#not to mention i could always take more of peter being an amoral doctor

[angelamontoo]

I've been thinking about an alternate version of The Return of Dr X with Peter Lorre playing Dr Francis Flegg

[discoscoob]

"What Loki got wrong – and Doctor Who got right Redeeming a villainous character isn’t easy but the Disney Plus series could pick up a few tips from the BBC’s flagship series.

We all love Loki – the God of Mischief, Lord of Chaos, a wannabe tyrant and murderer with a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step. So where on Earth (or rather, in the multiverse) did he go during his eponymous Disney Plus series? When Loki was first proposed, I was intrigued to see a Marvel spin-off that focused on an amoral, self-serving character. But over the course of its six episodes, we saw Tom Hiddleston abruptly deliver a reverse heel-turn, transforming a character that had always skirted in grey areas of villainy into a fairly bland, heroic type who just wanted to save the universe.In the final episode, Loki was offered the chance at universal war and chaos, a throne or a quiet home life in the background. The mind boggles that someone who tried to rule the planet just a few weeks before and apparently revelled in disorder would so quickly plump for the third option, no matter how nice his new friends were. .Maybe Loki needs more ‘good’ characters to bounce off for him to play the fun bad boy, as he had in the Thor movies. Maybe creating a Marvel series with a morally ambiguous lead, à la Rick and Morty, was never on the cards. But there was a way that Loki could have redeemed its central character without completely compromising what made him interesting in the first place. In fact, it’s been done before in a different series.A few times over the course of Loki, viewers had compared it to Doctor Who, mainly because of its general time-travel premise (what are the officious TVA except Time Lords with a dental plan?) and especially after episode three saw Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) trapped on a dying world. In fact, many commented that Loki did ‘Doctor Who’ better than Doctor Who itself, thanks to a higher budget and bigger stars. (Though did Loki have a sonic screwdriver? I think not. Case closed.)And I actually think Loki could learn something from Doctor Who, more specifically, from a storyline that saw an iconic villain try to change their ways with Cast your mind back to 2017 and Peter Capaldi’s final series as the Twelfth Doctor. A major throughline of those episodes was the Doctor’s attempt to redeem his old nemesis The Master, then played by Michelle Gomez as Missy. Initially reluctant (and not before a few final backstabs), Missy did end up playing the hero, only to be cut down by an alternate version of herself (AKA her predecessor in the regenerating role, John Simm) before she could reveal to the Doctor that she’d finally come over to his side.Crucially, during this process Missy was often as unpleasant, irascible and darkly funny as she’d ever been at her most villainous, regularly still insulting and belittling the Doctor and his friends even as she did gain more empathy and something of a moral code. She didn’t just completely gain a new personality, in other words, and the story was more moving and believable as a result.Of course, Loki is changed by what happens to him over the course of his series – the “journey” he goes on, as Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains puts it, is needed to put him in the position where he’s willing to take over the TVA himself. But what we see him go through on screen doesn’t feel like enough to justify such a change in the character – or why the show would choose to make him so much less entertaining.If Loki had always been how he appeared in the finale, he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he has in the MCU, let alone get his own spin-off. Make Loki fun again! It probably doesn’t help that we’ve seen an onscreen version of Loki’s journey already which did a better job, with the ‘older’/original Loki’s arc in 2017 Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok making a much better case for his gradual turn from self-interest to semi-heroism, though still with a trademark blend of arrogance and style (including bellowing “Your saviour is here!” as he rescued the people of Asgard).Maybe it helps that, in that film, he plays second fiddle to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. Maybe Missy’s story only worked in Doctor Who because she wasn’t the main character, and similarly had the good

Doctor to bounce off (though if someone does want to make a Missy TV show, I’m in).Whatever the reasoning, something still feels a little off about this newly heroic Loki variant. Time for, if not a pruning, then at least a bit of a redirection if season two is going to find its glorious purpose"

reading this article rolling my eyes first off Missy went by a different name, also was not really a redemption of the master but that version of the master e.g missy which still don't know where this version is suppose to happen cause imo missy was the master but unlike the master had more redemptive qualities, wanting to be the doctors friend again/wanting to change but never getting the chance/past version didn't want to change, while this version feels like always on a path of redemption to the be killed off and the master comes back still evil, most likely missy version of the master will never be mentioned again/ never see this version again. also have they watched the Loki show, he literally learns he dies in the future, his stuck in a unfamiliar place by a very powerful organisation, also his self serving persona has always been a façade mostly, people can suddenly want to change which imo Loki hasn't really wanted to as Thor as pointed out about him going round in circles and him never seem to want to change in Ragnarok he was still not really change even though he shown he can be a better person, he also betrayed thor show still self serving. but Loki in the series makes sense his perception would change, his lost him home, his free will, Thor, learns he died/dies, and can't back to his timeline, but find it unbelieveable that Loki whole attitude would change... i think people need to pay more attention/don't really understand Loki, also he is still fun 3 episodes in just because his not acting like a clown and shown to be vulnerable and shown be more genuine and wanting be a hero doesn't mean they completely stripped his personality, hopefully we see his fun personality back next series. the reason he lasted in MCU so long is not just because his fun etc but because his a complex character, if i remember correct his fun personality didn't really come out until the dark world and then ragonorak in Thor he was angry and bitter and avengers was angry and bitter and wanting to rule earth. also we saw his fun personality up until episode 3 as slowly began to stop clowning around and become more genuine through Sylvie, also good friends didn't just change Loki, it was already in there it was a journey he always destined to go down as saw in the films which now some what reset in the series for another journey but thing is Mobius and Sylvie not just better Loki but his also bettered Mobius and Sylvie, also makes sense he change his self serving behaviour as learns even gets the throne or what he thought was his glory purpose he still not be truly happy, just like Sylvie and just like Mobius at The TVA. i feel some just don't really go into who Loki character is or just like his boring now if his not there being smug or clown or him finally actually being genuine = bad telling of redemption ok *rolls eyes*

I 100% agree! Reading that made me roll my eyes too, until I got to your part of the anon, that was a relief to read.

[lovemesomerafael]

El Amor Todo Lo Puede         Chapter 37:  Parental Guidance

Source:  @plutoandpersephone

Chapters 1-35  Chapter 36

As anyone who had ever met him would expect, Rafael Barba was a terrible patient.  He grumbled and complained and snarked through two days in the hospital and an enforced two-week leave from work while the worst of his injuries healed.  The broken ribs were going to take longer, but when the doctor began talking about a longer leave, things had gotten tense fast.  The doctor had fully advised him of the need to rest, but that was all she could do.  Barba was going to do what he was going to do.

“I’m a lawyer,” Rafael sniped.  “Not a professional gymnast.  I can work hurt.”

Laura set a cup of fresh coffee next to where she’d settled him on his couch.  She had been listening to him gripe the entire drive home from the hospital, in between comments and criticisms about her driving and the rental car she’d chosen.  She stepped back and decided she didn’t like the angle at which he was resting, so she took another pillow from his bed and put it behind him.

“Laura, I’m fine. Stop fussing.”

She went into the bag she’d picked up for him at the hospital pharmacy and picked out the bottle of pain pills.  Filling a glass of water from the tap, she brought it into the living room and handed it to him along with one of the pills.

“I don’t need this.  The pain’s not that bad.”

“I didn’t ask.  Take it.”

“Were you always this bossy when you were a nurse?”

“Take the pill.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Then why are you being a particular pain in the ass right now?”

“I’m always a particular pain in the ass.  I’ve been trying to tell you that.”

“Take the pill, Harvard, or I swear I will put on a Jane Austen movie and hide the remote.”

“Patients have the legal right to refuse treatment.”

Laura sighed in exasperation and sat down on the coffee table in front of him.  “OK.  We’ll do it the official way.  Give me a number.”

“It’s not bad.  It’s like a six.”

“Your pain is at six out of ten, you have pain medication in your hand which it’s time for you to have according to your doctor’s orders, and you’re giving me shit about taking it. What’s wrong with this picture?”

Rafael rolled his eyes, took the pill, and handed Laura the empty glass.  

“Ugh.  That was tap water.”

“Have me indicted. Now, do you have everything you need?”

“No.”

“What else can I get for you?”

“Sit by me.  Give me a kiss.”  

Laura grinned and shook her head fondly.  Oh, how she loved this cranky, sweet, adorable man.  One minute he was getting on her last nerve complaining, and the next he was giving her a rare, privileged peek at the real, loving man beneath the crusty shell he hid behind.  She shifted from the coffee table to sitting on the edge of the couch next to where he lay.  She leaned down and carefully put an arm on either side of him, placing all her weight on her arms, and trying not to touch his chest.  

“I love you, you handsome, grouchy man.”

She gave him a soft, slow kiss, and was surprised when he put a hand behind her head and pressed her lips more firmly to his.  The kiss became very serious, very quickly.  

“Oh,” Laura panted when they came up for air.  “So that’s what the ‘tude is about.”

“It’s about a lot of things,” he said, looking at her with eyes already dilated with lust.  “But since Liv forced me to make an appointment with her counselor, I’ll let him deal with most of them.  There is one thing, however, that you in particular can help me with.”

She shifted position so that she could begin to stroke him through his sweatpants while they continued their deep kisses.  “We’re going to have to be careful for a little while but, lucky for you, I happen to be a very naughty girl.”

“It’s one of my favorite things about you-  oh, fuck, Laura, do that again.”

 *******

 The evening was surprisingly warm and calm for April.  Rafael smiled as he walked the block from his garage to his apartment building, thinking about the features his new car had that the old one had not.  He felt good.  Happy.  His injuries were fully healed and, to everyone’s relief, he didn’t seem to have any post-trauma issues.   It was very good to be back to normal.  

He let himself into Laura’s apartment, calling for her.  Stepping into the living room, he looked surprised to see a man and woman he’d never seen sitting comfortably around her coffee table.  

“Oh!  Uh… hello,” he stammered.

Laura came around the corner from the kitchen, pleased but a little bewildered to see him.  “Hey.”  Turning to the couple, she said, “Mom, Dad, this is my… neighbor, Rafael Barba.  Rafael, this is my mom and dad, Carol and Ed Parker.”

“Your neighbor who has a key to your apartment,” Ed mumbled under his breath. 

Rafael shook hands with Laura’s parents, then turned back to Laura.

“What’s up?”  She asked warily.  I thought we agreed we weren’t doing this.  I thought I gave you a pass on having to deal with the Ed and Carol Show. What are you up to, Rafael?

“I just stopped by to see if you wanted to order dinner.  Sorry, I forgot your parents were coming.”  He moved toward the door.  “It was a pleasure meeting you both –“ he began.

“Well, I’m hungry. Why don’t we all order dinner?” Carol asked brightly.

“Mom,” Laura said, “Don’t put him in that position.  He’s probably exhausted.”

“Are you kidding?  I wouldn’t miss a chance to get to know your parents.”  The glee in his eyes was unmistakable.  

The penny dropped.  “Coño.[1]  You so didn’t forget my parents were here,” she muttered, quietly enough so only he could hear.  

Rafael stepped around her toward her parents.  “What are you in the mood for?”

“Oh, I think we’d better rely on you for that.  Something fun, though.  Something New York,” Carol enthused.

“I’ll figure something out. Let me go change out of my work clothes, and I’ll order something you’ll love.”

Carol and Ed quickly agreed.

“Great.  Back in a few minutes.”  He headed toward the door.

“No.”  Laura said in a low voice, following him.

“It’s fine,” he said cheerfully, “It’ll be fun.”

“Rafael, no vas a interrogar a mis padres,[2]” Laura snarled through gritted teeth, stepping in front of him.    

He smiled gleefully at her, then turned around.   “Are you two wine drinkers?  A friend gave me a bottle of a really expensive red.  I can’t share it with Laura, so…  how about I bring that with me?”

Both Laura’s parents nodded and made sounds of approval.  Rafael turned again toward the door, nearly stepping into Laura.  

“No vas a emborrachar a mis padres y los interrogará,[3]” she growled.  

“Be right back,” he said, stepping around her to the door.

“Que te folle un pez.[4]”  She hissed.

“So vulgar.  I should never have taught you that.”  He gave her a wicked grin.

As Laura returned to the living room after he left, Carol fell dramatically back into her chair. “Oh, he is yummy,” she cried. “Pleeease tell me you’re sleeping with him!”

Ed humphed.  “For heaven’s sake, Carol.”  

Laura rolled her eyes and uttered a disgusted, “Mom!”  

The Indian food Rafael ordered turned out to be the perfect choice, and the wine lived up to its price tag. Only Laura appeared to be having a less-than-wonderful night.  Rafael was charming and polite, entertaining the Parkers with amusing work stories that had, so far, not been too hard for her to sit through.  But she was still tense.  

Rafael found himself really liking the Parkers.  They were interesting and intelligent, witty and literate.  He almost wished he hadn’t needled Laura, making her think he would try to get her parents to tell embarrassing stories about her.  The evening might have been perfect if Laura could relax.  He wasn’t sure why it was so much fun to give her a hard time.  But it was.

“I have to tell you, I don’t always find your daughter the easiest person to deal with.  Nobody does.”  He gave Laura a sideways grin.  “So why is it that everybody seems to forgive her for everything?”

Both Carol and Ed began to laugh.  Laura sat up straighter.

“That’s funny?”  Rafael asked.

“You have no idea,” Ed laughed ruefully, pouring himself another glass of wine.

“We have three kids,” Carol explained.  “The boys, they were always typical.  And they always got caught.  Our daughter, on the other hand…”

“I can only say I’m glad she’s on the right side of the law.”  Ed said.  “Because I wouldn’t envy your chances of ever prosecuting that girl.”  

“Hey…  sitting right here…”  Laura complained.

Ed continued.  “She’s in eleventh grade, caught in our car – which she didn’t have permission to be driving, by the way – parked with a bunch of her girlfriends out by Miller Park, all stoned out of their minds on marijuana -”

“Not that we ever learned about this from the police,” Carol interjected.

“Oh, no.  Because Laura talks the officers who busted them into driving the car back to our house and dropping them all off.  No charges, no calls to parents, no nothing.”

“How the hell did you do that?”  Rafael asked Laura.

“I’m persuasive,” she smiled sweetly at him.

Carol continued the story. “We only learned about all this years later, when she was in college.  We get a call from one of her friends who wants to know how to contact her at Northwestern.”

“And she just happens to mention,” Ed laughed, “that she’s one of the girls who didn’t get arrested with Laura that night.  She tells us this whole story, thinking we already knew it and we were just having a laugh about old times.”

Even Laura joined in the general laughter.  

“I hope you’ll get a chance to meet Laura’s brothers while they’re here,” Carol said.

“Oh, so the whole family is in town,” Rafael said, surprised.

“We like to visit once a year; we get to see Laura and enjoy the city...  Our sons are at a baseball game with a friend of Laura’s from Chicago.  Hey, he’s a lawyer, too, you might know him.  Peter Stone?”

“I know Peter Stone.”

“Nice guy, that Peter,” Ed commented.

“He is.”  Laura agreed, turning to look directly at Rafael.  “He never tries to embarrass me.”

Laura’s phone buzzed.

“Yeah, Carisi,” she answered.  Her voice and manner changed entirely; suddenly she was all business. “Text me the address.  I’m on my way.”

“Sorry, you guys, I have to go.”  Laura got up from the table and headed to the bedroom. 

“Hanrahan?”  Rafael asked, referring to a particularly violent serial rapist and killer SVU was currently working to catch.

“Yeah,” she called over her shoulder.

“It’s late,” Carol said to Rafael, concerned.  “Does she really have to go to work?”

“I’m afraid that’s kind of the nature of the job,” he answered.

Carol crossed herself.  Ed frowned deeply.

“You know, I understand that you’re concerned for your daughter’s safety.  I am, too. But listen.  Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s more than capable of taking care of herself.”  Rafael leaned toward them and spoke in a conspiratorial tone.  “To tell you the truth, the bad guys are in more danger from her.”  

She came out then, fastening her shield to her vest.  

“Oh, Lord, Laura, that gun is huge.  Can you actually … use that thing?”  Carol asked. 

Rafael stood up.  “You have a backup?”  He asked quietly.

“I got a full clip,” she assured him.

“Laura, it’s Hanrahan.”

She skipped a beat, then nodded once and turned back toward the bedroom. 

Carol and Ed exchanged a significant glance.  Had they just seen their daughter defer to someone else without argument?  In just that small exchange, they had glimpsed a powerful bond of respect and trust between Laura and Rafael.  Clearly, they needed to take this man seriously, because Laura obviously did.

She returned moments later, stopping on her way past the table to show Rafael the drop gun in a holster on her right ankle, and the knife in an ankle sheath on the left, both concealed beneath her jeans.  “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll use harsh language.”

He nodded, unsmiling.

Laura brushed a kiss on her mother’s cheek as she rushed toward the door. “I’m sorry, you guys.  Don’t wait up, I probably won’t be back tonight.”

Carol crossed herself again.

After Laura left, the Parkers and Rafael settled in the living room with coffee.  Rafael was intensely curious how the conversation would go now that Laura wasn’t in the room.  Would they make small talk?  Would he get interrogated about the nature of their relationship and his intentions? Although he and Laura  hadn’t kissed in front of her parents, there had still been a fair amount of touching and flirting. They couldn’t help it.

Carol settled on the couch next to Ed, facing Rafael who sat in an easy chair across the coffee table from them.

“I have questions,” she said guilelessly.

“Carol…” her husband rumbled.

“Well, I do. Are you in love with Laura?”  

“Yes.”  

Rafael had no idea why it was as natural as breathing to acknowledge his love to these strangers, when he hadn’t yet found the courage to acknowledge it to her.  He also wondered whether he just had.  Would the first thing her parents told Laura when she returned be that Rafael had told them he loved her?  He didn’t even know what to hope for there.

“Is she in love with you?”

“She says she is.”

Ed, having been married to Carol for close to 40 years, knew that the next question out of his wife’s mouth was going to be whether this man was having sex with their daughter.  Ed would strongly prefer not to know the answer to that question.  Besides, he would never give up hope for Laura and Peter Stone.  He loved Peter like a son.  He had been devastated by their breakup.  Not that he wasn’t willing to give this Rafael Barba a chance, but Ed was always going to be Team Peter.  In any event, he needed to intervene before this line of questioning went any further.

“Just how dangerous is Laura’s job?”  He asked.

To Ed’s relief, Rafael began to share with them some of the lighter stories about Laura’s run-ins with criminals during her career with SVU.  He didn’t think these nice people needed to know the grittier details of SVU’s work, or that he should be the one to tell them.

 The following morning, just after dawn, Laura quietly let herself into Rafael’s apartment.  She had a vague idea of slipping in and out without waking him, but he was standing in the doorway of his bedroom before she had crossed the living room.  

“You’re bloody.”

“It’s not mine. I was hoping to borrow a shirt?  I don’t want to have to deal with my parents about this.”

“You may have to deal with me about this.  It’s in your hair.  What happened?”

“We got him. But not before he shot a couple more people.  Killed one, the other isn’t looking too good.  Why don’t you go back to bed?  It’s early…”

“I’m up now and, call me crazy, seeing you covered in blood sort of has me awake.”

“Well…  I guess I should take a shower, get the blood out of my hair.”  She looked at him from under her eyelashes, a coy grin on her lips.  “How awake are you?”

Rafael shook his head and smiled.    “With your parents just downstairs?”

“Speaking of which, what was that?  I told you I didn’t expect you to meet them.”

“Yes, you did. But you never asked me if I wanted to. I did, so I… ignored you.”

“Ignored me.”

“Mmm-hmm. They’re delightful.”

“Ignored me.”

“That’s what I said. About that shower?”

“It sucks that you’re so hot.  Because I would very much like to be mad at you right now.”

“That is unfortunate.”

Rafael stepped over to Laura and untucked her bloody shirt from her slacks.  She smiled up at him as he pulled it over her head and tossed it on the floor, taking her into his arms.  

“Did you just throw a piece of clothing on the floor?  Who are you, and what have you done with Rafael?”

“You are a terrible influence.”  He kissed her deeply.  “In so many ways…”

Under the hot spray, Laura clung to Rafael, kissing him and murmuring to him all the mushy, romantic, sometimes sexually explicit things that she felt for him.  Although he felt the same way, there was always a line he just could not cross.  He wanted to. He longed to hurtle across that divide and wax eloquent about his love for her with the kind of abandon she was capable of.  But he just… couldn’t.  It was in his mouth to declare his love for her every minute, but the words simply wouldn’t form.  He tried to show her in every way he could the things he couldn’t make himself risk speaking out loud.  Which is why, in this moment, she was just beginning to gasp in that rhythmic way he’d been aiming for.

[1] All-purpose swear word

[2] You are not going to cross-examine my parents.

[3] You are not going to get my parents drunk and cross-examine them.

[4] I hope you get fucked by a fish.