This Wasn't In The Contract.

[rionaleonhart]

Some 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.

Comments

[pensive]

You know, the more I stalk read your thoughts on this the more plot bunnies I get. At first in fandom, I took Jane/everyone to mean individually, but Jane/everyone at the same time is much stronger and does things to my chest that make it tighten ^_^

I've always believed he wants to love again but is afraid to, mostly because he thinks Red John might take them away again. He hides this fact from himself because he loathes giving John that kind of power over him. My secret fanon is that Jane doesn't let himself love again because his love is so intense he thinks he might overwhelm or scare people off (most likely the girls).

Actually, I do believe this Jane/everyone idea is at least mostly canon because Bruno Heller did an interview a month or two ago where he was talking about Jane and Lisbon's platonic sort of love for each other. He said that two people could work around each other for years and then one day realize they've been in love. While I dislike the inevitable sexual connotation fandom will pull from that (I like my asexual Jane thank you), I ADORE the idea that one day it just dawns on everyone. Maybe even Jane, for all the brilliance he is credited with.

[rionaleonhart]

the more plot bunnies I get

Does - does this mean you might write fanfiction? Because this is an idea that I find extremely exciting. I just want vast swathes of fic in which I can happily roll around.

He hides this fact from himself because he loathes giving John that kind of power over him.

Oh, that's a fascinating interpretation. Jane, you are so messed up. (And I can believe that the force of his love is a tiny bit overwhelming.)

Unrelatedly, the keywords for your icon just made me crack up.

[pensive]

YES this means I might write fanfiction (again)! It's been too long since I've taken a turn for this fandom, despite all the ridiculous Mentalist WIPs sitting in GoogleDocs limbo :x I WOULD LOVE TO WRITE VAST SWATHES OF FIC FOR YOU.

Um. My interpretations of Jane are always much darker than most people's. But yes, Jane/power issues are the center of most of them. Don't start me meta'ing because I'll ramble haha.


I wish LJ would let us rename icons already! I have a much better talent for naming keywords than when I first uploaded some of these :D that Jane/Cho was over 9000 kinds of shippy ^^

[rionaleonhart]

I am entirely happy to listen to your ramblings! Very few people on my flist watch The Mentalist, and even fewer speak about it, so I have been feeling sadly deprived of Mentalist meta.

that Jane/Cho was over 9000 kinds of shippy ^^

Ooh! Is this referring to a scene in the last three episodes of the second season? I haven't seen those yet, as we're only just past 'Red All Over' in the UK. Don't tell me exactly what happens, but I'd love to know if I have delightful Jane/Choness to look forward to. (If you're referring to something before then, forgive me; my memory is terrible.)

[pensive]

During the season, I did big meta recaps of the episodes in mentalistlist, and had really long meta talks with my Mentalist hivemind (mswyrr, angstbunny, pistol_trick) about things like gender roles and Jane's father. It's tasty stuff, I should link you to some of it!


Yeah, it's from the last scene of 2x12 where Rigsby and Van Pelt confess their relationship to Lisbon and the team. As Lisbon is saying that sex between coworkers is strictly against the rules, there's this biiig long shot of Jane grinning at Cho, and Cho smirking back. *________*

I'll just use another shippy icon in the meantime hehe

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

'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'.

YES, EXACTLY. :D :D :D

Also, I would read the fuck out of the other points.

[rionaleonhart]

I would also read all of the other points! It is a pity that I have to write them before they exist. Why does my taste in fanfiction tend towards 'HARRY POTTER CROSSOVERS WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S OCS' and 'BRITISH COMEDIANS RAISE POKÉMON' and 'ASEXUAL POLYAMOROUS LOVEFEST' and other things that nobody else is likely to write?

That wasn't a very subtle request, was it? I am not actually demanding that you write Jane/everyone, but if you happened to I would be very interested indeed in reading it.

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

LOL LEAST SUBTLE.

I was going to say that I don't write fic, but uh. Then I was gonna say that I only write fic for unpopular pairings in nearly-nonexistent fandoms. But, well. So I'm too stuck on The A-Team right now to write fic in other fandoms?

Yeah. That is what I'm goin' with. Definitely.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Okay, Avatar is trying to make me cry! It's Tales of Ba Sing Se, and Uncle Iroh is doing that bit at the end with the soldier boy song, and I think I'm going to go cry for poor Uncle Iroh now.

[rionaleonhart]

The tale of Iroh becomes even more heartbreaking when you realise it's dedicated to Iroh's original voice actor, who sadly had died of oesophageal cancer.

(Oh, and the next episode is 'Appa's Lost Days', which really did make me weep.)

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Okay, yes, that's much more heartbreaking.

I have no idea why "The next episode will make you cry even more!" is making me want to watch it tonight.

[misskass.livejournal.com]

That Merlin video is why I like the musical scores to television shows/movies/video games so much. They evoke such amazing emotion all the time, and apparently even in scenes where they're not supposed to. xD

[rionaleonhart]

Exactly! And I think the violins-of-love piece in Merlin is particularly powerful; one of those pieces of music that can almost make me cry if used correctly. I want to hear it played over all sorts of inappropriate scenes.

[cobecat.livejournal.com]

If you must give me plot bunnies, could you wait until I'm in my own country and actually have a computer I can write with? T_T

By which I mean I kind of really want to write this now. If I shamelessly stole your idea and tried my hand at Cho's voice, would you be mad?

[rionaleonhart]

Are you seriously asking me whether I would object if you wrote Jane/everyone? I desperately want people to write for this 'ship. By all means, steal away!