This Wasn't In The Contract.
Jul. 5th, 2010 01:59 pmSome genius has laid Merlin's love theme over the awkward scene in which Merlin and Arthur don't quite hug. It's fascinating to see how the music changes the meaning of the scene. All of a sudden, it is all about Arthur's inability to accept his own feelings!
I've already touched on this in Point Five, but I want to talk about my personal Mentalist canon, in part so I can get it straight in my own head.
My interpretation of Jane/everyone: Patrick Jane expresses his love for his team with flirtatious comments, with casual physical contact, sometimes with not-entirely-casual but still nonsexual physical contact. He doesn't kiss them on the lips or neck or chest or thighs. He doesn't have sex with them. He doesn't ever explicitly express how much he cares about them in words. There are lines he can't cross, because on some level he is afraid that, if he ever acknowledges how much he loves his team, Red John will come for them. If he can stay behind the lines, he can think 'oh, well, we're just bantering and being friendly and possibly cuddling up on the couch LIKE ALL CO-WORKERS DO, I'm not in love please Red John please don't take them away from me'.
Jane is one of my favourite characters ever. He is hilarious and adorable and deeply, deeply screwed up.
The Van Pelt-centric fic is called Point Five because I envision the Jane/CBI relationship as a sort of cross shape, with Jane as the central point (Point One) and the rest of the team as points on the outside. Lisbon, being the leader of the team, is Point Two; Van Pelt, being the newest recruit, is Point Five. Cho is Point Three and Rigsby Point Four, because Cho feels like a three and Rigsby like a four to me. I have literally no idea why. All I know is that the other way around simply wouldn't work; I can just about imagine Cho as Point Four, but associating Rigsby with the number three would obviously be ridiculous.
It makes sense to me.
Anyway, having named it Point Five, I found myself wondering about the possibility of writing Points Four, Three, Two, One: a series of Jane/everyone fics from the perspectives of everyone involved. I don't know whether I shall, but it's interesting to think about, because all of the characters would react differently.
- Lisbon knows. She actually works out that Jane is in love with Cho and Rigsby well before she notices that he is also in love with her; it's simply not a possibility that has occurred to her. She doesn't encourage Jane, but nor does she deter him. When he's being particularly obvious, she has to try very hard not to smile.
- Working out Cho's attitude to Jane's love for the team is a little tricky. Like Van Pelt, Cho picks up on Jane's behaviour towards him personally. I think it's possible that he also notices Jane's behaviour with Van Pelt and Lisbon and, rather than drawing Lisbon's correct conclusion, suspects that Jane only behaves the way he does with Cho because he can't have the girls. He resents Jane slightly for this.
- For a very long time, Rigsby has no idea. The closest he comes to realising is occasionally registering that Jane is being a little too familiar with Van Pelt, but he doesn't think of Jane as a sexual being, so he doesn't really feel threatened. Jane can be as inappropriate towards Rigsby as he likes and Rigsby won't suspect a thing; in his head, it's just Jane being Jane. When Cho eventually outright tells him what's going on, Rigsby is very uncomfortable with the idea. He's not sure he believes it's possible to be in love with more than one person at once. For a long time afterwards, he stumbles and becomes very embarrassed every time he says something that could possibly be interpreted in a suggestive way in Jane's vicinity. Jane is enormously amused by this.
Seriously, why aren't more people writing Jane/the entire team? I'm not sure I've ever loved a 'ship more.
I've already touched on this in Point Five, but I want to talk about my personal Mentalist canon, in part so I can get it straight in my own head.
My interpretation of Jane/everyone: Patrick Jane expresses his love for his team with flirtatious comments, with casual physical contact, sometimes with not-entirely-casual but still nonsexual physical contact. He doesn't kiss them on the lips or neck or chest or thighs. He doesn't have sex with them. He doesn't ever explicitly express how much he cares about them in words. There are lines he can't cross, because on some level he is afraid that, if he ever acknowledges how much he loves his team, Red John will come for them. If he can stay behind the lines, he can think 'oh, well, we're just bantering and being friendly and possibly cuddling up on the couch LIKE ALL CO-WORKERS DO, I'm not in love please Red John please don't take them away from me'.
Jane is one of my favourite characters ever. He is hilarious and adorable and deeply, deeply screwed up.
The Van Pelt-centric fic is called Point Five because I envision the Jane/CBI relationship as a sort of cross shape, with Jane as the central point (Point One) and the rest of the team as points on the outside. Lisbon, being the leader of the team, is Point Two; Van Pelt, being the newest recruit, is Point Five. Cho is Point Three and Rigsby Point Four, because Cho feels like a three and Rigsby like a four to me. I have literally no idea why. All I know is that the other way around simply wouldn't work; I can just about imagine Cho as Point Four, but associating Rigsby with the number three would obviously be ridiculous.
It makes sense to me.
Anyway, having named it Point Five, I found myself wondering about the possibility of writing Points Four, Three, Two, One: a series of Jane/everyone fics from the perspectives of everyone involved. I don't know whether I shall, but it's interesting to think about, because all of the characters would react differently.
- Lisbon knows. She actually works out that Jane is in love with Cho and Rigsby well before she notices that he is also in love with her; it's simply not a possibility that has occurred to her. She doesn't encourage Jane, but nor does she deter him. When he's being particularly obvious, she has to try very hard not to smile.
- Working out Cho's attitude to Jane's love for the team is a little tricky. Like Van Pelt, Cho picks up on Jane's behaviour towards him personally. I think it's possible that he also notices Jane's behaviour with Van Pelt and Lisbon and, rather than drawing Lisbon's correct conclusion, suspects that Jane only behaves the way he does with Cho because he can't have the girls. He resents Jane slightly for this.
- For a very long time, Rigsby has no idea. The closest he comes to realising is occasionally registering that Jane is being a little too familiar with Van Pelt, but he doesn't think of Jane as a sexual being, so he doesn't really feel threatened. Jane can be as inappropriate towards Rigsby as he likes and Rigsby won't suspect a thing; in his head, it's just Jane being Jane. When Cho eventually outright tells him what's going on, Rigsby is very uncomfortable with the idea. He's not sure he believes it's possible to be in love with more than one person at once. For a long time afterwards, he stumbles and becomes very embarrassed every time he says something that could possibly be interpreted in a suggestive way in Jane's vicinity. Jane is enormously amused by this.
Seriously, why aren't more people writing Jane/the entire team? I'm not sure I've ever loved a 'ship more.
