Ring A Ring O' Roses...

[rionaleonhart]

Thoughts on episode 7.27 of Waterloo Road:

JOOOOOOSH :(

JANEEEEEECE :(

To a lesser extent FINN NO DON'T GET INVOLVED IN THIS :(

There were brief glimpses of loveliness in the seething ocean of heartbreak that was this episode, though. Tariq treating Josh gently and being concerned about him made me clasp my hands over my heart. Tom mouthing 'All right?' to Josh before the exam, awww (and helping him out of the building! and worrying he's been a bad father!). Lauren's concern also touched me. BASICALLY ALL OF MY FAVOURITE MOMENTS IN THIS EPISODE CENTRE ON PEOPLE WORRYING ABOUT JOSH.

That's not strictly true, actually, because I also loved Chalky being the sweetest man in the world. Bless him. Bless Janeece, too, for keeping her head held high after that nightmare.

Looks like there's not going to be any Josh in next week's episode, to my sorrow. Still, perhaps I need a break from all the weekly nooo nooooo stop making horrible things happen to him look at his little tragic face distressed keening. When he comes back, I sort of want him and Tariq to become friends. Except I don't, because then Finn would kill someone.


I'm trying to write nice fanfiction in which Josh and Matt form a friendship, but of course because it's Waterloo Road they would inevitably end up being accused of having an affair, and I don't want that to happen. Very much a staple plot of Waterloo Road, 'teacher wrongly (occasionally correctly) suspected of having affair with pupil'. The other staple plot is, of course, 'pregnancy!', and I don't particularly want to write about Josh getting pregnant either.

Do you know how many Waterloo Road characters have been pregnant? Thirteen. Those are just the ones I can think of right now; there may well be more. That's almost two pregnancies per series. (Number of those pregnancies that were actually planned, incidentally: maybe two. The most common source of income in Rochdale must be legal action against condom companies.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

We are secretly the same person. Literally every single reaction and thought you describe is exactly the same for me.

[rionaleonhart]

It's always good to meet a fellow Waterloo Road watcher, particularly one who's apparently also me; hello! Are you the wakumaku14 who's just added me on Livejournal, by any chance?

[rionaleonhart]

(I loved the fish line. Oh, Janeece.)

Emily can be a bit cruel, yes. She used to have an incredibly toxic friendship with Scout, which is why they tend to be a bit hostile towards each other now. Still, at least she expressed regret about what she did to Josh; I don't think she ever acknowledged how badly she treated Scout.

I find it interesting that Tariq is prepared to use Josh's suffering as a weapon against Finn - mocking him for having his best friend carted off - but doesn't punish Josh himself for his connection to Finn, if that makes sense. He loathes the company Josh keeps, but he doesn't hold that against him and he's prepared to offer Josh help if he's obviously in need of it. It's probably the most mature thing we've seen Tariq do. Now we just need him to learn how to tap into his hidden maturity resources on other occasions, e.g. whenever Kyle is within a mile of him.

I love that you managed to get Lauren mixed up with one of the identical twins, in a scene featuring both identical twins.

It is a bit odd that nobody noticed the blood! Lauren should have seen it, surely, given that she was sitting on that side of him in the exam and shooting the occasional concerned glance over.

I'm going to assume from now on that all the events in Waterloo Road are a completely accurate depiction of Rochdale, in which case I'm never visiting it.

[wolfy-writing.livejournal.com]

Shamefully, I would probably read your Waterloo Road mpreg fic.

[rionaleonhart]

Fortunately for both of us, I don't think I'm going to write it. And of course I have never written anything after saying I wouldn't, so the Internet is guaranteed to remain Josh-mpreg free.

[wolfy-writing.livejournal.com]

That's true. Your determination not to write things is strong like steel.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

If you don't write Josh being pregnant I bloody will.

[rionaleonhart]

Oh, God, you're not going to make him give birth to his own sibling, are you?

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

What do you have against Dr Who crossovers Riona

[rionaleonhart]

Well, obviously all crossovers sully the purity of the original canon and I don't hold with such nonsense. But I have to say I'm confused. Is... is giving birth to one's sibling something that happens a lot on Doctor Who? I don't remember this.

In any case, I'm not going to write it, so the field is yours, although I can't help feeling I may regret this.

[rionaleonhart]

Incidentally, I just went onto the episode on iPlayer, thinking I might take some out-of-context screencaps of Josh and Tom for your benefit, but it turned out I couldn't because it made me really sad. I can't enable you any more, Del; your 'ship is too distressing.

[skorpioniz.livejournal.com]

Lets talk about.....soul?)

[rionaleonhart]

This is a really creepy comment with a really creepy icon. I'm quite scared now. The photographs on your journal are beautiful, though!

[captlebubbles.livejournal.com]

I think you should crossover Waterloo Road with My Little Pony.

Just, you know, putting that out there.

[rionaleonhart]

I was genuinely thinking about this yesterday, but I couldn't work out what I would do with the concept. I'd want six central ponies. I was thinking maybe Josh, Finn, Tariq, Sam, Lauren and Amy. One attacked another with a knife! One dragged another into persistently bullying a kid! Two got another temporarily kicked out of school! Two formed a suicide pact! Friendship is magic!

Maybe I should try to go for characters who embody the Elements of Harmony to at least some extent, actually. But that's impossible because nobody in that school has a shred of honesty. Or, for that matter, magic.

I don't think this is going to work.

[captlebubbles.livejournal.com]

I mostly just love that you've already considered it.

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

I'm a little late to the game, but still

Oh God. Josh! Jooosssshhh! And Janeece (I'm so glad that my prediction was wrong, though. Just sayin')!

Oh, this was a horribly distressing episode. Poor Josh (didn't anybody think that, maybe, just maybe, the plague was a bad subject to go for - you'd have thought Nikki might have been all over this, what with her knowing about Josh's illness) ;~~~; And Emily, that wasn't very nice (I mean, you didn't know, but it still wasn't nice) ;~~; And Tariq, while I appreciate you were being nice to Josh, stop being such a collossal knob and just be happy; you need some MLP:FIM magic in your life, they'd teach you the true meaning of friendship (because sure, family is important, but so are friends that don't make you do thug things!).

EDIT: Oh, and Chalky is the sweetest person in the entire world. Seriously. Janeece, just marry him. Please. I don't ship it but I do at the same time, and I don't know why but I think it's mostly because of how lovely Chalky is

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

And they all clearly knew something was a bit wrong with the dead body obsession

None of the teachers knew about this part (with the Ouija board and stuff from what I watched), it was only the people who were in the film (Emily & the twins), and they didn't know about his medication, or the schitzophrenia (it was only Lauren, Nikki, Josh and Tom). And I guess Nikki couldn't really be in the immediate room with them because either A) she'd end up in the footage and ruin it, or B) the markers would assume that Nikki being there = teacher doing the filming, which would mean he'd get a low mark/disqualified.

Also also, I've saved all three of the Horrible Histories DVD's to my amazon list, so I'm one step closer to getting your birthday present sorted! How awesome am I? (I was half tempted to get you some Horrible Histories books as well, but I guessed you might have them all :/)

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

She could lurk behind the camera man and nobody would ever know?
Oh, you mean like Pyramid Head kind of lurking??? XD

Horrible Histories is awesome! Just downloaded series one and two to my hard drive, and omgomgomg, the new series starts next week (I think? Either way, it starts on a MONDAY)!!!

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

Naah, it wouldn't fly with the examiners. Damn them. And when you come over, WE SHALL WATCH THE NEW EPISODE if it's released when I think it is.

[rionaleonhart]

DO NOT MENTION PYRAMID HEAD AROUND JOSH

IT WON'T END WELL

(sudden horrible thought: Josh in Silent Hill? His condition probably means you could actually write a believable Silent Hill crossover whilst remaining within Waterloo Road canon.)

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

;~~~~; I want to write that, but it would be so horrible! There would need to be a Tom and Josh hug in it, though. Just so everybody would feel at least a little bit better

[rionaleonhart]

The more I think about it, the more I feel it needs to exist. It would be absolutely heart-shattering, though.

There really would need to be a hug. Maybe at the end? Being hugged by Tom is what begins to pull Josh out of his Silent Hill delusions? He seemed to look upon Tom as his only hope when he had his episode during the exam - 'no, no, no, Dad, please just make it stop, make them go away, I don't like it' - and he seemed a bit calmer when Tom was holding him, escorting him out.

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

The hug would have to be at the end for all of the horrible to have pay off. And yeah, that moment after the exam, and when Josh was being taken to the ambulance broke my heart :'< Or maybe it pulls him further into another delusion where everything is bright and sunny and happy even though he's still in, like, a mental institute or something

I'll just break my own heart a little bit more

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

It's less that, and more that I've already wrote Josh in one fic where he's in peril - to do another would break my heart :(

but I probably will because procrastination means that it shall happen when I need to do other things

[rionaleonhart]

THIS JOURNAL IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. I am sort of fascinated by the concept, though.

[rionaleonhart]

NEVER TOO LATE TO TALK ABOUT WATERLOO ROAD. I'm so pleased that there are people actually watching it along with me!

I was thinking about your prediction when Craig's particular strain of caddishness became clear, actually. It could be worse, Janeece!

(didn't anybody think that, maybe, just maybe, the plague was a bad subject to go for - you'd have thought Nikki might have been all over this, what with her knowing about Josh's illness)

I suppose Nikki thought that Josh was keeping his condition under control with his medication. To her credit, she did ask Tom whether he thought something might be wrong after Josh asked whether the bodies buried under the school would still be infectious. The problem is that Tom goes into massive denial whenever someone suggests that all might not be well with his son.

Tariq definitely needs to write a few letters to Princess Celestia. Let your inner nice person be free, Tariq! You'd be a lot happier.

Janeece/Chalky would be awfully cute. Awww.

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

I guess it's one of those lessons in life that TV likes to teach people - never come off your meds without medical supervision!

Tariq definitely needs to write a few letters to Princess Celestia.
You have no idea how badly I would want to see this :> This would be amazing, although how would he write? Would he be extremely formal, or would he write like he speaks (I.E: with all of his youth slang?) I'd like to think that Fluttershy might be Josh's MLP friend, because, with the exception of maybe Applejack, I'd think the others might be a bit too full on and intense for him, whereas Fluttershy would be all like 'let's go and sit quietly in a field' AND THEN THEY'D SIT IN A FIELD AND MAKE, IDK, DAISYCHAINS OR SOMETHING. I think I've thought about this too much...

I love Chalky and Janeece as friends because he is SUCH a good friend. But Chalky deserves a break from all the heartache - I mean, first there was Janeece, and then there was the crazy lady...

[rionaleonhart]

I imagine Tariq would try to write at least semi-formally but pepper his letter with slang regardless, because he doesn't have a great understanding of formal registers. Then again, he has Trudi as a sister, so I may be wrong. Maybe he gets Trudi to check his Celestia letters over for him.

I think Josh needs Twilight Sparkle as a pony friend, actually; she seems the pony best suited to teach him to stand up for himself and resist peer pressure. The problem is that Josh is drawn to full-on and intense characters; canonically, he befriends the Rainbow Dashes of the world and then comes to regret it.

I now really want to read about a Josh-Twilight friendship, to be honest.

[yumiboo.livejournal.com]

Trudi would be his spell checker. Or, she would send his letter, and then send a translation and an apology for her brother's use of slang.

Oh, that would be so much better! Twilight Sparkle leading Josh away from Rainbow Dash, and teaching him lots of things~! :D That would be so lovely~