Story 198: "five things that never happened to dana scully" by threeguesses

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

The next fic was nominated by lightlack and enthusiastically seconded by myself. It’s written by threeguesses, who is one of my favorite writers to come out of the pre/post IWTB era. Her writing in this fandom was not prolific, but her stories have always stood out (at least for me) for their powerful concepts, enthralling emotional currents, and the deceptive simplicity of threeguesses’ writing. Undoubtedly you know how "five things" fics work, in which case you also know the title of this week’s fic tells you just about everything that can be revealed about it without spoiling the sense of discovery that comes with each new segment.


five things that never happened to dana scully

The author is still around and writing up a storm (though sadly not in this fandom), and I’m sure she would appreciate feedback. There’s lots to say about this fic, so please do let us know what you think. And, as always, the nomination post is open for new suggestions.

Comments

[wendelah1]

I would love to hear your thoughts on "Get up Mulder." It is never too late to comment on a story.

The first time through, I enjoyed reading this one more than you. I was completely engaged in it, but this time around, I can totally see where you're coming from. I agree, #5 absolutely was the knock out blow, a perfect ending for this story. It made me gasp the first time around.

#2 Interesting idea but this Samantha sounds too much like a dude with her "Pretty girl like you and a place like this." and not a very subtle one at that. Plus, making this Samantha gay feels sloppy to me, because this means the writer doesn't have to make too many efforts to make this character sound like her brother - being all flirty with Scully. The real challenge here would have been to keep this Sam straight and still manage to convey the thing (you all know that thing) that sparks between M&S. Now there, I would have been impressed. As it is, meh. ( And just to be on the safe side in case anybody decides to get offended for the wrong reasons, I have NO issues with Sam being gay or Scully being gay. Their sexual orientation is not what I'm talking about here.)

You put this very well. Not only that, Samantha's character isn't developed enough. She just seems like a knock-off of Mulder, rather than a person in her own right. Not only that, and this was my problem with this section when I read it the first time, she in no way resembles the Samantha we saw on screen. Or the Samantha hybrid, whatever. Stupid myth-arc. Also her line sounds just as stupid coming from a woman's mouth as it does from a guy's. Ugh, Maybe worse. I am sure she had her fine qualities but we never got to see them.

Anyway, I don't think any of these scenarios was meant to be taken seriously for their plots; instead, I think collectively they all must be a statement about the series itself. It must be a metafic, because not only did none of these things happen to Dana Scully, none of them could have. They aren't true AUs, except maybe the Emily one, and even there, I can't see it happening. Scully would never let herself lose touch with Mulder, even if she did go back to work at Quantico in order to raise Emily. Mulder would never let himself lose touch with Scully. The only fic I've ever found myself going, okay, maybe I can buy into this scenario was Syntax6's last, still unfinished story. I even had problems with Rivkat's "Up the Ladder." In rejecting it, I learned something about how I see Mulder and Scully.

Number one couldn't have happened because David Duchovny left the series, which made the happy family alternative an impossibility. It's an AU, but only if you throw out season nine, which isn't a bad idea, now that I think about it. The closest story to this that I can think of is mine, the cross-over. But to get that to work, I had to move them to an Alternate Universe on a completely different show. This isn't any longer "The X-Files," it's something else, which tells me another thing about how I see the show. It would have been fun to read had she developed it further.

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

I would love to hear your thoughts on "Get up Mulder." It is never too late to comment on a story.

Cool. Done.

Yep, I totally agree with your Sam comments somewhere above.

I see. Metafic is a good way of approaching this.

I haven't read "Up The Ladder" yet, nor the Syntax6 fic, so I don't really have any other points of reference for this scenario.

[wendelah1]

We discussed "Up the Ladder" here, and you're welcome to chime in any time. They're both excellent, it's just that the Syntax6 one was left unfinished, a first for her, so I can't recommend it. "Original Sin" is the reason I don't read WIP any longer. I wait for them to get posted and then check them out.

They all work for me as metafic, as commentary on the series itself, but they don't work as AUs, except maybe the Samantha/Scully one if she'd taken more time to develop her as a character. We've seen nine seasons of Mulder, we know Mulder, and this Samantha pales in comparison; she can't compete against that many years of canon.