lower your expectations slightly

I guess this year I'm all about surrogate parent relationships. I'm not sure why?

Empire Records

During Deb's fake funeral, Lucas mentioned that he was a messed up kid before Joe found him and got him out of foster care. Joe didn't really seem like the do-gooder type (or, at least, not the type to admit he was a do-gooder), so I always wondered how that happened. Did Lucas try to rip off the store like Warren? Is that why he's the anti-shoplifting patrol? Or did Lucas take Joe in for another reason? Did he know his parents? Did he get involved with foster care for the paycheck and then wind up liking Lucas? I'd really love a story that answers those questions, but I'd be equally happy with one that focuses on the later years of their relationship. Did Joe ever formally adopt Lucas? (Is that possible in Lucas's case, or does he still have parents who just aren't fit to have custody?) What happened after the big Atlantic City incident, and after Joe bought the Empire? Is Joe proud of Lucas? Does Lucas know? In conclusion: ALL OF THE FEELINGS.

Justified

Art says of Tim in some episode, "I got a young kid here, decorated sniper in Iraq War, Army Ranger; I don’t know how many kills he had, always looking to kill somebody else. Probably got PTSD, probably an alcoholic. Not a matter of if that powder keg is gonna blow, but when." I'd love any big damn exploration of Tim Gutterson's poorly repressed issues, but I'd be most thrilled with a fic that explored Art's attempts (poorly received, perhaps?) to be a surrogate father figure to Tim, to try to fix him, to maybe realize that he can't be fixed.

If, however, you're in a slashy mood, I'm really into my pet theory that Tim is deeply closeted and boning David Vasquez, who, being a reasonable person, would like Tim to get some therapy, thanks. So I'd love to read about that.

Bonus points for including lots of Rachel, perhaps as a snarky "your issues don't impress me" reality check? I'm not really interested in anything that pairs Tim with Raylan or Boyd, sorry. And, while I'd welcome further exploration of Tim's relationship with Colt and his guilt about killing him (or lack of guilt?), I'm not really interested in them as a romance, either.

The Wire

Continuing my inexplicable surrogate father theme, I'm dying for a fic in which Carver actually goes through with getting trained to become a foster parent. A few months after he drops Randy off at the group home, he comes back to pick him up. It feels like too little, way too late. Given the history between these two, I can't see this venture being a shocking success, but I'm not averse to a little positivity buried somewhere.



Friday Night Lights

I often feel like one of very few people who actually enjoyed the last two seasons of this show, and my favorite non-Taylors-centric plotline was Luke and Vince's long, slow development from sullen, angry teenagers who felt displaced and absolutely hated each other to close friends and remarkable team leaders. Both actors played it with such subtle humor, as well. If you ever re-watch, compare the moment where they get in a fist fight on the side of the road over the wallet Vince really did steal and spend the rest of the day fuming at each other in a jail cell to the moment coach tells them to rustle up some support for the Lions and they share commiserating scowls while wearing suits and passing out flyers at a grocery store. Priceless.

I'd love a fic where Vince plays ball. (Either on a well-known college team or in the NHL, which would make it set even further into the future.) Luke is still in the army. Vince spends a lot of time waiting for Luke to come back from deployment, worrying, and wishing he could talk about it with his friends and teammates. But it's risky for his career, and Luke sure as hell isn't ready to tell anyone, either. Sometimes Vince thinks Luke will never be ready for that. Slash would be great, but I think I'd be equally happy with a gen piece about how their lives have taken them to radically different places (both in terms of finances and in terms of values); they miss each other and try to remain close, but they don't feel comfortable in each others' spaces.

The Pacific

Sid and Eugene's relationship fascinates me, because they're friends, but they aren't war buddies; they remember different wars. They may in later years feel more comfortable sharing bits and pieces with each other than with non-vets, but it's never going to be the same as reminiscing with the guys you actually fought with. Eugene is haunted by Peleliu landing, but Sid remembers turning eighteen on Guadalcanal, dating that girl in Sydney, drowning in the hell of Gloucester, and killing crabs on Pavuvu. I'd love gen that explores what they can't say to each other. Bonus points for Sid's perspective (because I liked the first half of the mini-series better, go figure).

Hi, kids! Today we're going to talk about three reasons that I love Matt Read. Who is Matt Read, you ask?



Matt Read is a winger for the Philadelphia Flyers -- he's listed as a right wing, but the Flyers have actually been putting him on the left a lot. He played on G's left wing for a while last year when literally every top line LW got injured, and this year he's been playing a lot on Brayden Schenn's wing. This is his third year playing for the Flyers. He played four years of college hockey for Bemidji State University. We assume that that "Reader" learned to read some time before or during his college stint, but we have seen no compelling evidence of this to date.

If you've never heard of Bemidji, don't feel bad. Scott Hartnell hasn't, either:



So, without further ado, here are three reasons to love Matt Read!

3. He's a wonderful public speaker. Just kidding. Like most hockey players, he speaks 100% in mouth words, but unlike most hockey players, he also has this adorable little stutter that occasionally pops up when he's faced with a camera. Here he is yesterday after playing beautifully against the Penguins.



2. He's great at cooking. And logic.



Reader. If you cook the shrimp in the butter, you will be eating the butter. Also, that looks a hot mess. Did you even devein them?

1. He is pretty darn good at hockey. Reader had a spectacular rookie season, followed by a slightly underwhelming performance in the shortened 2013 season. Then again, the entire team was underwhelming last year, so there's no need to go blaming Read. This year, he has 18 goals and 15 assists already. One of the things I like about the Flyers is that we really don't rely on one or two star players to get things done -- we have a slightly more even distribution of offense, and that makes all of our lines more dangerous than opponents expect. G is obviously as close as we have to a superstar, and honestly a lot of that is because Philly just makes so much noise about hockey -- we need to make a big deal about our best player. He's great, but he's not our whole team. If Reader and the rest of our talented young forwards break the 20 goal mark before we hit the playoffs, which they seem poised to do, I like our chances.

Here's Reader scoring two goals against the Penguins yesterday, including an absolute beauty of a shorthanded goal.



ETA: NHL.com hates being embedded on livejournal, so here is a link until those highlights go up on Youtube.

This a placeholder for the excessively detailed letter I will probably write you soon. But I will be happy with any present you write me!