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potted_music at 01:09pm on 31/12/2011 under rec:downton abbey
potted_music at 01:09pm on 31/12/2011 under rec:downton abbeyHappy New Year (and all the other winter festivities)!
Concocting plans for collective family pastimes is somewhat complicated by the fact that my idea of an ideal Christmas movie entails either In Bruges or Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, whereas my mom's choice would be Love Actually. We've settled on Downton Abbey as a satisfactory compromise: the downfall of the old social order between the wars is a cliche rather than a plot proper, but it is emotionally appealing, and there are kickass women, and pretty scenery, and everything. As always, I'm rooting for the wrong pairing, the one that is supposed to set off the good of the scriptwriter's OTP, but, to my view, outshines it by far. (Oh, how I wish for an epic Mary/Richard AU where they do get together and run that news empire, making history through falsifications and casual threats, both too sharp and too ruthless for their milieu- but I digress, even fen don't share this particular pairing preference; I would have written this fic, but it's years and years before I have a chance of pulling that off on the linguistic level.) Anyway, fic recs!
"As you both shall live" by dollsome (Cora/Robert)
Summary: She steps, quite new, into his old world.
Cora is my favourite character, so I'm somewhat biased in squeeing over this fic: she's the mild-mannered and proper and beautiful lady of the house on the surface, but there's a streak (a mile wide) of cold and not particularly kind sense of humour which she's no afraid to use, much as she's not afraid to hide a corpse when need arises. If zombie apocalypse happened in that universe, I'm willing to bet money that Cora would be one of the survivers. Anyway, this fic does justice to her complexities - and in beautiful prose to boot.
*
"The Earl Of Proxima Centauri" by Ankaret
Summary: The E.S.S Downton sets out on its mission to Proxima Centauri, and the crew experience a simulation while in coldsleep.
This is an absolutely awesome pastiche that provides the only plausible explanation of ways in which the canon plays fast and loose with chronology: because everything gets better with added spaceships!
*
Usually, even the characters that are portrayed as villains can be redeemed, or at least made less one-dimensional, through a certain degree of reading against the grain. Alas, this won't work for Thomas, the villain of Downton Abbey: not only is he a casually cruel, petty, and cowardly person: he's also, oftentimes, too stupid to live. The problem with him being the most one-dimensional character on screen is that he's also the only gay character in the series: and fen do try to make him somewhat more human in fics. I liked "Like Clockwork" by Anonymous, which is a sympathetic account of his childhood, and "Where Youth and Laughter Go" by acaramelmacchiato (Thomas/Siegfried Sassoon) - because that is one of the bestest crossovers I've ever seen (and, okay, now I sort of want me some Thomas/T.E. Lawrence: they could commiserate about their respective self-perceived war-time failings together, or something).
*
the number one ladies' detective agency (this year's Yuletide treat, anonymous so far) - Mary/Lavinia, PG: I liked the premise of this fic better than the execution, but the concept is delicious. The series itself deals with suffrage movement, so why not add the whimsical to it, while staying within the scope of themes outlined in canon? The fic author does just that, making Mary and Lavinia into awesome amateur sleuths. Had there been more descriptions of actual investigations, it could have been more fun, I think, so I'm hoping that the author might expand on it.
Concocting plans for collective family pastimes is somewhat complicated by the fact that my idea of an ideal Christmas movie entails either In Bruges or Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, whereas my mom's choice would be Love Actually. We've settled on Downton Abbey as a satisfactory compromise: the downfall of the old social order between the wars is a cliche rather than a plot proper, but it is emotionally appealing, and there are kickass women, and pretty scenery, and everything. As always, I'm rooting for the wrong pairing, the one that is supposed to set off the good of the scriptwriter's OTP, but, to my view, outshines it by far. (Oh, how I wish for an epic Mary/Richard AU where they do get together and run that news empire, making history through falsifications and casual threats, both too sharp and too ruthless for their milieu- but I digress, even fen don't share this particular pairing preference; I would have written this fic, but it's years and years before I have a chance of pulling that off on the linguistic level.) Anyway, fic recs!
"As you both shall live" by dollsome (Cora/Robert)
Summary: She steps, quite new, into his old world.
Cora is my favourite character, so I'm somewhat biased in squeeing over this fic: she's the mild-mannered and proper and beautiful lady of the house on the surface, but there's a streak (a mile wide) of cold and not particularly kind sense of humour which she's no afraid to use, much as she's not afraid to hide a corpse when need arises. If zombie apocalypse happened in that universe, I'm willing to bet money that Cora would be one of the survivers. Anyway, this fic does justice to her complexities - and in beautiful prose to boot.
*
"The Earl Of Proxima Centauri" by Ankaret
Summary: The E.S.S Downton sets out on its mission to Proxima Centauri, and the crew experience a simulation while in coldsleep.
This is an absolutely awesome pastiche that provides the only plausible explanation of ways in which the canon plays fast and loose with chronology: because everything gets better with added spaceships!
*
Usually, even the characters that are portrayed as villains can be redeemed, or at least made less one-dimensional, through a certain degree of reading against the grain. Alas, this won't work for Thomas, the villain of Downton Abbey: not only is he a casually cruel, petty, and cowardly person: he's also, oftentimes, too stupid to live. The problem with him being the most one-dimensional character on screen is that he's also the only gay character in the series: and fen do try to make him somewhat more human in fics. I liked "Like Clockwork" by Anonymous, which is a sympathetic account of his childhood, and "Where Youth and Laughter Go" by acaramelmacchiato (Thomas/Siegfried Sassoon) - because that is one of the bestest crossovers I've ever seen (and, okay, now I sort of want me some Thomas/T.E. Lawrence: they could commiserate about their respective self-perceived war-time failings together, or something).
*
the number one ladies' detective agency (this year's Yuletide treat, anonymous so far) - Mary/Lavinia, PG: I liked the premise of this fic better than the execution, but the concept is delicious. The series itself deals with suffrage movement, so why not add the whimsical to it, while staying within the scope of themes outlined in canon? The fic author does just that, making Mary and Lavinia into awesome amateur sleuths. Had there been more descriptions of actual investigations, it could have been more fun, I think, so I'm hoping that the author might expand on it.