I’m not really sure what to say about this fic. It just doesn’t do it for me and it never has. Which is peculiar, actually, because I like literally every other XF fic RivkaT has written.
I love the “under cover” trope, and all of the subsequent tropes that go with it, such as them pretending to be a couple, and them getting all dressed up, and them interacting in strange environments, and getting unprecedented opportunities for (getting forced into) showing each other aspects of themselves they don’t otherwise. But despite having all of these things, I just don’t like SLATL. I guess there are two main reasons why I don’t like it.
1. I think the sex scene is WAY too long. It’s a twenty-eight page fic, and the sex and foreplay take up ten pages. It’s a well written sex scene, but it’s too long, and frankly it’s too full of words for me to really feel anything but distracted or bored by. I’m so conscious, throughout, of RT writing about sex, that the actual sex doesn’t engage me. I’m not going to say it’s purple, because it isn’t. The mood and the focus are just entirely not to my liking.
2. The characterizations grate. This Mulder and Scully just…don’t seem to like each other very much. The way they look at each other, it’s like they only understand each other as “other”, as “the person in the room who is not me, who I must deal with”. It’s tactical and strategic. For me, this sort of thing works in RT’s other fics, because they’re all dark and serious and life-or-death, and the focus isn’t on romance or sex or love. But in a fic like SLATL, which is a fluffy (albeit witty) smut biscuit, I find it really unpleasant, to read Mulder and Scully thinking about each other this way.
Ultimately, I could more easily see RT having tweaked this fic into something dark and cynical that left a bitter taste in your mouth as Mulder and Scully depart from Vegas, than something fun and shippy, which I presume she was aiming for. As it is, I find SLATL is like a shiny red apple, which looks great, but the tastes if off.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2012-01-30 04:17 am (UTC)I love the “under cover” trope, and all of the subsequent tropes that go with it, such as them pretending to be a couple, and them getting all dressed up, and them interacting in strange environments, and getting unprecedented opportunities for (getting forced into) showing each other aspects of themselves they don’t otherwise. But despite having all of these things, I just don’t like SLATL. I guess there are two main reasons why I don’t like it.
1. I think the sex scene is WAY too long. It’s a twenty-eight page fic, and the sex and foreplay take up ten pages. It’s a well written sex scene, but it’s too long, and frankly it’s too full of words for me to really feel anything but distracted or bored by. I’m so conscious, throughout, of RT writing about sex, that the actual sex doesn’t engage me. I’m not going to say it’s purple, because it isn’t. The mood and the focus are just entirely not to my liking.
2. The characterizations grate. This Mulder and Scully just…don’t seem to like each other very much. The way they look at each other, it’s like they only understand each other as “other”, as “the person in the room who is not me, who I must deal with”. It’s tactical and strategic. For me, this sort of thing works in RT’s other fics, because they’re all dark and serious and life-or-death, and the focus isn’t on romance or sex or love. But in a fic like SLATL, which is a fluffy (albeit witty) smut biscuit, I find it really unpleasant, to read Mulder and Scully thinking about each other this way.
Ultimately, I could more easily see RT having tweaked this fic into something dark and cynical that left a bitter taste in your mouth as Mulder and Scully depart from Vegas, than something fun and shippy, which I presume she was aiming for. As it is, I find SLATL is like a shiny red apple, which looks great, but the tastes if off.