I honestly should post a rant about this whole as MSATD novel business (and like why the fuck does it exist and why is Stuart fucking commenting on the post about it and how dare they fucking tease us about it and how they fuck are they gonna promote the final season of the show AND this) BUT I read the first four chapters of it that's a sample on Libby and my comments are... not pleasant. Once again, fic writers are not only better plot wise literally better at writing in general. Eliza gets full named practically every other page, there's POV/head hopping all over the same and sometimes in the same paragraph... Like did they not hire an editor? also their whole biggest draw, the whole reason this is a mess i.e. "hey looky, this has William in it! uwu"... William is not mentioned in the first four chapters.
idk how much more energy I should pour into this shitshow, but honestly, not to toot my own horn, I feel better about my own writing now lmao
Really though, I wish the DA movie hadn't come out already and was saved until next year so, that like I could have something to look forward to, one that actually more or less "went right."
But it's over (and not that I wanted more anyway, I just wanted A/B to still have a happy ending), and now I have... nothing. Like have like... two shows that I enjoy to a degree still but they aren't on That Level. And after I was betrayed by the show that shall not be named, I've struggled to enjoy scripted TV. And that's been so hard for me, because truly my biggest fandoms are my ships. And ESC.
People today are like, okay, time to take up a handicraft as a hobby! But I've already tried that. I took up crocheting back at the beginning of the year. But see, crocheting isn't something I can carry in my pocket. It doesn't fill my thoughts. It doesn't fill my time in the say way as looking at blorbo pics or reading/writing fic, or reading up on ESC news or opinions on songs, because it's also not something I can do in snatches at work or when snuggling into bed. I mean I guess I can attempt to daydream about crochet patterns when I'm stuck at the front desk at work, but it doesn't hit lmao. Handicraft really isn't a replacement for fandom, and I mean I am (was?) a cosplayer, so sewing is too intertwined.
I've been trying to work on my own novels, but it's harder to engage passively in one's own writing. If I've got a good idea, I'm gonna want to write it down and not just daydream it.
To get back to ESC, I've been into it before DA was even thing and thus the fandom that I've been active in the longest. And I knew things weren't looking good at the last two years, but still it sucks because I wanted to believe that because at least four broadcasters had a spine, maybe some of the others did too. But alas no, and I cannot have good things. Loving you is a losing game indeed.
I'm just glad I got to go when it was in Liverpool, and with @lovelikewildness. I know that year will live in a lot of people's hearts. So while I want the EBU to be taught a lesson, it's still going to be something that I do have a lot of happy memories about....
maybe it's just the fandoms I've been in, but like... I'm just so used to openly critiquing and criticizing the writing and the showrunners? like why are you pretending otherwise? She's ruined a show and doesn't get a free pass because she's a woman like I am TIRED JUST CALL HER OUT AND CALL IT A DAY
Here's my review on GoodReads, which is written more as a formal book review, although ofc it's also very much written from a fandom stance (and yeah it's very long).
But I wanted to talk a little more in depth about the shippy scenes and what I think it all means in the conclusion.
SPOILERS
As I said in my review, William definitely is more emotionally his early S4 self. I don't think he has admitted to himself he loves Eliza though, but I cannot be 100% sure of that because of how vague Dowd loves to be with their thoughts. It's very inconsistent. And as someone has written Wiliza fic, I have been in these character's heads before to try and make sense of their emotions and what all they might be more aware of even if they don’t verbalize it. With the TV show, there's no narrator, but of course in 3x06, Arabella says to William he is in love with Eliza, and he does not refute it, because he knows it's true. The issue is when exactly did he became aware that his deep caring for her had crossed over that line? And that's just the debate from the TV standpoint, let alone the book.
William's written in the show way more consistently than Eliza, but regardless, there's a lot of issues when trying to view the progression linearly. And it's not in a way to make it reflect real life, it's just RN and co.'s bad writing. Especially given with how obvious is it with Eliza.
Dowd attempts, maybe too much, to connect back to their years as teenagers. Maybe it's just to show their relationship with her father besides each other, but she butts up against the TV canon awkwardly. She does retcon a few things, but I don't think she wanted to create any stories that didn't get mentioned in the TV show or appear in the flashback. So it's vauge, and tbh, hamfisted at times. There's too many unknowns, and one could arge Dowd is trying to imply that they see each other too much as the teens they once were. Those days were supposedly uncomplicated in Dowd's eyes, but as we know from the flashback, they had their own issues.
Haters will say that William is more in love with her teenage self than her as an adult, and some of the messy post-depature party lines have been it was hard for both of them to see each other as adults because they knew each other as teens. That's hogwash, and not what this post is about, but a part of my whole problem with the novel existing, as I bang on about in the review, is that I'm unsure if I should be viewing this as a AU consolation prize, or as evidence as to why Eliza and William don't belong together. But I'm a Doylist, we know they aren't together because his actor is no longer on the show. And I think it would be ridiculous to make a whole book to try and make more Watsonian excuses. It's reconning as it is when they said shit like that in interviews after the fact.
But that's the whole thing that makes this all puzzling. Imho, this book is very much pro-Wiliza, and definitely pro-William. William's desire to protect Eliza isn't because she's a woman, it's because he loves her. The book repeats this sentiment practically every chapter. The actual word "love" is only used once though, ironically in Eliza's thoughts, when she thinks about how much William had loved her father, and he couldn't protect him, and so it's natural he wants to be protect her and not lose her too. But then she assumes it's because she's an extension of her father. Ooo girl, so close, but no lol.
For all of RN's post S4 trash talk, William is the romantic hero of the novel. His affection for Eliza is overt, and while I'm sure some people would find his obsession with keeping her safe overbearing, we also know why he is. Like S4!William, he is overworked, but also both the traumas of his youth and work clearly haunt him. He turns that into compassion for trying to get justice for the victims, and finding the kidnapped woman in the novel, but also it is what drives to protect Eliza. Not because he thinks she's helpless, but because cannot bear to lose her. And he does tell her that he doesn't want to be without her.
Some of the lines in the novel do seem rather pointed given What Happened in the show, but yet it also proves how out of character his depature really is (again, they should have killed him off if Stuey legit just wanted off 🤷♀️). This man in the show rejects promotions to stay in London with her. And we see more of that version of the character here in the novel.
On top of that, the main villain of the case targets Eliza because of her having William’s “heart”. This is to gain trust at Scotland Yard and pin the murder on the other villain (the one who injured Eliza). The entire premise of the book is built on this. And of course besides this, the case’s climax involves Eliza being held at gun point while they are trapped in a crypt. William’s concerns for her safety are indeed justified, but chief antagonist was also relying on it, and even taunts him about his feelings for Eliza in front of her (heck we even get the “Miss Scarlet and her Duke” bit, which was a fandom thing!!).
The novel has several shippy scenes where they are physically affectionate. That's not to say we didn't get some great Hands moments, or little touches and linked arms, etc., in the show, but here we actually get them embracing and holding each other multiple times. Eliza herself initiates these with putting her head on his chest or shoulder even (one of these scenes even leads to them falling asleep snuggling on the sofa). William comforts her in several scenes, but these moments where she actually seeks it out like… hot damn. Thank you Dowd for them.
But while we get some great scenes like these, the problem is often Dowd just bails on describing their thoughts, as I discuss at length in the review, so I won't yap about it too much here, but maybe she thought she could get way with "actions speak louder than words." Or she was told to by MSL (i.e. RN, Patty, et al.). It's jarring, because it's not like Eliza doesn't have emotions in the book, like we get to see her in fear several times, which makes her more well-rounded and better developed than the TV series, but then we have the dialogue in these shippy scenes that don't have the internal thoughts to go with them. Even if Eliza isn't voicing things to herself, like… I write my fic as third person limited, so if you don't Eliza's thoughts in a scene (or don’t want to get into it), you just make that chapter be from William's POV. It's not hard imho lmao. But like we get this exchange in one scene, while he is holding her:
‘William?’ she whispered.
‘Hmm?’
‘Would you ever consider—’
Yeah they get interrupted immediately, and at least three other times in the book, and yes this happened in the show often too, but what the hell was she going to ask him?? We never circle back to this.
There are also other scenes where William is clearly trying to express to Eliza how much she means to him, and struggling with finding the words. That's fine, that's in character, and I get in his thoughts he's not going to be thinking the word he's trying to avoid saying. It's clear he doesn't want to scare her off. But other scenes that are written similarly are too vauge. Like he'll seem to be on that verge, but there's not enough to clarify that he's on that edge, or if he's about to say that he just wants her to be careful. Twice, Eliza says "I know" and we don't know what she (thinks she) knows. Just that he wants her to be safe and wants to protect her? Or is is that she knows why? That's the thing. Dowd doesn't let us know, so it's vauge, and maybe she's been told be vague by MSL. idk idk. Like we are going pretty much all in with William… but then again, the show did that too. He's the one on TV who recognized he was in love, he's the one who got verbalize it (and well, also write it in a love letter). Eliza cycles around and around. And for what? And why are the imagined barriers just gone with the new guy? Does he not want to keep her safe? idk, will never watch his episodes, but it is a little odd when he's a widower and has a kid. And not like they don't have the same job etc. But no, knowing each other as teens, and friends to lovers, apparently isn't good for relationships, per RN. I guess.
The final chapter is oddly the one with the more glaring lack of thoughts, and in a general book sense, it could be because you don't want the leads together until a later installment (it would still be shoddily written, though). That's not to say that the TV show did do this too, but here it's actually a bit baffling. To back up, in the prior chapter there's another "I know" scene, and Eliza also cuts him off and but then promises they can talk about it "soon." They go to her house after, William says that he doesn't want to be without her, but she says that she will always "be here." He reiterates that she's on "a dangerous path", implying that death could come for her because of her job (I mean, she could get hit by a carriage or matter what her job is, lbr) but that he will wait for her.
(Dowd's not always fantastic with describing the physicallity of the shippy moments though I have to admit. I'm often like "OKAY BUT NOW WHERE ARE THEIR HANDS?" BUT I read this scene as an almost kiss btw. I mean his hand was on her face and he leaned in.)
So. Like. Damn son.
But the implications. This takes place vaguely after 2x04. If this is within the TV canon, Arabella is lurking around the corner. And then of course… he leaves. Maybe he went to go wait in NYC, but then of course, she chooses not to follow. So this the book is AU then, and begins with replacing 2x05-6? I mean William does go ballastic knowing there's someone after her in the S2 finale, and a lot of the final scene here is similar to that episode, but… if this is a series, did we fully fork off?
My only disappointment in that (storytelling wise, I mean, obviously I hate that it's not what is happening on TV) is that I need a restructured version of the "you're in love with her" scene then, and well, a variation of William almost dying. That plot I felt was very vital in him realizing there was more to life than just work, and I love the hopsital scenes too much. Maybe Dowd can give us a AU of when Eliza's nursing him back to health in her house. I would take that. It could also tie into the theme about the job being too dangerous, and then Eliza is the one who has to worry about him.
But again, what is the point of the book? is it to go AU? Because they have already started to advertise S7 co-currently, and that's when I snap back to reality and feel used. Will Eliza in the books come to her senses? or will it just be the rinse and repeat of William being in love, and Eliza holding him at arms length because she doesn't think a PI can be married to a police officer. And yet she's likely doing that on the TV show, just to the wrong man.
(granted, that's likely happening because RN hates Stuart and us and wants to spite us all, but WHO KNOWS. And speaking of him, why the fuck he did reply to the first book post on Instagram with a bunch of emoji????)
There's even a scene in the novel where William plays with her ring on her finger and she lets him which is… very Interesting given the social media post of Kate in costume on S7 set with a ring on her other hand, reading a Wiliza passage from the book. Considering they are promoting the book and the final season at the same time, and again… to what end??
As I've said before, with this franschise, the greatest mystery is not the ones Eliza's trying to solve.
