Death. (Winged, that is.) And Life. (Not so much with the wings.)

[stillane]

Am I the only person who is inherently suspicious of the Lunesta butterfly? I mean, okay, it looks all ephemeral and flitty and shiny, but when you get right down to it, how do you know those people are asleep? No, seriously. Watch the commercial next time it's on. I dare you not to think, Butterfly of Death.

Butterfly. Of. Death, I tell you.

And in slightly less morbid news: finally caught up on Life on Mars and watched the finale last night.

I've seen some mixed responses out there, but I can say only this: oh, how I love this show.

Start-to-finish, take-no-prisoners, all out adoration. I love that the writers tried so very hard to give Sam the normal ending that he wanted all along, and then surprised themselves with how wrong it felt. I love that this particular show seemed to read me like a book, and give me exactly what I needed at every turn. Not always what I wanted in the short-term, mind you; occasionally it frustrated the daylights out of me, and kicked my embarrassment squick up one wall and down another. And yet... it always took me where it wanted to, and I always went along for the ride.

And what a ride. I mainlined season 2 mostly over the weekend, and saved just the last two episodes for yesterday. Good idea, in retrospect. The whole I've-been-set-up-please-save-me plot is one of my secret favorites, and you add in the Sam and Gene against the world vibe... I'm a goner. In particular, that chase scene in the gym had me grinning ear to ear. I liked that for a second I wasn't sure whether Sam was running with Gene or after him, and that I then felt silly for ever wondering at all.

And then the end of it all. Oh. I don't care about pace, I don't care about logic, I don't care about ambiguity. I'm easy; you give me someone to love, and let me still love them when the dust clears, and I'm yours. I love that I spent most of the episode furious at Sam, and hurting for him, and afraid. I love that the only way he can hurt these people is if they aren't people. I love that, when push comes to shove, it doesn't matter. It's not about what's real and what isn't; it's about what makes him happy, and who. He got what he'd been bucking for from the start, what logic told him he should want... he even got The Most Melancholy Happy Song Ever - and bonus points on that one, show; you managed to pick one of the three songs guaranteed to evoke a visceral response in me due to imprinting - and it still felt hollow.

I stared at my screen near tears. Oh, Sam. Sam.

And then he jumped. The man jumped off a damned building, and it made me grin like something demented.

And then Gene bitched, and Annie smiled, and they all rode off into the sunset. The end.

Just as it should be.

(I think I'll have to pass on Ashes to Ashes. This is where I want my canon to end. Or begin, as it were. Slouching toward Lower Tadfield forever.)

Still a few more days until I get my other Sam fix, with Dean chaser. *twitches with a Winchester jones*

Comments

[omglawdork.livejournal.com]

I have thought that about the Lunesta Death Moth for a long time now. Glad I'm not the only one!

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Ha! It's nice to have company in the crazy camp. (And it's not paranoia if the glowing insects really are out to get you.)

[20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about Ashes to Ashes too. I mean, I love Gene and I want to see more of him, but how is it going to be more awesome than this? However, I trust the BBC, so I'll give it a go. *stoic*

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I am a faithless wench, by and large. *g* I want more of Gene, absolutely, but... what I loved most about how LoM ended was the acknowledgement of the team, and just how good they were together. I get twitchy any time an established unit gets messed with. (Confession: I still have not watched the last few seasons of SG-1, despite the fact that I worship the spacey ground Ben Browder strolls across. I am just that damaged.)

I think if I can divorce myself from seeing Ashes as a continuation of Mars, and instead view it as an AU, I'll be okay. Now whether or not I'll manage that... *shrug* Here's hoping.

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I just love the fact that all of the LoM fandom is giddy that the main character effectively committed suicide. And yes, I too was grinning like a crazy person when Sam jumped!

I'm very hesitant about the whole Ashes to Ashes business. On the one hand more Gene is always good, but I like my Gene with a side-order of Sam and it's not the same without it.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

...is giddy that the main character effectively committed suicide.

I know! I can't think of anything comparable. I've tried to find a non-scary way of explaining to the uninitiated how we could all be made brokenhearted by a man going back to the promising, sane life he wanted all along, let alone why we all were deliriously happy when he chose to leap to a likely messy end. The uninitiated seem... concerned. *g*

As for Ashes to Ashes... I'm pretty much in the same boat. So much of what made the series for me was the connection between the characters; I was never quite so thrilled as when they would do the synchronized, lock-step badassery... except when they had quite moments. Those were awfully nice, too. I just never deal well when they take remove one of the buddies from the buddy cop show. (Nevermind the fact that I am a slasher at heart.) I feel disloyal, and I miss what was.

So, I might check it out if I can get myself into a "this is an AU" headspace, but I don't want to lose the happy I've got going on from this one.

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I suspect I'll watch Ashes to Ashes, solely because I can't not watch Gene Hunt if he's on my screen, but I don't think I'll love it the way I love Life on Mars. For me the heart of the show was Sam and Gene, and my little slasher soul just couldn't take it without Sam there.

I tried explaining Life on Mars to a colleague the other day and it ended up sounding something like 'he ends up back in 1973 and he tries the whole show to get back home and then he does and he hates it and he kills himself', which makes the show sound awfully depressing!

[saldemonium.livejournal.com]

The first time my seven-year-old daughter saw that commercial, she turned to me with wide eyes and said, "Momma? Did that butterfuly kill those people because they wouldn't go to sleep?"

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Ha! It's just... so there. I'm with your daughter; that thing is going to wind up as the boogieman for a whole new generation. I can see it now...

"But I don't want to go bed yet!"
"Now, honey, you know if you're still up past your bedtime, the Butterfly of Death will get you."

The youngins have it right: always fear the freakishly illuminated bug. *acquires tinfoil hat*