Story 91: "The Fractured Landscape" by Zuffy and Littljoe

[wendelah1]

Welcome back! I hope you had a great August holiday.

In light of some recent discussions I've had about character POV, and whether or not writing a character unsympathetically accurately represents how an author feels about the character, especially in season 8 fic, I decided to read some season 8 fic. Just to get my biases out of the way, I haven't read much of it because I kind of hate season 8. Okay, I really hate season 8. But we aren't here to discuss that, we're here to talk about fan fiction!

Synopsis: How does the tense and chilly Mulder of 3Words turn into the relaxed and confident man joking about "the pizza man"?

The authors rate this story PG-13 for language.

If anyone has season 8 fic they would like to recommend we discuss, you may make those suggestions here. If you think reading season 8 fic is a terrible idea and want to read something else, you can make that suggestion at the same place. I know I've skipped over some of your suggestions, but I promise we'll get to them eventually.

Give feedback to the authors and then tell us what you think about the story. Heck, you can even tell us what you think about season 8 and/or author POV versus character POV in season 8 fic. Come prepared with supporting examples of your thesis. Joke. Just read the fic. Although, I would love to read meta about that topic if there is any, she said wistfully.

"The Fractured Landscape"

Comments

[leucocrystal]

Ooh, how have I not read this yet? By Littlejo? *dashes off*

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

I've read quite a few fics in that time period, and I must say this is my favorite. It treats Mulder's anguish well without marginalizing Scully. Doggett manages to be the Doggett we've seen on the show but with depth, not just the character who needs to be the voice of reason to Mulder and Scully. I particularly liked how Doggett's departure was written in the end. The focus was clearly on M&S, but you could definitely feel Doggett's presence.

Which brings me on to the actual writing, which I really liked. The present tense, the steady, unrelenting paragraphs about Mulder's thoughts worked. It fit with the mood of the episodes and added more to the show, which is especially hard to do with Season 8.

Season 8 sucked. It wasn't just the ludicrous writing (super soldiers don't hold a candle to the bad ass coolness of the consortium), but just sloppy research. In particular I hated how they made light of Scully's pregnancy. First, her gestation was like an elephant's. Second, how the hell do you stand up to do an autopsy at 39 weeks pregnant after having an abruption. Wouldn't you be ordered to have mandatory bedrest? The only reason I watch parts of Season 8 is because the tender moments between Mulder and Scully were wonderful. It made schmoopy shipper heart happy.

The Bad - part 1

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

This fic is an idea example of the problem I have when it comes to most late seasons fic. I disagree with the most basic elements of the characterizations of mulder (and of scully, as mulder sees her), yet it’s a well written fic, with quite a few moments and even entire sections where I can forget what it is I don’t agree with and appreciate what’s there.

he thinks, Scully moving out of the life they had built, out toward something called normal when she knows that "normal" doesn't apply to anyone any more, least of all to them. She used to know.

this bothers me the most, probably, of anything in the fic. I don’t believe that scully was leaving work for a normal life (and if she was, then I don’t want to know, frankly) and I also don't think that mulder would be that cynical in how he thought of her. It’s almost condescending of him to think this way, and I can take a lot from mulder, but condescension is not something that suits him.

not that it mattered because she couldn't be pregnant. There shouldn't be a baby. They couldn't have what they wanted. She'd picked up his hand and started to draw it toward her. How do you know? he wanted to ask, but instead he smiled because he knew what was required.

this is the other prominent representation of what bothers me about the M/S dynamic in this fic (and in canon, and in a lot of other S8 fics). I don’t like that he seems to feel this obligation. I don’t think that scully expected things of him. She’s never really expected things of him before. She’s wanted things, demanded, but it was always a sort of unspoken or spoken negotiation process: working things out in a way that was sensitive to each other. And now mulder thinks, ‘well but she’s a MOTHER now, so she’ll have all sorts of MOTHER priorities that I’ll have to fit myself to. Argh.

Besides, I tend to take the ‘Parabiosos’ approach to the pregnancy story line, in thinking that mulder kind of knew. Or that even if he didn’t know in words, something in him felt that scully was pregnant. So that waking up and finding her pregnant was sort of like remembering something that happened in a dream - you already knew, but you’d buried it again.

He hears a scuffing sound up close and freezes, then realizes that it is only his hands still rubbing across his jeans. He lets out his breath and it's at that moment that he spots a glint off a windshield and realizes that she's moved the car closer to the gate. She's safe and is waiting for him

and this felt manipulative and weak to me: “SCULLY’S GONE!!! oh, wait, never mind.” it’s not that it seems OOC, because I’m sure they both live in constant fear of this happening - it’s just such an obvious way of showing us how freaked mulder is that it annoyed me more than anything.

(on to the good...)

The Good - part 1

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, the doggett characterization seems like the strongest thing in the fic. His voice is marvelously in character, I think, right down to the wording:

“That what you want for her, Mulder?"

“Your life worth living?"

“When were planning to drop it on her? After your head turned to mush?"

he’s blunt, and he drops words that would make his speech more technically correct. He’s a guy who probably spent his twenties thinking ‘street smart’ was what it was all about - he’s not worried about sounding like some dandy who graduated from oxford.

And this exchange between doggett and mulder was, I felt, miles better and more loaded with meaning than anything the show mustered up:

"Look, Knowle and I go way back." Doggett shakes his head. "He's given me too much good stuff."

"Then he's been setting you up for a long time."

"Do you ever listen to yourself? You really think that all these years, my source has been stringing me along on the off-chance that he can get at you? That it? God, Mulder, paranoid doesn't begin to describe you. I thought coming back might have mellowed you out."

"How exactly would being dead make me less paranoid?"

that’s the mulder I want to see - the mulder who just knows how this stuff works - he’s graduated top in his class in conspiracy 101. And doggett questioning him doesn’t make him any less certain. Yes, yes, yes.

And you know what, as negative as I can be about this fic, the above passage, and the following three lines, which address mulder’s mindset expressly, made me feel the whole piece was well worth reading:

He can't remember whether it is spring or fall. – I sleep really strange hours, and sometimes when I wake up I don’t know whether it’s morning or night; anyone who’s ever felt this on a recurring basis knows how freaky and dislocated it feels. I can’t imagine how mulder feels, not even knowing what season it is.

"Hey watch it. That's my good socket wrench."

Mulder continues to turn it in his hand, flexing his wrist and testing it as a weapon. Doggett takes his eyes off the street for a second and grabs it from him. "I changed the plugs," he says, stuffing it under his seat. "That's all it's good for."

Mulder wipes the oiliness against his jeans. "Yeah, I know." His voice is dazed. Daily life is a minefield of things other people know that he doesn't.

that is just the perfect tone for mulder. It’s like on one level he’s this little kid who isn’t even consciously thinking as far as what exactly he could do with the wrench, but really he’s dangerous because he’s so ready to fight off anything, and you think, ‘no, mulder knows exactly what to do with it if need be.’ and the narrative doesn’t sell doggett short, because you can tell that he gets it - that mulder could easily end up in a situation where he was dangerous, just from being so screwed up internally.

And finally, When she was taken so many holes opened in his soul that some days the only thing left standing was his death wish.

It’s so dark, but it almost provoked a nervous laugh from me. I love the irony of it.

i've apparently forgotten html