#(dom/isaac serena/jasmine fran/jac/jasmine)

[oneweekobsession]

well well well coincidence or not but the story producer job on a certain stupid show changed hands about the same time that the storylines on that show started to go to fuckery

[swithe-ist]

Musketeer Plot Fixing

So I'm thinking of plot-fixes – I've been banging my head on the wall trying to write one where John doesn't kill himself and goes to gaol, but that's such a bandaid fix...

I've decided that for the whole thing to work properly Roxanna & David need to have been introduced a full year earlier. I wouldn't argue with another year of John too, but done this way we get a more even-handed exploration of Henrik's relationships with each of them (without distraction by the other).

Here’s a rambling screed of my thoughts (surprise):

Ideally they'd be brought in instead of the Fucking Caveman and maybe Nina too, but she's not so bad on her own. This way we also get the bonus of no shitty romance between him and Jac, which means more Flac, which is ideal if they're actually serious about them being True Love This Time (honestly they should be).

So S19's major plots are:

Isaac vs Dom

Jac & Matteo bs

Mo leaving w/ Mr T (+ whole Inga thing)

Jasmine dying, Jac vs Fran

Elinor's death & bullying & Bernie's return

Ollie & Zosia

Ric's legal probs

Henrik's parts were basically

depression flare up in Black Dog

Fredrik

Merger with St Francis

And in Neuro, on Darwin, we have:

Guy melting the fuck down

It's a little different with Rox up on Darwin, though this brings about more opportunities for David to be involved.

Ollie seems awed by him, so it would be nice to see a bit of mentorship there, plus expansion on Ollie and Rox's relationship post-Tara. Maybe even dip into his relationship with Zosia – Rox and Zosia have a few superficial similarities so I think they'd get along alright...

Rox and Jac actually being friends! And working together! And bitching about Guy the Terrible together (absolutely this)!

I’d also like more of Rox & Serena being awkwardly standoffish, that was kinda fun.

Obv she can be worked into Henrik’s depression plot. Maybe this can be a prelude to her working on him after the shooting. Give a sense of how she’s dealt with that side of him over the years (I kind of feel based on the flashbacks he’s hidden it from her)

Confronting his past with Maya/Fredrik as he shows up properly, not a five second run-in. (e.g. was this part of what Henrik made John promise not to tell her? Does she know he’s even a granddad? when was she brought up to speed?)

[holding Fran down while Jac kicks her ass]

The only thing I'm really stuck on is the thing that bothers me most about Rox's poor writing – she has no flaws. The worst aspect of her as-is is her doe-eyed naïveté, but that's... I mean in a job interview, being asked your biggest flaw and answering 'well I just try too gosh-dang hard' is eye-rolling.

But I can't think of any others!

There's got to be something awful buried in there somewhere, you can’t hang around Henrik the Icy Coward and John the Smarmy Dick without having some kinda... thing. Maybe she kicks puppies in her spare time?? I’d say you could maybe do s.th with her over-empathy for others, but that’s too near to Essie’s martyr complex and that’s annoying enough.

She can be sort of competitive, I guess? – I think when Hanssen talks about his reason for leaving Neuro (didn't want to compete), it's here he reveals irritation with John & Rox's constant (professional) bickering, which we get a clear pic of in the flashback ep...

She’s also a bit thick sometimes, for a woman who’s a brain surgeon. How can you know these guys 30 years but not know them at all? John, fine, but... she’s got eyes and a brain. How can she be emotionally satisfied by their clamming up all the time? What’s her take on it? What’s David’s take on it? David’s even further on the fringe of their group, he must have a unique outlook and her marriage to him must’ve surely had him influencing her.

(god it cracks me up that she finds it more plausible that by getting between her and Henrik, John must be a moustache twirling bond villian playing a long-con instead of ... ~jealous~.)

And how does David feel about Hexanna? Does he know?

Are he and John even close or did John just walk up to him one day and be all ‘hey there’s this chick that’s got a crush on you, she’ll deny it but she does. Come take her out for a drink’

was there ever any intersection between Cardio & Neuro between these nerds? him and John are research Professors, have they worked together? can we read any closer friendship into this?

maybe he can give some advice to Jac as she blunders into yet another research project (she doesn’t have much luck, does she?), maybe he knows about her fuck-up with the stent and the Germans.

Tell us more about them all (?) in Trinidad................

There’s so many ways you could go.... so much wasted potential...... Mostly they just need to use the time to explore Hexanna away from John so they can go further into Johnrik and then the final Divided Loyalties Issue once he arrives.

Also so the first John ep isn’t full of awkward as fuck exposition dumps about his character.

Anyone got any other ideas?

[foreverrhapsody]

Holby City

NIFTY

Favorite character: DOMINIC, Donna, Morven, Arthur, Zosia, Jac, Hanssen... also Dr. Meyer from the early beginning days of HC.

Least Favorite character: does Isaac count? Because I loathe him with the heat of a thousand suns. If you want me to pick a regular character.... Raf, for the petty reason that he stands between the superior pairing of Essie and Sacha.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Arthur/Morven, Essie/Sacha, Dom/Lofty, Hanssen/Me, Mo/Mr. T. (wow how boringly canonical except for that one near the end lol) OH WAIT I FORGOT BERENA LMAO. I ship them too, obvs.

Character I find most attractive: JAC NAYLOR. 13/10, would kiss.

Character I would marry: Morven! She’s lovely.

Character I would be best friends with: Sacha! He’s good friend/mentor material.

A random thought: I never thought I’d be this invested in this show, but here I am. I really enjoy their pacing, the writing, and the choices that the creative team makes, and it’s something that I look forward to each weak. (it’s also nice to get involved with something that has a small baby fandom)

An unpopular opinion: Hm. OH! While I do wish there had been more Berena after they got together, I really really enjoyed seeing Serena’s breakdown after her daughter’s death. Really well acted and written.

My canon OTP: like all of the ones i mentioned above

Non-canon OTP: Hm. I guess I enjoy the idea of Jac/Zosia, even though I think they’d be a mess if they were an actual pair. I enjoy how Raf and Fletch were/are basically married.

Most badass character: HANSSEN. Also Jac.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Essie/Raf. Vehemently. >:(

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Not quite a character, but I feel like they could have done more with the Jac/Jasmine/Fran stuff. The ending came about so abruptly; I thought they’d draw out the aftermath of Jasmine’s death a lot longer.

Favorite friendship: THE WONDER TRIO. do you even need to ask. (did they have a canonical or fandom-delegated nickname? hm.)

[oneweekobsession]

in which i grumble about holby:

ok so i haven't been inclined to consider the difference between one series of holby and the next as in anyway meaningful given this is a programme that just rolls on and on relentlessly, but i'm increasingly starting to believe that there was a significant change between 18 and 19, and that this probably has something to do with a change in story producer personel (luke woellhaf and jerome bucchan-nelson taking over from kate hall).

under the new regime, a couple of narrative threads have been emphasised (dom/isaac, serena/jasmine, fran/jac); meanwhile, a whole range of established characters have gone missing (ric, zosia, raf, bernie) or become parodies of themselves (hanssen, sacha). it's as if the writers have no real idea of how to develop these characters in any meaningful way. (and do not get me started on how cross i am that fletch's money troubles were solved by a magical bag of money). (also do not get me started on how cross i am about how cameron was dumped yesterday).

and while these established characters have been sidelined, those that have been introduced in their place have come with more or less ludicrous backstories which have been offered up to viewers primarily through dialogue in a way that feels pretty cheap (donna and her footballer ex; matteo and nina and their disappeared son) or with backstories that stretch the credibility of the narrative timeframe (the timeline of what lofty did during his absence from the hospital seems to be implausible: he wasn't away long enough to do all the things they said he did).

but it's starting to look like the shape of the series might be emerging with the return of guy and the references to tristan wood. john michie's back for 9 episodes, which more or less takes us to the end of s. 19. S. 19 began with guy and tristan; then we had the introduction of matteo, then nina, and now guy's back and people are talking about tristan, and somehow all of these are connected and we're moving towards some kind of end of series narrative denouement which will involve the zollie wedding. (it's no coincidence i think that zollie's only scenes this entire year have been about them having a conflict which guy will hear of next week (the abortion) and then them getting engaged. the larger narrative that's been designed for this series needs them to have a wedding, so their entire purpose this series has been to get into a position where that will happen; they've had no independent character development beyond serving this larger narrative). eh i don't know; john michie's said whatever's coming up is the best holby story he's had. it might be. who knows.

i tell you though. given that camilla arfwedson is going to be leaving. if this is working towards or results in the killing off of zosia, after we've already had a bunch of completely unnecessary deaths, i am going to be really really annoyed.