birth, is watching a telenovela which means that Lito knew from birth if he wanted attention, he had to get on that screen: I love the way he laughs when he sees that.

And then at the end, Riley remembers giving birth to her doomed daughter Luna, trapped in a wrecked car with her dead husband in freezing snow, and gets a nosebleed that looks more like a brain bleed and passes out. That means she’s gonna end up in a hospital for a brain scan, and you know how that worked out for Nomi.

Just click on the next episode. How can you not?