brave lucy carlyle

[misscarlyle]

la belle dame isn't my favourite case in the lockwood & co series but i firmly believe that it would've been phenomenal television, like actual history in the making. also the poltergeist at aickmere's would have been expensive as hell to produce but absolutely stunning stuff

[misscarlyle]

The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud, page 38

The X Files, Season 5 Episode 9, 'Schizogeny'

[misscarlyle]

the thinking cloth is such a great idea, it's so creative and accessible, great for communicating without advanced technology, but it's also the refined version of drawing on walls with crayons, particularly considering george's art

[misscarlyle]

idk i just deeply love that lucy carlyle gets to be incredibly flawed and complex and make mistakes and then grow and learn and apologise for her actions? and form these beautiful strong relationships with other characters, and develop her skills, and become more confident in herself? like that's character development

[misscarlyle]

just some soulmate behaviour from lucy and lockwood:

matching middle names: lucy joan carlyle and anthony john lockwood

lockwood thinking there was one more person they had to interview and lucy showing up last without an appointment

being the other's battle half (elegance vs. physical/resourceful)

complimentary talents (sight vs. listening/touch)

lockwood being the only canonical non-listener to feel when the skull talks (especially when all-rounder george can't)

visiting the other side before the rest of the group (and sharing a cape)

being so intrinsically tied to each other that their lives get so much worse when they're apart

all the hand-holding (and the hug)

[misscarlyle]

i love it when book!lucy goes back home in the hollow boy and she's like... these people are so boring and then she skips out early lol it's not even like they're mean to her or give her a tough time, she's just like i have better things to do

[thegirlfromthesea]

It's not that she thinks they're boring, per se. It's more that there is a distance between them that's grown since she left for London. She can't connect with them anymore, they frown at her accent having changed, silently judge the way she dresses...

it's not 'I have better things to do' so much as it is 'I am completely unable to connect to the people who are supposed to be my family'

[misscarlyle]

so, when lucy said, 'for my part, i found them slow and hide-bound by their fear.' and when she said, 'i grew impatient, and crosser still when they scarcely argued back.' and when she said, 'what kind of life was it, to sit dumbly in the dark, in living fear of death? better to go out and face it head on.'

[misscarlyle]

re-watching episode 1 or re-reading the screaming staircase is so fun because you recognise exactly how screwed lucy and lockwood were when they forgot to bring iron chains with them to sheen road.

[misscarlyle]

i love it when book!lucy goes back home in the hollow boy and she's like... these people are so boring and then she skips out early lol it's not even like they're mean to her or give her a tough time, she's just like i have better things to do

[ethicsaesthetic]

The scene where they arrive at the cemetery in ep 4 and Lockwood and George are pointing out the ghost cultists, gravediggers, sensitives, night watch etc. to Lucy has the same energy as a teen comedy scene where someone is explaining where the popular girls, nerds, stoners etc. sit in the cafeteria.

[misscarlyle]

i think a lot about lockwood in the creeping shadow because he spends four whole months searching for the perfect case to convince lucy to work with them again. they get cases that constantly put on them on the front page of the times, they finally win agency of the month, everyone’s talking about them but none of them are enough. none of those cases are good enough to convince lucy. lockwood knows that unless it’s something she can’t refuse, it’s not even worth trying. then penelope fittes brings him the perfect case and lucy very nearly doesn’t accept but then she’s onboard. everything is as it should be again. they’re all working together like a proper team, like a proper family. lucy is by his side and her talents are the only reason they solve the ealing cannibal case. then it’s over. it’s done and solved in a single night and she’s gone again. but this time it’s a little bit worse because what hope does he have now? his one excuse the first time was having the perfect case. they got the perfect case, they solved it. what the hell beats a personal request from penelope fittes tailor suited to lucy? he’s lost again. he doesn’t know what to do. he spends an entire day mourning her, not knowing when he’ll see her again. and then she shows up at his doorstep that night, injured and bleeding and asking for his help. it’s the first time the universe has been on his side since lucy turned up for an interview two years prior. he doesn’t hesitate, he’s not letting her go again. it’s like that scene from the end of mulan, you can’t just stay tonight, you have to stay until you’re no longer in danger, who knows how long that’s going to take? you can have your old attic back, we’ve barely touched it! then he spends as much time with her as he can, opens up his sister’s room for her, goes with her to the underground, ropes her into coming to aldbury castle, does everything possible to be with her. all lockwood wants is to get lucy back. he’s not losing her a third time.

[misscarlyle]

i love it when people say lockwood, lucy and george are such an amazing found family and nothing will ever separate them because something absolutely can and will separate them and that call is coming from inside the house! the worst betrayal is from the ones you least expect!

[misscarlyle]

george getting mad at lucy for stealing annabel ward's source (twice) will never not be funny because he stole an evil type three ghost from the most powerful agency in london and takes baths with it but it's ok when he does it because it's for experiments and he's smart

[misscarlyle]

lucy carlyle is so cool and it's so unintentional and that makes her even cooler. like she skates down an escalator in the middle of a poltergeist hurricane and swings from a trapeze to save lockwood and none of it is done for acclaim or attention. does not waste a single second wondering if she'll look cool, in fact she's more likely to rag on herself for not being graceful like actual try-hard lockwood (my love). she gets shit done and looks like a total hero doing it

[misscarlyle]

summing up the character arcs for lockwood & co books 3-5 is pretty easy because it’s just: lockwood and lucy are terrified of losing each other, george has a tough time, lucy’s opinion of holly and kipps does a complete 180, and the skull finds its first ever semblance of compassion.

[misscarlyle]

lockwood really cemented himself for me as one of those leading investigative, deducing men when he touched an unknown substance on wintergarden’s staircase, tasted it and went ‘ok this is salt.’ DON’T EAT IT IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS, especially in a place where people have died

[misscarlyle]

thinking lots about how the problem would be way less prevalent in australia than anywhere else in the world because there’s so much uninhabited space and population density is relatively low; it has the world’s largest estimated reserves of iron ore; and so many buildings have corrugated iron, especially in the outback. absolutely unbothered

[misscarlyle]

holly is the missing piece to the iron trio’s puzzle, she completes them. it’s especially evident when you read books 4 and 5 and then go back to 1 and 2. like there’s already similarities and connections in the trio but then someone’s always left out, it’s never balanced - until you include holly. lockwood and lucy are the reckless go-getters but holly and george are more careful and cautious, they’re not the fighters, they provide the support that lockwood and lucy never have time or motivation for. lockwood and holly are so charming, presentable, and good at controlling their emotions (most of the time), compared to lucy and george with personalities that take adjusting to, who constantly rag on other people, and have issues with self-care. lucy has so much compassion and love and holly’s the same, she’s the caretaker and the one with first aid experience; they really do complement each other, compared to lockwood and george who practically mummify lucy’s arm in book 4 and neither of them are so openly caring. the trio work together but they’re not complete, they’re not at their most balanced, they’re not their most effective without holly.