[the grammar of the guilty]
Sep. 17th, 2014 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellitslantI thought, oh, I'll have a beer, that'll make it much easier to watch this week's Scott & Bailey
WRONG
(good beer though)
God, I genuinely cannot cope with just the whole Gill and Rachel as a team thing. Like. Coming in together and Gill being so attuned to Rachel's potential fuckups and the mentoring in the ladies' loos and and and. The way that Rachel is still so convinced she's not good enough and still so bent on impressing Gill. The way that Gill is letting Rachel grow up - like letting Rachel shush her (asdflkngljsfnvfljgn) ((also GILL SHARING MY DISTASTE FOR THE WEASEL WORDS OF PASSIVE VOICE)) (((I am so easy for Gill and the way she speaks))) ((((shut uuuuppppp)))) and yet still being so hard on her when she needs to, with the paperwork and all. And the way she looks at Rachel when Rachel is right, like about the storms! I may die.
(If you'd asked me two weeks ago I'd've said I shipped Gill/Julie way harder. I. May have changed my mind.)
"I know exactly how much stick the officers got who didn't toe the line, cuz I was one of 'em." "A plastic." JESUS. Also, the whole bit about the senior investigating officer who drank himself to death coupled with the careful closeup on Gill's wine glass at the end, plus the emphasis on people who couldn't get over trauma = TOTALLY a setup for Gill to be dealing with her issues through booze and need to have that fixed so she can not retire good god Gill please do not retire please please please.
(I am just not going to be rational about this. I'm trying to decide whether I should assume that it's a fakeout, or whether I should try and convince myself that it's just the way things are going to go andI should deal with it. Suggestions accepted but be gentle.)
I mean though, she's clearly pissed at the end there, right, that's not just me? The weirdly expansive body language, the openness about Rob's smile, that's not normal Gill behaviour, it's just not.
GAH.
Okay. Moving on.
JANET. JANETTTT. I love that we got Dorothy asking Janet what's up - and I wonder if the whole sergeant thing'll come out through her - but mostly I just love Janet, brilliant Janet, Janet who is making certain sacrifices for her family but is still trying so hard to do things for herself as well. Online dating! Widowers! I'm a fetish! And Janet still being just incredibly brilliant in the interview room - I hate it when people shout at her, but oh she is so good. Sooooo goooood.
And oh, Rachel, RACHEL, you know that you're being prickly and awful and you can't stop yourself and I just want to hug you or make Gill hug you or make you hug Gill or. But oh her SMILE when Gill asks her to do stuff that she knows she is 100% capable of, oh, now THAT makes the bloody sun come out. And her and Gill being SO IN TUNE at points it's disgusting and I cannot handle it.
However: "I just want to tell her, sorry for being so disappointing, but you chose me." OH GOD, Rachel is not going to be okay when that comes out, I mean, REALLY REALLY NOT.
Also how fast do you think Gill gave Rachel all the press and the telly appearances and all? Ha.
Oh and: "Rachel Bailey, j'accuse." Pete you are my FAVOURITE of the dudes.
I do love so much that Rachel is clearly trying to be more attuned to Janet - and that the both of them are just genuinely allowed to care about each other.
And oh oh oh, Rachel at the end, learning those soft skills that she is so shit at and making them work for her. How are you so brilliant, my prickly darling. :P
I just adore this show. I have a feelings headache again. (That might be the beer, too, in fairness. But I'm pretty sure it's feelings.)
Also if you took the brother in this, Anthony, and added about a hundred pounds or so to his weight, you'd have one of my DPhil supervisors. It's a bit eerie.
WRONG
(good beer though)
God, I genuinely cannot cope with just the whole Gill and Rachel as a team thing. Like. Coming in together and Gill being so attuned to Rachel's potential fuckups and the mentoring in the ladies' loos and and and. The way that Rachel is still so convinced she's not good enough and still so bent on impressing Gill. The way that Gill is letting Rachel grow up - like letting Rachel shush her (asdflkngljsfnvfljgn) ((also GILL SHARING MY DISTASTE FOR THE WEASEL WORDS OF PASSIVE VOICE)) (((I am so easy for Gill and the way she speaks))) ((((shut uuuuppppp)))) and yet still being so hard on her when she needs to, with the paperwork and all. And the way she looks at Rachel when Rachel is right, like about the storms! I may die.
(If you'd asked me two weeks ago I'd've said I shipped Gill/Julie way harder. I. May have changed my mind.)
"I know exactly how much stick the officers got who didn't toe the line, cuz I was one of 'em." "A plastic." JESUS. Also, the whole bit about the senior investigating officer who drank himself to death coupled with the careful closeup on Gill's wine glass at the end, plus the emphasis on people who couldn't get over trauma = TOTALLY a setup for Gill to be dealing with her issues through booze and need to have that fixed so she can not retire good god Gill please do not retire please please please.
(I am just not going to be rational about this. I'm trying to decide whether I should assume that it's a fakeout, or whether I should try and convince myself that it's just the way things are going to go andI should deal with it. Suggestions accepted but be gentle.)
I mean though, she's clearly pissed at the end there, right, that's not just me? The weirdly expansive body language, the openness about Rob's smile, that's not normal Gill behaviour, it's just not.
GAH.
Okay. Moving on.
JANET. JANETTTT. I love that we got Dorothy asking Janet what's up - and I wonder if the whole sergeant thing'll come out through her - but mostly I just love Janet, brilliant Janet, Janet who is making certain sacrifices for her family but is still trying so hard to do things for herself as well. Online dating! Widowers! I'm a fetish! And Janet still being just incredibly brilliant in the interview room - I hate it when people shout at her, but oh she is so good. Sooooo goooood.
And oh, Rachel, RACHEL, you know that you're being prickly and awful and you can't stop yourself and I just want to hug you or make Gill hug you or make you hug Gill or. But oh her SMILE when Gill asks her to do stuff that she knows she is 100% capable of, oh, now THAT makes the bloody sun come out. And her and Gill being SO IN TUNE at points it's disgusting and I cannot handle it.
However: "I just want to tell her, sorry for being so disappointing, but you chose me." OH GOD, Rachel is not going to be okay when that comes out, I mean, REALLY REALLY NOT.
Also how fast do you think Gill gave Rachel all the press and the telly appearances and all? Ha.
Oh and: "Rachel Bailey, j'accuse." Pete you are my FAVOURITE of the dudes.
I do love so much that Rachel is clearly trying to be more attuned to Janet - and that the both of them are just genuinely allowed to care about each other.
And oh oh oh, Rachel at the end, learning those soft skills that she is so shit at and making them work for her. How are you so brilliant, my prickly darling. :P
I just adore this show. I have a feelings headache again. (That might be the beer, too, in fairness. But I'm pretty sure it's feelings.)
Also if you took the brother in this, Anthony, and added about a hundred pounds or so to his weight, you'd have one of my DPhil supervisors. It's a bit eerie.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-18 05:35 pm (UTC)I am not sure about the alcohol thing (you could be right, but I initially read the weirdness of the announcement at the end as being her basically knowing it wasn't what non-traumatised her would do but not being able to be that person right now and also it's WEIRD) but oh god Gill's storyline is going to break my heart into tiny pieces, I just know it.
Rachel is so clearly learning - she was really good with the witness at the end, being all "I now it's hard" BEFORE saying "could you say that as a sworn statement". She's trying so hard!! BAAABY. And yeah, she is not going to be happy when she finds out about the job. I predict Janet's mum telling her, somehow.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-26 03:14 am (UTC)also I keep talking about S&B at the office and yet so many fewer people here know what it is. :P
Yeah, you're probably right that the alcohol isn't as much of a factor as it could be. I just cannot handle whatever might be coming for Gill, no matter what it is, basically. This is going to be a problem. Also I realised that Yuletide is going to largely be AFTER all this season has aired and like. Do I trust OTHER PEOPLE to write in this show? aaaaah.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-18 10:17 pm (UTC)I still want fic about Gill and the hunky sergeant, but now I see it starting with him going over to her house to apologize for his dad being such a dick.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-19 02:49 am (UTC)Also, I would totally read that fic.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-19 03:34 am (UTC)"I know exactly how much stick the officers got who didn't toe the line, cuz I was one of 'em."
Faaaavorite bit! That and the utterly casual convo about Janet wanting a boyfriend. And the walk and talk in the ladies' loo! And JANET INTERVIEWING omg, when she's all "Thank you for going through that, I know that's difficult. *sympathetic noises* Couple things though... *NAILS HIS BALLS TO THE WALL*" <3333 And Rachel getting the statement from the mom! Okay and everything.
I am just not going to be rational about this. I'm trying to decide whether I should assume that it's a fakeout, or whether I should try and convince myself that it's just the way things are going to go andI should deal with it. Suggestions accepted but be gentle.
Personally, I'm not sure they've been hitting the trauma buttons hard enough for me to think it's something that's a fakeout, something that's driven by Gill being off balance that will be fixed/adjusted? There have been a few details, like Mitch checking the car, but the other stuff has been too subtle for me to think they mean it to be a noticeable plot point that's signaling Gill's decisionmaking is really off? She was definitely pissed in that last scene, but I don't think it's out of character for Gill to get a little pissed and get a looser, less professional tone than the one she has at work. (One of my favorite scenes is from like s2, when Janet's mom is like "Gill's so professional and dignified!" and then Gill comes in to the pub cursing and drinking). So I don't think being drunk is necessarily evidence that she doesn't mean it.
Plus, if they plan to keep Amelia as head writer, it could make sense to me if *she* doesn't want to keep such a big acting role? Because she'd be writing herself out, so. Perhaps they'll just be reducing her role somehow, making her more recurring like Julie. I don't knoooooooooooow.
I guess I won't be surprised either way, but I'm definitely reconciling myself to the idea she's leaving, just so I'm prepared. And that if she does, I do think it will be a *positive* development for the character, so I won't have to be too devastated at the idea of her doing something that doesn't feel right for her. In like episode 1 or 2, she's already counting down to retirement, and when Janet's like "you'll be begging to come back in two days," Gill is adamant that that's not true. And I don't think I can believe that Gill could be that off about herself and what she wants. She loves the job, but I think she'd want to keep it in perspective.
tl;dr I honestly have no idea! Gah.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-21 08:15 am (UTC)*ROLLS AROUND IN LOVE*
I adore how this show is so serious about "All these different aspects of police work are not just skills, they are DIFFERENT skills that different people can and will specialise in, and to a certain extent they can be taught and there's good, useful theory behind them that is important to follow, but there's a difference between being competent at them (which we expect from all our characters) and excelling at them (which we celebrate in our characters)." Everyone's face when they listened to the shit interview by wassname's dad, and everyone crowding round the CCTV to watch Janet be brilliant, and Rachel critiquing the obvious theoretic failures in wassname's dad's interview but Janet being the one who is instructed to draw up the interview strategy (which will be discussed and reviewed before it happens, because procedure is there for a reason) and nothing about ANY of this negating all the other hard work and luck that needed to go into nailing his balls to the wall AND THE FACT THAT IT STILL WASN'T A COMPLETE WIN because without a confession all they have is compelling circumstantial evidence and his terrible lies.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-26 03:54 am (UTC)Yeah, you're right about the alcohol thing, but - I just find it hard to believe that she honestly would retire. On days when the job is shit and everything goes wrong, sure. But she does love her job, and she's good at it, and... IDK, I just don't see her going off and gardening, you know? I guess I would be okay with her being recurring, but. *shrug* Part of me is aware that I'm TOTALLY not rational about this, and part of me is like, no, I think it actually doesn't make sense... but I'm not 100% sure where that line is, and I own that. :P
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-21 08:05 am (UTC)I watched that four times before I continued with the episode. I regret nothing.
However: "I just want to tell her, sorry for being so disappointing, but you chose me." OH GOD, Rachel is not going to be okay when that comes out, I mean, REALLY REALLY NOT.
adlfkjas;dlkjasdf I KNOW!!! I love that for Rachel, the emotional touchstone around getting the position is not about her being better than Janet but her being good enough for Gill.
JANET AND RACHEL AND GILL OMG I LOVE THEM SO MUCH ARGH
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-26 03:51 am (UTC)the emotional touchstone around getting the position is not about her being better than Janet but her being good enough for Gill. yES. THIS. dAMN. I am dead of feels.
Hmmm....
Date: 2014-09-20 06:45 pm (UTC)Re: Hmmm....
Date: 2014-10-03 03:09 am (UTC)