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elizascharlesdanceblog · 5 years

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CD - A Remarkable Man

Charles Dance on making Godzilla: 'The catering was sensational!'

Ryan Gilbey

Freed from Game of Thrones and waging eco-terror in the new monster flick, cinema’s go-to bad aristo talks about turning down 007 and paparazzi ambushes.

Charles Dance is 15 minutes late. “London, yer know?” says the 72-year-old actor through a mouthful of pastry. His friends call him “Charlie” and Americans call him “Chuck”, though for his mother there was never any ambiguity. “‘His name’s Charles,’ she’d say. She ’ad a few ideas above ’er station.” The voice is rougher and more gor-blimey than the one to which audiences are accustomed, as well as friendlier and less imposing. His thinning hair, formerly red and now sand-coloured, is swept back, and he is wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt. The silver bracelet halfway up his forearm could pass for memorabilia from Game of Thrones, in which he played Tywin Lannister, shot by his own son with a crossbow while on the loo.

Any confusion between the upper-class roles in which Dance has specialised throughout his 35-year film and television career, and the man he really is – the working-class son of a mother who was in service from the age of 13 – was cleared up long ago. But that hasn’t stopped him playing commanders and archbishops, monsignors and monarchs. He will soon be seen in the third series of The Crown as Lord Mountbatten, while in the new blockbuster Godzilla: King of the Monsters he reprises the aristocratic menace routine that has kept him in fancy silver clasps since the days of starring opposite Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero.

Godzilla takes place mostly in darkened rooms or during inclement weather. Major characters drift through the film, their storylines petering out arbitrarily. I couldn’t make head nor scaly tail of it. And Dance? “I had difficulty staying awake,” he jokes, as though imitating an old duffer who’s wandered into a multiplex by mistake. Then he reverts to normal volume: “No, I didn’t say that! I mean, it’s spectacular.” He plays a former British colonel turned eco-terrorist who has a vested interest in facilitating Godzilla’s reign. Before he says a word in the film, he has already shot someone in the head and is thereafter restricted to the odd line and the occasional scowl. Was his performance cut? His laugh is booming and good-natured. “I keep hearing that! ‘I wish there was more of you.’ It’s what was offered. I just like working. Unless it’s complete and utter crap. I’ve got somepride.” There were clear compensations in this case. “The catering was sensational,” he says.

And, as he points out, it has been a while since he did a mega-budget movie. After all, Godzilla couldn’t be more different from Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, Ben Wheatley’s family-get-together film for the BBC in which he played the cross-dressing widower Uncle Bertie without a hint of camp. “Ten days we shot that in. Handheld cameras, communal green room. SAS film-making.” The character’s sartorial preferences were Dance’s idea. “I told Ben: ‘Ever since his wife died, I think Bertie’s worn women’s clothes. He’s been doing it so long, the family accept it.’ He turns up in his modestly heeled shoes and a bit of cashmere, his twin set and pearls.”

I remind him that the role marked his third foray into women’s fashion. “Riiiight,” he says suspiciously. Well, there was Ali G Indahouse, in which he writhed around at Sacha Baron Cohen’s behest in a red rubber micro skirt, thigh-high leather boots, leopardskin crop-top and drop earrings. He rolls his eyes. “Ah yes. The director said: ‘We’ve had an idea for the ending.’ I was kind of forced into that.

”And for one scene in White Mischief, the 1987 drama about the amoral British upper-class in Kenya during the second world war, the toffs interrupt their routine of polo and wife-swapping for a cross-dressing party. “Joss Ackland was there in bombazine and a tiara. I had on a mid-blue chiffon affair. Then Greta Scacchi comes out looking gob-smackingly gorgeous in this jacket with nothing underneath. Joss said, ‘This is all wrong. We should be going to each other’s wardrobe and just putting on whatever fits.’ He stormed off to complain to the director and I went with him. There’s Joss with his handbag on his arm, me standing there in me gear. I thought, ‘Here we are, expecting to be taken seriously …’

”White Mischief was pivotal for him, cementing his image as a sexy but faintly cold-blooded member of the ruling class. The ITV end-of-the-Raj drama The Jewel in the Crown had already made him a sensation three years earlier. The Sun called him “Dishy Dance” and the People claimed he had given up jogging because of the women flinging themselves under his running shoes on Hampstead Heath. Not that he was in danger of having his head turned – he had been “shlepping around the provinces” in theatre for nearly a decade before that big break, which didn’t happen until his late 30s.

And he was married with two children, so the tabloids weren’t interested in his love life until he split from his wife in 2004 and began dating much younger women. (He had a daughter with one of them, Eleanor Boorman, seven years ago.) Getting tailed by photographers in his 50s and 60s was no fun. “I was going to a shrink for a while and I got papped coming out of there. Pain in the arse. Lowest of the low.”

He was more prepared for the fuss over Jewel than he would have been if he had played James Bond, a part he was invited to test for – and refused – in 1986. “I think I’d have fucked it up. It might’ve gone to my head a bit. When Jewel happened, you couldn’t open a paper without reading about me. I was ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet’. But Bond would’ve been much bigger. I might’ve blown it.” He’s been eyeing the names currently in the frame. “Young Richard Madden is pretty good. Or James Norton. I think Daniel’s been fantastic. What he lacks in the wit of Roger Moore he makes up for in a sense of danger.”

Walking on set on his first day, he wore a T-shirt that read: 'I’m Cheaper Than Alan Rickman'

Without the slightest prompting, he identifies White Mischief as the fork in the road: the moment when he could have pushed his career to the next level, but didn’t. It was in 1988 that Michael Caine said: “Charles Dance is the one. Why? Because he wants it.” Caine approached him in a restaurant: “He told me, ‘I’ve got money on you. Don’t let me down.’ I thought: ‘Fucking hell, that’s nice.’” But Dance himself isn’t sure he ever really did want it – whatever “it” was. “Maybe if I’d had more cardinal ambition. I mean, I’m ambitious, but I don’t tread over people. And sometimes I just don’t feel like it. I thought: ‘No, I don’t want to go off to LA and sit in endless bloody meetings. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.’ I’m a bit like that.

”Then there was the competition. “Jeremy Irons was, and still is, a few feet ahead of me. Who else? Alan Rickman, bless him.” The shallowness of the casting pool was vividly brought home when he received the script for Last Action Hero. “I get to my character’s entrance and it says: ‘The door opens and there stands Alan Rickman.’” Still, he was a good sport about it. Walking on set on his first day, Dance wore a T-shirt that read: “I’m Cheaper Than Alan Rickman.”

It has been a career with obvious highlights: he was the only person to sleep with Ripley in the Alien series (in David Fincher’s Alien 3), played the director DW Griffith for the Taviani brothers in Good Morning, Babylon, and was part of the flawless ensemble in Gosford Park. On the other hand, he was in the medieval stoner romp Your Highness and was recently seen licking Luke Evans with a long, leathery grey tongue in Dracula Untold. He has done Celebrity Antiques Road Trip and Who Do You Think You Are?, where he met the South African great-niece and the three great-great-nephews he never knew he had. He read solemnly from Fifty Shades of Grey and Mel B’s autobiography on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year to much comic effect, and is in the forthcoming Kingsman prequel.

But a significant part of his acting range is currently being neglected. When I asked earlier why he hadn’t yet written an autobiography, his response was humorously gruff: “Who wants to read another book by an actor?” The question of what is missing from the scripts he gets offered prompts an altogether gentler, more ruminative answer. “I’d like to properly front something,” he says softly, his hearty manner replaced by a note of introspection. “If anyone was brave enough to do a remake of Death in Venice, that would be ideal. I notice I tend to be brought in to give a bit of weight to something, you know? Maybe I should be more choosy. I’d just like to be fronting things a bit more than I am.”

source: TheGuardian

#CD #charles dance #a remarkable man #interview #the guardian #30 May #2019

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himbopietro · 5 years

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it’s late, I’m sad, it’s time for a tag game!

The other thread was getting a bit too long for my koelomg so I’m maksiug a nene post !! I was tagged by @caminc91 thank you love!!

pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) people.

1. breaking bad

2. arrested development

3. stranger things

4. anne with an e

5. bojack horseman

❥ who is your favorite character in 2?

Gob. Without a shadow of a doubt. Gob is the funniest fucking character in this show. Maybe I relate way too much to Gob. Gay? Very unstable? A dumbass? Kind of a dick? Kind of shit at so called talents? But very entertaining? Fuck yeah, that me. Also Gob is mineable tho. And I love him so fucking much. I listen to that damn fake album like all the time. It ain’t easy being white is so fucking funny shoot me with a nerf gun

❥ who is your least favorite character in 1?

That nazi fuckin ass who I’m not assed to remember or look up his name. Todd? The one who looks like Joel Egerton and is in that Star Trek black mirror episode. Also Bogdan and his fuckin eyebrows can like ,, choke on a dick. Oh and also Spooge and his wife. That poor kid man :(

It’s weird because the character I hate so much, and think is despicable is ,, Walter. But he’s not my least favourite because I love the way he’s written, you know?? This question is hard when there’s only literally like ,, a handful of actually morally good characters in the show.

❥ what is your favorite episode of 4?

2.07 I think !! Okay I love Anne but like I literally don’t remember too good what exactly happens in each episode but this is the one with Aunt Josephine and this is just very gay and I love it and it’s WONDERFUL

Also I love any episode that has a lot of focus on Jerry bc I love him

Also any Bash and Gilbert centric episode is pretty kickass

❥ what is your favorite season of 5?

Season 4! I nearly said season 5 because two of my favourite episodes are in it (dog days are over + free churro ,, god damn these two hit home) and also rami malek is in it but .. season four has the old sugarman place, time’s arrow, ruthie and hooray! Todd episode .. and all in all this has like one of the best narratives throughout and ugh this just ,, hits home in so many fuckin areas!! And hollyhock is one of the best characters ever and aghhh.. And this has the most growth in bojack and agh ,, the end of this one is just so.. I cried.

❥ who is your favorite couple in 3?

Hopper/Joyce. These two are just so sweet. Also David and Winona are so pure too. Like .. this is all just perfect ughhhh!!Please just take Hopper on a fucking date. I’m fucking begging you. Take Jim on a fucking DATE. PLEASE. Jim my poor love :((

❥ who is your favorite couple in 2?

There’s like no serious fuckin relationship in this show. And while it isn’t ,, rlly canon yet Gob/Tony ,, bc sAmE this is just ,, very gay and very funny lmao. But if we’re going canon George Michael/Egg (I actually forgot her name. I feel so bad. I’m calling her egg) because that shit is comedic gold.

❥ what is your favorite episode of 1?

U G H so difficult !! Here are my top 4 because this is too hard:

-Fly : because this shit is chock full of symbolism and character development and revelations and you could write a full thesis about this episode. It’s so ,, self contained and dialogue heavy but you could analyze and dissect this for days. Which I love !!

Pilot: because it’s the perfectly crafted pilot. It’s perfect as a pilot. What more can I say.

-Ozymandias: SHIT GOES DOWN AND ITS GReat

-Felina: PERFECT CONCLUSION! PERFECT !! So fucking satisfying. Ends each character’s story so well. Also the song. Perfect. Ugh. Ties everything together perfectly. Ugh. This show is beautiful.

❥ what is your favorite episode of 5?

UGH Here are my top 5 because I can’t choose

- Free Churro (the best fuckin monologue,,)

- The Old Sugarman Place (oh dear god it’s crying hours, also the song lin Manuel writes for this episode is bomb and makes me sob)

- Time’s Arrow (crying hours again)

- Dog Days Are Over (this hit home way too hard. I reblog sets from this constantly.)

- Ruthie (UGHHHHHH THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL and heartbreaking it ,, also hit home too hard :( )

❥ what is your favorite season of 2?

Season 1! It’s just all very fresh and innovative and just .. comedic gold. All of it. Fuck ,, I will never forget the first time I watched season 1 of arrested development.

❥ how long have you watched 1?

I watched all 5 seasons in like ,, 2 months like ,, a year and a half ago. I was 15, and I started watching this show during my mocks lmao bad idea

❥ how did you become interested in 3?

I watched it when it was new to Netflix after my dad was like , yo, you should watch this! And I was like, fuck yeah!! And then ,, I fell in love with it oof!!

❥ who is your favorite actor in 4?

Lucas Jade Zumann I think! Maybe slightly biased bc I loved him in 20th century women!

❥ which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Breaking Bad for sure. It’s regarded as one of the best shows of all time for a reason!!!! Just,, story and character wise ,, it’s all very beautifully crafted and the cinematography and the acting and the UGH ,, I literally watch so much video essays about this stupid fuckin show I LVOE IT

❥ which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

Breaking Bad because .. there’s 5 seasons and stranger things only has three lmao!

❥ if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Uh, Anne or Cole. I wish I had talent lmao. And also to be that cute and lovable lmao!

❥ would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

Ahh ,, it shouldn’t, and won’t .. but I’d pay damn good money to see the stranger things cast in wholesome avonlea ,, or like ,, scifi horror elements in this pure period piece ,,

❥ pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Jesse X Happiness. :) please? please give him a break.

❥ overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Oh, man .. I really do love stranger things and it has like a. Really fodoof like storyline and overarching themes but like .. bojack is so real. It’s so ,, it cuts so so so deep. And it’s so moving even if half the characters are fuckin animals and called Princess Carolyn and Mister Peanutbutter. It’s just ,, it’s something else. So Bojack.

❥ which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

If I’m being honest I haven’t really been paying attention to either of the music in either of thejsen shows so like ??? I’m doing tos aha Anne because I do think I remember the music being like ,, really good?

I’m gonna rag @emforrest @thedeacywaltz @queen-rogerina-mercury @somedeadredshirt @emilyenchanted4 !!! If duii wnwnr to of course !!!

#tag games #someone tell me to fo to bed lmaoo #u can tell im tired by how incrwainbly shorter my answrrs get :)

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1985directedbyyentan · 7 years

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boy i’m about to do it... @pikeisaman asked me for a gobblepot outline of how they progress through the show and i have nothing better to do so here we go

season 1

literally from the pilot their fates are sealed and it's clear that they and this city will always be a part of each other’s lives. gordon is a babyfaced war hero cop determined to make this city better. oswald is a lowly umbrella boy to a mafiosa (fish....my love) who snitches to the cops about the wayne murder case to further his own status. jim is ordered by mob boss falcone to take oswald to the end of the pier and shoot him for snitching. instead he lets him live, telling him to never come back to gotham. well...he definitely does come back with a master plan and shows up on jim’s doorstep (scaring the living shit out of him!!) explaining that he wants to help jim because he’s the last good man in gotham. part of oswald’s plan is telling his new employer maroni about what happened, the dude forces jim to come to his aid and corroborate the story and i tell you. the look in oswald’s eyes as he silently thanks jim for saving his life yet again...is what started my descent into this madness.

so eventually it’s revealed that oswald is alive and there’s all this mob bullshit but what’s important to this post is that when oswald waiting for his fate from falcone, he begged that the job of killing him be given to jim because he knew he’s the only good man in this city with a conscious who would spare his life. and he was right and in return he now secretly works for falcone and pleads for him to spare jim’s life when he gets out of line (which to THIS DAY jim does know about and it pisses me off!!!!)

anyways down the line jim finally comes to oswald for his first of many favors down the line because the city and the gcpd are corrupt and oswald is literally SO HAPPY like he’s been waiting for this moment and so have i because before this point this was the basis of so many fics for them. “FAVOR IS DONE..FRIENDS DON’T OWE FRIENDS, SILLY” this is actual dialogue that haunts me to this day

but then of course oswald’s promise of “no one gets hurt” doesn’t bode so well and jim is like [gob voice] i’ve made a huge mistake so the next time he sees oswald he’s a raging douche to him and from there on out. said interaction is what i call the first gobblepot breakup scene. oswald is opening his new club and comes to the gcpd to hand deliver an opening party invitation to jim with an earnest look in his eyes that parallels asking your crush to prom. jim says no and says he doesn’t want oswald coming to his work and THROWS THE INVITATION IN THE GARBAGE. Oswald urges that jim shouldn’t treat him this way because one day he’ll come back to him because THEY NEED EACH OTHER AND JIM IS A DUMBASS FOR NOT YET REALIZING THIS.

So literally like four episodes later jim DOES need oswald’s help and they road trip it up to this cabin and jim saves his life yet again but cuts Oswald off before he can thank him for it. A few eps later he comes AGAIN for a favor and when Oswald fucks with him he literally GRABS HIM by the shirt with empty threats. This boy just loves grabbing other men and pulling their faces within inches of each other while looking all macho. I tell you. But yeah Oswald still does the favor and says jim owes him this time (we’re past “friends don’t owe friends” since jim rejected jim)

Then somehow in the s1 finale jim’s idea of a favor is threatening to leave Oswald to be killed by mobsters in a hospital and Oswald has to wit his way out of things and have jim take him with him but like….this is the first time you see in oswald’s face that he was wrong to trust jim and it’s so goddamn heartbreaking.

SEASON 2

Jim has been demoted because he told the mayor to kiss his ass among other unruly things and he goes to Oswald (who is now “king of gotham”) to get his job back. Oswald agrees if jim shakes down this dude who owes him money. Jim ends up killing the guy in self defense and feels shitty but Oswald keeps his word and gets jim his job back. Meanwhile gcpd has a new captain because the writers hate women of color and killed off Essen so now Michael chikilis is here and is the most aggressive by-the-book dude you’ve ever seen. He’s like “yo if anyone here is corrupt and idk likes to fuck with skinny gay emo criminals for favors I’ll fire you” so jim is like :o when chiklis announces they’re going after Oswald jim goes to warn him and ask him about shit going down because it doesn’t sound like something Oswald would do (he’s actually being forced to do it because his mom is being held hostage). Instead of telling jim what’s wrong he snaps at him and this is breakup scene 2.0 basically. These boys love the angst.

So oswald’s poor mom gets murdered by this dude named galavan who’s taking over the city and he’s trying to make it seem like Oswald is doing all this shit and jim is like “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm” and galavan is elected mayor and Oswald wants to crash his party to fuckin murder him him. Jim for some reason is protecting this asshole because I guess it’s his job or something. This turns into jim standing between Oswald and galavan, both with guns drawn on each other. Neither can pull the trigger on each other. If this were literally any other person Oswald would just gun down whoever was in between him and justice for his murdered mom. But it’s jim. So instead he pleads and cries for him to step aside and jim implies that he can’t even though he knows galavan is guilty but it’s this dumb cop code or something. The writers decided at this point that instead of us getting to see who would back down first, Oswald is shot in the shoulder by someone else and goes into hiding and recovery.

Them boys meet up again because galavan goes to trial and accuses Oswald of all the shit he did and jim’s like “WHY THE FUCK YOU LYIN” in the middle of court so he’s taken away by galavan’s men and they gonna kill him but then OSWALD APPEARS because theses dudes are like addicted to saving each other’s lives at this point. Jim wakes up with Oswald being there like “hello please help me kill this douche” and jim agrees. Some bullshit happens in between but what’s important is that they…literally….kill a man together. Like if nothing else that they’ve done for each other so far didn’t seal this connection, this did.

And then even jim is technically the one who pulled the trigger on the bullet that killed galavan, Oswald takes the full blame and goes to arkham asylum for it. He goes through the worst mental torture imaginable for jim. When he sees jim on site and pleads for him to get him out jim is a Dick and claims this therapy is for his own good and it’s honestly so painful to watch like this is the last shred of hope Oswald had for jim.

A lot of this later half of s2 they’re doing their own thing and jim goes to jail and Oswald finds his rich dad who gets murdered in front of him but later on Galavan comes back to life and Oswald kills him again just as the dude was about to kill jim so oswald’s just like “you’re welcome bye”

SEASON 3

Jim and Oswald greet each other like bitter exes at the gcpp when Oswald asks jim (who is now a bounty hunter) why he hasn’t caught fish mooney and jim says “you haven’t made it worth my while”. He does eventually help catch her by calling Oswald (guess they just still have each other’s numbers) and telling Oswald where she’ll be.

They don’t interact for a while this season but at one point when jim is put on a hallucinogenic trip he has a vision that he’s fighting a war with Oswald and Oswald saves his life in the dream and tells him “never leave your unit behind.” They literally never explain this on the show but I assume it’s about jim’s guilt for leaving him at arkham.

So then waaaay later on Oswald shows up on jim’s doorstep asking for information on Edward nygma and gives jim a phone with only his number on it, which becomes useful to jim when he’s held hostage and calls Oswald for help. Oswald like Bernie sanders runs to the place and saves jim yet again. Instead of thanking him jim is once again an asshole and says “took you long enough”

So then the s3 finale. I have never been more stressed in my life. Jim has been infected with this virus that makes you basically a violent douche with no inhibitions so he’s battling those demons and accidentally kills fish mooney in the process (Oswald actually likes her this time so he mad) and then is ready to offer Oswald up to save the city. Oswald ain’t happy about this, but only finds out at the last minute that jim is infected with the virus so idk how that affects his opinion on jim’s actions here

SEASON 4

Oswald has time for NO ONE his emotions have already gotten him nearly killed multiple times. He runs gotham and jim doesn’t like it. They keep publicly arguing with reporters and photographers documenting this gay shit. Even though they apparently hate each other they can’t get through an interaction without grabbing the other and bringing their faces within inches of each other to make empty threats. I’m told they will team up again later in the season which Gives Me Hope because both actors have said from day one that their destinies are forever intertwined. These boys are never escaping each other.

So yeah that’s as far as an outline goes, I can go even further if you want more meta and headcanons

#pikeisaman #gobblepot #i'd put this under a read more but i spent WAY too much time on it for that shit so enjoy #long post

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sevenlayerloser · 6 years

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doof

Gob/Michael

Gob does a bad thing, but not that much of a bad thing as it turns out

http://lettingmyselflove.tumblr.com/post/147700696503

Ron Howard’s narrator voice can be heard throughout non-speaking parts if you so choose, but less so during the tail end

Gob sat at the kitchen table holding the letter of acceptance from Brown. It was not his letter, though he was the first to open and read the contents. It was his younger brother who had worked tirelessly day-in day-out between a job at the banana stand and all his classes. Michael had truly achieved all that he had dreamed of.

That’s why Gob stuffed the letter in his pants before rushing to his room.

Unbeknownst to most of the family, the senior Bluth child had something of an admiration for his younger brother. A begrudging respect that sprouted into a fondness beyond the reigns of brotherly love. As a stay-at-home twenty-year-old with no skills or prospects, Gob knew if Michael were to forge his path to higher education he would surely do it alone. Abandoning his family. Shattering the fantastical world Gob had imagined where the two brothers might run the Bluth Company side by side and build a grand banana empire stretching coast to coast.

It suited Gob to think he was saving the Bluth Company by keep Michael on the west coast. This very reasoning led him to forge a new letter of rejection. What he had not considered, aside from proofreading the fake letter from Brown University, was the impact he was leaving on his brother’s future. Also, the lack of a computer or printer in his house was a key flaw in his plan.

In order to complete his task Gob would have to use all the cunning and stealth he had. This would be true, at least, if he had either of those traits. As he rode his bike to the company with the crumpled original and fake letters in his front right pocket he was motivated by his mission to keep Michael close. It had taken half an hour and a pint of sweat to reach his father’s office. Thankfully empty as George Sr. had a meeting with his consultant, Nellie, on most weekdays.

He booted up the computer only to struggle his way through typing it out. After much more work than he had anticipated, Gob was forced to wait for the dot matrix printer that worked one millimeter of ink at a time. The shrill noise of the machine was nothing he could hide. It droned loudly throughout the room and he could only hope nobody walked in to interrupt.

“Hey brother. What are you doing in father’s office?”

Gob spun around in a dramatic fashion to face his younger brother. “Nothing.”

Buster, completely devoid of suspicion, nodded his head. “Oh okay. Well, I just wanted to play around on dad’s computer. Makes me feel like a fancy businessman,” he chuckled to himself.

“Oh, what a relief.”

“And also, Michael is coming to the office to see if a letter was sent to the wrong address. You know he’s really concerned that it got lost in the mail.”

“He doesn’t have any reason to worry. It’s not lost. Don’t be so dramatic.” He conspicuously stood up then side-stepped to be in front of the printer. Buster took a single step forward and Gob erupted into a violent shout. “Back off!” He lowered his voice. “It’s still my turn. Now, go outside until I’m done.”

“Ugh fine. You’re no fun.” Buster went without protest. In little time he left the floor in search for a vending machine with juice boxes. None of which existed.

The page was nearly half done.

Gob waited some more with the rush of being caught fading into the back of his mind. The physical and emotional toll of this journey dragged down his body. Dried sweat stiffened the back of Gob’s shirt, but he didn’t mind as he got on the couch and promised to close his eyes only for a minute. One printed page and nap later, he woke up. First confused as to why he was not in his bed then bolting upright once he remembered his situation. He ripped the fake letter free and folded it neatly.

At home he pulled out the fraud and the authentic for a last second comparison. It was incredibly obvious, and the whole ordeal was not at all worth the trouble. The plan wasn’t completely foolproof, but Gob put some amount of effort into going through with it. Left with the truth he became consumed by his inadequacies. He began rambling under his breath. “Dumb letter. Stupid studying. Stupid volunteering and mock trial musicals.”

Gob had yet to confront the jealousy he harbored for his younger brother. He was not going to start. He ripped the original letter into tiny pieces and squashed them into an amorphous ball of confetti. He was going to do the same with the fake, but a knock on his door had him hurriedly dropping it in the trash.

“Gob?”

“Um. No.”

“Well, now I know you’re in your room.”

He hesitantly let Michael into his bedroom. “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“Oh, okay. Sure. Uh, how ya doing?” Gob sat down with Michael on the bed.

“Kind of awful.” He laid back. “I’m so nervous about college. I’ve been expecting a letter back from Brown for weeks. Every other place I applied to has sent back letters. Even if it were a rejection, I’d be happy, because at least then I’d know. Yunno?”

“Well.” Gob straightened his back, glancing at his trash can.

Michael exhaled. “I guess it was mostly a pipe dream. I already got my safety school, so things will work out however they do.”

“Ha. Well, there’s no reason to feel down about Brown.” The forced smile dropped from Gob’s lips. “I’m sorry. This is a genuine problem, and if you need anything I’m here to help you.”

“Thanks.” Michael approved. “There’s really nothing to do but wait.” He laid back on the bed.

“So, you wouldn’t mind if you didn’t get in?”

“It’s terrible to say out loud, but I might be relieved. Going to an Ivy League school would be so intensive. So much pressure. I’d probably burn out before I finished the first semester.” His eyes closed slowly and he covered his face with the crook of his arm. “Don’t tell mother. Okay?”

“No. Ahah. Never. Of course, you can trust me,” said in a less than convincing manner, but that didn’t stop him from brimming with confidence. Gob really wished he had magic powers. He’d poof the fake letter into his hands. Or at least make it appear more legitimate. A shred of hope remained, because the forged letter was in the original envelope from the university. There weren’t a ton of good reasons to ruin his brother’s life, but being an admittedly selfish person, the most important personal reason prevailed.

“Hey, uh, Gob.” Michael wore curiosity at the arch of his brow. “What’s in the trash?”

“Uh, what? Nothing’s in the trash. W-why would you be talking about the trash? There’s only trash, in the trash. Obviously.” His palms sweat profusely and he realized he’d been intently staring at the small plastic bin for several moments.

“Did the letter come? Was it bad? Shit.”

Cursing didn’t come so freely to the younger Bluth, and Gob didn’t dare move from his spot. Whatever happened, happened. He’ll cross that bridge then burn it.

“I knew it! You’ve been acting weird since yesterday. I can’t believe you would do something like this. Actually, you know what? I do believe you would do something. So selfish.” He ripped open the letter with a fervor.

Gob watched his brother’s eyes scan the page. There was disappointment, acceptance, relief. Seconds after Michael finished reading his hand dropped to his side. Another beat and he was holding the page up to examine the paper itself. “Wait. Gob did- You didn’t- You did.” He turned the paper in his hands over and over before throwing it onto the floor. “Gob?!”

“I’m sorry!” He said in reaction to fear rather than earnestness. “How did you know?”

“You didn’t even proofread the thing. You misspelled collegiate and my name doesn’t start with an ‘n’. C’mon, man. What the hell?”

Gob’s palms went out in a surrender. “You were just saying you didn’t even want to go. Don’t be mad at me. I’m giving you what you want.”

“That’s not the point!” Michael gave a mixture of a grunt and a sigh. An angry exhalation emptying his lungs. “The reason,” he took a second for himself, beginning oncemore in a hushed tone. “The reason I applied was to find out- I don’t know. If I was good enough, I guess? I’m never going to leave California. Maybe never escape the West Coast. Mom and dad wouldn’t give me a nickel for college if I tried getting away from them and the company, anyway.” He shook his head, angry at himself for saying anything out loud. He balled his hands into weak fists before letting them fall limp. “I just wanted something for myself.”

“Mikey, I- Um.” His face dropped. “I’ll help you. Y-you’re so smart. I’m sure you’ll get tons of scholarships, and, and I have some savings I’ll give you. Pop will let borrow the car, and I can drive you cross country to move or look at the campus or whatever you need. I want to help. I’m sorry. Seriously.”

“I know.” He smiled at the ground. “Thanks for the sentiment, but I don’t need anything. I’ve gotta stay the course. Buster’s not exactly CEO material, and not to be rude but you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, either.” Michael sat back down on the bed and they bumped shoulders.

The gentle ribbing was welcomed. Gob perked up. “Don’t count me out. You may have book smarts, but you couldn’t get your way out of a paper bag.”

“Wait, hold on.” Michael’s head shook. “Why? You pick fights with me constantly. It doesn’t make any sense to keep me around.”

“I love you. You’re my brother.” He pushed in closer for a hug. “And I’d miss you,” he mostly mumbled into Michael’s collar.

“Aww.”

Gob withdrew. “But don’t get cocky just because you were able to get into some highfalutin university. I’m still your big bro.”

“Yeah, yeah. Obviously.” The glee shone clearly. “I’m glad you care. Sometimes I think you hate me or something.”

“Never.” He said with a finite seriousness. The usual bounce of life in his eyes fading for a moment of somberness to reveal itself. “It’s us against the world. We stick together, okay. No matter what.”

“Yes.” Michael had on hesitation.

“Good.” He gave a single nod as if they’d signed a pact. Mirth played its way back into his features. He breathed out through his nose while holding back a single laugh. “I, uh, I tore up your acceptance letter. Sorry.”

“I already called Brown. They said a new one would be arriving next week. I’ll show it to mom and dad and freak them out with threats. I’m already looking forward to the looks on their faces.” A tiredness came upon him. He leant back on his hands with his eyes closed, neck limp with this weight freed from his shoulders. “I would’ve stayed…If you had asked, I mean. You didn’t have to do all of this.”

Gob sensed the drained posture of his brother. Careful movements led them both to lay down on the bed. “I want you to stay.” They faced each other inches apart. Quiet bled into the space between them. Gob laid his hand over his brother’s cheek. Happy, for once. Settled.

“Good.”

#if i don't know what to do someone probably falls asleep #boyfights #fic #tired of tinkering

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mabotomo · 7 years

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ALL OUR LIVES | Gob/Michael pre-slash, G. | 4,412 words Gob was worried. But then, being worried about your little brother after his wife died--that was normal, wasn’t it?

The grass rustled with cool winter air when Michael's wife was lowered into her final resting place. George Michael clung to his father's hand as he said his goodbyes--he was only eleven, but already he had the eyes of an old soul.

The cancer came out of nowhere, as these things were prone to. Tracey didn't even have any family history of it, and she was relatively healthy as far as Michael knew, but it wasn't like the world was nice enough to warn you every time something bad was going to happen. Even if, in the grand scheme of things, you were supposed to be a good person (and Tracey was one of the best people Gob knew). In any case, good person or not, it didn't change the fact that Michael was now a single parent. A single parent to an eleven year old boy.

Gob remembered the phone call. How could he not? It happened less than a week ago, at three a.m. on a cold December morning. The details were burned into his brain: the fading scent of sex lingering in the air, the nameless woman snoring on his pillow, the calmness to Michael's voice, the early December chill creeping its way through Gob's bones, the fact that it was going to be Michael's birthday in less than twenty-four hours. It was one of the worst experiences of his life, hearing Michael crumble the way he did, but as he watched George Michael cling onto his father's hand, his cheeks pink in the cold, he told himself there had to be hope left in this world somewhere.

Click.

A few weeks later, Michael told him: "She wanted to divorce me."

"I'm sorry--" Gob was blindsided for a moment, certain Michael and Tracey were supposed to be the happy couple in all of this. "--what?"

Michael didn't enjoy Gob staying around George Michael too often, claiming him to be a "bad influence", but the sitter cancelled and George Michael was too sad to be alone, so he called Gob to take over while he handled a few late night things at the company. The past few times he babysat for George Michael, they'd watched Star Wars without fail, and Gob was getting so tired of it he caved and bought George Michael some Monopoly pieces. He thought he'd get him the rest of the board game another time, but that the pieces would at least be enough for some make believe.

It wasn't so bad, though, babysitting. George Michael was a good kid, if not like an awkward photocopy of Gob's baby brother as they grew up, but he liked the same ice cream flavours Gob did and didn't mind when Gob took him out to impress the ladies as a "good single dad". They did, of course, have a tacit understanding that Michael wasn't supposed to know about the ice cream and pick-up game, and it was working pretty well so far.

Anyways, Michael shrugged and tossed one last piece of dirty laundry into the hamper. Gob was asked to do the washing, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't. "She hated that I had to wait for her to get better." He paused. "That, you know, being married to... to, to a sick person was weighing me down.

"She said--we haven't even lived together in months. That this was how she could make it right for me."

Gob's mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't find the energy to snap it shut. Who would divorce Michael?

Glancing up at him, Michael smiled sadly (as he so often did, Gob noticed) and chuckled. "I know," he said, then let out a sigh heavier than Gob thought he could carry. "Believe me. I know."

Then he left for work and Gob was left with George Michael. It turned out that Monopoly was useless without the board, but Gob decided to pull out all the stops as they played Return of the Jedi on the television: he held the lightsabre and all, made the schwoom schwoom noises as he fought his nephew. George Michael used to be really good at this, Gob supposed, as he wasn't sure what 'good' constituted in nerd world, but he was sure that having George Michael all distracted and a little sniffly was not what a good fight constituted. By the end of it George Michael decided to curl against Gob's side and pass out a full half hour before bedtime, and he wasn't even all that tuckered out.

Instead of waking George Michael up for their promised ice cream and pick-up game, Gob deposited him into his bed, awkwardly stood by the side of it, and then flipped the light off. He took a moment, however, to stand in the doorway and watch him sleep peacefully; Gob never had any particular want to make babies, but if he did, he thought a kid like George Michael wouldn't be the end of the world.

Click.

Rollo wouldn't stop bitching at him about the lack of magic practise, and if he weren't so fucking scary, Gob would definitely punch him in the kidney. The thing is, Rollo could probably take him (or at least match him punch for punch) and they had some Chinese New Year show coming up, so really, maybe they should try to smush in at least one more final practise before the actual gig.

If there was one thing Gob wanted as a kid, it wasn't to be a magician, but little Michael used to watch him with sparkling eyes every time he did it, and in the end it turned out that doing magic would help get him out of P.E., so it became a dream. What little Gob really wanted was a train set big enough to ride, but since that was more difficult, he was working on the whole being a magician thing, even though Michael didn't admire him any more and Gob had to demand to be taken seriously.

For the moment, he was the second half of a magic duo called The Magicians Named Gob and Rollo, and they were good at explosions and dancing and handkerchief shit and sometimes doves. It wasn't glamorous (yet, but Gob couldn't find a right set of legs for that level up) and they didn't make much money (yet, but Gob had dreams of starting a Magician's Alliance, and he felt if he kissed his dad's ass enough he could get some cash from him), but either way, Gob loved getting up on stage and blowing people's minds, even if it meant his family thought he was an idiot. At least he got free drinks at the Gothic Castle. (Gob was a man with his priorities in order.)

They finalised their third song's choreography for the show (to It's My Life by Bon Jovi, which was too slow for Gob's tastes, but Rollo was sick of The Final Countdown) when they took a break.

"So, your brother’s wife wanted to divorce him?" Rollo asked, dice flicking between his long fingers.

Gob sipped his water, nodding. "Yeah. Something about how dying made her a shitty wife."

"That's like some E.R. level shit," Rollo replied, flicking the dice out onto the stage.

"Worse is that my brother's pretending it didn't matter to him." Gob pressed the bottle of water against his lower lip and pondered, leaning against the speaker on the floor. "I mean, come on, his wife was dying and now she was talking about leaving him? Christ..." He trailed off for a moment, looking elsewhere with a sigh. "He gets this sad little smile sometimes, and it's like. Just cry already, for Pete's sake. Fucking robot."

Rollo snorted, then moved to gather their dummy doves up, if only because they didn't want to kill any more doves practising before the actual show. It took a few moments before Gob returned to planet earth and watched Rollo do what he did best for a minute, and then he smiled and picked the last dove up to go back to him.

Click.

"What is that? What are you doing with your hands?"

Gob jumped, startled out of his skin and nearly dropping his champagne flute. He was never that fond of champagne--it was too girly, really--but hey, it was free, and he was never the type to turn down a free drink, even if it came from his mother.

"God, mother, you scared me." Gob scowled and looked away from her.

Lucille straightened, reaffirming her spot next to Gob and brushing imaginary dust from the shoulders of his suit. It was the fourth year in a row that she was hosting this annual Valentine's party, and Gob was having a hard time remembering why he always went along with her. Didn't he move out of Balboa Towers, like, six years ago? And yet Gob still found himself returning to her stupid parties whenever she invited him. He could admit that sometimes his mother was amusing, but that was only when she wasn't being a total bitch to him.

"That horrible thing with your hands, what was that about?" she asked again, holding her own hands up in mockery.

Gob frowned deeper. "A picture."

"I'm sorry," Lucille began, crinkling her nose at him. "What was that?"

"I was taking... a picture, mum," Gob replied, irritated. He lifted his hands again as if holding a camera, framing a shot of George Michael in a sweater that matched Michael's while his father poured juice for him. The two of them were talking, Michael looking like he was scolding him a little, and George Michael looking panicked because his father was pouring him juice and he didn't know how to hold the plate of cake he had with just one hand.

Lucille looked at him blankly for a moment, then rolled her eyes before leaving, muttering, "Don't even have a camera with you--who dropped you on the head as a baby?"

Gob drank the last of his champagne, dropping it on a waiter's tray, then scowled as he crossed his arms in annoyance. He just wanted to make a memory, was that so bad?

"If mother was in a sweater like that, I'd want to make a memory of it, too," Buster piped up behind him, hands landing on Gob's shoulders and massaging him until Gob smacked him away in protest. "But only because it'd really go with her hair, I think, just like how it goes with George Michael's, while on Michael it's more..."

"Oh my God, why are you people trying to talk to me?" Gob groaned, exasperated. "Would you leave me alone, please?" He really needed another drink, and now that he thought about it he wanted some of that cake that George Michael was having, and he didn't want it to run out before he got to it.

An hour later, George Michael was passed out, his arms folded atop a table and his cheek resting on them. Michael rubbed a hand lightly up and down his back.

Gob, unsure why he was still at this party, stood across the room, and managed a small smile as he brought his hands up once more. This time, he made sure he was out of his mother’s eye-shot.

Click.

"I was in a gay movement once," Tobias told him, apropos of nothing during a rare visit to Newport Beach. Maeby and Lindsay were at the banana stand with George Michael and his father, leaving Gob here to test out his brand new Segway while Tobias was... Tobias.

Gob coughed, turning slowly with wide eyes that likely betrayed him. Tobias was smiling, rocking on the balls of his feet as if announcing he was some gay protester to his brother-in-law was no big deal. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Oh, it was wonderful," Tobias continued, smiling off into space. "They had all the best parties! I met a lot of beautiful women there, but, well, it turned out they were more into other women--except Lindsay, who, I think, liked this man named Robert who had the strongest arms..."

"Uh. Okay?" Gob turned away from him again, shaking his head. He'd always suspected Tobias of it, had done so for years now, but an actual gay experience was news to him.

Wait. Lindsay was with lesbians?

"Well, I'm just saying," Tobias commented just over Gob's shoulder, making him jump and squeak a little and nearly fall off his Segway. Tobias placed a hand on his back to steady him, chuckling. "Maybe you should take Michael to one, what with how worried you've been. They're really quite fun, and someone of his dry humour would be well appreciated. Maybe you can even do that today! I'll take George Michael off your hands, and--"

Gob stared at him for a long moment, confused as all fuck about why George Michael would be his responsibility. Then he remembered that Michael had been calling the sitter less and Gob more and. Huh. When was the last time Gob actually played ice cream and pick up?

"--it would be fabulous, just fabulous." Tobias clapped his hands together, smiling.

Click.

George Michael's friends took him out for the weekend, so Michael was taking a break and trying to be happy that his son's friends were making him feel better as much as they could. Gob knew that Michael appreciated these efforts, even if he worried about his son all the time and not enough about himself. The world might be shitty, what with Tracey passing on, but at least Michael still had George Michael, and from the way Michael treated him and looked at him and talked about him, George Michael was probably the greatest thing he could ever have in his life.

Gob arrived at Michael's door at 7 p.m. with a case of beer and an action/thriller/semi-romance film, even though the romance was really just gratuitous D-cups with a muscled man. It was weird not having George Michael around, which he noticed every time Michael turned to where George Michael would often sit on the sofa as if he had to tell him to cover his eyes at the sex scenes, and then turned back at the television looking humbled.

George Michael's birthday was in a few weeks. Gob was continuing watching movies with him for reasons he couldn't quite figure out, but since Michael's decision to overwork meant he'd finished months' worth of it in a few weeks and also got himself some free time, sometimes Michael was initiated into the league of rebels as well (awful Darth Vader voice and lightsabre sound effects and all). In the back of his mind Gob thought that it was almost like they were a normal family, except for the fact that Gob was Michael's brother, and they both had dicks, and also Gob was pretty sure he was only thinking about Michael all the time because he was worried about Michael's well-being and nobody ever seemed to worry about the most functional Bluth in the family.

Whatever--he shrugged when the thought came to mind and grinned through it. Families were what you made of them, not what you were born with, so even though Michael was born his brother, they could be co-parents if Michael wanted them to be. Not that that would be a thing, Gob supposed, since even though he'd been concerned about Michael raising George Michael alone, a few months in showed his baby brother doing just fine.

At least, until they started drinking.

It was four beers and thirty minutes into the film when Michael lost it. Gob had never seen him cry and he wasn't sure what to do with himself--hug him? Pat him on the back? Awkwardly sit at the other end of the couch and wait it out? Yeah, he figured, he'd go with that one. Unfortunately, he survived only thirty seconds of silent weeping and watching Michael's back shake with the effort, curled up into himself, before he broke and slid back to pull Michael close to him.

"It'll be okay," Gob said, patting Michael awkwardly on the back. Of course, now wasn't the time to be thinking about how nice Michael smelled or, Jesus, how Michael used to hold Gob like this when he cried because of their parents, and how Michael had always been there for him, and how Gob was being there for him now, and how much he loved his brother and how being there for him the past few months had given him a weird sense of purpose. Now was the time to be comforting Michael, he told himself, even though Michael lifted his head to look at him with puffy eyes and tears streaming down his face...

And Gob thought, Oh, shit. I'm going to swoop on him.

So their lips met somewhere in the middle of all that, like some rift opened up in time and space and Gob was falling through it slowly. Part of him felt bad about taking advantage of his innocent brother in need, but Michael's lips were softer than he thought they would be (not that he imagined such things any more, no, of course not) and he wasn't exactly forcing himself onto said innocent brother. If anything, Michael was... kind of enthusiastically returning Gob's every kiss, every breath, every sigh. And then they pulled apart in tandem and Gob was frozen in the moment, torn between laughing with joy and screaming with terror.

What the hell did he just do?

Oh, right, he just made out with his baby brother. That was it.

Michael smiled a bit hazily for a moment, sending Gob's heart into a leap... before it plunged into darkness at the same time Michael's expression fell.

"Shit," Michael breathed, bringing one hand up to rub at his face.

"Yeah," Gob agreed. He wasn't sure what he was agreeing to, but he really wanted to get back to that part where they were kissing.

Michael stood, moving away, clicking the television off. He refused to look at Gob's face, and for one fleeting moment, Gob thought: holy crap, shit just got real. But then Michael turned and it was like all the joy had been sucked out of the room--Gob had a fleeting moment of wondering where the fucking Dementor was when he realised, no, it was just Michael staring him like that with a look Gob was all too familiar with.

"We can't do this," Michael said, and Gob could practically do the speech along with him.

"You're my brother," Gob said flatly, looking down at his hands. "You can't make a living as a magician. You're my brother. How do I explain it to George Michael? You're my brother, Gob, and I appreciate you being here for me, but we're brothers and we stopped doing this in high school for a reason, and..."

Looking back up, Gob saw the battle raging behind Michael's eyes for the first time in his entire life. There was want there, and need, and desire, and confusion, and sadness, and rage, and Gob always figured he'd only ever see that Molotov cocktail of emotion whenever he looked into the mirror, so it threw him off more than he wanted to admit.

But he grinned. "Hey, Mikey. It's okay. I get it."

He was at the door when Michael caught his arm.

"Listen, Gob," Michael said quietly. "I can't. I want to, but I can't. I have to think of George Michael. I have to be a mother and a father, and this is wrong, and I just... I can't."

Gob laughed, pulling his arm away. "I know," he replied. "George Michael comes first--needs good role models or something, right? Look, let me know if you want me to have him next week for Star Wars. Or not, 'cause I get it either way."

Holding up his hands, Gob fought back the tears burning at the corners of his eyes.

Click.

It's almost Christmas! Gob wrote in scribbly, awkward lettering. Hope you've been a cool kid. You write to Santa yet? Do you still do that? I'll be home in time for Gangy's Christmas party, so you better be there, kiddo. It's been way too long.

Gob finished the letter off and stuffed it in an envelope. It was the latest in a long string of pen pal letters to his favourite guy. Sometimes he asked about Michael, but he kept it as light and fun as possible. George Michael was going to be in middle school soon, too smart for his own good and not confident enough to make friends. Gob missed him everyday.

He sighed, leaning back in his especially comfy seat. They were cruising at about ten thousand or so metres above the ocean, coming back from a show in Denver. Following "the incident" (as Rollo named it), The Magicians Named Gob and Rollo had a good show, received sponsors, and earned enough for Gob to start the Magicians' Alliance. Gob threw himself into magic, making new tricks with even better music, but creative differences with Rollo had them splitting as a duo a few months in. He said something about how Gob shouldn't reference Star Wars so much in his tricks on his way out, and Gob had only countered with the Force being the most magical thing the world probably had to fucking offer.

Either way, his new manager, a pretty girl named Marta trying to make her big break in acting, curiously looked on as Gob sealed his latest letter to George Michael. The return letters had all been wonderful, pictures of George Michael and his father as they went through their year littered throughout. It'd been months since Gob last saw him... since he last saw his dad.

"You're becoming famous now, Gob," Marta said, head cocking slightly. Gob wasn't sure how to deal with her, because his instinct told him to flirt with her and fuck her, but Marta had two kids, and experience told him that wanting to fuck anyone with a kid would probably end in disaster. "You might have to be more careful about what you put in your letters."

Gob snorted, reclining in his chair. "I doubt the press'll be real interested in my twelve year old penpal," he replied. He could hear Marta breathe a quiet sigh of relief, then wondered what it was she thought of him if she thought Gob was writing dirty or inappropriate letters. Granted, Gob didn't have the best image, but still--he was an all right guy. Gob Bluth, upstanding citizen! (Never mind the fact that she'd seen him bring girls back to his hotel room, and...)

By the time they were back in Newport Beach, Gob had one more show, another woman in another hotel room, bad food, and a midnight run to get himself some booze. More than once he'd found himself missing Star Wars night--even the lightsabres. He told George Michael this in one of his letters and even went out to buy a Stormtrooper sticker for the seal.

It was Christmas Eve when he actually found himself a spot of free time. Gob couldn't believe it'd been over a year since Tracey passed, and that it'd been nearly a year since he last spoke to Michael. Nine months and fourteen days, to be exact, but who was counting?

His mother's party was already in full swing when Gob got there, fancy wine in hand. Marta tagged along this year, both her sons excited about free food and unlimited juice and the chance to relax with their mother for a few days. They weren't even totally through the door when Buster found himself startled by Marta, and then enchanted by her, and Gob had to reach out to grab his shoulder and say: "Yeah, I'll forgive you for not saying hi to your brother first, but try not to scare my manager off with your weird, huh?"

Marta tilted her head, looking back. "What was that?"

"Oh!" Buster jumped, half hiding behind his hands as he glanced away. Gob released him, watching as Buster stumbled away, and Marta was left doing the same for a moment before her sons tugged her along. Shaking his head, he scanned the room for his own special people, and--

There they were, like no time had passed at all. Except George Michael was taller, his hair was cut shorter, and those god-awful dental equipment was finally out of his mouth. He was wearing a suit, as he tended to for Christmas things, but Gob could tell this one was new--he was growing up now, the nerd, and he needed new suits and. Gob's heart was in his throat, weird enough, and when he heard George Michael call "Uncle Gob!" before heading over to him and giving him a hug, he swore to God he was going to start crying somehow.

Gob laughed, though, and returned it. "It's good to see you too, kiddo." And he meant it, because as they pulled back he could see George Michael was doing much better than he was when Gob had last seen him. The chubby was back in his cheeks, in the same way that Michael's cheeks were when he was a kid, and...

A voice he'd been waiting for said, "Click."

So Gob turned, looking at Michael, who was smiling at him with hands raised in camera formation. Gob's stomach went tight as feelings came rushing back anew: the want, and the need, and the fear of the unknown. But all these were pushed away as Michael wrapped an arm around George Michael and used the other to pull Gob's head down into his shoulder, his lips brushing over his temple.

"Welcome home," he said, bringing his hand down to grasp Gob's free one. "It's good to see you again."

George Michael looked between them, confused for a moment, but then settled for taking Gob's other hand in the same way Michael's did. "Yeah, like dad said."

"Like dad said," Gob echoed, his fingers squeezing over the two hands he wanted to hold most. He'd never thought himself to be the clinging type, but found that it was more comforting than its vulnerability would ever lead anyone to believe.

#ooc prob? lol #bluthcest #gob x michael #*#*fics #*f: ad #otp: i do it for you

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alexanderwrites · 7 years

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Thoughts Roundup - Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 7

“There’s a body, alright”

A note: From here on out, i’m going to be rounding up my thoughts on new episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return week by week. I wrote a review of the first two episodes, but given my love for the show and the complexity of the episodes, typical reviews might be tricky, and it’d be a lot more fun to write in a looser format. So, i’m going to bullet-point my thoughts, which I promise will get boring and erratic.

. I’m really glad to see Jerry Horne again. He’s always been a favourite of mine, and even if this is pretty much all he does this season (which I imagine it will be), that’s good enough for me. Interesting that he mentions his car being stolen - there seems to be a lot about stolen cars this season. Whether they’re linked or just a common theme is open for debate. Maybe Frost or Lynch got their car nicked around the time of writing the series.

. I absolutely adore Hawk having such a big part this series. It makes such logical sense that he’d have larger responsibilities within the department, and seeing him with the pages from Laura’s diary was immensely satisfying. The reference that Laura makes in the diary to the ‘dream’ she had of Annie is further reference to Fire: Walk With Me, which, if you haven’t seen it yet, is pretty much essential to this season so far.

. I found it really interesting that Truman wasn’t surprised or confused at the mention of Cooper being trapped in the Black Lodge. He didn’t even ask what it was, so i’m guessing this was a chat the folks in the department had with him when he took the job. “Oh, b-t-dubs, there’s a gateway to what might be hell in the woods. Ask your brother about it And always make another pot of coffee if you finish it off”. I also found Truman, who until now hadn’t done much for me, pretty moving in his scenes tonight. His expression during his call to his terminally ill brother (we miss you, Harry! Kind of!) was rendered painfully on Robert Forster’s face - and I was really moved to see Doc Hayward, even briefly. He’s so visibly frail and old, and seeing all these old (and I mean OLD) faces really hits home the passing of time. There’s an everyday tragedy and pain in seeing it, made particularly poignant that Warren Frost (and several other cast members) passed away not so long ago. I keep wanting the Log Lady to come in with words of beauty and comfort about time passing and the world changing, but i’m not sure we’ll see her again (the actress, Catherine Coulson, passed away in 2015). It’s both saying hello, and goodbye, and the acknowledgement this show has always had that everything must pass is deeply affecting. I wasn’t expecting this series to make me ruminate on the nature of life and death so much. Thanks, assholes.

Hayward talks about Cooper the morning he comes back from the Lodge - It’s so strange to hear the events of the morning that Cooper rammed his damn head into the mirror get discussed. It really drives home that the moment you’ve been thinking about for the past 2,000 years is getting some context and elucidation. It’s very, very cool.

. Sheriff Truman pulls a small log-shaped handle and a computer monitor emerges from his desk. If you have a better example of old Twin Peaks merging with the modern world, i’d like to see it. Then i’d like to install it in my house.

. Harold Smith, that sad flower dweeb from season 2, got a mention! Again, it’s odd hearing references to smaller plot points in the series, but then again Doug and Duane Milford got a lot of attention in The Secret History of Twin Peaks. Turns out Doug was a flying saucer chaser, and with the amount of words he gets in the book, i’d be surprised if he’s not even passingly mentioned this season.

. As well as not crying anymore, Andy has a new Rolex to go along with his new Michael Cera. I’m not sure where the story will go with the no-show guy who said he couldn’t talk to Andy, but I feel like its probably related to the drug story that seems to be running in the background.

. Laura Dern, we love you. All of us. Every last one. Even with the most difficult to please of viewers, I doubt there’ll be a single complaint about her because she is the fucking best. It’s interesting that Diane’s so seemingly broken, leading us to wonder why - there were never really any clues about her personality, but you get the feeling that she was friendly, from the mere fact that Cooper talked to her via tapes so kindly and openly. So what happened? Bad Coop happened, is what.

. I was pleasantly surprised at how swiftly the plot developed in this episode - right after agreeing to meet Doppelcoop, they’re jetting off to see him. If this had been a few episodes earlier, it might’ve taken a while for them to get to it, but this episode knocked it out pretty efficiently. I didn’t think the show was too slow before, but it is a nice change of pace to get an episode with so much development.

. The windows on the jet disappear and reappear, right? I mean, I rewound that several times and they surely do. It’s not the light hitting them funny - they flash. I’m sure of it.

. Tammy hasn’t been given too much screentime yet, despite doing fairly important work - even though it seems Gordon has already sussed out the tasks she undertakes. He seems to be testing her abilities, which is why he assigns her to take over the research of the dossier, which makes up The Secret History of Twin Peaks. The scene where Gordon touches her fingers and says “I’m very, very happy to see you again, old friend” is funny, weird and ingenious. Gordon feels a lot like Cooper, but then, he always has. With his love of food, nature and coffee, and being filled with an affinity for everything, Gordon is an older Cooper and I hope he gets to see his old friend again.

. Dern’s performance when she meets Doppelcooper is phenomenal and all registered in her fearful expression. It’s a gorgeously framed scene, with her head floating in the darkness of the room, looking at the man who is Not Her Friend. Her reference to that night is certainly ominous, but it did cross my mind that she was feeding him false information to see if he’d take it. Her reaction in the car park afterwards seems to suggest that it was true, though. Everyone seems to be in pain both from the absence of Cooper and from the presence of Doppelcooper. And it leads you to wonder again: what the fuck has Doppelcooper been up to these 25 years? And once again - both kudos and screw you to Kyle MacLachlan for being so utterly brilliant and frightening as Doppelcooper, especially in this prison scenes, where his voice seems to be slowed to a possessed and deep slur. This new season keeps offering up the chance to use such weird sentences: Kyle MacLachlan is terrifying and Matthew Lillard is scene stealing.

. Of course the body was Garland Briggs. It had to be. Or did it? Who knows! It’s decades younger than it should be, and Briggs supposedly died in a fire a long time ago. We know he was taken by one of the lodges back in season 2, and has experienced the white lodge. We might wonder that if, after that, he gained some sort of...power? How else was his head floating in space those episodes back? And again with the bodiless heads! The nightmare bastard roaming the halls in this episode is the same ghoul whose head floated away in the first episode, and Josie Packard’s headless (or faceless, at least) body was, in an original script, supposed to be seen in a black lodge scene. People losing their heads seems to be a common theme again. Would it have been too on the nose, and i might add, awful, if Where’s Your Head At? had played in the morgue scene? It’s hard to be on the nose when you haven’t got a head! Wahey!

. This episode is very light on Cooper (i’m not going to call him DougieCooper because he’s not Dougie! He just wears his bad clothes sometimes!), but he came along almost as soon as I thought “Hey, where’s Coop?”. Naomi Watts kills it again with her impatient anger, and I love that she’s written as someone at her wit’s end (or should that be Watt’s end? Nope, it shouldn’t) but that still cares for her dumbass husband. And then we get maybe our clearest answer that Coop is still Coop: he kicks a bit of ass. It’s a very satisfying and well choreographed fight, and the Arm popping up to give fight advice was kinda cool and kinda funny. It seems that the lodge dwellers, or at least some of them, are helping Coop. Mike, The giant, and the Arm have all advised him, and seemingly given him some special insights. I think they want Cooper alive so he can, to paraphrase GOB Bluth, return Doppelcoop from whence he came. He was due back in, as that call in episode 1 told him, so maybe the lodge spirits are getting utterly fed up on waiting on his ass. They’re letting Coop live so he can go and sort it out. It has been 25 years after all. Stop hogging Bob, bro.

. Some interesting stylistic choices in the news coverage scenes after the fight which felt like they were from another show, but I kinda dug it anyway. Will someone in Twin Peaks see Cooper in the news footage and put two and two together? I’m not in a massive rush for Cooper to wake up - but it will be spectacularly rewarding once he does.

. Is Josie haunting the hotel? Last we saw her, she was trapped in a doorknob, and Pete (we miss you Pete! Really!) was seeing her face above the fireplace (the nonchalance of that moment always really freaked me out), and now there is a sourceless humming sound throughout the hotel, which kind of sounds like the mystical ringing sound that we hear whenever The Giant rocks up. It really is happening again, isn’t it? Great to see more Ben, though his P sounds are less Plosive than they used to be, and he hasn’t eaten ANYTHING yet. But he’s still a lot of fun to watch, and i’m hoping - because i’m a softie who likes goodies - that his humanitarianism lasted. And i’m also beginning to think - with all the references to Audrey’s condition after the bank blast (bank blast sounds like shitty video game) - that Audrey will have been physically effected long term by what happened. I’m beginning to really look forward to seeing her, though I dread the idea that Doppelcoop is the father of her awful bastard son.

. It’s so uncannily Lynchian to drop in on someone like Beverly’s life, someone who we know next to nothing about, and give her a fairly substantial scene. It even feels like it might not go much further than that, and that dropping into her soap opera life (Twin Peaks’ soapiness is still there!) for this scene is just Lynch giving us a little look at domestic turmoil in Twin Peaks. But who knows. Who knows which characters are a one-scene deal, and which will fit into the larger narrative. Where is goddamn MATTHEW LILLARD???

. Jacques Renault’s identical brother(?) got some lines! And surprise surprise: he’s a scumbag! The sweeping scene was weirdly engrossing, especially with Green Onions playing in the background. And my god, how warm and cosy did the Double R look tonight?? With Sleepwalk by Santo & Johnny playing, and the lighting as warm and oak-tinted as ever, it’s maybe the one place in Twin Peaks you’d want to hang out. Especially with lovely, lovely Shelly and Norma working there. They’re such likeable and instantly welcoming people to see, and it’s hard not to wish they were your friends. And, I don’t like to focus too much on how the actors look - but Madchen Amick literally has not aged a day and it’s very confusing how she’s managed that. I guess there is something special in Norma’s family pie recipe. Also, i’ve heard people say the guy who pops his head in asks if anyone has seen “Bing”, but on re-listening, it’s 100% Billy and not Bing. There is someone named Bing in the credits - whether he’s any relative of Chandler’s is present is yet to be seen. It could be something, or it could be another version of that “It’s a boy? It’s a boy! It’s a boy!” bank security guy from Season 2. Just someone yelling some dumb shit.

. Some great music in this episode too, both new score and old. With the ominous shots of the foggy woods set to the opening notes of Laura Palmer’s theme playing (the scary bit, not the sad bit) I genuinely got chills.

. Doppelcoop is on the loose and you can feel the story pushing forward now he’s out. I get the feeling we won’t see the Prison Warden again, and that everything they talked about has a backstory but one that is not necessarily important for us to learn about. Just know that Doppelcoop is loose, and where he goes now is an open question. To kill Cooper? How could you kill a man your exact double? It’d be so surreal. And would make for a weird, bad-wig-wearing stunt double fight scene. And the idea of unawake Cooper being hurt makes me even sadder than the idea of Lucid Cooper being hurt, somehow. He’s a sympathetic thing really, and he needs someone outside the black lodge to help him. He’s called for help though, and either Gordon or Hawk are on his trail, thankfully.

SUMMARY

This episode, more than any other yet, felt like Twin Peaks of old. We spent more time in the town, and the atmospherics of the town felt more prevalent too. It does feel like we’re being eased back into the town which is great fun, though I love everything set outside too. A narrative cohesion is coming about as the story’s 2nd act clicks into place, and there’s some real momentum going in this hour. Whether or not that keeps going next week (I think it will), i’m happy to let the show do its thing because this episode has shown that patience does pay off. We will get there, and we should probably learn to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Remember, Lynch and Frost have pretty big hard-ons for Mysteries, and that always has been, and always will be the core of the series. But goddamn it if it isn’t fun seeing that mystery chipped away at in tonight’s episode.

“Keep working the sunny side of the river, doc”

#twin peaks #twin peaks spoilers #dale cooper #review #television #writing #david lynch

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rsadelle · 7 years

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Yuletide 2016

Below the cut is a Yuletide round-up of recs and also the things I wrote.

Stories For Me

all that is good (10136 words) by sevenfoxes Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Bourne (Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jason Bourne/Nicky Parsons Characters: Jason Bourne, Nicky Parsons Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, unprotected sex Summary:

You think about Landy, how the hearings meant to expose corruption instead started to swallow her whole, destroying the last genuinely good person you knew at the CIA. You think about Vosen and Conklin and Abbot and all the fucking men who hid behind the flag and a thick line about patriotism while pursuing their own agenda, their own power and money. You think about your father dying alone, believing you were gone, that the last of his family was dead.

“There have to be consequences,” you tell him.

That is the difference between the two of you. Jason wants to be left alone.

You want vengeance.

What I liked: NICKY! I was really excited to get a story all about Nicky. This does a really good job of alternating past and present to flesh out the characters and their relationship. Plus reproductive choices.

make haste from Babylon (3990 words) by Addison R Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Killing Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Stephen Holder & Sarah Linden Characters: Sarah Linden, Stephen Holder Additional Tags: Soul Bond, Writing on Skin Summary:

This must be the new guy, but he sure doesn't look the part.

What I liked: SOULBONDING. I won't give it all away, so suffice to say there's a match to shapes that I enjoyed, and also a pull to keep them together.