Entry tags:
POI 3x09
We caught up through The Crossing this weekend.
First of all, I should say that I got accidentally spoiled for Carter's death when the episode aired (by copperbadge, of all people! I didn't even know he watched the show. I THOUGHT I WAS SAFE), which is one of the reasons I haven't been catching up. And I've also gone through the rage/grief/denial cycle already, which made actually watching the episode very odd.
The thing is, I'd have been okay with Carter dying if she'd, say, taken a bullet at the morgue and limped into the FBI with Quinn as her final act. It would have been a fitting end to her Shakespearean tragedy arc, as Simmons put it, and at least a pretty classic 'if you seek revenge, dig two graves' ending. I'm reserving judgement on whether it was fridging or not until I can see the aftermath, which will show whether they're going to focus on John's manpain or the collective grief of Carter's network of friends, family, and coworkers.
I'm not super optimistic, because of the sudden Reese/Carter kiss and John's baffling explanation for it. THAT WAS NOT WHAT - ARGH. Even aside from my Finch/Reese slash goggles, how many times has John talked about *Harold* and the *job* saving him? THAT IS CANON OKAY.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astolat pointed to Number Crunch as a turning point for their relationship, but I think Get Carter is more illustrative - specifically John's line that "Some people the world can't afford to lose," which shows how he's already thinking of her at that point.
John has a history of setting up lofty ideals and devoting himself to them: Jessica, his military/intelligence service, and Carter, IMO. It's one of the reasons I ship him with Finch instead Carter, because for all that they became friends eventually, there's still a piece of John's brain that set her up as a moral ideal, that will always think of her that way, even after she plunged into the grey morality of her HR quest. I think John wants to *be* Carter, on some level: she's a kindred spirit and followed a similar path of service, but her morality led her out the other side with a family and a purpose and her soul intact. John just got broken.
So that kiss makes sense in my mind through that lens: John retconning his history, with broken Finch as a mirror, giving him a second chance and a job, and moral Carter as a beacon, showing him what he could try to be again. Both of those relationships got more complex, obviously, and turned into genuine friendships and partnerships, but it makes a sort of sense to me that John would tip that over into his old pattern from Jessica and convince himself he was in love with Carter in the context of that last desperate battle with HR. I don't think he is, and I don't think it'd have been a good relationship for either of them if they tried, but I can see his fucked-up brain doing it.
Anyway. I wish she'd lived, because Carter was just reaching peak levels of competent hotness, but apparently Taraji didn't want to be on the show indefinitely because she likes film work? IDK. And I'm not sure where they would have taken her character if she'd lived. But it's all moot now.
*sigh* Guess I'll just have to see how this plays out.
First of all, I should say that I got accidentally spoiled for Carter's death when the episode aired (by copperbadge, of all people! I didn't even know he watched the show. I THOUGHT I WAS SAFE), which is one of the reasons I haven't been catching up. And I've also gone through the rage/grief/denial cycle already, which made actually watching the episode very odd.
The thing is, I'd have been okay with Carter dying if she'd, say, taken a bullet at the morgue and limped into the FBI with Quinn as her final act. It would have been a fitting end to her Shakespearean tragedy arc, as Simmons put it, and at least a pretty classic 'if you seek revenge, dig two graves' ending. I'm reserving judgement on whether it was fridging or not until I can see the aftermath, which will show whether they're going to focus on John's manpain or the collective grief of Carter's network of friends, family, and coworkers.
I'm not super optimistic, because of the sudden Reese/Carter kiss and John's baffling explanation for it. THAT WAS NOT WHAT - ARGH. Even aside from my Finch/Reese slash goggles, how many times has John talked about *Harold* and the *job* saving him? THAT IS CANON OKAY.
astolat pointed to Number Crunch as a turning point for their relationship, but I think Get Carter is more illustrative - specifically John's line that "Some people the world can't afford to lose," which shows how he's already thinking of her at that point.John has a history of setting up lofty ideals and devoting himself to them: Jessica, his military/intelligence service, and Carter, IMO. It's one of the reasons I ship him with Finch instead Carter, because for all that they became friends eventually, there's still a piece of John's brain that set her up as a moral ideal, that will always think of her that way, even after she plunged into the grey morality of her HR quest. I think John wants to *be* Carter, on some level: she's a kindred spirit and followed a similar path of service, but her morality led her out the other side with a family and a purpose and her soul intact. John just got broken.
So that kiss makes sense in my mind through that lens: John retconning his history, with broken Finch as a mirror, giving him a second chance and a job, and moral Carter as a beacon, showing him what he could try to be again. Both of those relationships got more complex, obviously, and turned into genuine friendships and partnerships, but it makes a sort of sense to me that John would tip that over into his old pattern from Jessica and convince himself he was in love with Carter in the context of that last desperate battle with HR. I don't think he is, and I don't think it'd have been a good relationship for either of them if they tried, but I can see his fucked-up brain doing it.
Anyway. I wish she'd lived, because Carter was just reaching peak levels of competent hotness, but apparently Taraji didn't want to be on the show indefinitely because she likes film work? IDK. And I'm not sure where they would have taken her character if she'd lived. But it's all moot now.
*sigh* Guess I'll just have to see how this plays out.