Huh. It's been a long time since I read Inventing the Mulders. I quite like it - more the second time in fact - but it's not how I see Mulder and Scully.
I want there to be a genre called Realism MSR for fics like this one - fics that seem to start from the premise of saying, "If Mulder and Scully existed in the real world, it would probably go something like this." Fics where their soul mate status is dented and tarnished.
Usually I like this kind of realism more in early seasons fics, and increasingly less the later the fic is set, which makes ITM a hard sell. I'm a little surprised I like it as much as I do, actually. I like the style it's written in. I like that it's short, concise, and each scene is easy to visualize. I like that it fills in the blanks here and there, so that it's only by the end that I feel like I have a solid grasp of the big picture, but there's still a lot of smaller blanks left. I like that Mulder and Scully have a bond they can't break (even if they'd like to). I like Scully's cynical humor (she seems to have taken on aspects of Mulder's personality in his absence) and that her humor belies the depth of her pain.
I don't like...hmm.
I don't like the way Scully is put in a stereotypical wife position, relegated to waiting at home, taking care of their child, performing autopsies to no specific end, while Mulder is out risking life and limb - presumably working for the greater cause. Beyond that, I don't like that her discontent with the situation seems to be focused on Mulder's absence and how much she wishes he were there. I would have much preferred to see her turmoil over the fact that she's been effectively sidelined - she was his partner, his equal, and now she's a single working mother and he's a lone action hero.
I understand that one of them has to go fight the future and one of them has to stay with William and hold down the fort. I understand that Scully is better suited to stay and Mulder is better suited to go. But the way things are in ITM doesn't feel like a strategic decision made between equals. It feels more like Scully's right back to being Starbuck - asking her father how long he'll be gone, before he sails into the distance; as though she expects Mulder to have an answer.
Pru does a good job of conveying how difficult it is for Scully to be in her position of relative powerlessness. But the pathos of their situation - what ITM is built on - is not as unavoidable as it seems. It's largely the result of them both failing to work together. They could be partners working a two pronged attempt to fight the future. In S4 I wouldn't expect them to form such a united front, but in S8 and beyond I do. ITM is a poignant fic, Pru is a solid writer, and if she wrote more in this universe I would happily read it. But ultimately I think more of them - especially Scully - than this, than two+ years of settling for a knock-off life while Mulder accomplishes...nothing? Everything? Has she even asked?
That said, ITM is very much in the vein of S9, so I can't say it's OOC. But I fairly loathe S9, mainly for the same reasons I struggle with ITM. So maybe why I like ITM is because it outdoes S9. It does the same things S9 does, but at least it does them better - more poignantly, more realistically.
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winterfish
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Date: 2011-05-25 01:15 am (UTC)I want there to be a genre called Realism MSR for fics like this one - fics that seem to start from the premise of saying, "If Mulder and Scully existed in the real world, it would probably go something like this." Fics where their soul mate status is dented and tarnished.
Usually I like this kind of realism more in early seasons fics, and increasingly less the later the fic is set, which makes ITM a hard sell. I'm a little surprised I like it as much as I do, actually. I like the style it's written in. I like that it's short, concise, and each scene is easy to visualize. I like that it fills in the blanks here and there, so that it's only by the end that I feel like I have a solid grasp of the big picture, but there's still a lot of smaller blanks left. I like that Mulder and Scully have a bond they can't break (even if they'd like to). I like Scully's cynical humor (she seems to have taken on aspects of Mulder's personality in his absence) and that her humor belies the depth of her pain.
I don't like...hmm.
I don't like the way Scully is put in a stereotypical wife position, relegated to waiting at home, taking care of their child, performing autopsies to no specific end, while Mulder is out risking life and limb - presumably working for the greater cause. Beyond that, I don't like that her discontent with the situation seems to be focused on Mulder's absence and how much she wishes he were there. I would have much preferred to see her turmoil over the fact that she's been effectively sidelined - she was his partner, his equal, and now she's a single working mother and he's a lone action hero.
I understand that one of them has to go fight the future and one of them has to stay with William and hold down the fort. I understand that Scully is better suited to stay and Mulder is better suited to go. But the way things are in ITM doesn't feel like a strategic decision made between equals. It feels more like Scully's right back to being Starbuck - asking her father how long he'll be gone, before he sails into the distance; as though she expects Mulder to have an answer.
Pru does a good job of conveying how difficult it is for Scully to be in her position of relative powerlessness. But the pathos of their situation - what ITM is built on - is not as unavoidable as it seems. It's largely the result of them both failing to work together. They could be partners working a two pronged attempt to fight the future. In S4 I wouldn't expect them to form such a united front, but in S8 and beyond I do. ITM is a poignant fic, Pru is a solid writer, and if she wrote more in this universe I would happily read it. But ultimately I think more of them - especially Scully - than this, than two+ years of settling for a knock-off life while Mulder accomplishes...nothing? Everything? Has she even asked?
That said, ITM is very much in the vein of S9, so I can't say it's OOC. But I fairly loathe S9, mainly for the same reasons I struggle with ITM. So maybe why I like ITM is because it outdoes S9. It does the same things S9 does, but at least it does them better - more poignantly, more realistically.