Story 124: "Bait and Switch" by Syntax6

[wendelah1]

We are still talking about "Butterflies All Tied Up." Discussion is being moderated by amyhit, who bravely agreed to post the story. Please jump in, as I love to be told when I'm wrong. Come on, long-time lurkers, you know you want to.

Throughout our little first time sex scene series, I've continued to puzzle over what makes a sex scene -- sexy -- to me. This story isn't exactly a "guilty pleasure" story, since those mostly involve Mulder/Scully/Krycek and/or paddling (giving a whole new meaning to the term "crackfic"), but I will say I found the sex scene really hot. The first time I read it, I thought I was going into ventricular fibrillation, my heart was beating so rapidly. As always, sexy is in the eye of the beholder, so no guarantees you'll require resuscitation. It's also a great noir mystery story, full of twists and turns.

From the author's note:

Q. So what's this story about, anyway?
A. It's a noir-ish tale where good people may do bad things, bad people may do good things, and sometimes it might not be possible to tell the difference. The lucky ones live to tell about it.
Q. Yeah, but do Mulder and Scully get to have sex and stuff?
A. Yes.
Q. Wait, that was too easy. This sex, do they have it with each other?
A. Totally possible.
Q. When they're not having sex, what are they doing?
A. They're caught up in a murder that cuts very close to home. The investigation reveals truths about each other that they may never have wanted to know.

Read "Bait and Switch", then come back for discussion.

Since all of her stories are not at Gossamer, here is her website: home of the slugslayer.

Never fear, someday I will resume recs from the nomination post, so keep them coming.

Comments

[wendelah1]

One of the reasons I love this story is that Diana Fowley is a central character. I love the backstory Syntax6 creates for her and Mulder, too.

Try not to hold this against me, but next to Mulder and Scully, she is my favorite character to write. Unfortunately, there isn't much good fic about her, because she wasn't very well-received by the fandom. LOL. Have you read obsession_inc's meta about this topic, Your Guide To Fandom Ships and New Characters That Interfere With Them? I found it pretty entertaining.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

that meta? hilarious. and from what i've seen, pretty darn accurate.

though it has zero effect on my dislike of Diana's character, because my dislike of her character is based on my feeling that she is entirely superficial to and out of place in the x-files story - she just doesn't mesh. at all. i don't hate her. yes, i am a bit jealous of her, but i would never hate a character just for that.

[wendelah1]

obsession_inc is a funny, funny woman. I like her meta, though not quite as much as her fic.

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

That was a clever bit of meta, and quite fun! That said, I don't like Diana any better than I did. I thought the introduction of a long-standing distrust-mixed-with-sexual-jealousy element into the plot was a bad idea, period, whether from the perspective of a 'shipper, a noromo, or a fence-sitter. Basically, the relationship between Mulder and Scully was the heart of the show (regardless of how one conceptualized/wanted that relationship). There was plenty of room to complicate it, but a full season's worth of Mulder's seeing Scully as a jealous shrew while an obviously untrustworthy, and tedious, caricature of a femme fatale leads him around by his dick... not the way to do it. Chris Carter was right when he said Mulder and Scully's dating lives didn't have a big place on the show - he shouldn't have second-guessed himself, IMO.

I also thing Mimi Rogers is a terrible actress. She's got that Scientology practice of maintaining a direct stare and flat, commanding tone at all times (yes, that's something that Scientology trains its followers to do), which really doesn't make for a good dramatic performance - cf. many of Cruise's and nearly all of Travolta's movies post-1990-ish. I'm guessing that, had she played a completely different character, I would feel pretty much the same way.

[wendelah1]

I wasn't really expecting to change your mind about Diana.

I thought the introduction of a long-standing distrust-mixed-with-sexual-jealousy element into the plot was a bad idea, period, whether from the perspective of a 'shipper, a noromo, or a fence-sitter.

Of course, I didn't watch the show back in the day, but when I did my first and second viewings, I never saw anything I would interpret as sexual jealousy on Scully's part. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of inclined to think that was projection on the part of the viewing audience. Yes, she thinks Diana is untrustworthy, but that's how she felt about "Deep Throat" and "X," too. There were plenty of other things that happened during the course of season five to undermine Scully's trust in Mulder. Diana is just the icing on that cake! I'll re-watch the relevant episodes at some point, but I suspect we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Diana is an interesting character to me because as I interpret her, her loyalties are divided, which makes her more fun to try to figure out, more fun to write. She is also a middle-aged single career woman, and frankly, there are damned few of those on network television.

I also thing Mimi Rogers is a terrible actress. She's got that Scientology practice of maintaining a direct stare and flat, commanding tone at all times (yes, that's something that Scientology trains its followers to do), which really doesn't make for a good dramatic performance - cf. many of Cruise's and nearly all of Travolta's movies post-1990-ish.

I did not know that Scientology had an acting academy. The only other thing I recall seeing Mimi Rogers in was her starring role in "The Rapture," which was a wonderful film, and she did a superb job in it.

I'm guessing that, had she played a completely different character, I would feel pretty much the same way.

I think that is probably the case. But let me ask you this, do you think if the role had been recast, with an actor of your choice, do you think that would have changed how you felt about the character?

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

We may have to agree to disagree on whether sexual jealousy was involved, yeah. I thought the undercurrent (USJ, maybe?) was strong, and disliked it - and I didn't want official canon MSR until the finale! But even putting that aside... you're right that Scully also hesitated to trust Mr. X and Deep Throat. Mulder was guarded with them as well, as he was with Marita, which was another part of the difference. Another part of it may have been that their roles were small but important - like salt in a recipe. Diana's role was big, by XF standards, and I guess, for me, that was like using salt more like a main ingredient than a seasoning. Of course, some people like more salt than others, and some people like salt more than others.

Clarity failure on my part - Scientology doesn't have an acting academy (to my knowledge); it's something they train all their members to do once they reach a certain "level," and it seems to affect, negatively, the performances of those who are actors. (I used to live near Clearwater, FL, where Scientology has its big HQ, so I wound up seeing some of the weirdness. That particular thing always jumped out at me as being creepy as holy living frack.) Mimi has put in a few strong performances - mostly before she got to a high "level" - which is probably why she can still find work, IMO. But I digress...

As for the idea of someone else in the role... I think I would have disliked the plot and overall character dynamic implications, and disliked them unequivocally. But the level of "seething hate, get that thing off my screen!" might not have been involved - assuming that the alternative wasn't, like, Bai Ling...

[elizabethannfic.livejournal.com]

I have to agree.

I cringe when Diana is onscreen. Not because I believe Mulder should have no romantic past, but because I think the character was poorly written and ill-advised. She was a trope and thrown in to disrupt the partnership. Boring. I really disliked her, but I'm not adverse to a really well written fic in which she plays a staring role. Perhaps it is easier to take when we all now how it ultimately played out in canon.

This is a much more interesting back-story for her and it helps explain Mulder's trust in her and his deep sense of betrayal as well. That he is willing to side with Scully when he believes she may have shot Diana speaks to where the true loyalties lie.

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

Throwing in an ITA on all this. This is a much more palatable Diana backstory and Diana-Mulder relationship than canon gave us. It's also, I think, a much better resolution to the overall Diana plot than canon ultimately provided - again, barring the fact that "Requiem" Did Not Happen. But that last bit might just be me.