#eyrethoughts

[ladyeyrewrites]

I'm rereading up to where I've written to in Buck in a Second so that I can get back into the voice of this version of Buck and Tommy. I'm making good progress and should be able to start working on the next chapter soon.

I'm just very grateful to past me for writing such a detailed outline of this fic.

[ladyeyrewrites]

Rewatched Cold Lazarus for the first time in a long time and this is a crazy episode actually. Like what do you mean this alien energy entity went on this whole journey to a different planet and had to confront the concept of physical death all because it want to fix O'Neill's heart???

And that's not even getting into what Sarah has to go through. Like what a journey. First her ex that she's not over shows up, then he's asking about their dead son, then he almost breaks down, then they have a heartfelt conversation before he starts emitting bursts of radiation and then it turns out it's been an alien dobblegangar of her ex the whole time! And to top it all off the alien then shape shifts into her dead son. Wild.

[ladyeyrewrites]

I have begun my SG1 rewatch. I forgot that Children of the Gods had full frontal nudity.

[ladyeyrewrites]

BuckTommy Australia AU Thoughts/Process

When I first set out to write my Australia AU, I did not put enough consideration into the sheer amount of research that I need to do for it.

There's all the differences between Australia and the US in terms of the process of becoming a firefighter and the levels of certification.

There's the researching parts of Australia I haven't been to or lived in.

There's needing to create a timeline of all the fires that happened in Queensland and California over the time period the fic takes place

Then I need to research the progression of each fire and precisely when US firefighters started arriving in Australia to assist with firefighting efforts.

Then I need to look into how the lockdown situation unfolded in Queensland because it's different than what I experience in Western Australia. (If any BuckTommys from QLD want to DM to share their experiences that would be a massive help).

Then I need to pinpoint when Australian firefighters started going to California in 2020 to assist with the fires.

It's so much and I'm loving every bit of it, but that does mean that this fic will take longer to write while I sort through all my research and plan things out.

[ladyeyrewrites]

What's this now, my BuckTommy time travel series has 217 bookmarks? What a fun coincidence, especially on a chapter that's so important for Tommy's storyline.

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5sos dropping a new album just as I'm coming out of a massive pain flare that sent me to the ER is exactly how I needed this week to end. Great album. Everything about it feels fun and intentional and it's got such a great sense of humour. NOT OK and No. 1 Obsession are my faves at first listen. Also loving The Rocks.

PS To everyone waiting for me to answer asks, I'm hoping to get to them tomorrow now that my pain is under control and my brain has come back online.

[ladyeyrewrites]

So, I've had a bit more time to process episode 8x15 and my feelings surrounding it, all of which are below the cut because this got long.

Bobby's death had me weeping and my partner giving me the side-eye (they don't watch the show so they just stumbled upon me weeping over my phone when they came to tell me dinner was ready). I'm very sad about it and devastated for the rest of the characters. Especially Athena. Bobby was her chance at finally having happiness in a relationship and now that's been taken from her and I absolutely hate that (though I know Angela is absolutely going to deliver stellar performances for the rest of the season as Athena grapples with Bobby's death and what's next for her).

BUT I've been saying all season that it feels like the writers had run out of things to do with Bobby. None of his storylines aside from the episode with his mom really felt all that meaningful and like they had any stakes. In hindsight, Bobby reconnecting with his brother and reconciling with his mother seems to be Bobby tying off lose ends so that even though he wasn't ready to die, he could finally die without regrets while doing what he couldn't do before: saving his family.

Bobby's death will have a long-lasting impact on the show and its characters in a way we rarely get to see on 9-1-1. It will be a catalyst for change in the character dynamics and their storylines. Do I think the writers could have done this without killing Bobby? Yes. Do I think Bobby retiring would have been as effective as Bobby dying? Unsure. Do I think it was the best written character death? No, but 9-1-1 has never had the strongest writing. Did Bobby's death make me feel things in a way the show hasn't in a very long time? Absolutely yes.

The only other major character death that I think could have had a similar impact is Chimney because that would've destroyed the team emotionally and had a long-lasting impact for Maddie's storyline moving forward. The survivor's guilt from the rest of the team would've also been there. But we wouldn't have had the leadership gap to fill that we have now. And I think the question of who will take over as captain will loom large over the next few episodes with the end of the season hopefully answering that question.

Honestly it kind of feels like they're pushing for Buck to be captain, since Chimney has made it clear that he doesn't want it and they seem to have soured on Captain Hen since the whole Ortiz debacle. I guess it's possible that they could decide to bring in an entirely new character as captain to shake up the cast, but I don't know, they've been showing Buck taking a leadership position in a lot of calls, with him giving Ravi tough love and then the goodbye with Buck and Bobby definitely came across as a passing of the baton. Buck taking over as captain could also introduce some interesting friction between him, Chim, and Hen moving forward especially since they view him as more of a kid brother and often don't take him overly seriously. If that's the case, it could be that the choice the writers have made consistently throughout this season to have Buck's feelings downplayed or ignored by the rest of the characters is actually a set-up for some kind of confrontation along those lines. Maybe. I'm not actually sure they write those kinds of set-ups with long term pay-offs because they consistently haven't thus far.

Maybe this is callous of me, but for the first time in a long time I'm truly interested to see what's next and how the writers handle the story and the characters moving forward. Lately, I've just been tuning in more out of a sense of obligation than anything else (and because I prepaid for the season on YouTube so I can watch with a VPN because they still haven't announced when season 8 will air in Australia). But now, I want to know how Bobby's death will shape the story moving forward. How will Chimney handle the guilt of surviving instead of Bobby? What about Hen? Ravi? Buck's clearly not going to be handling it well but will be keeping that to himself because Bobby told him to be strong for the others. Eddie will probably feel some sort of guilt about not having been there as well and I suspect Bobby's death will have some sort of influence on what he decides to do next (I honestly have no idea what that will be at this point).

And then there's Athena. How will she cope without Bobby? Will we see her fall apart or will she try to soldier on like we've seen her do in the past? The show already foreshadowed her needing May and Harry as a safety net in that scene in episode 14, so we'll definitely be getting scenes with Athena and her kids. But what will her storyline be without Bobby? Will this make her pause and consider retirement or will this make her throw herself even more into her work so she doesn't have to process what happened? (Also, I'm still waiting to see if they do anything about the Athena having a rookie plotline that they set up in 8a and then proceeded to do nothing with).

And not to make Bobby's death about shipping, but I think there's a real possibility that this could be an impetus for Buck and Tommy taking another step down the road to reconciliation. Episode 15 made it clear that Tommy still has feelings for Buck and can't stay mad at him. It also showed Buck being happy that Tommy was there for him and not just Chimney. Tommy was also the sole witness to Buck's breakdown in the corridor so if in the next episode the rest of the team are taking Buck's stoicism for granted, Tommy at least will know that Buck is burying his hurt. And my mind, that opens the door for Tommy realising that Buck might have been burying his hurt over the break-up as well. There's also the fact that the writers could have chosen a less expensive and Tommy-free way to write the leading the feds on a wild goose chase scene and they didn't. They made the deliberate choice to keep including Tommy in the show and that automatically leaves the door open for further exploration of Buck and Tommy's relationship.

TLDR: while Bobby's death is a tragedy, it actually makes me more interested to see what happens next on the show. That said, you can bet your ass that Bobby is still alive in my fics.

[ladyeyrewrites]

I'm holding off forming a concrete opinion of Wish World until we get part two, but over all it continued this series' streak of highly enjoyable episodes. While not my favourite, I really like a whole lot about it.

Thoughts under the cut

I love the casting of the Rani (both of them)!

I was intrigued by the Doctor's queerness playing such an essential part in 1.) cuing the audience into something being very wrong when the Doctor and Belinda wake up in the same bed together and share the world's most 1950s sitcom kiss; and 2.) feeding into the Doctor's doubts about the wish world.

Poppy showing up in the Story and the Engine and again in this episode makes me want to go back and rewatch Space Babies which is not a thing I ever thought I'd want to do.

We got to see Belinda's mum and Nan!

Loved the camp with Shirley and the commentary on disability almost being a form of invisibility especially when it comes to the worldviews of cis, straight, white non-disabled men like Conrad. I definitely have more thoughts about this that I'm sorting out. Especially how Ruby's bisexuality fits into her doubts.

Happy to see Rogue again, though definitely worried about his hell dimension collapsing. Also wondering if maybe he has any association with the Rani since she said that creating doubt was the point. Especially getting the Doctor to doubt and Rogue's message led to the Doctor's doubts increasing. Very curious to see if they'll touch on that more or not.

I love the way the Rani's play off one another. The level of disdain is so delightful.

Honestly not thrilled with how Belinda was written this episode. She's questioned so much about the Doctor's standard operating procedure that her suddenly being the less doubtful of the two of them didn't really make sense.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the next episode and really hopeful that it sticks the landing better than last series' finale.