#also also also a moment of appreciation for any moment of Greg in interrogation he is SO SASSY just forever done with people's stupidity

[lilcathsmith]

Greg in every episode of CSI (99/328) • Unbearable •

[mercuriallycooperative]

One of my long belated Steven Universe rewatch/reaction posts! Wow, I really did have lotsa thoughts about “Alone at Sea”, I can see why this stalled other posts. Also, it’s really long. Again, below is reproduced the unedited text of that reaction two years ago, typos and all. Blast from the past, isn’t it? I’m in no way caught up, so for all I know all these Jasper and Lapis issues have all been tidily dealt with in the meanwhile. I keep seeing other spoilers floating around whenever I browse my dashboard, ehehe... Something about one of the old theories being proven super super legit and ‘it was the truth all a long’ and revalidating some of the early speculative fic? Well, anyway. I’ll get to know the truth in time, I suppose. For now:

“Rewatching Steven Universe: Summer of Steven Edition”

Featuring: More Things I wrote before I did the first week’s worth of episodes!

(I wrote this second, immediately after the one for Monster Reunion. These are being posted in order now, though, finally.)

Week 2/Episode 9 of Summer of Steven (Thurs, July 28)

Alone at Sea

After watching for the first time:

Well then. That happened.

As much as I absolutely adore Lapis Lazuli, I do honestly like the fact that she is upset about what she did in the past, is guilty about the drawing away the ocean and the breaking Greg’s leg and the keeping Jasper trapped in a toxic fusion. Because yeah, those are things that are serious and need attention.

Like, I generally get the impression that during Ocean Gem and the taking of the sea that whole bit was a lot of panic and she probably severely mis-estimated the durability and strength of Steven, Connie, and Greg, because none of the things she was firing at then would have likely killed a gem, maybe poofed them or detained them, and Lapis strikes me as the oh-shit-that-was-overkill-wasn’t-it type. And while an actual “Sorry” to those involved would probably be good, and at the moment I think Lapis is kinda eaten up inside about a load of stuff, I think it’s generally good that she- I think what I’m trying to say is it’s good to see that Lapis is aware about how her actions have affected people.

Okay but Jasper though. I really, really appreciate the show did go into the fact that Lapis was wrong about the Malachite thing, that she acknowledges that she was doing it just to take out her anger on someone she was in control of, who she could feel like she had a reason to kick. I think they probably could have made that a little- not clearer, but maybe impressed the gravity of that a little more, because it did seem a little brushed off and a little like blame was deflected from Lapis there. I think maybe this will be addressed more in the future, though, next time we see Jasper maybe. Because on one hand, Lapis, that was super not okay. But on the other hand-

I get the impression that Lapis was terrorized at least a little on the way to Earth with Jasper and Peridot. Peridot mentions it was her that did the interrogating of Lapis, and “interrogating” puts me on alert right there, but like. There was something about Lapis’ body language, as it relates to Jasper and Peridot and her time on the Homeworld ship that, both now and at the time, made me really uncomfortable. Like. I dunno, my thoughts on Jasper are super nondescript, but she definitely makes me nervous, and coupled with Lapis’ experience trapped in a mirror for 5000-odd years, It’s not unreasonable to think that that is a reason Lapis acted so destructively, self destructively, and seemingly disproportionately.

Not a reason that excuses trapping someone in a shared mindspace so that you both basically kill eachother every day for months and give you both even more trauma. But it all does hint at the sort of rushing-headlong-into-this-is-TOTALLY-A-GOOD-IDEA-RIGHT-oh-god hysteria of decisionmaking that is not born of maliciousness, exactly, not the calculated kind. Just. A lot of bad stuff that ends up hurting everyone around you.

So like, we definitely need to see Lapis deal more with what happened with Jasper, and I think the show could do with impressing the idea that what happened was Not Okay a little more strongly. Like, in a Lapis and Jasper episode of Too Far+Back to the Barn+Friend Ship in terms of real talk, when (I hope) Lapis and Jasper are eventually both on the Side of Steven and Co., maybe.

Now, re: Jasper herself. Holy crap, that was moderately disturbing. Like, I’m worried about her now. (Also, she’s definitely not on Neptune- but definitely well within finding-the-gems-again range. I predict seeing her again before the Summer is out...) Like, she definitely doesn’t have her shit together. And I think- I get the impression that it’s a really unhealthy combination of power-drunk from any of the times she wrested control of Malachite from Lapis for moments, plus the trauma of Lapis using her considerable mental discipline (re: being able to control her hydromancy so well and at such volume) to take out her pain and anger on Jasper.

At the same time- I don’t want to be excusing Jasper any more than I want to be excusing Lapis. Jasper, most recently, immediately turned to threaten Steven after Lapis refused to re-fuse. During Jailbreak, the whole let’s-dangle-Lapis-in-the-air-and-tell-her-”Fuse with me”-and-”Just say yes” set off a number of alarms, and in a meta-sense, given that the Crewniverse has been good about what vibe comes across as a precursor to what information, I’m really getting the feeling something was up there.

It’s just, we haven’t really seen much from Jasper. She’s a threat (an old general) because she was sent by Homeworld (the oldest enemy) and of course some of that (must be) is a product of Homeworld and what they are but the question (one of them) is how much we can say Homeworld has super brainwashed her- because like. With Peridot, we’re getting the impression she’s young. She’s said it- that she’s one of the new Peridots. Presumably fairly recent, after the Rebellion, during the reign of this New Homeworld. And a lot of her, her lack of scope, her loud, bouncing-around superiority and her everything-in-its-place, it may come from the Diamond she served under, but it’s as likely it comes from the Homeworld that she was created in. But Jasper? She’s of the Old Homeworld. The likes of which created Centipeetle and Lapis and so much has changed, we’re told, between the new and the old.

Lapis was trapped in the mirror. Time likely passed so strangely, for a trapped, cracked gem whose purpose was to be a seeing-glass. And Centipeetle was corrupted, her mind trapped in mazes and probably either some amount of pain or some amount of- of insensibility, of hazy dissociation, but living ages and ages on Earth. And the Crystal Gems of course had their post-war cleanup mission of the world, and all the little history contained therein.

They were all, bar Steven and Amethyst, born of old Homeworld and the fires of the Rebellion.

So was Jasper. And of course Jasper had the added something (I won’t say benefit nor will I say misfortune) of seeing Homeworld change before her eyes. The changes that so shocked Lapis were ones that Jasper likely experienced firsthand. Jasper is old enough to have been an adversary on (what seems to be fairly) even keel with Rose Quartz.

Honestly, while I think Jasper is certainly more complicated than The Big Bad Evil Gem and that she’s certainly not to blame for all the badness that’s been going down, not least of which I mean Lapis and the choices she’s made...

I think that it doesn’t give Jasper enough credit, to say “Oh well she’s a product of The System and as soon as we get a chance to say things to her she’ll be toast legit Cheetomom”. Like maybe there’s a whole lot Jasper just doesn’t have the context for because Homeworld sucks and has toxic messages fucking everywhere but like. Jasper still has her own agency. And as far as I can tell, she’s old enough (experienced enough) to know that, the same way Pearl (when she’s not flipping her shit) knows that, the same way Garnet and Lapis know that.

If we respect her at all, Jasper needs to get the same responsibility for her actions/behaviour/personality that all the other characters get shit for when they act mean, or coercive, or otherwise threatening.

We dissect every second of, say, Pearl’s behaviour, or Amethyst’s, or Lapis’, or (a little less) even Garnet’s and Steven’s. And we pick out their traumas and neuroses and pasts and biases and some of the internet screams YOU ARE SHIT FOREVER BECAUSE OF THIS and some of the internet screams YOU ARE A PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL WHO CAN DO NO WRONG but the other parts of the internet (of the SU side of Tumblr) are pretty careful about saying, “Okay you have a reason for this thing, and I get that, but it doesn’t excuse you for the thing, and so accept responsibility, and we’ll move on and love you still”.

Jasper should be treated likewise.

... okay so that descended into a rant about ~70% of my Jasper related thoughts. I’ll probably have more after I end up reading the contents of my dashboard since last night. I’ve totally lost track of the rest of the episode.

Time to rewatch it and pick out more interesting bits!

1) Lapis looks happier, at the beginning of the episode. I like the little bit about Steven reminding her to close her eyes, on account of the last time Lapis could totally see through her wings.

2) It’s interesting how Greg is still keeping himself so friendly, even as his introduction is an awkward you-broke-my-leg-that-one-time. It’s very much the same way he greeted Marty, actually- very cordial even though he was uncomfortable. Very much just being the bigger person, not to be superior, but just. Keeping everything friendly-like.

3) For that matter, regarding introductions, Lapis looks very awkward receiving that introduction- it looks to me like both the okay-I-was-not-expecting-that-introduction-that-was-weird-how-do-I-respond-to-this and the sheepish-kinda-guilty sort of awkward. This is how I interpret it, of course, but...

4) “It was more than one [bad experience” says Lapis, regarding her time at the bottom of the ocean with Jasper. I’m curious what she means by this. More than one bad experience, yes, but- more than one bad experience with Jasper at the bottom of the ocean? More than one with Jasper, including time on the hand ship? I might be forgetting something in the rush of new episodes, but, this seems interesting to me. Or was she referring, there was more than one bad aspect to her experiences as Malachite, both the damage Jasper did fighting her, and the damage Lapis did fighting Jasper, and, in that last one, the damage Lapis hints later at having done to herself in terms of becoming someone she doesn’t want to be?

5) “I don’t deserve this.” Lapis definitely knows she’s done some stuff that’s not on. And she’s had time enough to work through some of the things that’ve happened, and to her credit she’s being fairly open with Steven despite what I see as some very reticent tendencies.

6) Actually, those kind of make sense. Lapis spent over 5000 years in a mirror, as an object, meant for the express purpose of revealing personal information without her consent. Even used as a general information device- or perhaps it was only that Pearl assumed that was her purpose- that’s a long time with very little agency about how she could communicate with others. So long spent having to communicate what she doesn’t want to, unable to communicate what she does, and then shortly after her release being interrogated (in one way or another) by Homeworld, is it any wonder that Lapis wants to work things out for herself and not spill all her thoughts with others? Is it any wonder that she has a hard time doing so?

7) It’s interesting, Steven just brushes aside the “I don’t deserve this” with an “Of course you do!” I think that for a lot of Steven’s life, he was able to solve a lot of problems this way. And a lot of the time, that’s because the problems he was fixing, the personal ones, were because of personally directed aggression without anything to back it up- intrusive thoughts, the perpetual self-esteem gremlins that are made of unsureness and the ghosts of a thousand poisoned thoughts. It’s less common that he’s really had to deal with people who have seriously done a thing wrong some time where he hasn’t been around to see it- he saw Amethyst shapeshift into his mother, he say Pearl’s deception about Sardonyx, he saw Peridot working for Yellow Diamond, and so he can understand that sometimes things need working out. But Steven- he also sticks so staunchly with people, believes so firmly that people default to good- as with Lars, I think in some ways Steven is still naive. And recently, he’s been going through stuff that pushes him to work on that.

8) Who the hell names a boat the S.S. Misery?

9) I do appreciate that Lapis finds the name of the boat and their poor attempts to cover it with a moniker based on her own amusing. I appreciate a sense of humor like that.

10) “Don’t put me in charge!” “You shouldn’t trust me with the boat.” Again, picking through this episode I do see evidence that Lapis is working through a lot of guilt regarding her fusion with Jasper. I think she needs a talk with someone who’s not Steven- but I’m at a loss as to who would even remotely be a good person for that. Amethyst has a 50-50 chance of brushing it off like Steven or being legit serious about it, Pearl would commiserate and have a 50-50 chance of having a guilty-spiral party or giving some good advice, Peridot doesn’t have any of the fusion-related context for this and would likely brush off the whole thing, and Garnet would be great except there’s a 90 percent chance of something in the conversation being horribly upsetting to her, and a non-zero percent chance that Lapis would end up seriously on the shit list. Like. All together with an open dialogue, they’d likely get a good problem-solving issue-addressing dialogue going, but that’s always the case. And how often does that sort of conversation happen.

11) I just noticed Lapis hydromancing the orange juice in her champagne flute idly, and it’s great.

12) Also, actually, when Lapis answers “I’m not putting that on my body” all bluntly about the hat and Greg just takes it in stride, it occurs to me that he’s probably used to that exact reaction from Pearl about all sorts of human things.

13) While I think that Steven is really good at just- being a good balm for grief in the soul, making people a little happier, just for a bit, I think maybe the fact that he keeps interrupting Lapis whenever she starts reflecting is kind of a double ended spear. Like. I think she does need time to reflect and come to conclusions and start figuring out where she stands- as in Barn Mates where it’s pretty clear that she needs some space. On the other hand, it’s likely she’s been spending a lot of time since then brooding, so one day of lightness would probably do some good. Just. It has to be a day when Jasper shows up and the starts of the breach of all the issues floating around. Well, it had to be sooner or later I guess.

14) I honestly can’t tell if Lapis and Steven’s enjoyment of the boat’s foghorn is because it’s a loud, moderately obnoxious noise, or if it’s because it’s a loud, moderately obnoxious noise that’s kinda reminiscent of the humorously timed fart noises they bonded over.

15) Lapis just really wants to help and to impress Steven. Even if it’s in ways *cough* floating water sphere of fish *cough* that are moderately alarming. I think even as we delve deeper into the less pure-cinnamon-roll aspects of Lapis’ character, it’s important to remember that, regardless of the rest of things, the be-helpful/impress-Steven thing is a really big part of her personality now.

16) And, despite the control Lapis must have to do so much of what she hydromances, I think she kinda needs to work on the smoothly-putting-things-back part. Although given, I suspect that may sacrifice speed to some extent.

17) It’s interesting that Lapis quiets Steven when he’s about to start gushing over her powers again.

18) The description of how-to-fish seems very much like some sort of meta-commentary or subtextual information about the current state of affairs.

19) Also, the entire fishing part was just me waiting for something to trigger somebody’s wave of discomfort/trauma about something related for the catching/eating of the fish. Although actually, description of the fish-catching as a metaphorical construct aside, it occurs to me that gems who aren’t heavily human socialized (so, anyone not Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, or Steven) would probably not see have any immediate unsettled response to any flesh-ilfe-form’s blood and internal workings beyond “this is messy”. Like, they’d have no reason to have the awkward sympathetic discomfort that I think a lot of humans get about such things, because of course gems aren’t flesh-life-forms.

20) When the boat starts shaking, I love the fact that Lapis immediately asks Steven what’s going on, like, Yes Lapis the Boat Shaking is a Very Important Human Boating Ritual, Perfectly Normal. It’s great.

21) Okay so wait. There was trouble with something (presumably Jasper) fouling up the rudder somehow (I’m imagining her accidentally getting her hair caught in there to be honest) and that’s legit okay plot is happening. But like. The engine also gave out. Is that a that thing fouling up the rudder can even do, or did Greg just happen to rent a boat that would have a) possibly gotten someone with no gem powers at hand stranded in the middle of the ocean to maybe starve to death and b) stuttered to a stop possibly forcing awkward conversation and weirdness even if plot wasn’t happening around it?

22) “It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame.” For the boat breaking, Lapis? “I can’t stop thinking about being fused as Malachite. How I used all my strength to hold her down in the ocean, how I was always battling against Jasper to keep her bound to me.” Okay, that’s guilt, I’m getting, that’s guilt, and probably some pain of injury, and what were those two throwing at each other down their in their minds? For that matter- did Malachite the fusion have even any chance to form a mind for herself? (Maybe it would be better if she didn’t have.)

23) “But it’s not like that anymore,” says Steven. Oh god, I didn’t notice this the first time. That’s the same thing Peridot says when trying to make up with Lapis before she’s ready. And the same point applies here- maybe it isn’t like that anymore, but the past still matters, what’s happened to us and what we’ve done still matters. And I think that Steven, who forgives (people who aren’t Marty or Kevin or Jasper) so very easily, who loves and (almost always) lets go of bitterness (particularly recently as his powers have started working and he doesn’t have to be afraid of not having them) and who’s succeeded (often enough that he’s trusted to do his thing) so much that he assumes his way is the correct one, Steven doesn’t necessarily get so much that even when a thing is done, it takes more than a skip, a hop, and a song to make the past better.

24) “You don’t have to be with Jasper.” Steven, oh Steven. I don’t think that she ever really did. And Lapis knows that.

25) “That’s not it. I miss her.” It occurs to me that her time as Malachite is probably the longest time, the first time, she’s spent in a stable (by which I mean ‘not likely to randomly change without her input’) situation over which she had any control at all for the last 5000 years. Trapped in the mirror, she had no agency. As Homeworld’s/Jasper’s/Peridot’s prisoner, she had no agency. But as Malachite, Lapis was a driving force bolting them together; as long as she didn’t let go, she had a lot of the power. It isn’t an excuse and it certainly isn’t right, but, is it any wonder really that Lapis misses the certainty of a fight against someone she had a reason (and an excuse) to fight, the certainty of a fight that she, for a long time, was winning? “We were fused for so long...“ Longer than any fusion bar Garnet that we have any precedent about.

26) “But- she’s terrible!” Steven only knows Jasper as an enemy, who, you know, knocked him out and also poofed (killed part of his mind probably insists in nightmares) one of his mothers in front of him. And that was his first experience with her- even Peridot, with her robonoids and suchforth, left a more neutral impression (even if this was partially because it happened before Steven had much context at all for Homeworld and what an invasion might mean). Jasper’s alarmingness (see a few points down) and sudden let’s-attack-Steven from this episode probably did not help that impression at all. I think Jasper might be Steven’s next big hurdle of understanding-folks. I hope we get a Jasper redemption, but I also hope we see Steven’s processing the way he distrusts Jasper, and see him (hopefully) decide to give her the chance he’s given others.

26) “I’m terrible! I did horrible things- I broke your dad’s leg, I stole Earth’s ocean- Go on! Tell me I’m wrong!” Honestly, even without Jasper’s sudden appearance, I feel like this episode could have got a whole lot done. Like. This conversation with Steven and Lapis definitely needs to happen. As much as Lapis needs Steven’s optimism and love and brightness, she needs him to stop brushing what she did under the table, she wants him to stop brushing it under the table. It probably makes her feel like she’s deceiving him, like she’s hiding things from him in order to have his support. And Steven needs to stop brushing it under the table so he can better help Lapis, and for his own safety- not from Lapis but in general. This black-and-white view of good-bad, even heavily skewed toward white, could well have him walking into a situation that just needs him to leave it alone for a little, to address very real issues and dangers.

27) Jasper appears, and her expression is moderately alarming. Like, all that fan art of how Jasper smiling friendly-like is still alarming? That alarming, but moreso because in this context it makes her look... like she’s been upset somehow. Like, in the literal stirred around until her behaviour is all in odd order way.

28) Also, given the rest of the day, I’m wondering how much Lapis may be thinking am I hallucinating did my thinking about her so much summon her wait are we still trapped somewhere am I still trapped somewhere is this reality Steven do you see her too? or stuff like that.

29) Okay the Lapis flinching as Jasper approaches does lead me to think that Jasper did something at some unspecified time that made a large mark on Lapis’ Afraid-Of-This meter.

30) “She’s the one you should be afraid of.” Jasper, are you implying you are afraid of Lapis? And hiding it (working through it) because as an old general (an old soldier) you’re used to that much? Also, Jasper, even sharing space with Lapis for months hasn’t taught you that Steven is not his mother? (Then again, it could be deliberate stubbornness as a reaction to any point of view Lapis has...)

31) “That’s not true.” I think, what Lapis means it that Steven specifically has nothing to fear from her.

32) “I thought I was a brute. But you, you’re a monster.” What the hell happened down there guys. What the hell. (Also. Is Jasper meaning particularly things Lapis did to her, while keeping them trapped together? Or is Jasper meaning that she’s seen bits of memories of things Lapis has done in the long-past, before or during the war? During Lapis’ much obscured history.)

33) Okay, the hitting Steven so hard he goes flying (or, for that matter, at all) is just not on. Jasper, we know Lapis wronged you, but that’s not how you continue this dialogue. (On a meta level, with that move that is clearly not okay, is the Crewniverse trying to make two wrongs don’t make a right very, very clear? And also, for that matter, keep Jasper established as Not Yet Good At All but More Complicated Than You Think? There was that magic the gathering color identity tweet or post or whatever by someone of the Crewniverse who also said we’ll be seeing some of that Complicated later, so...)

34) Where is Greg during all this, how much does he see, how much does he hear?

35) “Let’s be Malachite again!” “Why... would you want that?” It’s really, really alarming actually to see Jasper in that position of supplication. Like. Holy shit. None of these kids are okay. And Lapis’ expression seems to put across the same what the fuck oh shit you’re not okay are you.

36) Jasper’s whole Fusion Is Great Now We Can Be Super Strong! Stronger Even That Either Of Us! is really rather disturbing when put into both the context of Homeworld and it’s gem experiments thing and its cross-gem-fusions-are-an-abomination-that-must-all-die thing and in the context of Garnet’s major issues with fusing just to be stronger.

37) But. “We could fly!” I can understand that. We only saw the short shot of them flying in battle against Alexandrite, but, is it possible that between trying to mentally kill the fuck out of each other, that Malachite (how much of her independently there ever was) or Jasper and Lapis just. Flew somewhere as fast as they could go, trying to escape themselves?

38) For that matter- obviously Malachite is a very literally toxic fusion (google malachite gemstone toxicity for more information on that fun symbolism). But in other cases, what’s the difference between fusing solely for power, and fusing because you become someone you enjoy being because you can do such wonderful things which include, yes, flying and being extremely strong? Isn’t that what Sugilite has been, when we’ve seen her? As long as all parties are cool with each other to begin with, seriously, where are we drawing the line?

39) The whole dialogue between Lapis and Jasper is just really, really twisted up. “It’ll be better this time! I’ve changed! You’ve changed me!” promises Jasper, who by Lapis’ own account was the one so much was being taken out on. It’s like. Two abuse narratives being twisted back around upon one another, compounding each other. Yeah... none of these people are okay.

40) “I’m the only one that can handle your kind of power!” It’s tugging at my memory, but I’ve heard this line before. Read it somewhere, in a situation like this... An old Xena fanfic, a Buffy fanfic? Whatever it was, it was not of the good, and both people involved were hurting eachother in exactly this way.

41) Okay so people keep giving Lapis shit about punching Jasper off the boat without apologizing or actually fixing any of their issues beyond airing them a bit, but might I just point out that Lapis punched Jasper off the boat and far away immediately after Jasper began charging Steven and shouting “I’ll shatter you!” ? Steven is still squishy and not at all up to any sort of combat with Jasper, and it is certainly not wrong for anybody’s first reaction to be Keep the threat away from Steven!

42) Is this a new ending song? Like, a new part of the ever-progressing ending song? Huh. Cool.

Well that got long. Lots of thoughts and conclusions. See you next time, folks.

[whothefuckiscassandracain]

Batman: No Man’s Land - a novel by Greg Rucka

Last but not least, before we head off into Cass’ first Batgirl run, let’s take a look at Batman: No Man’s Land. This one was fun to read, since I practically missed the first half of the event by reading only Cass’s comics issues. Warning: long post is very long. Lots of quotes instead of pictures, this time. More below the cut.

Our first mention of Cass in the novel comes from Oracle, in one of her apocalyptic journal logs, in which she describes Cass as follows:

Can’t be older than 16, if a day. Pretty young woman, Eurasian, very smart. And functionally mute, in that she seems incapable of using language. […] I don’t know if it’s a psychological or physiological trauma, but I’m beginning to suspect she was never taught how to speak or read or write. […] She’s been unable to give me her name—though whether that’s because she doesn’t have one, doesn’t know it, or doesn’t like it, I’ve no clue. I’ve taken to calling her Cassandra. Communications difficulties with her notwithstanding, Cassandra has become, in the last couple months, one of my most reliable people. She’s fast and strong and very sneaky, and to top it all off, she’s fairly imaginative, so that her reports end up being a somewhat entertaining game of charades, aided by scraps of paper and pencils. She’s a horrible artist, but I understand her concepts more often than not, so we’re getting by. (NML, page 26)

Clearly, Cass is very dear to Oracle. Once again, her aphasia is the main focus of her characterization, which makes sense, since, at this point, Cass, together with a few other kids (Alex, Charlie and Vanessa) is essentially Oracle’s eyes and ears in No Man’s Land. Aphasia: 20

Cassandra’s first proper appearance occurs between the pages 47 and 52, when she follows a terrified scream on the street, only to realize that she has been lured into a trap by a cannibalistic street gang. Although she manages to hold her own pretty well, Huntress (in Batgirl garb) arrives to help her. Once the fight is over, Cass tries to say “thank you”, but all that comes out is a croak and she explains to Huntress that she is mute, although:

It was more complicated than that, but Cassandra nodded, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to explain the how and the why. And even if she could explain those two things, she would have to explain the rest, the darkness of it all, and the evil, and she didn’t want to tell anyone that. Not ever. (NML, page 50)

Poor Cassandra is very clearly suffering from major PTSD. We also see her demonstrating another of her quirky gestures, namely how to say “thanks”:

She thought for a moment, then presented both hands, palms up. She looked at Huntress, smiling, then brought her hands together, lacing the fingers. (NML, page 51)

Huntress others Cass to stay at her place and have some food, but Cass declines, in spite of being hungry and cold, because Oracle warned her that Huntress was a criminal and Cass should stay away from her, and because she wants to finish her job (finding intel on Black Mask) first. By the time Cass manages to at least mutter “Guh byh-eeee”, Huntress is already gone. Aphasia: 21 Unusual Mannerisms: 6

A short while later, Gordon and his team start a gang war between two rivaling street gangs in order to allow them to reclaim more territory, including Oracle’s clock tower. Cass reports this fact to Oracle, who is deeply disturbed. The mission succeeds, although new complications arise, including Helena Bertinelli showing up as the new Batgirl, Black Mask leading a cult-like gang on a conquering spree, an attempt on Alfred’s life, which is foiled by Batman (Bruce’s first appearance in NML), and Gordon striking a secret deal with Two-Face, while Bruce strikes a deal with Penguin. Neither really gets what they want, as both villains turn on them and Two-Face ends up taking over Batman’s territory, which results in the loss of six innocent lives.

Not too long after, Cass delivers new information to Barbara, this time bringing along a note form Alfred, who has taken up shelter at Dr. Thompkins clinic, helping her treat the wounded. At this point, master assassin David Cain sneaks into No Man’s Land, a minor detail that will become more important soon.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thompkins successfully talks Cassandra into spending a night at the clinic, rather than constantly being on the move, or better yet: Cassandra fails to talk her out of it. It is here that we learn just how deep Cassandra’s appreciation and respect for Leslie Thompkins is, mostly because the doctor looks like she could be blown away by the breeze and would never hurt a fly, yet has incredible strength in her. This leads us to a scene similar to what we saw in Batman Chronicles Vol. 1 #18, with Cassandra performing her warrior bow for Thompkins, which leads to this heartwarming exchange:

Cassandra shook her head, then presented both hands. With her right she made a fist, seating the face of it against the palm of her left hand, extending both in front of her at waist height. Then she bowed, looking the doctor in the eye. Dr. Thompkins’s wrinkled face wrinkled some more, and then she surprised Cassandra by returning the bow, saying, “You are quite a warrior, aren’t you, dear? Thank you for the compliment.” Cassandra went to sleep happy. (NML, page 184)

Aphasia: 22 Unusual Mannerisms: 7

The next morning, Cass meets Huntress gain, who is checking in on the clinic every now and then, and uses a number of gestures to communicate to her that Cass is a courier for Gordon’s daughter. Sadly, Huntress misinterprets this as Cass working for Gordon and starts badmouthing Gordon, which has Cassandra feeling horrible for telling a lie and uncomfortable because she does not like where the conversation as going. She ends the talk by giving Huntress the same warrior bow she gave Leslie. Helena returns the gesture. Aphasia: 23 Unusual Mannerisms: 8

We have now finally caught up with Cassandra’s first comic book appearance, story-wise, as Cass returns to Oracle for a reading lesson. They start with the letters of the alphabet, for which Barb praises her. Cass tries to thank her and it is here that we see just how hard speaking really is for her:

Cassandra pushed the tip of her tongue against the back of teeth. “T-aaans…” “Thanks.” “Ta-ah nks…” (NML, page 187)

As in the comics, Oracle has just about taught her how to say “Stop”, when Jim arrives and chides her for leaving the door unlocked, before giving her a hug. Cass’s reaction here is the first indicator in the novel of just how screwed up her own family life was:

Cassandra got up, moving out of the way as Gordon passed her to hug his daughter. She could see Oracle’s smile, how they both closed their eyes briefly. Her own father had only offered her a hug once, and that had been so many years ago, just before she had left. She felt both awkward and embarrassed watching them, as if she were intruding on something she had no right to see, and so she left, slipping silently out of the apartment and back into the hallway. She could hear their voices, the soft tones, and she reached the stairs knowing that jealousy was dogging her steps. She wrestled with it all the way to the lobby, trying to see the emotion for exactly what it was. She didn’t want to feel sorry for herself. (NML, page 187)

Just as in the comics, Cassandra catches sight of her father as she exits the building and it scares her out of her socks. However, all of that goes straight out of the window as she realizes that Cain is here to kill Gordon and Cass jumps in to rescue him. Not only is she fast as the Flash about it, she also proves that she can be fiercely stubborn when it comes to protecting people:

She scared them with her approach, two of the men stepping back and freeing their weapons from their holsters, and Gordon’s surprise was alight all over his face. She didn’t care, didn’t think about it, just grabbed him around the waist, passing the Blue Boys on either side of the Commissioner, and then driving him back into the lobby, shoving him down and covering him with her body. […] Cassandra pushed herself up, still holding the Commissioner, dragging him forcefully back into the lobby, […] Gordon started to get up and Cassandra caught him by the arms, shoving him back, toward the stairway. […] Cassandra moved directly in front of Gordon, then wrapped her arms around his middle, using her right leg as a brace, trying to keep him from continuing. He tried for a second longer, but Cassandra held her ground, and Gordon finally got the message. (NML, page 188-189)

Fast As Lighting: 10 Fiercely Assertive Protector: 7

The following interrogation, in which both Jim and Cassandra become increasingly frustrated with the obstacle that is her aphasia and in which Barbara recognizes the mark of Cain that Cassandra draws for them, culminates in this heartbreaking little gem, right after they finally work out that Cain is Cassandra’s father:

Cassandra nodded and couldn’t look at any of them, avoiding their eyes. It didn’t matter; she could feel their stares, the heat and accusation in them. It didn’t matter that she had never wanted to be like her father. It didn’t matter that there had never been any choice. She was a killer, too, and try as she might, she had never been able to escape that. (NML, page 195)

Aphasia: 24

Cassandra then gets the jump on both Barbara and Jim by jumping out of her seat and locking both of them in before anyone has a chance to react. Cain is waiting for her on the other side, opening fire, but not aiming at her, and Cassandra once again demonstrates that she is the speedster on the team:

It all seemed to slow down for her then as the adrenaline poured in, and she moved forward, slapping the gun from Cain’s grip. She was terrifying in her speed, and she knew that, because this was her strength, this was her language. These were the words her father had taught her, and she spoke fluently, her right leg snapping a kick that caught him in the middle, collapsing him double. Before he could straighten she had finished the sentence, a short burst uppercut that sent a spray of blood from her father’s mouth and one of his front teeth into the air. (NML, page 196)

Aphasia: 25 Fast As Lightning: 12 Fiercely Assertive Protector: 8

Throughout her fight with Cain, Cassandra keeps flashing back to her first kill (according to the novel at the age of 10, even though according to the comics she was 8), which she describes as her father simply having asked her to “just talk”. This memory upsets her so much, that she finally manages her first full, correct word: stop. For a moment, Cain even seems to be shocked and compassionate, but as soon as he hears Gordon trying to break through the door, he is back in assassin mode. Just as in the comics, Cassandra decides to push him through the nearest window, demonstrating both her protectiveness and a serious lack of regard for her own life:

Then they were in the air, falling with the shards, and Cassandra, for a moment, felt almost happy. (NML, page 198)

Better Off Dead: 5

Thankfully, Batman arrives in time to rescue both Cain and Cassandra, although Cain manages to get away. Confident that the assassin will need time to recover, Bruce takes Cassandra to a nearby park where he buried the men who had died during Two-Face’s takeover. He tries to talk to her in a number of languages, including sign language, but of course she can’t answer. She makes him mimic punches instead, and as he goes through a number of Tai Chi Quan routines that Cass always seems to be one step ahead in, he finally realizes what’s going on. And Bats is not happy.

Batman stopped and looked at her, again grateful for the lenses in the cowl that shielded his eyes. He didn’t want the girl to see the sudden pity he felt for her. […] “I knew David Cain once, long ago, […] He used to say that the only way to truly be a warrior was to make your actions as fluid and easy as your speech. He used to say that combat itself was a discourse, the finest form of conversation. At the time I thought it was hyperbole.” Batman reached out, touching the girl’s cheek. “I didn’t realize he was insane enough to actually force that philosophy on another human being.” (NML, page 204)

The two of them then “talk” about how Two-Face hired Cain and how Batman is planning to deal with him, using drawings in the soil. Despite the conversational difficulties, Bruce manages to make it clear to her that he is not going to kill Cain, nor will he let Gordon die. He then leaves, telling Cass to return to Oracle and stay out of this mess. Aphasia: 26

Cass, being a good future batkid, of course, promptly does not listen to him and instead goes to Two-Face’s base on her own. Within about five minutes, she proceeds to knock out all his guards (including the ones with guns), threaten Two-Face, grab the money he was going to use to pay her father, and leave again. She soon finds Batman and her father battling on a rooftop, drops the money bag right in between them, and lights it on fire. Rather than be angry at his payment literally going up in smoke right in front of his eyes, Cain once again shows that, even though he trained Cass to be a killer and he did do horrible things to her, he does have some compassion and affection for her:

The battle mask that David Cain had worn crumbled, and Batman saw tears in the man’s eyes. He wasn’t looking at the flames. Cain extended a hand to the girl. She turned her back on him and walked back to Batman’s side. Cain stared at her for a moment longer, then seemed to slump, almost shrinking from within. The girl looked at Batman, then took his hand in hers. She still wouldn’t look at Cain. Cain nodded, then turned away. Batman heard him say, “Take good care of her.” (NML, page 215-216)

From this point onward, Cass practically spends all her nights sleeping on Oracle’s floor (NML, page 223) and later her couch (NML, page 229). Bruce also starts training her, this time with Oracle’s approval. This eventually leads to him and Oracle introducing Cass to Nightwing and Robin. Interestingly, their reactions seem to be inversed, compared to the comics, with Robin instantly getting along with her and Nightwing being more reserved:

Robin arrived first, and I introduced him to Cassandra, gave him the short explanation of who she was and why she was in my inner sanctum. They took to one another pretty well and pretty quickly, and it made me remember how young Cassandra really is. […] Nightwing was suspicious of her, and even a little bit hostile at first, but it was clear that his real anger was for his mentor. (NML, page 249-250)

Batmom: 2

Bruce eventually explains to them why he wants Cassandra to be the next Batgirl (would never take a life, surrender, or let an innocent be hurt), but it takes Barbara’s blessing for Dick and Tim to fully accept it. Barb hands her the costume. When she comes back into the control room, dressed in her Batgirl finest, we get a rare glimmer of Bruce being a Good Batdad™:

“Ready?” Batman asked her. Our new Batgirl nodded. It was hard to catch, and I think the others missed it. I didn’t. Batman, for a second, smiled. (NML, page 252)

Batdad: 3

After this point, things start progressing rather quickly. Bruce tears Helena a new one, then proceeds to take back his territory, piece by piece. One of the GCPD SWAT officers breaks off and founds his own violently protective gang, one of the loyal officers has a baby, Bane eradicates all city records in a bid by Lex Luthor to gain the rights to rebuild Gotham and make it his own (a plan which Bruce foils by having Barb and Tim produce perfectly forged certified copies of every record they can find before Bane destroys them) and Joker finally joins the madness, which brings us to Cassandra’s next appearance.

Cass has taken up the habit of including Leslie’s makeshift clinic in her rounds and checking up on her from the shadows whenever she can. She gets a quick hug from Leslie and an offer of tea from Alfred before leaving the camp and promptly walks into Joker and Harley. She takes the fact that he’s walking into the MASH sector with an ax in his hand pretty well and swoops in just in time to exchange a few blows with Harley and keep the situation from escalating, but to her surprise, Joker does not attack her, because he was looking for Batman, not Batgirl. For the first time since watching Barbara and her dad, Cass is truly confused:

Dumbfounded, Cassandra watched as Joker and the others calmly walked away. She didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense. She didn’t know what to do. (NML, page 300)

We fast-forward again once more, and this time there is actually good news: in Washington D.C., Lucius and his campaign to get Gotham’s No Man’s Land status revoked have finally born fruits and the city is scheduled to have basic infrastructure and services again by New Year’s. This announcement has everyone hugging each other and cheering:

[...] even Cassandra was managing to make a little noise, squeaks and rasps. (NML, page 368)

However, Cass’ cuteness does not stop there! As the medical aid starts pouring into Gotham, Cass visits Leslie’s clinic in civilian clothes to say goodbye to her and Alfred. She hugs Alfred “quickly, the way she did every movement once she had decided upon it” (NML, page 374), and answers his question of whether she wants anything in particular by making what is possibly the cutest Joker impression ever:

Cassandra shook her head, then put the index finger from each hand at the corners of her mouth, pulling down on one end and pushing up on the other, making a crazy face. (NML, page 374)

Thankfully, Alfred understands her much more easily than everyone else seems to, although that’s not necessarily a good thing. He tries to shoo her away, but Cass indicates that she’d be happy to hear the rest. It’s not good:

“Joker, my dear. You don’t know him very well. He’s the worst of them. When he’s quiet, like he is now, it’s normally for a very wicked reason.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “You be careful. She nodded. Alfred forced a smile back into place. “Very well, then. Off with you. I have much work to attend.” Cassandra departed, wondering what, exactly, was so dangerous about Joker. (NML, page 375)

The answer, of course, is that Joker then goes on to successfully abduct every new-born baby in No Man’s Land, kills every one of the rogue police officers, nearly kills Huntress, and sets in motion a plot that ultimately leads to Joker shooting Jim Gordon’s new wife, Sarah Essen.

Cassandra, however, is not around for any of that (at least not in the novel). Instead, her last appearance here comes during Christmas dinner, as Dick and Alfred are fighting over who gets to carve up the bird. Everything in this scene is adorable, from Alfred’s dignified threat that there will be no dinner if Dick doesn’t sit down, to Dick’s reply that he won’t eat if he can’t carve, to Bruce’s assurance to Leslie that they do this every meal, and, finally, to Cass’ epic reaction to the madness:

She nodded, then said, “Stop.” Alfred and Dick froze. Leslie covered her mouth in surprise. Cassandra grinned, reached across the table, and took the carving knife. Then she set about cutting the bird. (NML, page395)

[milquetoast-on-acid]

Reloaded, A Reactionary Post

Major Crimes, S1xE1: Episode Review

And so begins my Major Crimes rewatch with reactionary posts all the way from the first episode. Enjoy!

What this episode is about: Changes (for better and for worse) // Provenza's Leadership vs. Raydor's Leadership // Deal or No Deal // The Kid: Rusty Beck Alliances and Divisions // Sharon vs Provenza // The oddity of Amy Sykes // Sharon & Andy

The Case (and Greg Miller) There are always parallels between the cases and the personal story involving our detectives. For this particular episode, there isn't a very definitive personal line. There are however some parallels that pop up. 

The Vet The killer in the case, Greg is a young war vet with the rest of his life ahead of himself. Amy, our new squad member is also a war vet. But unlike Greg, Amy is (for the most part) a well adjusted person. We don't know that much about Amy's life as an MP, and what she saw specifically. But if she did ever have PTSD, it is something she dealt with. 

The Son (who's suffering from PTSD) Greg is also the son of a police detective. Him and his friends could not adjust back into normal society. Unfortunately for Greg, his father didn't push him to seek help with his PTSD. Similar to Rusty Beck who's clearly suffering with issues from the abandonment of his mother, abuse from her boyfriend and effects from his prostituting on the streets. By the end of the episode Sharon takes Rusty home. And thus the start of a long emotional journey between the two of them.

Changes

Deal or No Deal

One of the biggest changes the show made as well as verses the way Sharon does things as opposed to the way Brenda did things. Brenda way of doing things was about creating a situation in order to get a suspect to confess their crimes. Sharon's way of doing things is more about making deals with the criminals. It's something that keeps Taylor (and the other upper Brass happy) by saving time and money. Not only does it get criminals a definite sentence but it also has the added benefit of bypassing trials. Trials which are hugely costly, time consuming and traumatic for the victims and their family.

Provenza's Leadership vs. Raydor's Leadership Since Chief Johnson left, Provenza has been in charge. He's got the experience and leadership qualities but he lacks any appreciation for procedure. When skirting the rules is a big reason why Chief Johnson is gone. Her actions in the shoot'n newton case caused some serious issues by opening up the department to law suits. 

Provenza's lack of use of proper procedure, laws and rules is made very clear from the opening sequence. In particular when Andy goes and talks to their suspect. He attempts to have someone 'play' a d.a. in order for the boy to confess. A very Brenda type move. 

Who better to keep the squad in line than someone obsessed with the rules, laws and procedure but Sharon Raydor. However, Sharon's leadership also has issues. What she makes up for in appreciation for the procedure and her ability to make changes in the department. She sorely lacks in experience. This is made evident by the new rule she put in place that stopped Major Crimes from properly doing their job and ultimately cause their suspected to be killed.

"I told you we should have waited." "No, this is the moment." This is such an interesting scene between Sharon and Taylor. What we see here is that the show is making a clear distinction that Sharon and Taylor are not similar. Nor is Sharon part of the brass despite her earlier position as an IA Captain. Neither is she a part of the squad, yet. Taylor's main concern with changes in the division is about saving money from trials. Sharon's main concern is a guaranteed conviction, even if it means a shortened conviction. 

Another point the show is making here is putting Taylor in Sharon's old position. Taylor has always been a sometime antagonist for the show. And now with him in Pope's old position what better way to create some tension between him, Raydor and the rest of the squad then to have him push his position on all of them. 

Taylor's Power Plays Both Sharon and Provenza ended up getting screwed by Taylor. Provenza was in charge of MC for a week and was not told that Sharon would be eventually transferred over as the head. Then Taylor reneges on a promised promotion to Sharon. He's making some very distinct power moves here. He's letting them know he's the one in charge, that he's holding all the cards. It would have been nice if he'd tried to work with them instead of against them. Instead here he decides to threaten Provenza with guaranteed retirement if Provenza asks to transfer.

"Lieutenant Tao, it's Captain Raydor."  "...okay." Mike is such a laid back character who doesn't let things effect him (or doesn't show it) as much as the rest of the squad. So as quiet as this moment that are so telling with what's going on emotionally with his character. It reminds me of that very unexpected moment in Living Proof when Mike says: "I hate her." Mike doesn't like her anymore than the rest of the squad but he doesn't yell and shout about it the way Andy and Provenza do.

Andy the Interrogator

Even though there was some lying involved in this particular scene between Andy and Larry Martin. Andy very clearly cared about the boy and I don't think he was lying to him when he said he wanted make the best deal for him that he could. It's really more about him using someone who wasn't an actual D.A. But the thing that stricks me about this interrogation is that Andy is actually rather skilled at this but it wasn't something that we had seen very often when Brenda was in charge. Under Sharon's leadership, this is something that's pushed and encouraged in him. 

Another interesting thing about this scene is how often Andy stresses to Martin making him a deal. Before Sharon is even the squads commanding officer, we are seeing that not only is Andy open to deal making but it's actually something that he wants.

The Kid: Rusty Beck Rusty is a character the show uses to help us understand who Sharon is away from work. What is she really like underneath all of the rules, laws and procedures. Brenda had Fritz to show us who she was and now Sharon needed someone to help us open her up. 

I like that little nod to Brenda when Sharon opens up her desk and finds the candy drawer. Brenda's candy was a huge part of her character, to the point where it was almost another character. It's also a very nice transition. Sharon opens the drawer to find the candy and puts Rusty's file in there. Effectively replacing Brenda's candy with Sharon's Rusty. 

Later when Fritz comes to get Brenda's candy. He gives her a ding dong (passing the torch) and she in turn puts it in Rusty's backpack. Then of course it's followed up with Rusty finding the ding dong, taking it out of his back pack and putting it on Sharon's coffee table.

Alliances and Divisions (the players are the same (for the most part) the positions have changed)).

This episode begins a theme that plays throughout the season. The squad starts to split up in tiny groups and we start to see the beginnings of where relationships go and which characters end up gravitating or repeling each other. 

Sharon & Provenza The biggest division happens between Sharon and Provenza. Sharon represents change and a new way of doing things. Provenza represents the old way of doing things. As I mentioned earlier the squad needs both Sharon and Provenza in order to function properly. But the issue is the two of them need to learn to work together. Sharon does her best to extend out an olive branch but Provenza is stubborn and set in his ways. 

The oddity of Amy Sykes At this point none of the squad members care very much for Sharon. So she decides to bring Amy into the squad. Much to the annoyance of Provenza, who takes issue with her jumping the gun and rather abrasive way of doing things.  Amy (at this time) is a bit of a wild card. The only thing we can say for certain is that Amy has her own agenda. She hasn't quite made up her mind about the squad and her place in it. 

"Sykes doesn't like you. She's just pretending to like you. To get the job." "Still." I just love how there are times that Sharon behaves in ways that we don't expect. Provenza thought that once Sharon knew Amy's real motivations. He'd get his way and she'd let Amy go back to her old squad. Instead Sharon let's Amy stay. It's one of the things that I love about Sharon's character. Is that she sees things in people that other's over look. She sees the potential in people and wants to bring that out in them. Rusty, Andy, Amy, Brenda. It's also a fault as well because there are people that take advantage of that - Jack.

Sharon & Andy The goal of the show, at this point is to try to turn Sharon from the (sometime) antagonist into the protagonist and what better way to do that than to have another character take to her. We've got Amy and Rusty but both of them are wild cards and new. And because both of those characters are new we needed a character we already know to help with Sharon's transition. Oddly enough the writers choose Andy for this job. It's an interesting choice because of how vocal Andy has been in the past regarding Sharon and her ideas. It's also interesting because of how different the pairs personalities are. Knowing what we know now there are a few reasons that I can think of as to why they choose Andy. 

1. Sharon needed a right hand man. And it needed to be one of the senior members of the squad. Especially since the other senior member is pitted against her. It makes for an interesting power struggle. 

Brenda's right hand was Gabriel. Someone that she could count on in and someone that she always gravitated towards. Sharon is a very different character then Brenda, there for Sharon needs a very different kind of right hand. Andy is also someone that Sharon can always count on but he's a completely different personality than David. It also strikes me that Sharon is a rather contradictory character. At this point (season 5) we know her and how she behaves but in Season 1. We didn't know her that well. So for her to gravitate towards someone with a personality so completely different to her own is a bit odd. 

2. Andy is a favored character. If a character we like so much, also likes Sharon than it will help us like her more. 

Andy is another conduit for us audiences to understand who Sharon is as a person. While Rusty will help us understand who she is at home. Andy is the one who will help us understand who she really is at work. 

3. To later help setup Sharon and Andy as a couple. 

I'm not sure when the writers decided to go down the Sharon/Andy path. But I rather think (from all of the little clues in the show) it was something they decided when they were developing Major Crimes. I wasn't a viewer of The Closer when it was on but I gather that Sharon/Andy were somewhat popular as a non-canon couple. My biggest reason for this is that Jack Raydor is based on Andy's character.  And what would be the point in having Sharon's Husband based on Andy other than to eventually pair the characters together.

Andy is the first to give Sharon information on the case When Sharon starts to ask questions regarding the case. Everyone is rather stingy with the information they've gathered. Andy ends up being the first of the squad to start directly giving her information and the others follow suit afterward. 

It's interesting to note that both Sharon and Andy are wearing beige. Wardrobe is yet another way for us to know how the characters relate to each other. Mostly everyone else is wearing blue but Sharon and Andy stand out in beige because they are the only two wearing that color. So what does beige say specifically? Beige is dependable, conservative, reliable and flexible. The color beige is neutral, calm, and relaxing. It's saying that Andy is someone that Sharon will eventually come to depend on. Even as early as this case when the two of them don't fully understand the other yet.

Andy yells at Sharon 

Later when Sharon and Andy are at the morgue. Andy unloads on Sharon. He tells her it's important to create a connection with the victims and points out (rather angerly) that their victim could still have been alive if it weren't for a particular regulation she put into place. Now it's important to note that even though Andy is coming around to Sharon's way of doing things. He still isn't 100% there yet. 

I mentioned earlier that Sharon needed a right hand man just like Gabriel was Brenda's right hand. In the beginning of The Closer Gabriel is really the first member to accept Brenda and help her transition into the unit. We are seeing the same thing here. Andy is the first to accept Sharon (the first to be accepting of her way of doing things) and he's also not afraid to point out if something is wrong. In effect he's also helping her transition from the IA investigator into a detective. 

Another interesting thing about the scene is right after Andy yells at Sharon. While Andy's yelling at Sharon she is in blue scrubs and he is wearing his beige suit. As soon as she realizes her mistake, she pulls off her scrubs and tells him that he was right. A few things to note once the scrubs are off.

1. She is now wearing beige again. Thus connecting the two of them together again. They are now both of the same mind. His rant gives her the vital piece of information on the crime. Information that neither of them would have realized if it weren't for the other. Making it clear that when these two personalities work together they make a really great team. Instead of their personalities clashing. We see the two of them balancing the other out. 

2. She addresses Andy by his first name instead of his rank. Setting another Sharon verses Brenda distinction. Brenda always kept her squad at arms length, she invited the squad to her wedding reception but not her wedding. She would almost always call them by their ranks and last names. Ex, Lieutenant Tao, Lieutenant Flynn. Sharon is more inclusive and the squad feels more like a family under her leadership. 

Favorite Line(s) "If you don't knock it off and I mean right now. The next place you go will have locks on the doors and bars on the windows. Do you want to spend the next two years in a juvenile detention center. Keep talking and see what happens."

"Having raised two teenagers of my own. I have tremendous capacity for ingratitude."

Can we just take a moment to appreciate this woman's wit and sense of humor?

What I didn't like about this episode: As a premiere it's not very exciting. Although I think because this show has another show's shoulder to stand on it didn't need to be. It's a hard thing to do for spin-offs is to stand on their own to feet and make distinctions yet not over shadow a previous beloved show. On the other hand it could still have been a more interesting episode. 

What I did like about this episode: We get the same characters we love so much from The Closer but their all in new positions now. I love the turn in Andy's character that we see starting from that interrogation.

Next Week: Before and After Review

I’m aiming to post these reactionary posts on Wednesdays. ;)

[snorlaxlovesme]

SoMa Week 2017

Day one: Confession

I wasn’t totally in the mood for writing romance, so I kinda went in a different direction for the prompt today. So here’s a little fic about Maka and Soul being detained in 24 hour Wal-Mart and questioned by the night manager after causing trouble. Who’s gonna crack first?

ao3 link

(Oh! And shoutout to @texasdave94 for letting me use his Wal-Mart experiences as extra inspiration for this fic!)

Greg doesn’t get paid enough for this job.

It was 4:00 a.m. on a Friday night and the last thing he wanted to do was more paperwork, but if he got these interrogations done and over with by morning he could go home to his wife, Linda, and their two Chihuahuas, and not have to worry about anything until the weekend was over.

Technically this wasn’t even supposed to be his job. As the night manager at the 24-hour Death City Wal-Mart he had much more important things to be doing than questioning two shoplifters, but Dennis, the security guard on duty for tonight, was sent home early with food poisoning. Greg supposed questioning delinquent teens was a little bit better than cleaning more of Dennis’s puke off the floor of cereal aisle, but only marginally.

Greg rubbed his temples while he opened the door to his office to let the first suspect inside. Dennis was the only one with keys to the small interview room they had, so this would have to do for now. He wasn’t really sure how these interviews worked, but from what he saw on tv on the cop shows he watched with Linda, it was best to interview criminals separately so they couldn’t corroborate with one another. He highly doubted the two kids sitting outside his office counted as “criminals,” but the sentiment still applied. Best not to give them a chance to change their stories.

The first was a teenage girl, average height and slim build, wearing a trench coat. That in and of itself should have screamed that something was amuck with her, but apparently the other employees did not notice anything nefarious about the girl when they came close to letting her walk out of the store with stolen goods. The other suspect looked shady as well, a white-haired boy with sharp red eyes and strange-looking teeth that made his scowl look even more menacing. Greg figured that asking the girl was probably the better option. Teenage boys were impossible to talk to regardless of how creepy-looking they were. Greg was a teenage boy once, he knew their dispositions well.

He told her to sit, and she did, smoothing out her skirt primly and resting her folded hands in her lap. She seemed like an agreeable young girl. Maybe this whole thing would go smoothly.

Greg cleared his throat and lifted a blank sheet of paper to his face, pretending to read standard interview questions that were actually locked in the real interview room.

“So, uh, what’s your name?”

-

“Am I required by law to tell you that?” Maka asked the man pleasantly.

The man’s kind demeanor turned perplexed. “Excuse me?”

“I just want to know if I’m lawfully obligated to tell you my name without a lawyer present.”

“A lawyer?”

-

“Soul Evans,” Soul said, sticking his pinky inside his mouth to pick idly at one of his back teeth. A little sliver of popcorn had gotten caught back there earlier today and it had been bothering him ever since.

“Listen,” the man questioning him said. His face already looked pretty red, though Soul was having a hard time figuring out why. Did his interrogation of Maka go poorly or something? “I’m not in the mood for your games tonight, okay?  We all want this to be over so just be straight with me, okay?”

“….Okay?”

“What. Is. Your. Real. Name.”

“I already told you—”

-

“Listen, little girl, there’s no need to get lawyers involved here. I just need to ask you a few questions as per protocol.”

“Fine. Ask me all you want. But I prefer to remain anonymous.”

A vein in the man’s temple throbbed comically. “You can’t remain anonymous when you just committed a crime!”

Maka crossed her arms indignantly. “Committed a crime? What on earth did I do?”

-

Soul was smacking his hands on the man’s desk for emphasis. “My name IS SOUL! That’s my name!! It’s on my birth certificate! Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

The manager guy put his head in his hands. “I swear the next time I see Dennis I’m killing him.”

“What?”

The man looked at Soul like he hadn’t spoken. “Fine, Soul, can you care to tell me about why you’re here with me right now?”

Soul scoffed and crossed his arms, leaning back in the upholstered chair he was forced to it in for this interview. “I shouldn’t even be here right now.”

The night manager looked positively LIVID. “Can one of you just ANSWER THE QUESTION PROPERLY.”

Soul did not appreciate this man shouting at him when he’d been nothing but civil the entire time. He yelled right back, “I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I WAS PUT UP TO THIS AGAINST MY WILL. MAKA IS THE MASTERMIND HERE. BOOK HER.”

The man’s eyes widened somewhere near the end of Soul’s tirade, and he picked up his clipboard and pen and started furiously writing something. “Maka. Finally!”

-

“Are you serious? You were trying to steal from my store! That’s against the law, kid.”

Maka rolled her eyes. “Trust me, sir, I know the law. Probably a lot better than you, I can assure you.” She was a meister, for Death’s sake. It was her job to remain firmly on the side of Good.

“Says the one who was shoplifting.”

Wait. Maka pauses for a moment. “Shoplifting? Is that what they said I did?”

The man blew a breath out loudly through his nose. “If you didn’t shoplift, what is it you think you’re here for?”

“We never even left the store! That would defeat the point—” Maka squints at the man’s nametag. “—Greg.”

“Listen here, missy, I won’t let you use my name if you refuse to tell me what yours is.”

Maka looked down at her watch and smiled a little. “Fine, whatever works for you.”

-

Soul was practicing his deep breathing exercises. He just wanted to go home.

“Alright, kid, now tell me what it is your friend out there coerced you into doing.”

Soul lifted his eyes to the heavens. That’s a loaded question if he ever heard one. “Where do I even start? Listen, man, I’m a good person,” he said, placing a hand over his heart. “In fact—and I know this might be hard to believe—but I’m the honest-to-God conscience of my friend group. The fact that it’s taken us this long to get detained by someone is baffling. All I want to do it stay at home on our day off from school and watch HGTV reruns with my girlfriend, but noooo, because Maka and fucking Black Star have to make a bet and poor ol’ Soul gets dragged into it, yet AGAIN.”

The manager looked like he was struggling to keep up. He’s frantically writing things on his little clipboard, but Soul couldn’t be bothered to care. “Wait, who’s Black Star, another accomplice?”

Soul ignored him, because now that he’d started complaining, he couldn’t stop. “Like? Maka complains that there’s nothing fun to do in Death City anymore and Black Star’s all ‘WANNA BET?’” Soul practically shouted, making his voice sound as bro-y as possible. “And then they’re betting! They always bet and I always get caught up in it because then Maka’s all—” his voice got significantly higher and a thousand times more defiant, “—‘me and Soul can TOTALLY stay in a Wal-Mart for 24 hours without being caught’—”

The man’s eyes widen again.

“And I never asked to be involved in this, you know? Like the last thing I want to do is spend my free Friday sneaking around a capitalist wasteland for a full freaking DAY. I like sleeping! I like not having to sneak!”

-

“I never stole anything,” Maka said, her arms cross defiantly over her chest.

“Margaret from register one says that you and your crony outside were looking very suspicious over by the front of the store. She’d seen you wandering around the store idly multiple times.”

“And I deserved to be questioned for that, why?”

“Margaret also said that when she tried to kick you out, you refused to walk through the front doors.” The man looks at her pointedly. “Where the security alarms are.”

“Why would I leave the store when I haven’t made my purchase yet?”

“Because you were never PLANNED ON MAKING A PURCHASE, did you?” The night manager says, slamming his hands down on his desk. Maka is sure if it’s for emphasis or to be intimidating. She raises an eyebrow.

“Well, that’s the first thing you’ve been right about in this entire interrogation, Greg.”

-

“Wait, so you’re saying you’ve been in my store for—”

“And God, you’d be surprised how boring Wal-Mart is after like 3 hours. Like, looking at the food just pisses you off because of how hungry you are and how cheap it is compared to local grocery stores, but you’re not gonna buy any because Wal-Mart doesn’t deserve your money when it’s causing smaller stores to out of business to begin with—”

The manager jumped in. “Wal-Mart is a wholesome, family store—”

“Can it, Greg,” Soul said, not missing a beat. “And after a while you start reading all the trashy dollar novels but you can only see word ‘meat missile’ so many times before you start to think, hey, maybe these authors aren’t being ironic when they write this, and then it gets kinda sad.” Soul ran his hands through his hair. “And Maka can be stuck in the book section forever, so you gotta find something else to do since trying to get her to give up this dumb bet clearly isn’t worth it.

“And so then you’re playing with Power Rangers toys in the kid’s section, which is really fun but the toy section people are looking at you really suspiciously, which I don’t get, because what’s so wrong with two seventeen-year-olds playing with Power Rangers? They’re cool, okay?”

Greg over there opened his mouth like he was going to interject, but closed his mouth when Soul loudly shouted “I’M COOL, OKAY?”

-

“I knew it! You weren’t planning on buying anything!”

Maka sat stoically while the man gloated, though she was still unsure what he was so happy about. He hadn’t really gotten her to admit anything. She wiped some sweat from the back of her neck and sighed. She was already hot to begin with, but somewhere throughout this little “interrogation” Greg had turned his desk lamp around to blind her. This guy had seen too many 60’s cop shows.

“Getting a little nervous there, girl? Looks like you’re starting to sweat.”

Maka rolled her eyes.

-

“So the Power Rangers plan is over, so then you go over to the exercise equipment because your meister absolutely insists on training since we’re not at school to do it.” Soul rubs the back of his neck as he looks up at the ceiling, lost in thought. “And like, I love her, but why does she always have to do that. Even on our day off, trapped in a Wal-Mart, of all places, she still wants to do homework? Who does that? So now you’re spotting your girlfriend while she benches like 150, hoping to God she doesn’t ask you to switch because then you’re gonna have to take all the weight off of that bar, and fuck—you’re gonna have to get a LIGHTER BAR entirely, and how embarrassing is that?”

-

Part of Maka wished she was an actual shoplifter just so she could have swiped a deodorant when her and Soul were bumming around in the pharmacy department. She was starting to smell a little rank after training with Soul for two hours in the exercise department, and the damn light that man insisted on shining in her face wasn’t happening.

“Listen, sir, since I never actually stole anything, you don’t have anything to pin on me. So why don’t we just call it a night—” she glanced at her watch again, “—and let me go. My partner and I will go purchase something in the store to make you happy and we’ll be on our way.”

“No way, missy. Just because you have a smart mouth doesn’t mean I can’t get your little partner-in-crime to fess up to what you two have been doing in my store.” He stood and went to his office door, opening it up and calling for Soul. “It’s your turn, son,” he said, his voice a little deeper like he was planning on going back to the intimidation tactic. Maka sighed and stood up, walking past Soul. She tilted her wrist in just such a way that he could see the timer still going on her watch.

-

“—And after getting kicked out of the toilet paper section for building forts, what is left for you to do, really? The electronics department didn’t even have HGTV as a station, so there was really no point in hanging out there once your heart is set on Flip of Flop. We were gonna go grab a cart from the front to do chariot races when that nosey cashier started yelling at us.”

The night manager looked at Soul speechlessly. He idly wondered how long he’d been talking. “So yeah, I’m beat. Can I go now?”

The man looked down at his clipboard, then up at Soul again. “So, you didn’t shoplift anything?”

He raised an eyebrow at him. “No? Why the fuck would we do that? Maka’s morals are way too strict for crap like stealing.”

Greg thumped his head on his desk.

“Are you okay, man?”

-

Greg breathed in loudly through his nose, the wood of his desk cool against his forehead.

“Listen, just go, kid.”

“What? I can’t hear you with your face all down like that.”

Greg peered up at the boy and scowled. “Just. Go.” It felt like he’d been talking to these kids for an eternity. After all that, they never even stole anything.

“I mean, if you say so,” he said with a shrug, standing up and putting a hand in his pocket. He went to the door and opened it. “Oi, Maka. The guy says we can go—” he shut the door behind him, but there wasn’t enough force for it to click all the way shut.

“Did you say anything to him?” Greg heard the girl—Maka—say quietly. “You were in there for a while.”

“Nah, not much. I mean we didn’t even technically do anything wrong, unless Wal-Mart wants to give a loitering fine or something. But I don’t think he wants to see us anymore. Were you being a pain or somethin’?”

The girl laughed a little. “Nah, not really.”

Greg squeezed his hand into a fist. He was going to need to get his blood pressure taken in the pharmacy department after this. He stood to go shut his door the rest of the way.

“Hey,” the boy asked, voice a little farther away. They must have been leaving the back hallway to head back into the store. “What time is it anyway?”

Greg peered out the door in time to see the girl thrust her wrist watch in the boy’s face delightedly.

“Time for Black Star to PAY UP!! We won the bet!”

“We better have, after I poured my guts out to that guy for like two hours,” the boy grumbled.

The girl kissed him on the cheek happily. “You’re the best partner-in-crime ever, you know that?”

They turned to walk away. “Yeah, yeah. Black Star better know that he owes ME fifty bucks and back-rub too.”

Greg shut his door with a little more force than necessary. He definitely had a story to tell Linda in the morning now.