#but i think there's something there abt annie's fear of beth losing her grip eg her hysterically laughing in the hospital that's like...fear

[sothischickshe]

okay it is extremely hard to pull a snippet that fits within the ask character count and sending it in multiple parts would require both math and remembering where I left off SO I’m gonna just tell you: dvd commentary for the anniversary scene in waiting for someone or a scene of your choice if there’s one you’d rather talk about that was just the last one I was trying to force into this tiny box, I tried like three others

oh god, counting is fundamentally immoral, absolutely fucking not!!!

All right, so the anniversary scene in waiting for someone who needs me is pretty short (idk if it’s under 500 words cos, again, counting is immoral):

The night of the anniversary, Beth’s out on the deck. She thinks about calling Annie, the way she’s been musing on at intervals throughout the day.

But she honestly isn’t sure if Annie indeed notes the date. Wouldn’t fault her if she doesn’t, truly. Their relationships with their mother were so different, Annie has no memories of the before – obviously. And she never suffered with post-partum or–

Then suddenly – there he is. Occupying the wicker chair. He isn’t even particularly close, but his heat hits her, strong, perhaps because of the surprising force of the wind tonight. She’d meant to fetch a blanket but then she just…didn’t.

Beth doesn’t look up, but does push her glass, along the recently purchased cypress table, towards him. Swigs from the bottle instead.

“I think the dead should stay dead,” she says, eventually.

When she cants her eyes over, he’s absorbed the offering.

“Yeah,” he rasps. “Probably right.”

so i guess overall why the scene’s there/what I was thinking about when i wrote it is that it builds on the general themes of i. rio suggesting wishes that beth’s ultimately not tempted by and ii. there being no apparent limits on what can be wished for/him claiming he can do anything (leading to beth feeling like she can do anything she wants at the end).

and i. is rooted in and tied to her feeling like she exchanged her mother for annie, so the scene is supposed to emphasise the privacy and loneliness of her grief (for their mother, but also for her mother who she knew in a way that annie didn’t, and also for her own childhood). and there’s a couple of lines abt her thinking abt/meaning to do things (call annie; get a blanket) and just kinda not doing it, and i guess that’s there to emphasise the paralysis of letting it in.

and while beth’s firmly anti-wish throughout, i think she is kinda tempted by plenty of them. her saying i think the dead should stay dead is a firm rejection, but i think she would have given this avenue at least idle consideration. and then been like well that’d be fucking horrid. also rio agreeing with her, and not raising this particular suggestion again, is significant. like, he’ll briefly take no for an answer and then pop up again, but is paying attention (which beth finds offensively suspect lol) and modifies his suggestions accordingly. i imagine he’s agreeing bc he’s seen bad situations play out from ppl wishing for a dead person to come back (beth’s probably not wrong! it probably is some letter of the law situation where you get a zombie-esque husk!) but also bc he understands grief and complexity too. and he! likes! her!

on the word choices, well i guess there’s his heat which i. teehee and ii. there’s just a lot of fire/warmth/coal/whatnot stuff for him throughout cos he’s a djinn and a being of flame/fire/whathaveyou.

and then him absorbing the offering - well she’s passed him a drink but also been kind of honest/raw with him (again really for the first time, up to then she’s just been telling him to fuck off mostly), so the absorption is supposed to apply to both. plus the fact that them having an actual conversation only has 2 lines of dialogue feels right bc they’re Like That.

there’s some fun new furniture too cos beth’s gone full fkn bananas on the flea markets

SAD LACK OF PUNS I MUST SAY

(and i guess generally, gg is a show i discovered when trauma and grief were looming large in my life, so perhaps that’s part of why they’re themes i tend to return to a lot in gg ff)

‘DVD’ commentary of a ff snippet