#i also really liked jim and oswald but i never wrote about them

[leprosycock]

wait u used to be into gotham? i was tragically obsessed w that utter disaster of a show forever holy shit

YEAH ….. YEAH I WAS …………. i wrote something like. thirty fics for it. they were all either incest or abuse or underage or a combination of all three (it was with bruce and/or either of the valeskas) and it awoke me to comics in general and also shotacon as a general concept but god it was SOOOO BADDDDDD IT WAS SO SO SO BAD!!!!!! i’ll NEVER get back the time that i spent obsessing over that show and bitching up a storm about every new episode even though i followed it religiously for YEARS. pain and madness

[trophywifejimgordon]

okay so, oswald’s stupid aliases meta? oswald’s stupid aliases meta. 

after returning to gotham in 1x3, oswald fairly quickly takes on a few false titles, first when confronted by a fish mooney lackey in an alley who recognizes him as the ex umbrella boy (in a panic, he tells the man that he must be confused, his name is dmitri... yeah, no), then when trying to endear himself to don maroni (trying to claim italian heritage, he calls himself paolo), and finally, in 1x4, when introducing himself to barbara (”i’m peter. peter... humboldt.”). 

so.

of these, and i’m separating the last one into two parts, i pretty much have the least to say about dmitri. while oswald has some time off screen to think about the other names, the confrontation with the mook forces him to come up with that one on the spot, so imo it’s the least likely to have heavy significance; likely he just chose it because it’s a very slavic name to fit the very slavic accent he’s not fooling anyone with. if i were really pressed about it, i might point out that dmitri is derived from demeter, the greek goddess of the harvest (among other things). demeter is responsible for the growth of the crops, but also presides over the cycle of life and death and the sacred law; one of her titles is “law-bringer,” referring to the idea that idea that law and order formed in agricultural society. the interaction oswald has here with this mook is notable in that--before he kills the guy--oswald insists that “gotham needs him! [he is] its future!” oswald aligning himself, consciously or not, with being responsible for gotham’s fertility, its health, and most of all its structure, would not be out of character for him, and is in fact directly supported by his interactions with the man to whom he gives the fake name. 

but that’s all pretty tenuous. 

next up, paolo! this one, i had fun with. see, i had a somewhat classical education. i read the inferno. that being so, my immediate connection with the name paolo (and, indeed, the only major literary connection i could find) was to the story of paolo malatesta and francesca da rimini. they’re condemned to the second circle of hell for their lust, yadda yadda, whatever. i’m mostly just concerned with the man himself; one source (from the owlcation page on paolo and francesca) describes him as “a romantic sort, a man not really interested in the world around him.” (emphasis mine.) which is fun, because guess what oswald’s doing at the time that he gives this name? he’s almost just been hired as a dishwasher at bamonte’s, maroni’s favorite restaurant. given the job, he’s warned that he hears nothing, sees nothing, says nothing. in all likelihood, oswald gives maroni this name mainly for its obvious italian origin, attempting (successfully) to endear himself to the obviously italian don by claiming “his mother’s” italian ancestry. however, there are a lot of italian names he could have chosen from. i don’t see why his choice of this one couldn’t also be a subtle way of reaffirming that he’s following the rules set out for him. paolo malatesta’s wikipedia page (and like, wikipedia as a source, i know, i know, but) takes this a little further, recounting that paolo is traditionally portrayed as a man “not very inclined to aspirations for power.” very NOT oswald, obviously. at the same time, very appropriate for his meek act as he slowly endears himself to maroni. even spicier, though, is this: “recent investigations, however, reveal [paolo] as a young man very attentive to politics and immersed in the political intrigue of the time.” so, could this mean that his fake name is not only a reaffirmation of his lowly position, but also a very, very veiled hint that he’s more than he seems? it would feel appropriate, in this case, that the traditional interpretation of malatesta is the one that oswald is banking on to facilitate his squirm into maroni’s inner circle, while the contemporary reading is the one he actually identifies with. that’s oswald all over; in touch with the old ways, yet in a class all his own.

a little less dramatically, paolo, like the anglicized “paul,” has roots meaning “small” or “humble.” so, in more ways than one, the name can be seen as oswald bending at the knee to maroni’s apparent superiority... and beginning to bide his time.

now, peter humboldt. 

you know, i really never did like this name? i’ve watched 1x4 at least six or seven times, and it always kind of made me go :/ when he offered it, because it’s just kind of... ugly, i guess. i have to say though (while i still think it’s ugly on sound alone), i’m fully obsessed with it now. 

like i said, i’m breaking this down into two parts. my analysis of the “peter” half, as with my analysis of “dmitri,” is a little more tenuous, just because it’s a fairly plain, common name. however, the low hanging fruit is the apostle peter, and never let it be said that i don’t take the low hanging fruit. so... peter. on the surface, oswald doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the story of peter the apostle, and that kind of threw a wrench in my analysis for a while. being inclined to fit that particular square block into this particular round hole, though, i got there. don’t worry, y’all. my penchant for bullshit knows no bounds.

first thing’s first, it bears note that “peter” was an alias of sorts for the apostle, too, since his given name was simon/simeon. he was jesus’s first disciple, and went from that to eventually heading up the church after the crucifixion and all following, becoming the “first pope.” such an ascension is a little reminiscent of oswald’s from umbrella boy to the head of the gotham underworld, i guess. and that’s cool. But We Can Go Deeper. i think it’s always kind of useful to keep in mind who the alias is for at the time; who oswald is trying to fool. in this case, the recipient of his bullshit is barbara kean, with an audience of an already in-the-know jim gordon. before his ascension, and furthermore, before either of them joined with christ, peter was already affiliated with a few other disciples: andrew (his brother), john, and james. (neither here nor there, but st. james was the first of the disciples to be martyred. jim...) peter and james--and the others, but i’m talking about peter and james--worked together; they were fishermen. in light of his audience, i think that it’s not entirely inconceivable that oswald is affirming his pre-ascent connection to james gordon (who he does exclusively refer to as james for the duration of the scene, rather than the ‘jim’ we get a lot more later on). not to mention, you know, the whole nautical theme. it’s not a particularly inspired link, but it does kind of work for him. additionally, while i still admit this is not the strongest meta i’ve ever written, oz choosing this name for these reasons would pair nicely with a running theme later in the season (that gets more or less dropped off by season 2, disappointingly), wherein oswald is repeatedly implied to have at least a tenuous christian background and some possible lingering expression of faith... think about the season finale, when falcone tells him he’ll burn in hell and oswald is momentarily taken aback, admitting, “i do worry about that.” 

(while i’m on this particular bullshit, one other thing that peter is known for is denying jesus three times after his death, but ultimately being forgiven and heading jesus’s church anyway. because i am a lover of Increasingly Tenuous Connections, i kind of see this as foreshadowing of the twist in 1x7. oswald’s protests to fish in the pilot that he would never betray her are reminiscent of peter’s insistence that even if every other disciple renounced jesus, he would not. naturally, he did betray her, and implicitly falcone through her. he continues renouncing his falcone ties, first by secretly joining maroni and then by openly joining maroni and threatening to spark a gang war... but at the end of it all, we learn that his “loyalties” (such as they are) never actually changed--he’s still falcone’s man. just. idk. idk. i’m Thinking About It.) 

aaaaand, finally, humboldt. 

so :) 

this is the part that i honestly wrote this whole thing to explore. because the thing is? i looooooove that he chose the name humboldt, now that i feel like i know why he chose it. i still think it sounds like a stupid name, but the subtext? the implications? UGH! 

right off the bat, my first impression was just that it sounds like the word “humble,” which goes back to the thing with paolo. neat enough. but, this name isn’t given to don maroni--it’s given to barbara. and remember, that’s important. so, what does humboldt mean, other than that? well, the one person with that name famous enough to bear mentioning is apparently alexander von humboldt. i’m certain that the name is, one way or another, a reference to him... and i’ll get to why in a second. he was a prussian (so, eastern european--check) polymath, as well as a naturalist, romantic philosopher, explorer, etc, and raised mainly by a single mother to boot. not all of his hats are directly related to oswald’s interests and skillsets, i’ll grant you, but the fact that he was a naturalist does have direct implications for why i think oswald choosing this name was a deliberate reference to this person by the writers of the show, because see, the thing is, there were quite a few animals named after him... including Spheniscus humboldti.

the humboldt penguin.

given that it’s gotham, i do have to acknowledge the possibility (probability) that that’s as deep as it goes. the writers were looking for a clever way to slip another penguin reference in there (they’re not. exactly. subtle, especially in season one, with the way that the characters are going to turn out), they looked up breeds of penguins, found this one, that’s it. but, on the other hand, there are other breeds of penguins that they could have chosen, and they chose this one. whether it was deliberate or only an accident, the decision was made, and i am running with it. 

because, like, another fun thing about humboldt: he was gay. 

(side note 2: you know tfw you’re on someone’s wikipedia page and there’s a ton of information about them and their life and their contributions to science but you’re like outta my way i ONLY want to know this man’s sexuality? ah, the personal life tab. where would we be without you.)

well, it’s one of those situations where you have to decide if you’re going to try to ascribe modern sexuality labels to historical figures, and at the end of the day, i won’t really get into it. however, though there is some scholarly discourse that cites him as a largely asexual figure (and while i’m definitely not getting into it and do not intend this as an attack on the asexual community in any way, i have to say an obviously gay man being desexualized to make him more palatable feels... familiar), the facts seem undeniable that he experienced same-sex attraction, whether or not you want to define this as exclusive. it is speculated that he had notable affairs with or at least vehement attraction toward wilhelm gabriel wegener, reinhardt von haeften, françois arago, and possibly his valet seifret, among others. maybe gotham writers didn’t intend for this little throwaway alias to be read as an announcement of oswald’s sexuality (although, even if “humboldt” wasn’t, the exchange he has with barbara--“i never get to meet any of jim’s friends, because he doesn’t tell me anything” ��men.” “don’t i know!”--sure was... something), but as i am not a coward, i am perfectly content to read it as one anyway. and don’t forget what i said--this is the alias he gives to barbara. barbara, about whom he knows a possibly suspicious amount, given that she’s almost irrelevant to his political schemes. barbara, whose apartment he went to for jim gordon. barbara, who is, perhaps, his perceived romantic rival. 

look, it’s probably just a name and a penguin joke. but what’s the point of metatextual analysis if you can’t be like “he showed up and told barb his name was peter humboldt because he wanted to affirm that his origins are tied to saint jim’s and let it be known that the two of them are in competition for jim’s attention all in the most dramatic way possible and while smugly congratulating himself on being so clever and subtle”?? this isn’t really a threat--in contrast to how creepy he is with women he is threatening, namely fish and liza, oswald is downright courteous to barbara--so much as it is an indulgent expression of petty jealousy. i think he wants jim but perhaps doesn’t even realize the extent or in which way yet; he just wants barbara to know, on some level, that she’s sharing, and jim to know (because jim is just as much an audience to his performance here, and he knows that the alias is fake, might be driven to consider, with that detective brain of his, why he chose what he chose...), on some level, that they’re tied. 

oof. ok. that was a lot, but one last thing. since i’m already indulging in gratuitous oswald parallels with humboldt anyway, i might as well point out this line from a letter he wrote to reinhardt von haeften, after von haeften’s engagement to a woman: “Even if you must refuse me, treat me coldly with disdain, I should still want to be with you... the love I have for you is not just friendship or brotherly love, it is veneration.”

i’m on my bullshit, but... you can hear it in his voice, right?

[gothamstreetcat]

Please share your thoughts based of the bingo cards below because I wanna know 👀

i am absolutely going to be talking about all things controversial below the cut: ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ʳᵉᵃᵈ ᶦᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃʳᵉ ᵃ ᶠᵃⁿ ᵒᶠ ᵇᵃʳᵇᵃʳᵃ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗᵃᵇᶦᵗʰᵃ 

season one

there isn't much I think is super controversial in season one, but I will definitely be talking about selina, the batcat kiss, and the overall season itself

on selina i have to say i was a little nervous before the show aired. it’s silly but also understandable for me because i always find myself getting nervous whenever someone new takes on a character I love. but honestly, i think camren is the best selina kyle we could have asked for. there is just always something about each catwoman/selina kyle i didn’t like, but with camren i think we get the most true and genuine portrayal because gotham shows her childhood—a obviously important part to selina’s character. it’s a side of her we never get to see much of in the comics or in films, and i just find it a very important part to her character. 

sometimes I think people are too drawn into making selina something more (holy tim burton, batman! she’s got cat powers!). and I hate to throw tim  under the bus with this, but over time the whole cat powers thing really pissed me off because part of what I loved about selina was how she was a regular person. she didn’t need cat powers to be great or special. it also kinda makes me sad when people compare cam’s selina so much to pfeiffer’s because a. camren is her own selina and shouldn’t be put under that kind of pressure and b. I really can’t see someone as tough as camren’s selina becoming some old man’s assistant with “corndogs” as a (cat)chprase(?) 

i know it’s silly, but another thing about cam’s selina is how much i just love her. i just grew up wanting to be her and be like her. i wanted to be hardened by city streets and i know it’s dumb but i don’t think i have to explain why i feel such a strong way about her. we all have our favorite characters. **more of this hot mess in the tags

moving into the batcat kiss i was initially really uncomfortable and disappointed with it. david and cam were young at the time, therefore, so were bruce and selina, and i just honestly feel like it was too soon. however, i know in an interview they talked about it and were okay with it—cam saying how she was able to separate herself from the character—so I have grown to be more tolerant of it (is it dumb to say i was a little embarrassed for them because that’s how i would feel if it was me?) i am also not innocent because i did make a gifset of the kiss but it was also paired with selina asking for bruce’s consent, and i only made it because i liked the parallels (queue a young me making gifs on makeagif.com) Now, I will highly advocate for that gifset because to me it really shows how much selina went to get bruce’s ‘okay’ before she kissed him. i feel as though we are always advocating so much when it comes to a woman’s consent but never when it is a man’s and both are equally as important but we’ll get into that later in this post. 

another thing i want to add, is how i’d like to believe i have some idea as to why they did the kiss in the first place. i want to believe it had something to do with the trauma of the day, or the fact that bruce is a boy who showed selina genuine kindness when she is clearly someone who has gone without. god forbid it only to be seen as ‘cute’ but perhaps, because selina wanted to know what it felt like to be touched in that sort of way. by someone like Bruce (who was innocent and had never been kissed) maybe it was some sort of way to thank him or a parting gift, to which i’m sure people would say that’s wrong but i feel with selina’s background it makes sense. as if it was a way for bruce to remember her by. now, i personally wouldn’t know what any of that feels like so maybe that throws all my credibility out the window but these are just my ideas.

the season overall i hold onto dear, i know we all have our favorites and this isn’t controversial, but you can’t beat the first. sometimes, i do feel like shows lose their way and loose that little spark when they first got started. and to be honest, i did feel that a little with gotham. not only that (and i’ve said this before so i’m sorry if i’m a broken record) but with gotham it gaves us these characters we are so used to seeing a certain way. the show took these seeming monsters and turned them human and we as watchers related to them. edward nygma was a nerd working at the gcpd. oswald was a guy holding an umbrella, turned dishwasher who then became the king of gotham. poison ivy was just a kid. everything was so new and fresh and exciting. so yeah, i think that’s a wrap on season one

season two

the only thing i am really going to talk about from this season was ‘babitha.’ again, i am sorry for anyone who follows me, is reading this and is a fan of them but in all seriousness: their relationship was toxic as hell. first off, i really didn’t like barbara nor tabitha before hand. barbara always felt whiny and needy while tabitha was played like some ditzy woman for her brother. together they were highly annoying, and i almost hate say that because independently tabitha was a really strong character. i still didn’t like her but i see and appreciate her without her brother. 

going into that i really think there where times barbara dragged her down. times where barbara was unstable, power-hungry and it just seemed like tabitha was not enough unless she had more. barbara also didn’t seem to like the idea that butch had a special place in tabitha’s heart (and then later killed him). i mean this is a funny way, but barbara can come off like that kid who was never told ‘no’ in her life.

not to mention when tabitha died and barbara went and fucked jim for the sake it of, i guess. i know everyone grieves differently and holy batgirl, batman! but it doesn’t seem right.

i wish i had more to say on them with better examples, but i honestly have way more to say regarding the sirens so i’m gonna let you read that instead.

honorable mentions include: bridgit pike deserving better because that girl could never catch a break. and the true ending of herself and karen jennings meeting, falling in love, and leaving gotham together. it honestly makes me sad i made up this ship and it feels like i’m the only one keeping it afloat. 

season three

again, i have my issues regarding the siren’s team up, so i was unhappy when they decided to make tabitha galavan selina’s mentor. i personally would not want to pair someone as vulnerable as selina with someone who physically and mentally abused her, but okay gotham. so that is where my ted grant comment came in, i assume you’ve read the comics and know that ted was one of the few who originally trained selina before becoming catwoman. therefore, i was disappointed they didn’t use him as i find him a better canidate for a mentor but also such an important person in her story. he would have been a great addition to the show. 

of course my first honorable mention must go to the batman returns scene because you’re only hip if piggy-back off of tim burton. as i mentioned above i don’t like how much cam’s selina is compared to pfieffer’s. i don’t understand why they had to re-create something i already think is over hyped when gotham is already a great show on it’s own, it would have been redeeming if they had not done the ‘cat power’ thing in season five but thankfully they didn’t really use it.it really pisses me off how much they really tried to make that scene frame for frame. 

my second honorable mention is going to be given to selina not knowing five was bruce because of his scars & alfred and maria respectively. i could talk a lot about why i love maria and alfred--i understand why people don’t like her and they’re right to do so, however, i do think they are right for one another. they both have jaded pasts, and yeah, the show was teasing love-interests for alfred a here and there but how can you not be happy for him when he saw selina’s mom? i think people should be redeemed and i honestly think maria was at least changed by her time at wayne manor and if you want i wrote a fic about alfred and maria but it’s totally bad writing wise so don’t read it. also. i’m sorry it’s dirty and i couldn’t go through with it. it’s kinda bad

as for selina and five i think there is something imamate about selina knowing bruce’s scars (not gonna lie,i was honestly going to talk about this but i’m too tired and don’t think i have anything meaningful to have)

season four

this is probably going to be the hardest season for me to talk about. and the only two things i’m going to cover are the toxic manipulation and abuse between the sirens team-up, as well as the sexual abuse bruce endured.

on the sirens i just wanna say i hopefully plan in the future to make a master-post involving this trio. i want to be as clear as possible and include the episodes but in case i don’t i’m just going to try my best. keep in mind i made this post regarding this topic a long time ago if you want the quick version. if you do check it out it’s been a while since i read it so it is probably messy and ugly. i also want to point out i’m going to try and talk about how much of the adults in selina’s life failed her. barbara and tabitha hit this mark pretty hard since at least barbara was there in the beginning stages of her life, and the trio themselves were made to appear as some sort of strong power-house.

i get on a surface level why fans like the barabra/tabitha + selina team-up (because girl power i guess), but i honestly can’t get over the abuse selina endured to even get to the point of being in a group. much of their relationship seemed more about tabitha and barbara loving to have her rather then love her, period. there were times during their involvement that it was clear selina was not an equal, and times where being with them made selina weaker (speaking about when she called upon them for help in that one episode where she was trapped, yet you’re telling me this is the same girl who took out that guy’s eyes from season one?) several times, selina appeared to be talked down to and treated as though she couldn’t handle tasks, yet has been homeless her whole life and has broken in and out of prison. 

the interaction between barbara and selina from season one haunts me a great deal for the way barbara spoke to selina and was objectifying her. i made a long-post/ask about it here which i encourage you to look at. this is particularly hard for me to talk about for the simple fact of selina being a child of the streets and barbara speaking to her like she’s trying to pimp her out *for lack of a better way of saying it* i just don’t think this is something an adult should be saying to selina because the truth is that barabara is the adult and should do better. her and tabitha even dressed her up for that club commercial (in which selina was clearly unhappy) and had her running a club full of underage kids developing a drinking problem and one very small boy being taken advantage of. 

people hate it when alfred slapped selina but when tabitha punched selina unconscious and kidnaped her for barbara it’s no big deal

and the episode “to our deaths and beyond” hits deepest and is a clean sign of manipulation when they both tricked selina into bringing bruce so they could mutilate him for his blood. even when he was crying and panicking barbara help him down and tabitha held selina back from helping him. 

here is a gifset about the scene and *lex i’m sorry for using your set if you happen to see this (but please don’t see this because i don’t wanna make anyone feel bad and i just want to speak freely about what i believe) 

again, not treating selina with respect, and when she straight told them she would have not brought bruce BECAUSE HE IS HER FRIEND, tabitha got defense and questioned her loyalty. first off, you are an adult and should know how to act better. she knew selina wouldn’t have brought bruce otherwise because they knew what they were doing was wrong. they knew how much bruce meant to selina and for them to try to guilt her is awful in itself. tricking and manipulating bruce is awful. mutilating him is awful. and holding selina back from helping her friend after you lied to her is awful--this is honestly one of the most sickening things for me to watch *not to mention why you would not want selina to be friends with bruce when he’s clearly a great guy* (but the gifset is pretty no question. shout-out to lex for being so talented)

in addition to this, the entire selina getting shot storyline is right up there too. i understand the writer’s didn’t have enough time to flesh everything out but it wasn’t even mentioned once that barbara and tabitha went to visit her. i believe tabitha might have mentioned it but it was only to get revenge over jeremiah, but they never visited her or checked on her, and she tried to kill herself and still nothing. 

now, i’m not trying to be all biased for bruce wayne because he was there for her every singe day and never left her side. nor would i ever mention that idea of bruce physically helping selina care for her own body when she couldn’t. how he got her that medicine to heal her pain and held her while she screamed that she wanted to die. all the while doing everything he could to help her not feel that way again.

you can say a lot of things about bruce wayne. people love to talk shit about him. but at the end of the day you can never say he was a bad friend, because he was the best. and you can’t say that for barbara and tabitha (not only to add how all the abuse was never brought up nor apologized for)

now, onto something that i am a big advocate for and particularly boils my blood. bruce’s alcohol problem and constant physical abuse by the adults in the show. 

i am mainly speaking about ivy (peyton list) however, while reading a reddit thread someone said that grace’s actress as twenty-one years of age, also kissing david (who i believe was sixteen at the time). someone else, also said that it wasn’t really illegal but i honestly do not care. if the roles were reversed and it was a young girl vs an older man, people would be in outrage and i don’t think that should change be it david.

the scene with peyton particularly bothers me because she is substantially older, and while you could argue it might not be david based off how the scene was shot, i highly doubt it. it’s wrong no matter how you slice it and it particularly bothers me because the abuse surrounding men/boys is taken so lightly. i’m not trying to put presidency over female abuse, as i believe both are equal in how awful they are, but there is evidence behind males being mocked. something that is at a higher volume, and it makes me wonder the number of rapes that go unreported or those who can’t talk about it because they won’t be believed. i’ve already seen it but i would be lying if i said i wasn’t worried for david to be conditioned to think what happened to him was fun or cool.

on top of all the kissing in the club scene followed by waking up in bed with the two girls--i would not hesitate to think he was taken advantage of in some way. i also can’t even think of his drinking days and not think of all the people who potentially abused him.

i obviously can’t speak for david and perhaps i’m grasping at straws but this is something that bother me and no one talks about enough.

season five

nothing to add here except while i did miss cam in the final and it wasn’t complete without here, i very much respect her for her choice to walk away. i think it shows a high level of intelligence and integrity (something i wish i had). and i most admire her for passing on the torch when she felt she wasn’t ready, which i think speaks volumes of her and her character. again, selina one selina will always be my favorite so i love the idea of my favorite staying a young girl before she was ready. i don’t think the show was ready. and as much as i would have loved for her to have a cameo like david did, it isn’t here or there and she said she favorite scene was on the staircase. so as far as i’m concerned, that’s the best place to leave on (even though that wasn’t the last scene but we’re ignoring that)

i hope this wasn’t too wordy or long!

[thegreenfairy13]

1, 12, 18

1) First fandom/pairing I wrote fic for? Doctor Who. The pairing was 11xRose and 10xRose. 

12) A trope I haven’t written yet but want to? I haven’t covered major character death yet but I kinda want to write a fic in which the nemesis is finally defeated but that victory is just hollow. 

18) A line/scene of which I’m really proud of? I’ll just go with my most recent project ‘No Country For Heroes’, chapter 2, (Oswald to Jim): 

“I had a stepmother, briefly,” he shares. “I had also stepsiblings,” he carries on. “They poisoned my father. So I cut them into little pieces and fed them to their mother.” 

The smile contorting his features when sharing this tidbit of information will haunt Jim Gordon forever.

“That was after Arkham,” he declares. “They made me good there, Jim,” he adds, directing his gaze back at the detective. “They took apart my entire being, my personality, my very core, and pieced it back together according to their vision.”

Jim wants to protest how they obviously didn’t achieve anything there but keeps his mouth shut for once. This time, he’s smart enough not to taunt the mobster even more.

“Grace, my stepmother, in a way she helped me become myself again,” he muses. “When they released me, I felt sane - but never just quite.” His lower lip quivers and Jim wonders if he should offer some comfort. Finally making a decision, he places a slightly trembling hand above the one still laying on his torso.

Gratefully, Oswald squeezes his fingers lightly.

“There was always something off with me though, when they released me. Did you ever dring rotten milk from a box? It tastes normal at first, but then you smack your lips, and it’s there, this slightly sour, rotten taste. You need a moment to catch on, because your body wants to taste this regular milk so badly. At some point, you have to swallow, though. And there’s the clump, and you can’t continue pretending.”

With a sigh, he lies down next to Jim. “My father was a good man, like my mother. They could have never harmed anyone. So, so good...just like you.”

Burying his head in Jim’s neck, he inhales deeply. The cop stiffens, before awkwardly patting his back, unsure how to answer all that.

“Grace, she accused me of being a rapist.” The criminal shudders in silent disgust. “I protested, of course. Yet she looked at me that way, as if I only hadn’t committed this particular crime yet.”

Oswald is a terrifying villain and not a cuddly bird. A cannibal who will kill you for a sandwich and cook your children. But at the same time, there’s something delicate and fragile about him. I guess I depicted him well in this scene. 

[thankyougotham]

Here’s an article that Film Daily wrote about Nygmobblepot. If you’d like to see them write articles about other relationships, you can contact them on Twitter and make a request. They’ve been very supportive of Gotham in general, so follow them if you’re on Twitter.

“Gotham is an innovative show based on DC Comics characters and produced by Warner Bros.  The Batman origin narrative helped us rapt viewers understand how our favorite heroes (Batman) and villains (The Joker, Penguin) came to be. It also cast a light on just how Gotham City became the wretched crime-filled cesspool we all know & love.

As the fandom knows, we’re so behind the mission to Save Gothamthat it hurts, but today we’ve decided to take a break from all the activism and talk about love. Here’s why we and the Gotham fandom ship hard for Nygmobblepot, and why these fantastic felons are anyone’s perfect gateway into Gotham for people on the fence about the show.”

Sample Quotes from fans: 

Mr. Millicent Cordelia

Both Ed & Oswald were transformed by love. They made sacrifices for each other & always ended up back together. They deserve, and the fans deserve to see this relationship respected as a romance on a server that understands it’s the 21st century.

Merc

Honestly because they’re both idiots and they really deserve each other.

Zoe Tomorrow

They’re two individuals who’ve spent their lives mistreated and misunderstood. They are the only ones who accept one another wholeheartedly. Together they’ve learned about trust, sacrifice, forgiveness, and love. And no matter what they always find a way back to each other.

#PenguinSpinOff

Excellent chemistry between them, and a fun, fresh take on these old, iconic characters. They’re like peanut butter and jelly: fine on their own, but especially delightful together.

Rachel

For one, they “really are meant for each other”! They’ve been through so much and have hurt each other so many times but they’ve managed to overcome it. They have a strong bond, would do anything for each other, and somehow they always come back together!

𝕫𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒

These two men grew up misunderstood and overlooked, and learned to use that to grow. they have risen together, and make an excellent team. they have both admitted to being stronger together, and their fates always become intertwined. they’re destined to be together.

Angela

While I’m not the biggest shipper of Nygmobblepot, I do care for their happiness and for the fans who do ship them. My ship is Batcat. They are best friends as kids & love each other deeply. They always want to protect each other. They are family.

LongLiveGotham #Gotham | #SaveGotham

Nygmobblepot has a long, complex history that reveals both the best and worst of these 2 characters. They have grown and learned much from the relationship. They deserve to be on a server that allows them the freedom to be a romantic couple.

Jenny i love my girlfriend

they are two men who have been abused and undermined their entire lives, but see each other as equals. they have certainly had their ups and down, but they always come back, better and stronger than ever. they understand each other more than anyone else ever has.

(not to mention how groundbreaking it would be to have two characters who have been historically heterosexual be in a romantic relationship)

Hale | 45 Days Till Neo

I’m down for anything with dear Oswald- his chaotic energy is a joy to watch, especially when it’s messing with other character such as Edward and Jim.

Scheming Minor

I am going to say something different in lieu of semantics. Technically in a sense when you get to the details they really are one of the few villain pairings portrayed in a “healthy” relationship in the Batman fandom. They progress, accept and move on; never stagnating. I included the healthy relationship chart to prove a point. Each one of those slices can be seen over the course of Riddler and Penguin’s relationship in Gotham– more so when we reach season 5. Their entire journey is about respect. Adding one more thing – Riddler has traditionally been coded as queer and flits with tentative bisexuality, meanwhile Penguin is known as a womanizer but has rare moments of ’what if’ regarding men. Gothamis one of the few Batman shows that follows through with M/M content.

kebu loves Oswald

They are both extreme individuals, but they fit together perfectly. Both are complex characters that went through life unaccepted by everyone which shaped their desire for more and their paths to becoming supervillains, so when they met it was the first time they found their equal and were accepted by someone. Their paths have been intertwined ever since, and whether they’re together or at odds, they’re always the most significant person in each other’s lives. But even though they ended up appearing together, we didn’t actually see them get “officially” together. Their story has yet to come to a close.

Riz || Professional Mr.Penn promoter

A very complex relationship that cannot be concluded in a spawn of a cut off season like it was. They have had a long journey and a perhaps even longer one before them. Their lowest and best have been shared together and they’re the one person who understand the other fully.

M/M relationships in media and tvshows especially is a rare breed. Even more is the concept of the big chance to make two comic characters and made an entirely new spin on them by being brave enough to make them queer, Oswald perhaps within the asexual spectrum at that. Ed as a tormented, abused soul who struggles with his own identiy and perhaps sexuality.

There is really so much to say, which is exactly why there need to be more to tell the rest of the story.

Vero

While Ed fights with the dichotomy within himself, he’s always felt the most whole when he’s been all-encompassed by Oswald’s world and care. Oswald found compassion and acceptance for all the parts that Ed thought were not loved. They are twin souls that deserve a longer story.There’s always been a complexity to both of them, and they understand the extremes that have made them into the people they are. There is no desire to change the other, only bring out the best in one another and a comfort shared that’s so important.

madi

I feel as though they have stories that extend beyond what Gothamwas able to show through their 5 seasons. Especially with the 5th season being half of its normal length. They mean so much to me, and so many others, and I would love to see even more of them (1/2)

(2/2) and to be able to see Gotham’s depiction of Ed’s backstory, an explanation for the whole Isabella fiasco (like how is she even possible) and a plot line where Ed saves Oswald. We haven’t had any of those since s2/early s3 and I need that in my life. I miss them so much.

Evan

Not only off the charts chemistry, but near similar backgrounds also. Both Ed & Oswald were abandoned by their parents, and had to fight the world their whole lives. Then brought them together and they’ve been unstoppable ever since.

Suzy Dakroub

Because they have the best character development and bond I’ve ever seen on a show! They both truly have no one but eachother. For villains where it’s rare to see compassion and love, these two have it for each other and it’s so wholesome and sweet.

Frothy

it’s the first LGBT representation in such a major franchise on TV! it was taken from us once, twice, but there won’t be a third. i will produce season 6 in my basement with tze and my best friend if i must

Warrior_Of_Loyalty

REPRESENTATION!!! Seriously, there’s nothing quite like it. Oswald and Edward deserve a wedding and a musical episode to go with it. Because, if Arthur’s teacher can get married on TV why not The Penguin and The Riddler!? Please!! Make it happen!

𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖌𝖚𝖎𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊 ||

Because they are two characters who have been physically and emotionally abused most of their lives, and even after all of their hardships and turmoil, found love and trust and safety in one another

Azura Lynn Paulin

Because they never got to become a real couple on screen and they deserve to have that chance at happiness

MamaDev

Their chemistry, specifically between Robin Lord Taylor & Cory Michael Smith, is incredibly entertaining and heart warming to watch. It makes my whole day, of not, week better when I see them interacting on screen. FOX did not do them justice by keeping them in the closet.

Queen C

Because their story is FAR from over. Cory and Robin’s skills and chemistry shouldn’t be squandered. We had 5 years of their story buildup and got crapped on in the final episode, and I deserve my #BisexualRiddler!!!

Bandi [Gotham/Good Omens Spoilers] #SaveGotham

Nygmobblepot truly is such an interesting ship. As singular characters they are great, but together, they shine. They’re complex, damaged characters and take comfort in each other. Their journey is a long, painful one, but they deserve and compliment each other. It makes sense.

Anders

They are truly self confident with each other, anything becomes possible. They don’t need any cane.

They have each other.

Mae

they just have such strong chemistry and are so much better together than apart. their relationship constantly evolved throughout Gotham, becoming the main driving force for their individual developments too and… they were just made for each other okay

Tam Loves Kris @ Resting in Home

I see a lot of myself and my partner@MisterPenguinin the#Nygmobblepotship and I feel that their relationship is very well developed with lots of ups and downs and it’s fate that they are both meant for each other.

Kat Shade

With all of the characters that had amazing chemistry on Gotham, the main three had to be nygmobblepot, wayleska, and babitha. Nygmobblepot have been through so much together, and besides how revolutionary and amazing it would be for a show based on two previously heterosexual characters in a homosexual relationship, they simply work amazingly together.

[butterfliesandresistance]

Fanfic Ask Game

Was tagged by  @lalaurelia  – thank you! Haven’t done anything like this in ages.

At what age did you start writing fanfiction?

I think I was 16, wrote something for System of a Down. But really, my proper fanfic writing started at 18 with Muse.

Who is your favorite author?

I like Neil Gaiman and Laini Taylor - they’re both great storytellers. 

Favorite type of scene to write?

This is a difficult one, it mostly depends on the story. But apparently I’m good at setting a scene and atmosphere.

What is your favorite fanfic?

I’m sorry, but I can’t just choose one... I still remember the first gobblepot fics I read, and of course they’ve been a huge reason for me staying, but there have been a gazillion others which have slayed me.

What tags do you avoid like the plague?

I don’t read anything with the NOTP. I’ve never had a notp before, so I was surprised at the intensity of my emotions, but it’s so repulsive. From general tags, I’m not a big fan of mpreg.

What AU do you wish to write but feel like you won’t manage?

*insert endless list* There are lots of them... but there’s an ancient Greece one that will haunt me forever. Oswald as a forgotten god and Jim who accidentally discovers his temple.

What has been your favorite story to write so far?

I think Splintered Darkness allowed me to grow a lot as a writer. I love symbolism and painting emotions vividly, and that story was the perfect vessel for it. It’s also probably my most introspective work.

Do you prefer to write one-shots or multi-chapters? Why?

I’m the worst when it comes to multi-chapters. I can maybe keep up to posting regularly for 3 chapters, and then I’m lost. I also get a lot of spontaneous ideas that need to be written RIGHT NOW, so I think I’m better suited for one-shots.

What is your favorite kind of comment?

Any kind!!!!

Why did you start writing fanfiction? Why are you still writing it?

Fanfic allows me to express myself. I’m rubbish at any kind of other art, but words, I like them, and they like me (sometimes). I love how many stories and genres you can explore!

Gobblepot came at the best time... I was still clinging (although not as hard) to my old fandom, where I felt constricted and suffocating after a while (you know how in certain fandoms some BNF comes up with a thing and then everyone treats it as canon?). It was full of toxic people too. I think we have AMAZING writers and stories, and Jim and Oswald are fantastic characters, complex and multi-faceted. I’ve had the best welcome here and then when we started the Gazette, I became even more involved. It honestly feels like a part of myself. I hope we’ll still be here writing about these idiots in the years to come :)

Tagging, if you’d like to participate: @thegreenfairy13, @miscreantahead, @mexican-texican, @sunaddicted Can’t think of anyone else who hasn’t been tagged already...

[sunlitroom]

Hi! For the fic ask - A, E, G (New Beginnings), M, T, V, Z :)

Thank-you!

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

I don’t know if I have a favourite, she said, boringly.  

I could say that The Beginning of Wisdom was particularly satisfying to write, because I got stuck on how to progress on it for ages before I realised that stitching on a random fragment I’d written ages ago would work.  Then I stalled for ages on how to end it before it just came to me in a flash.  It’s maybe my favourite last sentence that I’ve written.  

I also enjoyed getting just some of their mundane day-to-day in there.  Oswald dealing with envious rivals, Jim acknowledging that his co-workers mostly dislike him.

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

I’m not sure of the extent to which I identify with them.  I’m stubborn to the point of bloody-mindedness, which I suppose you could say about both of them.  Jim’s stingy in terms of how willing he is to open up to people - I suppose that rings a bell with me too?  

On a side-note, I’ve just realised that Jim makes me think of that meme: “if we want the rewards of being loved, we must submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.”  Jim is bad at being alone - he wants company, but he shies away from true connection, which is offered to him by those who know all his ins and outs, all his unswept corners and ugliest things.

G: If you wrote a sequel to New Beginnings, what would it be about?

I’m not very good at sequels.  I think I’m usually most interested in figuring out how the characters - given the universe and how I think of them - would get from A to B.  As such, I usually feel ‘done’ when i’m finished.  There’s three fics I’ve written that exist in the same universe, but that was sort of accidental.  

I suppose, if I were to write a sequel for New Beginnings, I wouldn’t want to have broken them up between the first and second fics: I wouldn’t really want to make relationship issues front and centre at all.  They’d still have a relationship, and I’d just drop them into a plotty scenario and see how they interacted.  

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story?

I suck at AU.  What satisfies me in writing fic is solving problems in the canon universe.  I like reading it - but my mind never really goes there at all myself.

T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Just whump on its own, maybe?  I understand it fulfils a need for some people, but some of them lovingly linger over details of torture and suchlike to the point of queasiness.

I don’t tend to read just straight-up angst.

I don’t dislike MPreg, I’m just not interested in it.

Over-woobiefication.  Often pops up with Oswald.  Combine that with that oddly pornographic whump, and you have a fic I won’t touch with a barge pole.  

V: Are there certain comments you’ve received on your stories that have stuck with you?

Honestly - I’ve found people are enormously generous when it comes to leaving comments.  They all stick with me.

Z: Is there a story you’ve written that doesn’t seem to get much love?

I suppose the sun, the night, running water, death has the least hits of my Gotham fics, but - honestly - people read it and left lovely comments, so I wouldn’t say it didn’t get much love.  If one person reads anything I’ve written and enjoys it, it makes me genuinely happy.

My Fred Squared stuff for Hannibal hasn’t got many hits in comparison to my Gotham stuff - but it is pretty much a rare pair, and, again, even one hit makes me happy :)

Thank-you for asking! :)

[justgotham]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of tonight’s Gotham series finale.

“I just think the DC Universe is so incredibly deep and vivid, and I’m a big fan of it all,” says Gotham executive producer Danny Cannon of the world that spawned the inspiration for the Fox series that came to a Dark Knight conclusion tonight. “I don’t think there’s any limitations for what DC can do right now. I really don’t.”

In that vein, “The Beginning …” episode penned by showrunner John Stephens on Thursday brought the Bruno Heller-developed Batmanbackstory show to its logical end with a 10-year time jump from last week and bumping right up against the canon of the Caped Crusader.

Bruce Wayne is back in town, a collection of villains have broken out of the dreaded Arkham Asylum including a certain killer clown and Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) has been framed for murder in tonight’s almost stand-alone ender. Add Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) pledging retirement as his family are under threat and you’ve got yourself an episode that either ends the Gotham tale or sets it up for a whole new run.

To that end, I spoke with Cannon and Stephens about the Rob Bailey-directed finale, how they got to this end after five seasons and whether it was part of the original plan. Currently working on another Batman story, the July 28-debuting Pennyworth for Epix, Cannon also revealed what reaching 100 episodes tonight with the Gotham finale means to him in the Peak TV era.

DEADLINE: So we’ve finally seen Batman in Gotham, literally and figuratively. Was how it all played out in the series finale how you envisioned it all those years ago?

CANNON: When we pitched the pilot, we very much pitched that the show will end when we see Batman, that’s it. We always knew this was the show in which Gotham the city was the star. Early on, we were talking about what would a city have to do to deserve a vigilante such as Batman? So when he arrived, we’ve told our story.

DEADLINE: Fox has been marketing the end of Gotham as a two-part finale, and yet coming off last week’s conclusion of the Bane story in “They Did What?” which felt like a season finale, this “The Beginning…” episode that you wrote John was something very different …

STEPHENS: Well, we had told all these stories, Bruce had left the city, so it actually felt in a good way, for a while we were like, “Oh boy, what have we done?” But then it really gives us the chance to almost like, not reboot the show but tell a whole different chapter in the life of the city. That gave us the freedom and the courage to jump forward 10 years in the finale. You’re right in that last week also feels like a finale — but to the season, not to the show, I’d say.

DEADLINE: Was the time jump of a decade in the series finale the only way to bring Batman to the screen for Gotham?

STEPHENS: I’ll say that we initially had talked about the last act of the show might be 10 years in the future. But I would also note what Danny said about why does this city need a vigilante?

DEADLINE: How so?

STEPHENS: That you cannot actually tell that whole story in four minutes at the end of the episode.

So the reason it’s a full 10-year time jump for the entire episode is so that we can actually see where the characters are and also why the city in this point in time needs Batman to arrive. Also, we wanted to fully touch base with all those characters that we’ve known for all this time. We’ve become attached to them; the audience, we know, has become attached to them, so we wanted to follow them through.

DEADLINE: Danny, you and I had spoken a number of times about Gotham’s trajectory, about the ideas that Bruno and yourself had, and the way you guys planned to carry it forward. So did this pan out the way you envisioned?

CANNON: Yes, but it took on a life of its own, and that was always due to the stellar cast we had.

We just kept writing for them because their talent was just exceptional. It kept stretching the writing, and we kept giving them more things to do.

So, I’d say, yes, things grew, for the better, but we always from the beginning of every year, had a plan. That plan was always fulfilled, I think, and always played out. I’m glad that you said that this last episode is a reboot, because it is. If you wanted to start a Batman series, you could do it right now.

DEADLINE: That something you’re thinking of doing?

CANNON: (laughs) I never do just one thing at a time, you know that. And there’s only 10 episodes of Pennyworth, for now. But no, I’m not saying there is going to be another Batman show. I think the movies have that market cornered, for him and the Joker, as they should. I just think the DC Universe is so incredibly deep and vivid, and I’m a big fan of it all. I don’t think there’s any limitations for what DC can do right now. I really don’t.

That said, I’m incredibly proud of the 100 episodes that we did. I mean 100 episodes of television — which, quite honestly, is some of the best-looking, cinematic television around, with some of the best actors and some of the best-written stuff I have ever been a part of. It’s been great.

DEADLINE: Certainly, the way you left it with Batman now in town, the Joker in the game and Ben McKenzie’s Jim Gordon staying on the job, there is more story hanging there …

CANNON: Perhaps, but I think Donal Logue put this best, when Fox picked us up for 22 episodes, when he said this may be one of the last aircraft carriers leaving the harbor. On network television and big dramas like this, I think we’re going to see less and less of them now.

DEADLINE: Really?

CANNON: Yes, I do believe we were on the end of the big network drama. If this were to go again, would it be a Netflix show, or an Amazon show, or a HBO show? I often wonder what we would have done differently or how the story telling would have unfolded differently. It’s a good question to ponder. However, we don’t get to really ponder that now, as we are both on to other things.

DEADLINE: John, you were the showrunner, and you wrote this final episode. Was there any part of the Batman story, the Batman canon, or even the greater DC canon, that you didn’t explore that you wished you had?

STEPHENS: You know, I’ll be honest with you, not really.

To me, if I had more time I would have liked to follow those characters more, to follow Donal’s Harvey Bullock or to follow Oswald and Laura on their journeys, to find out what they’re doing, when there’s times when we didn’t see them. I didn’t feel like there are any parts of the Batman story that we weren’t able to tell. To me the only parts that I missed overall are the stories that we weren’t able to tell with the characters that we did have, just because we didn’t have all the time in the world.

DEADLINE: You did spend a lot of time over the seasons with Cameron Monaghan and his Joker-ish Jerome Valeska character. In the series finale it looks like the Joker has come to town after a breakout at Arkham Asylum …

STEPHENS: (laughs) Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s the Joker, I still wouldn’t go on record saying that, even though he sure looks like the Joker, I have to admit (laughs again)

DEADLINE: Yes, he does.

STEPHENS: I think when we first started talking about it, and we wanted to do what we were calling the Proto-Jokers, the idea was if we can’t do the Joker, maybe there’s a character who existed before him. A character that seeded those ideas, like in the subconscious of Gotham.

So what we started to do was to parse out all of the qualities of the Joker, and just dole them out, one by one, through various iterations of Cameron’s character.

DEADLINE: Of which, there were, up until the finale, a number of iterations.

STEPHENS: Well, yes, because you want to give him the anarchy that the Joker sometimes had. Once he played that out, you want to give him the funhouse-like ringleader that he would sometimes be. Then you would want to make the character simply terrifying, the way the Joker is sometimes terrifying. So it was singling out various qualities, and then when he’s reborn, we take all those characteristics together. Cameron brings them forward. Also with his performance, which is really just transcendent — he took it and went to an entirely different level.

You know, with Valeska and with all of our characters, we were playing with the idea that a character can exist on a spectrum. That people can move along that spectrum to be good or bad, to be dark or light.

DEADLINE: So Danny, is this the end of Gotham you wanted?

CANNON: That’s an interesting question. I mean, I wanted to direct it like I did the pilot, but I didn’t get a chance. But Rob Bailey did a great job. But yes, there was disappointment in me that I couldn’t direct it. Beyond that, yes, this is the Gotham finale I wanted.

STEPHENS: It’s very bittersweet for me watching the show end. I’m incredibly proud of it. It is the best version for the ending of the show, but also, I’m always going to look at and go well that was it, that was the last one. So, yes, there’s that but I’m a little sad about it being over.

[cobblepot-comfort]

The Rescue

I wrote this for Gobblepot Alliance Week 2019.  It s a little late, I hope it’s accepted.

The Rescue

Jim knew Galavan had done it.

Kidnapped the mayor, and, even worse, murdered a defenceless old woman in front of her own horrified son - after coercing him to commit a series of crimes he hadn’t wanted to enact.

Oswald may be a criminal, but was also a human being who could hurt.  He was still someone’s son.  

And now he was on the run, after being seriously wounded by an expert marksman.

He had to help him, find him before it was too late.

But he needed help.

Much as he loved him, he wasn’t sure about Harvey.  He’d always had it in for Oswald - especially after he’d despatched Fish.

And anyone he took with him would have to have some medical expertise - because Oswald  would require urgent medical attention, but taking him to hospital would just be one step closer to being sent to Blackgate, or, God forbid, even Arkham.

He chose Lee.

He knew he could trust her, and she was an excellent doctor.  Things hadn’t been as great between them lately, but he was sure she would want to help a fellow human being in trouble. She was a kind, honourable woman.

So he went to her discreetly and explained what he wanted from her.  To help him find where Oswald was, take him to a safe place and nurse him back to health.

“Jim!  For God’s sake!” Lee protested, in a low hiss.  “He’s a known criminal!  Besides, shouldn’t he be taken to a hospital?!”

“We can’t do that! They’d arrest him!  And..he’s a key witness against Galavan,”  Jim growled back softly.

“How come?”

“Galavan murdered his mother - right in front of him, Lee.  He’s a victim in this!”

Lee’s face crumpled.  “Oh, Jim, that’s awful.  Even he doesn’t deserve that!”

The use of the word ‘even’ in that sentence made Jim bristle, but he swallowed down his feelings - for now.  The most important thing was to get Lee’s help and to get to Oswald as soon as possible.

They took Jim’s car and drove out on the road in the direction in which Oswald had only recently made his desperate getaway.

They said very little - the atmosphere between them was more than a little strained.

Jim wondered how much Lee had guessed about his true motivation for this altruistic deed.  Because it was definitely much more than human kindness that was involved here.

After a few miles they found the car abandoned on the side of the road by a forest.

“That’s the car he escaped in!” Jim exclaimed, and pulled over and parked behind it.

He half expected to find Oswald slumped in the front seat over the steering wheel, dead.  He hoped to God he wouldn’t.

His heart fibrillated as he approached the door which was hanging open on the driver’s side.

But Oswald wasn’t there. Phew, he thought, at least he had had the strength to get out of the car and walk....or rather, hobble….

He had to admit he found Oswald’s limp somewhat attractive - he couldn’t help it.  The way he used that bird-headed cane as a prop and a weapon as well as a simple walking aid….Oswald was resourceful enough to turn a disadvantage to his advantage, and Jim had always secretly  admired him for that.

There was a trail of blood leading from the car in the direction of the trees. 

“Come on,” Jim said, nodding downwards at the thread of scarlet splashes on the ground.  “Hopefully he can’t have got too far.”

They followed the trail deep into the forest and then came across a trailer parked in the middle of a clearing, the blood line leading right up to the door.

“He must be in there,” Jim remarked.  He tried to keep the tremulous tension out of his voice.  He hoped fervently that they had got to Oswald in time.

Just as they reached the door it was flung open - and there Oswald stood - still in his waistcoat and white dress shirt, which was now grubby and stained with blood.

His eyelids were drooping, and it was clear he was barely conscious and in a very weakened state, but his instinct to protect himself was still strong.

He had a heavy object in his left hand and he raised it up weakly, intending to strike.

Lee gasped and raised her hand to her mouth.  Jim gestured to her to keep calm.

But Oswald was clearly in too bad a state to follow through, and he dropped his makeshift weapon the instant before he saw who his surprise visitors were.

His glazed eyes focussed on Jim and flickered with recognition.

“Jim!  Help me -  please!” he groaned feebly, just before his legs gave way under him and he started to fall.

Jim rushed forward instantly and caught Oswald  before he could hit the ground.

“Shhh, it’s ok, it’s ok,” Jim soothed, but Oswald didn’t respond.  His head drooped forward and his body slumped lifelessly in Jim’s arms.

“Oswald!  Oswald!” Jim repeated urgently, and after still getting nothing back he looked across at Lee, the fear showing as clear as day in his eyes. 

Lee came to him, touched Oswald’s neck, and said,  “It’s ok Jim, he’s still alive. He just fainted, that’s all.”

“Oh - good. Good, that’s good.  Erm - wouldn ‘t do to have him die on me just yet,” Jim said, trying to make light of the situation.  “OK - let’s get you out of here, Oswald,”  Jim continued, addressing the unconscious body in his arms with a briskness that his heart didn’t feel.

Jim carried Oswald through the forest and back to his car, talking to him all the time with a light, reassuring tone.  He told  him that everything was going to be fine, he was safe now, and that he and Lee would make sure to get him well again.  He had learnt early on in his army career, with all his first aid training, that the last sense to go was always hearing, and so he wanted to tell Oswald positive, encouraging things.

Lee said she would go ahead and get the car ready, take the blanket from the boot to wrap Oswald in.  “Thanks, Lee,” Jim said gratefully, but Lee didn’t respond - she just went on in front of him, hurrying as she went.

She was being very generous in helping like this, and he really did appreciate what she was doing - especially as he more than suspected that he was falling in love with Oswald, and he was almost certain that she knew that too.

She had given him time to be alone with Oz too - and now he could say some of the things he had been yearning to reveal in words for so long, and had been too afraid to say out loud - even to himself.  So that’s just what he did.

When he caught up to Lee she had been as good as her word and had prepared the back seat - cleaned off whatever rubbish was left on there (well it was Jim’s car, after all….) and laid out the blanket ready for their injured passenger.

Jim went to thank her, but she cut him off abruptly before he got a chance to speak.

“I’ll drive - you stay in the back with him,” she instructed brusquely, without making eye contact.  

Jim wasn’t going to argue. 

Lee opened the door and held Oswald’s head while Jim carefully lifted him inside and placed him on the back seat,  and then wrapped him up in the blanket.  “Thanks,” he said, his voice full of apology.  Lee nodded, and said nothing.

Jim got in and put his arms around Oswald, holding him fast,  while Lee closed the door and then went back to the driver’s seat.

She closed her door sharply, and Oswald stirred and opened his eyes.   He looked up and his misted gaze locked briefly with Jim’s.   Jim smiled at him and said, “Hey, look who’s awake at last!”  He gave him a little squeeze.  “Jim,” Oswald whispered, smiling weakly, before passing out again.  

“Ozzy,” Jim replied softly, looking down with love at the sleeping form in his embrace.  He desperately wanted to kiss his crown to comfort him more, but didn’t want to rub Lee’s nose in it.  After all, he had to keep reminding himself  that she WAS helping them.  

Oswald stirred a couple more times as they drove back to Gotham, murmuring incomprehensibly, but quickly settled down again - as if he sensed that he was safe in Jim’s arms.  And, of course, he was….

Lee just drove, staring silently at the road ahead.  Jim wondered what she was thinking, but didn’t dream of asking her.

They took Oswald to Barbara’s old place.  Jim carried him in to the bedroom as Lee peeled back the sheets on the big king sized bed.   

“Here we go, Oswald,” he said, “Now we’re going to get you in to bed.”

Jim couldn’t help an involuntary blush which he hoped Lee wouldn’t notice.

He laid him down as gently as he could.  Oswald lay motionless, looking very serene - too peaceful, Jim thought.  He found himself constantly checking that Oswald’s chest was rising and falling, just to check if he was still breathing. 

“Right Mr Cobblepot - we need to get you comfortable,” he continued, forcing himself to smile as he spoke so the positivity would come through in his tone.

Lee went off to get her doctor’s bag of tricks while Jim undressed Oswald.

Jim carefully unbuttoned  and removed Oswald’s waistcoat and shirt.  

“Hope you don’t mind me doing this, Oswald - you need to get out of your dirty clothes y’see, and  Lee, she needs to treat those nasty wounds,” he explained gently.  He felt he had to justify himself even though Oswald wasn’t in a position to protest or fight -or maybe even because of that.

He had never seen Oswald seem so helpless or look so calm.  It was weird, so unreal, to see him like this.  It was worrying of course - it was a sign that he was in a very bad way, and his spark was all gone - but it was also kinda sweet to watch him sleeping.  He looked so innocent….so angelic….

He gazed down at the slender torso with its smooth, hairless white skin,  blemished by existing scars and his recent wounds - taking in the sight of Oswald’s bare flesh for the first time.  

Something stirred within and without him that just couldn’t be ignored.  

He was glad that Lee hadn’t offered to help.  This was a private, intimate moment that couldn’t be shared.  He felt his face flush again, hot with shame that he could become aroused by Oswald when he was in such a bad way.  It was hardly an appropriate physical reaction to the poor beaten up body lying there in the bed.

But Oswald’s nakedness was sublime, and refused to be ignored.  Jim just couldn’t help his erection.

He cautiously unfastened and started to pull down Oswald’s pants - revealing expensive-looking purple silk shorts.  Jim smiled to discover that the King of Gotham had regal taste even in underwear!  They looked so sexy on him too…..he tried not to think about what was inside them, although he couldn’t help noticing that they were very decently filled out….

He quickly averted his gaze and carried on with the task in hand.

He decided to leave the shorts untouched.

Oswald was modest and old-fashioned.  He would feel violated if he woke to find his private parts made public and that was the last thing Jim wanted.

He removed Oswald’s shoes and then his socks.  He reflected that Oswald had very pretty feet, and cute toes that just begged to be sucked.  “Oh God, don’t even go there!” he thought desperately.

Finally, he tugged off Oswald’s pants as gently as he could.

And then he saw it.  The evidence of the damage that Fish had done to Oswald’s leg.  

Oh my God, he thought.  She had clearly gone to town on him with that baseball bat!   He hadn’t deserved that.  He suddenly felt intense hatred for Fish Mooney.

The pain and discomfort from that injury must be unbearable.   His heart lurched and he felt hot, angry tears come to his eyes. He blinked them away fiercely.

He took a pillow and placed it carefully under Oswald’s knee before covering him with the sheets.

If kissing could make all those wounds heal and make Oswald  better, he would do it gladly, right now….kiss him all over, and have him wake up to say, “Jim, darling - thank you so much for saving my life.  I love you!”

But instead, he went to get Lee - again reflecting that she was the only one who could and would help and keep quiet about it. 

He had every faith that she could save Oswald’s life. She was a brilliant doctor.  But he also needed to give Oswald a reason to fight, to keep on living.

He needed him to help him bring down Galavan, but that wasn’t all there was to it and he couldn’t deny that - not any more.

As Lee approached the bed, Oswald started to come round.

His bleary eyes focussed slowly and when his vision cleared all he saw was Lee bending over him with a syringe in her hand.

“Wha-what?  What’s happening?  What are you doing?” he blurted out,  panic-stricken.

Then Jim’s face appeared, smiling reassuringly. 

“It’s ok, Oswald - we’re here to help you,” he said gently.

Oswald struggled to get up, panting frantically.  “Please...leave me alone!” he pleaded helplessly.

“Shhhhh, take it easy Oswald.  It’s OK - you’ve been hurt, and Lee just needs to give you some medicine - to make you better,”  Jim said calmly, taking Oswald’s hand in his and stroking it rhythmically. 

 “It’s ok, you can trust us,” he persisted softly.  Oswald nodded and smiled up at Jim,  feeling safe and calm,  and allowed Lee to inject him very carefully in his neck.  “There,” she said briskly, with a professional smile.  “All done.”  

She went off to dispose of the syringe and get more of her magic medicines.

Jim continued caressing Oswald’s hand and staring down at him.  Oswald looked up and locked gazes with him.

“Thank you,” he rasped weakly, then his eyelids began to droop, getting heavier and heavier,  until he fell into a sound, restful sleep.

The next time Oswald came around he found himself swathed in bandages.  He felt very tired and sore, but as Jim was by his side, he instantly felt 100% better.

“Hey, ” Jim said, leaning forward and looking at Oswald intensely with his dark blue eyes.  He still had hold of Oswald’s hand.  “How are you feeling?”

“I am feeling much better - thank you, Jim!”  Oswald smiled.  He loved being stared at by Jim’s deep, solemn blue eyes.  He noticed that Jim looked rather tired  - he had clearly missed some sleep.  He wondered how long he had been sitting there, so close to him, watching him as he slept. 

“Where’s Lee?” he frowned.  He remembered that she had been here, and had given him an injection. He had been frightened and apparently for no good reason.

“Oh - she had to go back to work.  She’ll be back later to check your dressing.”

“Oh Jim - you saved my life  - yet again!”  Oswald sighed, treating Jim to a soft smile. 

“No problem  - you’d do the same for me - right?”  Jim arched his blond brows meaningfully .

“Ha!  Of course!  Anything for you - old friend!”  Oswald winked.  Then he winced as the pain from his wound took his breath away for a moment.

“Hey, are you ok?” Jim frowned.  He squeezed Oswald’s hand.

“Yes, yes, I am fine, please don’t fuss James!”

“Sorry - just checking!”

“Jim - Jim, there is no need to apologise, old friend - I shouldn’t have snapped at you.  I’m pleased that you care so much…”  

Jim squeezed Oswald’s hand again, extra hard.  “Yes, of course I do,” he smiled.  Oswald blushed.

Oswald started to improve slowly.  Jim visited him frequently and the two of them began to chat quite openly.

Oswald started to reminisce about his childhood in particular, the way in which his mother had sought to comfort him when the other children had been unkind to him.  Jim had listened patiently and with interest - it was good to hear Oswald’s perspective, talk to him like one human being to another and not a cop to a criminal.  It was nice that Oswald trusted him enough to share all this, too.  It was all part of his therapy, Lee had explained, getting him to open up about his feelings -  and his memories, pleasant and unpleasant.  It didn’t do to let things fester.  But Jim loved these exchanges,  and welcomed any excuse to engage in conversation with him.

Oswald smiled sadly, his face reflecting his quiet pride as he spoke.

“Mother told me I was handsome and that one day I’d be a great man, she didn’t see me as an ugly freak or monster like everyone else.”

“Don’t be silly Oswald - you’re not ugly.”

“Ah, thanks Jim - but - ha! - you agree I’m a freak and a monster though?!”  Oswald’s eyes flashed with triumph at making his point, then dimmed with sadness at proving himself right.

“No, no, you’re not a freak or a monster, Oswald.  Galavan - he’s the monster.  He hurt you.  He made you do those things.  I’ll make sure he won’t do that to you or anyone else ever again.”

Oswald reached out and grabbed onto Jim’s hand, gripping it firmly.  Jim flinched in surprise.

“Oh, Jim, Jim, my dear friend - you don't know who you are dealing with.…” Oswald’s eyes flashed with passion.

“Yes I do. He may be a monster, Oswald,  but he’s also a man.  He can be brought to justice. But you have to help me, Oswald - when you’re feeling up to it,  of course.”

“Help? How?”  Oswald blinked rapidly with bewilderment.   

Jim’s heart skipped a beat.  How could he look so sweet, so innocent?  And his eyes - their aquamarine beauty was intensified when he fluttered those raven lashes….focus, focus, he told himself.

“You have to give evidence,” he resumed firmly.

“Evidence? Me?!  No way Jim!” 

Oswald struggled to get up, but the pain was too severe, and he was still too weak.  He collapsed back down onto  the pillows with an exasperated sigh.  “Holy crap!” he grouched.

“Hey mister, take it easy,” Jim soothed sternly.  “Don’t want my chief witness bailing out on me!”

Oswald gave him a withering glance.  “I don’t know why you want me to give evidence, Jim.  Face it.  Who would believe a known criminal like me?”

“They will believe you.  I’ll make sure of it, I’ll back you up.”

“Back me up?”  Oswald laughed harshly.  “How?  What with?”

“I’ll get evidence. I’ll….I’ll get proof of what he did to….your mother….”

“What?!”  Oswald went pale, his eyes opened wide and his mouth fell open.  “Wha-what about my mother?”

Jim couldn’t help it, he wanted to comfort Oswald.  He looked so vulnerable lying there, and now the fear and heartbreak was so clear from the look on his face - he had gone sheet white.

“Oswald - I’ve organised a search. The GCPD is looking for....your mother’s resting place,” Jim broke to him gently.

Oswald stared silently at Jim for a moment, registering what his friend had just said.

“Oh - Jim!  Jim - thank you!”  His eyes filled up with tears and he pressed Jim’s hand hard.

Jim gulped.  He hadn’t quite realised how profoundly this would affect him.  He returned the pressure to Oswald’s hand.

“Hey, please - don’t mention it, it’s the least I can do.  Your mother was a good woman, Oswald - she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

Oswald stared back with deep understanding.  Jim was looking at him with quiet concern in his lovely dark blue eyes.  “He looks beautiful - and he cares, he really cares!” he thought, and so nothing could stop the tears escaping from his eyes and running down his cheeks.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok,” Jim said softly, and he reached out and brushed Oswald’s cheeks gently with his free hand, wiping his tears away.

“Thank you, Jim,” Oswald said, his voice husky with emotion.  A soft smile lit up his wan face.

He fiercely wiped the rest of his tears away with his own hand.

“But  - Jim, what about Mayor James?” he resumed thoughtfully.  “Surely, he will give evidence about his kidnap, you won’t need me.”

“Nahh, I don't trust him, he’s spineless.  He’ll break as soon as Galavan puts any pressure on him.”

“Ha!  So you have the measure of Mayor James too - James.”  Oswald’s smile widened and a sparkle came to his blue eyes.  

Jim’s knees shook.  Why was it that Oswald could make him feel this way?  He was beginning to wonder who was the most helpless out of the two of them….

[memaha19]

Gotham 05x11 “They Did What?”

The penultimate episode of Gotham! And it has a weird title! I’m gonna miss this show, guys.

Also, side note, this is the second time I’m writing this post because I just finished typing all my thoughts and my freakin’ internet freaked out and closed my browser window and deleted everything I wrote. 🙃

SECOND SIDE NOTE: I wrote this last week but was at a work training all week and forgot to post. So I haven't seen the final episode yet either. 🙃

Anyway...spoilers below!

It feels like it’s been 84 years *cue that Titanic GIF* since the last episode

Just a note before we begin: this episode, like the last, feels like it has some weird pacing problems and makes me wonder, again, how this season would’ve panned out if they had been given the normal number of episodes. There were a lot of things that felt like they just happened so quickly/easily/conveniently, for no other reason than the time constraint. Jim and Barbara took Nyssa down pretty easily, Bruce and Selina defeated Bane pretty quickly, Bane and his groupies gave up pretty easily at the end, etc. I just wonder how some of the plot would’ve been handled if the show had gotten the chance to sloooooow down this season.

I thought for sure at the end of that last episode that Alfred was going to die (even though I also knew he would be fine?) so I’m glad he’s okay, just a little worse for wear.

It looks like someone taught David how to say “Ra’s” correctly in between last episode and this one because he finally said it right!

There’s just something about Nyssa/her actress that I don’t enjoy and that makes me glad that she’s only in a few episodes. Is it her voice? Her line delivery? Her (lack of) acting skills? Her giant lips? I’m not sure. 

Barbara looks great for being just a few hours postpartum. Like you know that if this wasn’t Gotham, she’d still be lying down in a hospital bed but instead she’s looking fierce in her coat and stilettos like she didn’t just push a baby out of her lady parts. 

Also the baby is suffering from the syndrome that many TV/movie babies suffer from, where they’re played by a baby that is several months old and we’re supposed to pretend that this GIANT baby was just born.

Everyone in the GCPD and the army must be terrible shots...? They’re fighting in such a small, uncovered space and literally no one is getting hit by anything. 

Except Oswald. But he’s gotta get that monocle somehow!

One of my favorite funny moments was Oswald asking Ed how his eye looked and Ed trying to tell him it wasn’t that bad and choking in the middle of his sentence.

Barbara snapping that guy’s neck with her leg is making me question my sexuality.

This is the Jim Gordon that I like. The one who is kind and who makes good decisions and who isn’t like “imma take the baby and raise it with Lee and Barbara is going to jail” and who doesn’t drop Barbara like a hot potato the second Lee shows up.

The Jim/Babs scenes in this episode are so soft and lovely and friendly. I love seeing them team up. It almost makes me able to forget and forgive the travesty that was “The Trial of Jim Gordon” that was so all over the place that it seemed like it was written by someone who had never seen the show. But OH WAIT it was written by the lead actor.

Also this episode has made me change my mind and I’m back to my initial opinion that Jim, Barbara, and baby make a cute little family and Lee needs to gtfo.

Speaking of Lee, I’ve liked her more in these last few episodes than I’ve ever liked her before, but I still don’t like her. I just feel like...what is she here for? She’s this weird cardboard character that is always in the scenes, but what does she really add? All the sudden she’s concerned about the Narrows? Even though she’s abandoned them this whole season. And then she heads to the GCPD to “help” but all we see is her bossing other people around. LEE, YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, DO IT YOURSELF. And then she abandons the Narrows people and leaves Barbara to take care of them and goes outside to die with Jim? It’s like they don’t know that to do with her and haven’t known for a long time but she’s banging Ben McKenzie so they can’t make her go away.

Barbara was able to just find a baby sling somewhere in the GCPD for her giant newborn. 

That Barbara/Lee hug...eh...

Okay, so. While I am thrilled that it seems like Barbara is going to get to be a mom and isn’t going to have the baby taken away from her, the strange throuple of Jim/Lee/Barbara is one of the parts of this season that I feel is being wrapped up a little too neatly. It wasn’t that long ago that we had to sit through that lovely episode where everyone was like “oh yes, Lee, YOUR baby” and Barbara was going to run away and Oswald was telling her that Jim would never see her as anything other than a dangerous criminal trying to keep his child away from him. And now, a mere TWO episodes later, Lee and Barbara are hugging. And Barbara seems to have changed her mind about not wanting Jim to have anything to do with the baby. And Lee and Jim seem to have changed their “Barbara is a dangerous psychopath” opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy to see a story in which Barbara gets to keep her baby and I loved the scenes between Jim and Barbara, but this is definitely one of the parts of this season that I feel could’ve benefited from more episodes at a slower pace. I’ve been saying for awhile that the writers seem unable to write Barbara consistently and her story line and her relationship with Jim once she found out she was pregnant has been up and down like a roller coaster. I’ll be re-watching Gotham from the beginning once this last season gets put on Netflix so I’ll be interested to watch all the episodes at once and see if the inconsistency is as bad as I remember.

I think part of the problem is that the way that everyone was treating Barbara and talking about the baby in “The Trial of Jim Gordon” is throwing off my general picture of the season. That episode seemed so off base and out of wack. I think I can believe that the current Jim/Lee/Babs relationship is a little more possible if I ignore that episode. 

 I’ll be interested to see the throuple in the last episode, since the preview made it look like they’re all still chillin’ together. I’d like some scenes of them all awkwardly co-parenting little baby Babs.

The bats! The spooky moon! The music! Batman is here!

That must’ve been one moving (and quick!) speech that Barbara gave the Narrows people to have them all come outside and stand with the GCPD. And also it seemed a little too easy, like, NOW the army is having second thoughts about killing civilians? NOW they realize they can overtake Bane & Company? This is one of those plot points that I feel was wrapped up way too easily after all the build up.

That line where Jim asks Lee if her disobeying him is going to be a regular thing is very CRINGE. Ew. Like I don’t even like Lee but I was still like “ew Jim you don’t own her”

The weird little cuddle Selina tries to give Bruce while they’re sitting on the stairs at the GCPD was strange.

So Ed wasn’t able to pilot the submarine by himself but are we supposed to believe that Nyssa could and escaped with Edward the Dog? 

Barbara Lee Gordon! Maybe not a big fan of that middle name, but...also I like how Barbara told Jim that she named the baby “Barbara” and Jim’s first reaction was “...oh” before she told him the rest of the name. 😂

Also I’m really glad that Gotham went the “Barbara is just That Bitch that names her baby after herself” route instead of the “Barbara dies in some dumb way and Lee and Jim name the baby after her to honor her after her death” route; I was afraid for pretty much this entire season that all of Barbara’s crazy story lines would just end in her dying in some martyr-like ending that I breathed a deep sigh of relief to see that she’ll make it to the end.

Commissioner Gordon! That seems like that happened fast!

I normally really like Ed but something about that last scene where he’s talking in a Batman-wannabe growl and staring at himself in a mirror was weird.

Also, Gotham, come on, not again with that BROTHERS stuff.

Gotham just did BatCat real dirty. Like, Bruce just leaves Selina a note?! He knew he was gonna leave and they just have him leave her a note?! He can’t even say goodbye in person?!

“I never tried to replace your parents. But I want you to know, Master Bruce, that you are the only son that I’ll ever have, and I could not be more proud.” I was in tears during this scene. And the Batman-esque music was perfect.

(LOL remember when my first Gotham post for this season was only like 10 bullet points long. They just keep getting longer. 😂)

Anyway, overall, I thought this episode was really good, and it’s because we finally had the return of nice!Jim Gordon and some nice moments between him and Barbara. There were some weird pacing problems and some things that felt like they resolved a little too conveniently, but I enjoyed it overall.

The finale is soon! It’s gonna be a little weird to not have some of the younger actors in the flash forward, but I’m excited to see how they’re gonna wrap everything up and what our favorite Gotham residents are up to 10 years later

Also I’m living for ginger!Barbara.

One more to go. ❤

[lalaurelia]

Quick Gotham thoughts 5x03

I almost wrote it as “Gobblepot” thoughts XD So you can imagine the level of my coherence here. And no, having had only two hours of sleep has little to do with it XD There will be bias. I’m not sorry.

I totally blanked at the opening scene because Oswald was so breathtaking. My heart overflowed with love. The choir was amusing. I somehow get this vibe that Oswald is both deadly serious about this praise and knows full well to take it too seriously, which gives him a good center too.

Aw Mr Penn. It certainly is difficult to tell sad things to Oswald, with his volatility and everything. And you saying how his people love Jim Gordon... well, that’s just reminding Oswald that he loves him too XD

Man, do I love Oswald’s quick survival instincts! And really, gang member with a cool beard, are you really so dumb to think that The Penguin would tag the walls after committing a crime? Surely you should’ve known by now that Oswald is smarter than that. Graffiti tagging is juvenile.

But those outbursts and Oswald threatening everyone he sees, that rubs me the wrong way. I mean, how could Oswald have held his empire if he’s that unstable? I’m just going to ignore this and think Gotham’s pulling my leg and we see Oswald at his low moments here. After all, that behaviour isn’t wise, isn’t pragmatic, and Oswald’s always been both.

I love Jim being fearless. That suicidal streak of his is very consistent throughout the seasons, and it’s good. Jim, you’re everything but okay XD Listen to Harvey, get some sleep!

You still look like a model every damn time. That’s a sick coping mechanism, Jim. I kind of envy that.

Just when did Bruce began towering over Jim? It’s so sweet XD

But they really are piling the kids on Jim. It works well - makes him sweeter, you know, and he always had this nice way with kids and teens, so it’s pleasant to see the more human side of him. But it also feels like a teensy bit too much sometimes?

Jim. It’s okay to make promises you can’t or won’t be able to keep to adults, they know not to believe them blindly. You don’t make promises like these to kids. You just don’t.

The BatCat scenes are cute. But sorry, gotta ignore them.

Olga XDDD I value loyalty above a lot of things, actually, so seeing someone stand by Oswald’s side even at the worst time, that literally warms my heart. And I’m glad this character wasn’t forgotten.

And while those undergarments are both dysfunctional and ridiculous, every time we get shown Oswald without his suit, my mind screams fanservice!!! and is quite happy, actually XD

Oh Oswald, my sweetest. You know you can’t trust anyone named Edward. You’re not in FMA, after all.

Jim. Jim. Are you for real? You really think that to deal with Oswald you need someone’s help? You should know that you’d have to make the choice again and we ALL know you’ll make the same decision you always make. You’ll save Oswald above any other your ally at the time. And seriously, Jim, you just need yourself and your pretty blue eyes, and just be fucking nice to Oswald for once for all of this to work out.

Oswald. You lovely tactician, you. Send in the cavalry to disorient the opponent, then swoop in. Lovely. Beautiful. Thank you.

I don’t think Jim is physically capable of not being just a bit soft in Oswald’s presence. Or that he’s capable of not finding him cute. Even when they’re both standing with guns pointed to each other and screaming threats.

Oh yes, they know each other. They know each other so well. When to push which buttons. God. Why are they so damn good.

Oswald is leading a handcuffed Jim into a room... no, that’s not the beginning of a kinky story. But it could be! And they’re incapable of stopping their flirting, ever. Ever. Thank god. Because I’m not taking this “I’ll shoot you and leave you for dead” seriously. If you wanted to shoot Jim, Oswald, you would’ve done it before when he was such a thorn in your side. The same counts for Jim. You both threaten each other, but you both are still here. Still choosing to work together, still choosing to protect. Just who are you trying to fool, boys. You’re certainly not fooling me XD

Boy do they love doing Oswald and his underlings dirty. I’m forever bitter about Gabe. I’m slightly less bitter about Mr Penn, since he seemed to have been pressured by the rest, but really, we’ll never know. I hope they won’t do Olga dirty though.

Seriously though, Oswald being thrown into the same cage as Jim is comedy gold XD

I’m not that invested in Barbara’s storyline here. Sad but true.

Yes, much better to have Gobblepot squabbling over whatever when they should be trying to get out XD They are so married. Have been for a long long while. And damn, do I love it that Oswald always bares his soul to Jim, shows him both his fears and his desires. Does he do it with anyone else? Nope. But with Jim, oh, with Jim he can actually be himself. How good is that?

Jim actually being the first to propose a plan that requires working together? YES.

Oswald loves working together with Jim. It’s clear as day. It couldn’t be clearer if he shouted it out loud. His face says it all.

And those little smiles they give each other.

And the fact that Oswald always goes to Jim when he’s scared. Really. Should you have brought Barbara into the picture at all? Jim, think it through next time!

So, to sum it all up. Gobblepot flirting is on another level, they are totally married and also totally in love after all those years, and also jump up at the first hint of opportunity to work together and get each other’s praise.

Bless you. 100/100 blimp points.

[theabominableblogger]

My Reaction to “Gotham” S5E2

In Which Harvey Continues to be the Best Goddamn Thing in This Show

I was a lucky son of a duck and managed to get this reaction while the episode was airing live on FOX last night.  For episodes 3-12, I will be waiting for Hulu to receive them because of an upcoming spring semester at college.  So for episodes 3-12, I will be in the dark until Friday or Saturday (so no spoilers from y’all).

Also, on TV, there are so many GOD.  DAMN.  COMMERCIALS.

AN:  I managed to record my reactions to this episode and hopefully I can transcribe what I said into this post.

*Recaps shows the chopper*  OK, so who freakin’ shot down the chopper?

Oh, Tabitha...

*We see a whole bunch of injuries on Will’s back*  What the...

“They call themselves the Soothsayers.”  The Sooth- what?

“They’re digging some sort of tunnel.”  *gasps and reels back*  It’s Jeremiah!  ‘Cause he has a tunnel!  Oh my God!

What’s the tunnel for?

OK, never mind then, I don’t think Jeremiah’s in charge of the Soothsayers

“The second you [Jim] step outside that door, someone’s gonna take a shot at you, and if it’s not you that’s getting hit, it’s the schmoe standing next to you.”  *laughs*

*Jim hangs up on the radio*  Who’s on the other end?

“Four shells each.  Half a mag each.”  Wow.

“Will says the Soothsayers are here, which means we have to pass through Sirens territory.”  Ooh.

“She’s [Barbara] gonna be thrilled to see you [Jim] after what happened with Tabitha.”  Ooooff...

Wait, so is the Dark Zone like around Gotham?  At the docks or...

What?

So this is Robinson Park, OK... so this is where Ivy is.

Oh, these sets look nice.  Getting some serious Arkham Knight flashbacks.

Swore I just saw someone move in the background...

*Bruce catches a guy trying to sneak up on him*  Yeah.

“They came for help too!”  What district are they from?  Why are they British?

*jams along with opening theme*

*silently headbangs to heavy metal cover of "Ring of Fire” by Social Distortion playing in Barbara’s club*

*Everyone stops dancing when Jim arrives*  Oooohhhh... ooohh hoo hoo hoooo...

“It’s a police matter.”  “You know, they should really write that on your tombstone.”  *laughs*

“Drive right into this nightmare you’ve created.”  Actually it’s Jeremiah... kay...

“HAVE AT HIM!  RIP HIM TO SHREDS!”  Ooof.

*Panning shot of an absolute dark Gotham*  Oh my God.

*laughs*  There’s just this one random burst fire hydrant!

So is this whole episode gonna be them [Jim and Harvey] fighting their way out of the Dark Zone?

*jaw drops when someone shoots an arrow at Harvey*

“It’s a freaking arrow, Jim!  IT’S A FREAKING ARROW!”  *scoffs in shock*

Whooooo I remember her [the Day of the Dead lady] from the trailers!

Yeah, that’s the same... freaking tunnel

“The smoke... you [Gabriel] should take it.”  No.

“It’ll give you energy-”  Oh my God, is that Viper?  Is that Viper from S1?

“-see the future.”  What?

Or does Jeremiah shanghai this whole tunnel later this season?

“Once this tunnel is complete, we will have exclusive access to the mainlands.”  Oh my God, they are going to the mainland!

God, that guy [Sykes] just spit everywhere!

Sykes?  Isn’t that the bad guy from Oliver and Company?

“In Penguin’s grace, we will remain.”  Ohh, that’s a good line.

“What are the cattle prods for?”  “Fun.”  *scoffs in hilarity*

“If he [Sykes] moves, kill him.”  Oh ho!  Jim’s not messin’ around!

Yeah, that’s that same tunnel that Jeremiah [and Ecco] are in in some of those pictures.

AN:  Take a shot every time I mention the damn tunnel.

So is Gabriel Will’s older brother?

“Why would anyone be a cop in a world like this?”  “Well, the Halloween shop was all out of gas masks so it was either this or Sexy Nurse.” *reels back in chair from laughter*

“Let take ‘im, boys.”  CHEESE IT, BOYS!

*Sykes and his men try to take the kids*  Oh no.

*Jim comes to the rescue*  Yay.

*One of the car tires get shot*  Ooohhh...

*Commercials start*  OK... OK... so... what?

Wait, so is Jeremiah gonna leave for the mainland?  Like “Syke, I’m gonna get out of here!”

Noo... because his mission is Bruce so I don’t think he even wants to leave Gotham.  It’s the whole “I don’t wanna kill you!  What would I do without you?” mantra going on.

Whaaaaaatt...

What is she [Ivy] wearing?

“You have to believe me.”  “Forgive me if I find it hard to do so.”  COLD.

“It wasn’t me.  It was the park.”  *in unison with Bruce*  The park?

“The plants are my protection.”  ...OK.

“Maybe we can help each other.”  Bruce...

TELL HER IT’S SELINA!

“There’s a seed.  It’s growing under the oaks.  It’s said to have magical qualities.  When digested, it goes to the damaged tissue and bone.”  A seed?

Wwwhhhhaaaattt?

Ed?  Hello?  How are you?  Where are you?  Are you in the library again?  Why are sleeping with your glasses on?

What is going on?

That [library] looks like Oswald’s old house [the van Dahl mansion]

Oh my God, are we gonna see Ed peeing?

EEUUGGHHH we don’t need to be seeing this...

Oh my God, there’s someone in the frickin’ [bathtub]...

“There’s nothing there.”  *laughs*

Waaaaiit... what’s going on?

[Ed] You’re gonna attack him [the Street Demon] with a toilet plunger!  *cackles*

“Did I uh...” *chuckles*

“We’re gonna have to do all this again?  Guess so...”  *scoffs*

What is that place?

“It’s not safe out there.”  No dip, Jim.

“Maybe there’s still good people left in Gotham.”  Mmmmmm....

Yeah, you’re [Jim and Harvey] gonna leave three kids there [in the lobby].  All alone.  In a strange building.  Great.

Harvey, you’re a blessing.

Yeah, you’re gonna leave the three kids there.  Right.  Great idea.  Great idea.

These sets are fabulous.

“Hello?”  Blaaggghh!  Jump scare!

“GCPD.”  Take a shot!

Was that a crow [in the background]?

There’s just a bunch of random folded clothes everywhere.

*Harvey finds the dinner table full of body parts*  Oh my God...

Are those teeth?

*Harvey finds a plate of bloody fingers*  :0

Oh my God, freaking- they’re freaking cannibals?!?

*gasps when Mother attacks Harvey*

*has to leap out of seat to cool off when commercials start*

Oh wow, I love Sweeney Todd.

*ends up coughing up a lung*

So far, again, this feels like a foundational episode.  It’s just like “OK, we gotta work on this, we gotta make sure this is safe,” and yeah.

I wonder if the Jaime Murray character is gonna show up at the end of the episode or something.

AN:  You may think that... but no.

I also wanna know what kind of crack these writers were on for this final season.  Tze Chun had the good shit; I dunno about the others.

*gasps in disgust when Ed hits the Street Demon in the mouth with a wrench.”

“[Ed] You wanted to know where the Street Demons base was.”  Why?

“Aaand you wanted to make sure the boss would be there.”  Why?

“OK, how did I [Ed] seem?  Was I... confident?  Flamboyant?  Charisma for days?”  *giggles*

“Or was I conserved, kinda repressed, a little nerdy?”  *laughs*

Soo... did Hugo combine the two personalities?  ‘Cause the pushing up the glasses is a new thing.

*gasps when Ivy kills the men who were holding her.”

“[Bruce] You are so utterly naive.”  Oh my God.

“[Selina] She is paralyzed and has lost the will to live.”  “Good.”  What?!?

“That bitch destroyed the last of the Lazarus Water.”  ExCUSe me?!?

“Let her suffer.”  Noooo...

You can tell that Peyton List [Ivy] is just wearing a whole bunch of face powder on.

“I am feeding the earth these wretched creatures.  It consumes them.”  She has lost her freakin’ mind.

*Ivy starts caressing Bruce’s neck*  Do not prick his neck.

“Those men you killed were right.  You are a witch.  A murderous, callous witch.”  WHOOOOOOO- oh my God...

Hoo!

“What’s your name?”  “I- I can’t remember.”  What?

“She found me?”  “Who?”  “The ghost!”  The ghost?

“She makes me call her.. Mother.”  *reels back and puts hands in the air*  It is Mother and Orphan!

Wait, is that the kid?

*The kid stays behind*  It is the kid!  That’s Orphan!

Oh my God...

“The lights will make you dizzy.  And then you’ll go to sleep.”  Oh this is cool..

“Jim, I don’t feel so good.”  Wow, I love Infinity War.

Actually no, I hated it.  I was sick the first time I saw it.

*gasps when Mother sneaks up behind Jim*

They really do need to put a flashing lights warning on this.

*gasps when Mother fights off Jim and Harvey*

*Harvey tries to leave*  There’s an open window!  You broke a window!  Go through the window!

*looking through the Gotham tag on Tumblr during commercials*  Wow, someone wrote some fanfiction quick.

Oh wow, I love Ghost Adventures!

*gasps when Ed and the Street Demon find the Street Demon leader wiped out.”

[Penguin Was HERE] Really?!?

*imitates the guitar riff going off*

*Ivy leads Bruce to the seed*  Oh my gosh, that’s so pretty

*Ivy gives Bruce the seed*  I ain’t eatin’ that...

“One thing’s for certain... the seed will alter her [Selina] forever.”  Great.

“Some say, the darker angels of our mind-”  Great.

Also, yay for natural lighting finally in this show.  I love it when they use natural lighting in the show.  It looks so nice.

“What’s the matter, Bruce?  Don’t know if you can trust me?”  I don’t trust you.

“I don’t.”  “Good.  then you’re finally becoming a man.”  Ivy, you’re like his age.  shut up.

*Ivy sits in one of the low sitting trees*  OK, so if the tree branches just grab her and just sink down into the ground, this will be the greatest thing.

“Detective Gordon, your hand’s bleeding.”  Uhhh...

*Sykes and his men arrive*  Oh my God... monster truck!

“Wait just a minute!  Please...”  Whoaaa... who are you?

I don’t know who that is.  She [the Day of the Dead looking lady] looks cool though.

*commercials start*  Who is this?  Who are you?

Five bucks:  Barbara comes in and saves the day even though she still hates Jim.  She hates everybody.  She comes in like “I’m just here for the kids, not you.”

Oh noo...

“Did you [Bruce] find the witch?”  “It was Ivy.”  Great!  Alfred’s like “Oh bloody brilliant!”

“What choice do I have?”  Bruuuce...

“I want to help Selina as much as you do but Ivy’s a maniacal, cold-hearted killer.”  You met her like twice, Alfred!

But true, she is.

“So if Ivy wants to kill me, she can have at it.”  Oh my God...

Who wrote this episode?  I’m gonna have words.

*Bruce gives Selina the seed*  Yeah, you’re gonna shove that down your throat.  Great.

Is she gonna chew it?

*Selina starts chewing the seed like a gummie vitamin*  OK then...

It’s the Spiderman bite except in fruit form.

*freezes when Selina starts seizing*

“God, what have I [Bruce] done?”  *extremely sad face*

“I’ll tell you what!  I’ll [Sykes] take his head!  And you can have the rest of him!”  *scoffs in shock*

*gasps when Jim shoots the Day of the Dead lady*

Is that a monster truck?!?

My sister:  Is that a tank?!?

That’s a monster truck!

*both immediately at loss of words when Barbara hops down*

Wow, I love Hot Wheels!

*jaw drops when Jim uses his last bullet to kill Sykes and defend Barbara*

Wow... that just... came out of nowhere!

“Wow.  Wasted your last bullet for me.  Must be love.”  No it is not.  Barbara, how dare you say that?

*Barbara tells Jim she wants to kill Penguin.”  Great.  Great plan.

Wait, you’re gonna invite Barbara to the Green Zone?  Yeah, great plan, Jim.  Great plan!

*Jim and Co. arrive at the Green Zone*  Whoa!

He [Lucius] looks fab!

Wait a minute, is this [the Green Zone] that apartment complex that got blown up in the trailer?!?  Are you freaking kidding me?

They’re gonna freaking blow this place up later in the season.  God dang it.  Who did it and why?  Who does it and why?

We stan one future police commissioner.

“See you around, killer.  We have some unfinished business, you and I.”  Nooo you don’t.  Cool off!

Oh crap, is she [Selina] gonna be gone in the morning?!?

Oh my God, Bruce hasn’t slept in like 48 hours?!?  Great.

*gasps*  She’s [Selina] not there!  Did she go out the window?

Did she pull a “Dark Knight Rises” and back flip out the window?

“Bruce...”  Oh no.

She [Selina] looks like Michelle Pfeiffer.

“[Selina] How do you feel?”  “Different.”  Why are her eyes closed?  Open yo eyes!

“I’m better.  Even better than before in fact.”  Mmmmm no!

*Bruce hugs Selina*  Yay hug!  We like hugs!  We like some hugs!  Yay!

Oh my God, she’s gonna go on a murdering spree and kill some people, isn’t she?

*Selina’s eyes*  WHAAATT the frick?!?  Wha-

WhaAAAAttt?!?

*gasps when Ecco pops up in the promo for next episode*

*ejects out of chair to cool off*

AN:  Ecco, your man better treat you right or I’m gonna fight him AND the writers.

We’re getting WhaAAAtt??? WHaaaAAT?? 

Oh my God...

[doberart]

Walt Disney is undoubtably one of the most famous figures in modern history, which is most likely why about 90% of people on Tumblr and other websites (that I know of so far) think that he is an expy of Joey Drew. I understand that- both are entreprenurs who started their careers in the 1930s and went on to be famous lead animators. However, there’s something about this connection that doesn’t add up. Anyone who has read Walt’s reputation section on wikipedia would find that Walt’s percieved personality was nothing like Joey. He is instead described as shy, bashful, self-deprecating and embarrased in public. Now, I want you to be all honest here, does this look like an accurate description of Joey to you? Okay, admit it. If any of you said yes, you’re either being sarcastic or have never played the game before. Joey is the complete opposite of this description! Every audio log which ever mentioned him in any form whatsoever was pointing out every one of his personality flaws, from his obsession with the ink machine to his fixation on ‘appeasing the gods’ and immortality. But aside from their polar opposite personalities, there is one more point seperating Walt and Joey. I understand that there are a large proportion of people today who complain that all the film industeries care about today is making money. By this, they say things about cutting costs and making as many sequels to something as possible, without really going for a creative path for fear of losing money. I’ve seen critics accuse Disney studios of this before, but here’s where it gets interesting. When Walt was still around, he had a thing about style. I read a few articles about what it was like for his animators in the studio, it’s true that he had high expectations but he also really cared about style. Cool fact- when the first colour film they ever produced, Snow White, was still in production, Walt was so determined to make sure that the movement of the animals was realistic that he brought in a bunch of deer and things into the studio so that his animators could learn realistic movement. Years later, the guys who made Jurassic Park took a trip to the zoo to study giraffes and elephants to make the most realistic CGI dinosaurs. Walt was certainly ahead of his time. Now, think about what Thomas talked about from his tape from chapter 3. He was complaining about the elevator, right? What else? He mentioned that Joey *kept cutting corners*. Walt does not cut corners. Walt made sure the company never cut corners. Joey isn’t really doing this for the sake of creativity, he’s trying to leach out as much money from it as he can. What other evidence? Any of you who have been following the lore closely and keeping up to date with merchandise announcements may be familiar with the Hot Topic takeover, when clothing was arriving in the shops. One event made this special- for about an hour before the merchandise went online, Hot Topic twitter went and roleplayed as Sammy Lawrence, answering the questions of fans and raising quite a few more in the process. At one point, a fan asked Sammy where he speculated Joey had gone. Sammy’s reply was that Joey was most likely ‘raising his salary’. This can be taken as an indication that Joey was a greedy individual who had a constant want for profit. As I have stated before, this is not like Walt at all.

Most of you are probably wondering- “If he’s not Walt, then who is he? Walt’s the only guy we know!” Now, what if I told you that there’s someone else who fits the description of Joey Drew perfectly? Minus the ink machine, sacrifices and satanic stuff, and you’ll find yourself with an almost perfect match with another, lesser known person. His name is… …Charles Mintz! I’ll give credit to yunisverse here, had I never read her(?) post I would have never even heard of him. Yuni was so ticked off at Charles that she actually dug out her old lecture notes just so that she could go off on a rant on what a terrible person he was, Jim Sterling style.  Disclaimer: The following recount is what I’ve gathered from several sources, but I think what Yuni wrote is probably more accurate. Walt’s first ever animated series was a thing called the Alice Comedies, but Charles wasn’t happy with how much money it made so he told them to scrap the show’s budget and do a bunch of really expensive stuff to it so that they could get more money from it. Problem- Walt and his brother Roy were working on the lowest of budgets and couldn’t afford to make those changes. The result was that they had to work a lot harder for less pay- the series was increasing in popularity which was the only real reason Walt was still working for him. Eventually they moved into an actual building, but Charles’ demands for better quality pictures and more money meant that eventually they started to lose money for every film they produced. As a result, Walt and his studio had to start from scratch. This was the time when Walt developed a character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Charles was annoyed that Walt was still going at it, but once the films got started it became a big success. Walt’s company decided to keep on going at it, and they got some pretty good ratings. Don’t ask me what Charles was thinking, but this was the time when his evil buisnessman side took over. Charles saw how popular Oswald had become, so he pretty much went like 'That’s a nice character, MINE!’ and then he literally fired Walt and stole the rights to make cartoons from him.

So, yeah, that’s the story of Charles the evil buisnessman. After I read through this, I suddenly felt that Walt actually had a part to play in Bendy’s universe after all. Expect that his side of the story didn’t turn out as great. Remember that description of his personality I wrote above? I’m pretty sure you can all think of a very certain Player Character who fits that description and has had similar events happen to his pre-game. Henry. He doesn’t talk much during the game at all, especially when faced with monsters and things. Matches up with how shy Walt was in public places. We even get a hint at the degree of involvement back when he worked in the studio, in chapter 3 when he talks about a 'new character’ that he believes that people are going to love. Also, Walt was known for basing his cartoons off himself. Now people are going to tell me: “Walt was the really successful buisnessman! Henry doesn’t seem to be well known at all! What happened?” Bit of history for you- after Walt was fired there was literally only one person who was supporting him. That was his best friend, Ub Iwerks, seeing as Charles forced all the other animators from Walt’s company to work for him instead. Ub is literally the only thing that stopped Disney Studios from dying. Walt called him 'the greatest animator in the world’ once, and for good reason. Ub drew the entire ’Plane Crazy’ episode in the matter of two weeks- ALL BY HIMSELF. I did a double take when I read that. I mean, he had to draw 700 frames each day to do that! EVERYTHING!! I’ve only animated once in my life, it took two months to finish my assignment and it was half the time of that episode, with two cats and no background. How he managed it I had no idea. If only Ub were alive today- imagine what would happen if he got his hands on a drawing pad and an animating program… It’s thanks to Ub that the entire company existed, but from what I can tell from our limited experience with Bendy’s universe, Henry didn’t go off to fame and fortune after Joey’s studio shut down. Chances are, while Ub existed in ours, there wasn’t any expy of him in Bendy’s. We don’t know what happened to Henry during the time he left the studio, but it didn’t seem like anything special happened to him.

So, that’s it for now. I’d suggest that you take this theory with a grain of salt, seeing as I’m not the one behind BATIM, but if anything happens in chapter 4 that supports this, maybe we can look into it further! Later on I might reblog this to add on stuff, but this is my theory for now. Also, Dober, I’m so sorry that this was pushed back 9 hours. This will never happen again, I hope it’s good enough. T.T Homework now…

[teacherunicorn]

Opposites Attract (Chapter 81)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13Chapter 14 Chapter 15  Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24  Chapter 25Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81

Life in the Gotham Narrows was simple; every man for himself. Sure, there were families, friends even, who held a steadfast and die-hard loyalty to each other but the stranger down the street was hardly your problem. Rule number one: look out for number one.

Alyssa had spent her entire life caring and worrying for others, so one would think the shift of focus would be difficult for her. One would be wrong. As soon as the sunset on the city and all the children were in bed one could find her in one of the Narrow’s fighting rings, drinking, making bets, and occasionally fighting herself. Once she crossed that old bridge the rest of the world ceased to exist.

Not that this was a cure all by any means. The quality of her work was beginning to slip. She was short with the older kids and no longer had interest in playing with the younger ones. Selina had more than once found her asleep at her desk with a pen in her hand and papers stuck to her face.

“Mom! Come on, wake up!” the teen shook Alyssa’s shoulder.

“Hmm?” she blinked and yawned. “Oh, hey kitten.” she peeled herself off of her paper work and stretched her arms above her head before reaching for the half-empty whiskey bottle on the corner of the desk.

“Mom, are you okay?”

Alyssa scoffed out a fake laugh. “You know I’m gettin’ really tired of everybody askin’ me that. I’m okay, I’m fine.” she insisted. “I swear, the next person who asks me if I’m okay, I’m punchin’ em.”

Usually Selina Kyle was quite good at masking her emotions and keeping them to herself. Alyssa was her weak spot however, which meant that she was a different story.

“Don’t lie to me!” She snapped.

“I’m not!”

“Yes you are! You’re lying to me, and you’re lying to yourself!”

“Selina Marie Kyle, you have no right to speak to me that way!”

“Mom, I’m worried about you!” Selina’s voice cracked slightly. “Ever since that whole thing with Tetch, you’ve been acting crazy! Something happened that night, and I get that it was hard, but pretending it didn’t happen isn’t gonna help!”

“Oh so you’re worried I’m so out of it I’m about to blow my lid? Who are you and what have you done with my kid?” Alyssa slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Mom..?”

“I’m fine....” Alyssa leaned on the desk for support.

“No, you’re not.” Selina insisted. “You’re running on fumes, and you can’t run forever.”

“You don’t have to worry about me kitten. I’m the mother, worrying is my job.”

Her daughter scoffed. “Mom, could you stop being so high and mighty for once? You’re right, you are my mother. You’re my mother, and I love you, and I wanna help you.”

Alyssa studied the girl’s face, seeing the genuine worry and concern in her eyes. Her sweet baby girl. She recalled the guarded, short tempered child she’d been when they’d met. That was a girl who did not trust the world around her, and with good reason too.

But that girl was no longer here. Gone was the sad little girl who’d been convinced that her mother was still alive. She’d found a new home with a new mother. Sometimes Alyssa envied her daughter; to be able to drop the life you have and exchange it for a better one must be a wonderful luxury.

Then again, Alyssa considered what that meant for her. While the people she cared about could be formidable foes when she was threatened, they’d also had their moments of being foes themselves. Oswald, Edward, even Jerome.

But never Selina.

And it was that steadfast loyalty that managed to turn the screaming in Alyssa’s head to a dull roar, if only for a moment.

She sighed and hung her head, finally allowing the pain she’d been going through these last few weeks to show on her face. “Kid I’m....I’m scraped out.” she admitted. “I mean life keeps throwin’ nothin’ but curve balls at me, and I’ve always been able to....flip myself back over eventually, but....I guess I ran outta times.” she shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Jervis always did pack quite the punch.”

“....What happened? That night he took you, Jamie and that Alice chick?”

Alyssa flinched, squeezing her eyes shut. Selina had been kind enough not to say his name, but the tension of it still hung in the air.

‘’Lyssa, we belong together, you know that.’

‘You and I truly are two of a kind my dear.’

‘You don’t have to be scared. I’ll take care of you, I promise.’

‘I won’t let them take you from me again.’

“....Do you remember when you pushed that Archie guy out a window?” she asked, her voice far away. “You were so scared that I’d be mad at you, you tried to sneak past me through the apartment window.”

“I didn’t want you to be upset.” Selina said honestly. She had no idea where this conversation was going but at least Alyssa was finally talking to her.

“You were upset.” she countered. “You said what you did didn’t bother you, but I could tell you were lying. Just....the idea that you were capable of something like that....” Alyssa looked to where a clock hung on the wall to her left, useless now as she had punched the glass face in weeks ago to stop it from ticking. “J- He said I was just like him. That we’re two of a kind, cuz we’re the only ones who know how to...” she was unable to finish, instead tapping her fingers against her skull to get her point across. “...I don’t wanna be like that. Not again.”

*******

*Four years ago*

Having Jervis Tetch back in her life made Alyssa’s visits to Arkham difficult. The trick was, he wasn’t Jervis Tetch anymore. It took some time for her to fully believe it, but the inmate in the top hat truly believed that he was the Mad Hatter from the Alice in Wonderland books. Alyssa had no clue what had happened to him, but whatever it was she wasn’t brave enough to test it too much.

She was subtle, mentioning the name Alice only to get stories of a girl who fell down a rabbit hole. The child he described did sound alarmingly close to his sister, but Alyssa tried to write that off as paranoia. Eventually this paranoia faded as she started to understand just how different the man and the delusion were.

Hatter for instance had no use for technology or tools like Jervis had. He didn’t seem to care if someone wrote him off, simply skipping away to invite the next person he saw to his latest tea party.

Jervis wasn’t like that. When he didn’t get what he wanted things got ugly.

Alyssa knew better than to show weakness around the inmates of Arkham, so she played along with Hatter’s idea that she was the White Queen of his story. In a way it was rather sweet. You couldn’t ask for a better cheerleader than someone who actually believed you were a queen. In fact it wasn’t long before Hatter became one of Alyssa’s favorite inmates. She eventually forgot the history she had with the man he’d be before in favor of having tea with the man he was now.

Still, it was an odd thought to see Hatter with a mischievous smile that somehow held far much more innocence than the one Jervis used to give her.

“Hatter.” she gave him a look as she approached the table in the Arkham cafeteria that held a styrofoam tea set the man had decorated with colors and flowers.

“Your majesty.” Hatter nodded, not tipping his hat as he usually did, both hands held firmly behind his back.

“What have you got behind your back?”

His grin widened as he presented a pristine white paper crown that had a lace design to it. “For you, my queen.” he said as he went down on one knee and held the crown out to her. “I confess it not to be my best work, but resources have been unusually limited in this place.”

“Oh Hatter, it’s lovely.” Alyssa smiled.

“May I?”

“Of course.”

He stood and reached his arms up to position the crown perfectly on her head. As his fingers brushed down her hair, Alyssa recalled a similar white crown he’d made for her out of daises. The memory cast a shadow over the innocent moment and her smile faded.

“Whatever’s the matter, my dear?” he looked at her in concern.

“It’s nothing.” she assured. “I’m alright, Hatter.”

“Then smile.” he cupped her chin, fingers holding her cheek as shivers went down her spine. “It’s coronation day.”

******

For all that Alyssa was doing to pretend Jervis didn’t exist, Jim was doing his best to track the man down. After he had slipped out of GCPD custody, there had been countless reports of people of Gotham’s underworld killing each other, all without motivation. What really unsettled him was that these were all people he knew Alyssa had some kind of connection to. Weather it was a back alley deal or some kind of agreement, they all had ties to the mayor.

If Alyssa was bothered by this, she wasn’t jumping down his throat about it. She wasn’t returning his calls either, and even though Barnes had wanted to put the woman under police protection, she had every right to refuse it -- especially as the mayor.

The whole situation put him on edge. He had come to learn that whenever Alyssa Connors wasn’t actively being a pain in his ass, something was seriously wrong. She had personally seen her sister Jamie along with Alice Tetch to some safe house upstate that she had refused to reveal the location of. He was honestly surprised she hadn’t gone with them; then again he’d never known Alyssa to run and hide in the face of adversary.

His phone ringing interrupted his train of thought. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. “Gordon.”

“Hello James.” a familiar voice said pleasantly. “I’ve heard you’ve been looking for me.”

******

Alyssa turned her head away from Alice, who was crying as her brother put a third needle into her arm. Everyone at the table knew those syringes full of deep red were bad news, and now that Jervis had one for all of his ‘guests’ she was dreading what was coming next.

“You know ‘Lyssa dear, I’ve always wondered what Alice’s blood would do to you.” he admitted. He leaned over her chair, resting his hands over hers, which were bound to the arm rests. “The beast in you is right there. Begging to come out. White queen turned red.” Jervis burst into a fit of giggles, but they faded out when Alyssa refused to look at him.

“Look at me!” his voice lost all of its affection as he tightly gripped her chin and forced her eyes to meet hers. “You’ve spent all these years ignoring who you are, you’ve actually forgotten! You’ve built up this idea, this persona. You think you’re above me, you’re not above me, dear ‘Lyssa, we’re the same!”

“We’re nothing alike.” Alyssa said lowly. “Not anymore.”

“Now you see, that, right there...” he released his bruising grip on her to point in her face. “There’s that illusion. It’s alright, I had it when we were separated too. But we’re finally together again.” he brushed the back of his gloved hand along her cheek, making Alyssa flinch away. “You don’t have to be scared. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

Alyssa screamed, throwing the glass of wine she had been drinking at the wall. She couldn’t keep going like this. It had taken her ten years to get Jervis out of her head last time, and she wasn’t about to go through that again.

She sighed, rubbing at her temples. She knew this was self-destructive behavior. She’d had enough experience with it to be an expert. She just wasn’t sure she was strong enough to face her demons and be able to win. She had fought too hard already; her amour was full of holes and covered in rust.

Her ringing phone interrupted her medieval musings, and she was tempted to throw it against the wall with the red wine that was currently staining her carpet. But she didn’t do that. Instead, she answered it.

“Hello?”

“’Lyssa darling!”

Alyssa immediately hung up. It didn’t take very long for her phone to ring again. Huffing, she answered it once more. “Yes?”

“Careful my dear, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss. If you do, it’s your dear heart’s love down the abyss.”

“What are you rambling about now?”

“I did a little research my dear. To see who had taken my place and become the new Andy; your little arm candy.”

That got her attention. Jervis had been convinced that Andy was coming between them, which had led to him killing him. If she thought she had a new ‘Andy’, whoever he had decided it was was in big trouble. Plus, his rhyming habit was back, which Alyssa knew meant that he was already teetering on the edge.

“Alright, alright, I’m listening. You have my full attention.” She assured, doing her best to keep her voice level.

“Good.” Jervis said pleasantly. “Then you won’t mind joining me for tea. Nothing formal this time, just our usual set up in Arkham.”

“Aren’t you on the run from Arkham? I’d hate to see you locked back in there.”

“Oh ‘Lyssa dear, you underestimate me.” someone screamed in the background of the call, and Alyssa heard several gun shots. “You know, it is remarkable how quickly the police in this town respond nowadays.” Alyssa’s heart dropped to her stomach. “I suggest you hurry, my dear. Between the GCPD and the asylum’s residents, there are quite a few people here that you care about I can hurt.”

[ncfan-1]

Gotham 04X20, ‘That Old Corpse’

This week: grave-robbing and presumed Jekyll and Hyde antics. This is Gotham.

- Episode hasn’t quite started yet, and I’m already wondering what the inevitable scene between Lee and Jim in the precinct is going to be like. Why doesn’t she just claim she was a hostage, anyways?

- Since the preview showed Ed burning the deeds, I do wonder how this is going to come back later. Logically, those weren’t the only copies of the deeds, but still…

- We open on some impromptu memorial service for Jerome. “Second time’s the charm” is actually a pretty good inscription for his headstone; I think he’d approve. A funeral-crasher shows up with a message: dig up the coffin.

- Oh, look, the Jim-Lee melodrama has arrived. “What can I do?” Oh, come on, Jim, don’t pretend you don’t think the law only works for the people you think it should.

- Why is Harvey the one pointing out that Lee’s robbery was semi-justifiable this week when it was Jim pointing out something similar last week about dirty banks while Harvey was being the hardass?

- Jim and Lee have it out; Lee’s strikes are clearly hitting home.

- A “present” from Jerome shows up. There’s a video. A VHS instead of a DVD, further obfuscating what time period this is supposed to be in. Jerome informs him some goons are heading for the precinct for a “wake”… just as they show up.

- Will Lee take advantage of the chaos to escape?

- A car shows up with Jerome’s casket.

- Back at the Narrows, Ed and Lee’s goons are discussing how to break Lee out. Their group seems to be on a collision course with the “mourners.”

- They’re using Jerome’s casket as a battering ram. That’s just absurd enough to be mildly hilarious. This show’s really at its best when it embraces three things. A) Camp. B) Black humor. C) General morbidity. When it embraces all of these things at once, you understand.

- Who wrote this episode, by the way? I haven’t seen enough to know if it’s halfway decent (and the inconsistencies in Jim and Harvey’s positions is a warning sign if ever I saw one), but it’s been decently well-paced so far. Is this another Ben McKenzie script?

- Jim’s plan is… I’m not a tactical genius, but it actually sounds okay.

- Bruce and Jeremiah are in their maze. I’m wondering when Mr. Hyde is going to come out to play and leave our Dr. Jekyll in the dark.

- Jeremiah is flipping through Jerome’s diary. Bruce looks appropriately disturbed and appropriately concerned. I hate he’s going to go over the edge so quickly, because he and Bruce have a fairly sweet dynamic.

- Alfred is heading around Wayne Manor with a gun, apparently having heard a disturbance, only to get ambushed off-screen. I’m assuming by Jerome’s people.

- Jeremiah tells Bruce about getting gassed. Well, I’m glad that for once the little communication issue of people refusing to tell other people vital information was side-stepped.

- Bruce suggests going to where Jerome’s buried to prove that he’s dead and give Jeremiah a little piece and mind. Boy, is that going to be an unpleasant experience.

- It’s Operation Unruly Clown in the precinct. Just before all hell breaks loose, Jim and Lee have one last little exchange. I wonder if Jim is at all affected by this.

- Lee gets knocked out. Oh, the drama. Oh, the half-baked drama that I’m sure won’t lead to glurgey EdxLee scenes later.

- Jim faces off against some of Jerome’s people in the locker room. Harvey and Harper ambush them, and Jim apparently decides to have a good old-fashioned fist fight with the head goon.

- Gotta say, now that I don’t care about what’s happening anymore, it’s a lot easier to just be Zen about all this. Like, the bad writing still irritates me, but I think it’s going to take a lot more for me to get properly angry.

- Is that… Is that a pool of blood in the kitchen? Wow, I actually feel a little sorry for Alfred.

- Jeremiah desperately wants to bolt out of the cemetery. He’s twitchy as hell, poor guy. I actually feel sorry for him, now; now that they’re being more upfront about the fact that he’s not well, it’s easier to sympathize with him.

- Jeremiah sees Jerome’s exhumed grave, screams “He’s alive!” and runs away. Honestly, that is probably the most sensible thing anyone’s ever done in the history of this show.

- Oswald tries to eat his lunch, only for Butch to be an asshole and steal his food straight off his plate. Butch… You radiate anti-sympathy waves. Why do you expect me to feel sorry for you?

- Why is Oswald reduced to robbing liquor stores for income? Doesn’t he have more resources than that?

- I’m just waiting for Ed and Co. to show up. Where are they?

- Oh, great, police brutality. Again.

- The little gag of rogues opening the back of the van while that one guy yells “X! We’re saved!” is kinda funny, I’ll admit. Especially when Oswald just motions for Butch to grab one of them.

- Lee wakes up in the precinct while the orgy’s going on. She’s probably concussed, so I wonder how well she’s gonna do. No charming your way out this situation when it’s all you can do not to fall over, throw up, and pass out.

- Jeremiah has apparently run into a crypt. Suddenly, I’m beginning to understand why people ship Batman and the Joker. …I never wanted to be in this position.

- Jeremiah seems to think Bruce… is Jerome. Given how paranoid he seems to be even at the best of times, I can actually buy this as being plausible.

- Back to the orgy. Ed Nygma is dressed as a clown, and we learn the casket is full of liquor bottles.

- Lee ambushes him and hits him with a can that makes a satisfyingly metallic clang. I laughed.

- Jim shows up at the maze. And seems to have no trouble navigating it without Jeremiah’s help, further giving the lie to the idea that he’s any kind of expert maze-builder.

- Jerome’s followers just left his body sitting out by the exhumed grave… and nobody noticed it until now??? What?????

- The harlequin from the opening scene has a gun to Jim’s head while he watches the video Jerome left… until someone reaches from off-screen and throttles him. That’s interesting.

- Is it Ecco under that mask? What’s her involvement with all this?

- It is Ecco. What’s with this?

- Jim turns his attention back to the window, where it turns out the throttling thing was just a theatrical thing. Back to proper programming.

- Jerome’s followers show up and separate Jeremiah and Bruce (Good thing, too; I doubt Bruce is skilled enough with headlock safety to keep from hurting him). The part where Jeremiah wipes his face with a handkerchief to show his now-naturally white skin is another homage to the 1989 Batman film; we’ve been seeing a lot of those this season, haven’t we? Well, I’ll give them this much; when it comes to other Batman homages, they’ve got decent taste.

- Cameron Monaghan’s great.

- I wonder if Jeremiah is going to be to Bruce in this continuity what Harvey Dent is to Bruce in the DCAU. It would make a fair amount of sense.

- The mask of madness, huh? Somehow, I doubt that very much.

- Jeremiah: “To truly build something, you must tear down what’s already there.”

- Jim’s left locked in the room with the overloading generators. And apparently they work pretty well as bombs.

- Just before the GCPD can storm the clinic, the first of the generators explodes. The one in the maze, apparently. How the fuck did Jim get out of the blast zone in time, because I seriously doubt this show has the guts to kill him—especially since we see him in promo shots for future episodes, apparently unharmed. The blast zone is supposed to have a radius of a mile (Jeremiah said you didn’t want to be anywhere within a mile of it), and there’s no way Jim could have gotten that far away in time. Also, I’d bet the explosion would be enough to make the ceiling collapse, so logically, he should be deader than disco.

- Bruce gets tossed in the grave with Jerome’s corpse. Christ, poor kid’s gonna have a stroke when he wakes up.

- Oswald is interrogating Jerome’s head goon.

- Butch, all you have to do to look normal is to get a spray-on tan and hair dye. I don’t feel remotely sorry for you.

- Oswald calls it a “tale of woe.” Bless you, Oswald.

- Glurgey EdxLee scene is glurgey. That is all.

- And cue the tear gas! Well, I guess that’s one way to break up an orgy.

- Ed and Lee watching those guys escaping down the fire escape is a decent scene, though.

- Last scene is Jeremiah at Wayne Research. With Ecco. Is anyone ever going to explain what the deal is with Ecco. And don’t just give me that “She’s Harley” crap and try to leave it there. I want an explanation that isn’t lazy. Why is she like this?

[back-and-totheleft]

Stone, cold sober

Re-telling the story of September 11 with a measured hand and lightness of touch hithertoo unhinted at, director Oliver Stone proves a more serious thinker than his paranoia-soaked canon would suggest. Here, he explains how his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam framed his outlook on life and art.

The introductory handshake comes with an additional squeeze of the wrist and a roguish smile.

“You’re Irish. I can tell.”

No. Your correspondent hasn’t been transported back to a disco in the 1970s. Instead, she’s in New York’s Regency Hotel meeting Oliver Stone. That twinkling opening gambit has brought about a Proustian rush of wayward tabloid headlines. I remember that idiotic book on the making of Natural Born Killers, with its scurrilous tales of loose ladies, psilocybin mushrooms and cocaine abuse. I recall that story about the director commandeering the Warners corporate jet to do peyote in the Mexican desert while making The Doors. I remember too how the set of Alexander reputedly became an extravagant saturnalia. Sure enough, I can effortlessly picture this man partying down with Colin Farrell, a duel study in swaggering Dionysian charm.

Though Stone insists his appetite for debauchery has been greatly exaggerated, he’s always owned up to unruly habits. Yes, he does have a fondness for marijuana dating back to time spent on the frontline in Vietnam. He has also ‘expanded his consciousness’ with the occasional psychedelic. But driving offences from last year and 1999 have, he claims, more to do with pre-diabetic medication unwisely knocked back with alcohol than exotic marching powders.

Still, it’s an impressively scandalous record for a man of his years. Stone is 60 now, though you’d say he were a decade younger if you suddenly spied him on the street. In person he’s imperturbably casual, far more relaxed than the ‘madman’ headlines might lead one to suppose. His glowing tan is offset by a bright yellow polo shirt and he sits way, way back in his chair holding your gaze all the while.

Accommodating and easy in his manner, you’d be hard-pressed to identify this individual as Oliver Stone – Controversial Filmmaker. That is, nevertheless, to whom we speak. Stone boasts a fearsomely uncompromising reputation as a screenwriter and director. Throughout the ‘80s when the post-classical frisson of counter-cultural Hollywood had fizzled and poachers died off or turned gamekeeper, only Stone kept the faith, authoring politically conscious cinema at a time when the Academy was honouring Driving Miss Daisy.

His screenplay for rapper’s favourite Scarface set the frenzied pace and ultra-violent tone that would later characterise his visual style. But Stone was too engaged with the world to become the new Brian De Palma. Salvador, his first major film as director, probed the gulf between the ideals of American foreign policy and realpolitik. Platoon, Wall Street, JFK and Nixon would further confirm his interest in micro and macro conspiracies and establish him as an outlaw auteur.

Though he’s now rueful about being stereotyped or “pinned like a butterfly”, he was a good sport about it, appearing as a conspiracy nut in Dave and Wild Palms.

“You know, I’ve never really regarded myself as a political filmmaker”, he tells me. “I consider myself a dramatist. I always get involved with people more than the politics. With the movie JFK, for example, the book by Jim Garrison had a lot of theory. I was more interested in making him part of that story. And Oswald fascinated me. If you watch that film it is really a trail of people played by great actors. Nixon, despite the whiff of conspiracy, is truly a psychological portrait of a man. Many people in the right wing thought it would be a hatchet job but I really made him apathetic. I refuse to be pigeon holed. I am not a political guy. I don’t go to rallies. I am not an activist. I don’t have the time because I’m busy being a writer.”

He may deny the role of agitator, but his opinions, both off and onscreen suggest otherwise. His most recent work in the documentary sector includes Persona Non Grata, an examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and two features about Cuban president Fidel Castro, Comandante and Looking for Fidel. (Stone has described himself as a friend and an admirer.)

He has, before now, referred to the events of September 11th as a ‘revolt’ and expressed an interest in the work of Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism advisor whose book Against All Enemies accuses the Bush administration of ignoring the al-Qaeda threat, then linking the group to Iraq, contrary to all evidence.

“We Vietnam vets, in particular, found it very difficult”, says Stone. “We had the backing of the world in Afghanistan. We were rounding up the main suspects. Then we go into Iraq with no support. Militarily, it was stupid. It was overreaching. And any American who travels can tell you how the rest of the world is resentful. What the hell are we doing in Iraq when the enemy was 4000 al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan?”

When it was announced last summer that Stone would direct World Trade Centre, a film focusing on ‘first response’ police officers trapped by the Twin Towers collapse, many eyebrows were raised. “To allow this poisoned and deranged mind… (to recreate 9/11) in the likeness of his vile fantasies is beyond obscene,” raged one conservative commentator. But World Trade Center, it transpires, is Stone’s least obvious work even by his own consistently innovative standards. The towers do not fall back and to the left. There is no grand plot or secret ruling elite. “This is not a political film in any sense”, insists Stone. “It harks back to Platoon in that respect. In Vietnam, we didn’t sit around talking about LBJ. And the truth is, I don’t think we can say for sure what happened during 9/11. We spent more investigating Bill Clinton’s blowjobs than the destruction of the World Trade Centre. Whatever was going on in the background, if you look at the forest through the trees, it seems to me that what has happened since is far worse than what happened that day. So the politics and conspiracies behind that day, whatever they may be, are not as relevant as where we are now.” Completely eschewing polemic, the movie instead offers a heartfelt portrait of ordinary fellows on the front line. Stone’s traditional constituency are, needless to say, horrified, and assorted doublespeak statements have been issued attacking World Trade Center as “non-conspiratorial lies.”

John Conner, a leading voice in the Christian branch of the 9/11 Truth Movement, went so far as to ask the following– “Was Stone used by the Illuminati as an unknowing pawn to whitewash the 9/11 conspiracy theories to the masses? Was he approached with the project and coerced into a commitment to occupy his time in attempts to thwart any other 9/11 angle from being used? Is Stone a pawn in the game? Perhaps Stone didn’t know at the time, and found out too late.”

Oddly, however, like Paul Greengrass’ United 93, Stone’s film has found champions from either end of America’s bipolar political spectrum, often the same folks who had previously dismissed him as a pinko malcontent. L. Brent Bozell III, the president of the conservative Media Research Center and founder of the Parents Television Council — a latter day Mary Whitehouse in trousers — called it “a masterpiece” and sent an e-mail message to 400,000 people saying, “Go see this film.” Cal Thomas, the right-wing syndicated columnist and contributor to The Last Word, wrote that it was “one of the greatest pro-American, pro-family, pro-faith, pro-male, flag-waving, God Bless America films you will ever see.”

“I just felt this was a great story dying to be told,” explains Stone. “It may not be like anything I have done before, but Heaven And Earth wasn’t like anything I had done before. Nor was U Turn or Natural Born Killers. I do jump around and each film is a different style. This isn’t like United 93 which was a brilliant piece of vérité. This is more like a classic John Ford, William Wyler or even Frank Capra film. Against tremendous odds this rescue takes place. This has the traditional Hollywood tropes of emotional connection to four main characters from the working class.

"I would love to bring Hollywood back to that, making films where people actually work for a living, not sit around making things happen with a remote control like that Adam Sandler film. Born On The Fourth Of July was blue-collar. So was Any Given Sunday. Although it’s about elite athletes, it was about work. They had to punish their bodies for their lifestyle.”

A marriage of disaster movie and combat zone drama, World Trade Centre follows Port Authority officers Sergeant John Mc Loughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) on a doomed rescue mission into the Twin Towers. On September 12th, they were among the last survivors to be pulled from the rubble. Though the original script by newcomer Andrea Berloff read like a relocation of Beckett’s Endgame, Stone has widened the remit to include the rescuers and the anxious wives at home. As a director noted for working within a decidedly masculine milieu, was it a challenge to represent domesticity, I wonder.

“Oh yes,” he admits. “That was a big challenge. On the surface this is a very simple story of catastrophe and rescue and heroism. But if you go beyond the cliché it is very fresh. Everything the rescuers did was dangerous. We assume rescues just happen, but it is hard work. These men really crawled into places where they thought they would die. It took hours to get them out. I tried to show some of that digging. But an even bigger cliché in these circumstances is the waiting housewife. Actually, it goes further than that. Each of these women died that day. They sit there as the hours pass and the only news is no survivors. You knew no one would come out of there. The buildings were so pancaked. So it was like death for them. I wanted to portray that. I wanted them smelling the sheets from the previous night where they had slept. Again it’s a cliché but the idea was to take the cliché and make it fresh.”

Another subplot concentrates on Staff Sergeant Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon) a Christian marine in Wilton, Connecticut, who watches events on TV and tells his colleagues that America is now at war. Once he decides that God wants him to go to New York he heads to Ground Zero with a flashlight and eventually hears the two cops in the debris. A postscript before the final credits informs us that Kearns has since served two tours of duty in Iraq.

“It’s a remarkable and weird story,” Stone admits. “But that’s how it happened. I also think Kearns represents a significant sector of the American population when he says, ‘We’re going to need some good men to avenge this’. For many people, revenge was their first thought.”

And there you have it. For all the pigeonholing as a conspiracy theorist, facts are of paramount importance to Stone. He spent two-and-a-half years researching JFK. He spent three years immersed in Persian history for the much-maligned Alexander. It was a labour of love and the ill-tempered critical reception seems to have cut to the quick.

“I’m a historical dramatist,” he explains. “I wasn’t a Kennedy assassination junkie at the time, nor was I a 9/11 junkie. But I love the past. It hurts when I read someone claiming that I’ve fabricated something. But then you make a film like Alexander and scholars say you have it right, but critics say it’s all wrong.”

Similarly, while Stone has been at pains to represent those involved in the World Trade Centre disaster as faithfully as possible, he has not been able to quell dissent completely. The widow of Dominick Pezzulo – a cop portrayed in the film - has accused Jimeno and McLoughlin of cashing in on the tragedy by selling their story to Paramount. There have also been mutterings about the film being too soon.

“I know,” nods Stone. “But I honestly think it is the right time. The Killing Fields was made five years after those events in Cambodia. During World War II, Hollywood made propaganda films. Casablanca, made in 1941, takes a very anti Nazi position even before we declared war. The Vietnam movies took longer to make, but life goes faster now. I would say to you the consequences of 9/11 are so bad that we better look back now and understand what happened on that day. When you leave it too long, events become mythologized. Watching Pearl Harbor, you’d think we won that battle. This is the epicentre of 9/11, but there are many stories that still need to be told.”

Though personal and more modest in scope than the $63 million budget might suggest, the director does hope that his intense focus on McLoughlin and Jimeno has a wider relevance.

“They did not have a clue as to what was happening,” he says. “They knew it was a terrorist attack but there was no discussion of politics. They’re cops. They are far more likely to talk about pop culture, whether it is Starsky And Hutch or GI Jane. It wasn’t Bergman down in that hole.

So I am not claiming this movie will answer all the questions. But let’s say you go to a psychiatrist and all your life you have been repressed because you were raped when you where 14. Perhaps the psychiatrist says, ‘Let’s go back to that day’. They make you remember that day and it changes all the defences you had built up. So perhaps by undoing the screw, the secret at the beginning, you can take some of the armour off.”

The events of 9/11 may be difficult to disentangle, but no more so than the filmmaker himself. Born in New York City to a Jewish father and Catholic mother, William Oliver Stone was raised Episcopalian by way of compromise. His parents divorced after his father, a conservative Republican, conducted various extra-marital affairs with family friends. Young Oliver spent much of his subsequent childhood in splendid isolation between private schools and five star hotels - ‘a cartoonish Little Lord Fauntleroy’ by his own account.

Still, Stone needs neither bullfighting nor marlin fishing to confirm his Hemingwayesque credentials as an artist. He attended Yale and dropped out twice before enlisting to fight as an Infantryman in Vietnam. Mixing with the lower orders and smoking pot soon transformed the spoiled youngster into a military hero. He was wounded twice in action and received the Bronze Star with ”V” device signifying valor for “extraordinary acts of courage under fire,” and the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster.

Soon after the war, he was arrested at the US-Mexico border for possession of marijuana. His father bailed him out but the experience served to radicalise him. Later, meeting understandably embittered veterans such as Ron Kovic pushed Stone further to the left.

He has, however, wooed Hollywood despite the often overtly political nature of his films. He won his first Academy Award as the screenwriter of Midnight Express and has been further honoured for directing Platoon and Born On The Fourth Of July.

Now, after World Trade Centre, has attention and lavish praise from the likes of Bill O’Reilly turned his head? Not bloody likely.

“People are people,” he tells me. “I think people have to take care of themselves and their families first. But there are bigger questions now. The ecological movement want us to clean up, but how can that work when there is always the issue of jobs? It’s a very selfish world and avarice triumphs over the green imperative. After Katrina, there was a tremendous outpouring of help. That was also true when the tsunami hit Indonesia. People are very generous in America and there are some very fine Americans. Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t have passports. Most of them don’t know where Iraq is. And a lot think al Qaeda and Iraq are the same thing. There’s a problem with the education levels. American television keeps people trapped. The news is very superficial and mostly filled with advertisements and rapes and murders. If you travel in the country and you stay in the smaller places you find very limited resources. If America spent the same amount of money as we spend on embassies and CIA stations around the world on our major cities with the goal of helping bring those cities to a way of life that was democratic and economically viable, we would have a tremendous success in this country. Instead, we have an international presence and I don’t know if it is worth it. All we are doing is promoting a system which is now suspect all over the world. We have broken our constitution repeatedly since 2001.”

He smiles cynically.

“I don’t think pictures of soldiers pointing their naked dicks in Abu Ghraib has helped us at a local level either.”

He’s still got it.

-Tara Brady, “Stone cold sober,” HotPress, Sept 19 2006 [x]