#percy wainwright

[forgetmcnotts]

OUTLANDER | Ye Dinna Get Used to It (7.14)

[hisuchanly]

Outlander 7x14 “Ye Dinna Get Used To It”

- Why are you helping me?

- For your beautiful eyes.

[tangentsandbubbles]

Show Percy vs Book Percy

Oh my God. What did they do to Percy.

I should start with the casting. Perhaps the actor was not the right fit. I don't have anything against Michael Lindall, he's a perfectly good actor. Quite possibly miscast, but the main culprit is the show. The show took him off to a particular place, so it's the whole production of the character that seems off to me.

For a start, he is supposed to be beautiful (John) and handsome (Lady Joffrey and Claire). They made no attempt to do that, with his hair pulled back. WRONG. In fact the actor's natural hair is closer to the mark. Clipped short and curly.

The clothes. In S7 he was in a French uniform. WRONG. In S8 he was in an ugly brown suit. WRONG. I wanted silk and lace and colour and stripes and silver buckled shoes and beauty spots on his cheek. PLEASE GET IT RIGHT!

Demeanor. Book Percy is sweet, charming, amusing, agreeable and deferential. He charms Claire, he charms everyone at Lady Jonas' salon. Show Percy has no charm at all. He seems slippery and is unlikable.

In S7 John revealed all about his stepbrother to Jamie and Claire, EVEN THE NAME PERSEVERANCE. WRONG WRONG.

The Kiss. Book John did not answer the kiss. He 'did not pull away' There's a difference. WRONG again.

I just hated seeing a wheedling sniveling show Percy at the hands of Richardson. Book Percy was just plain scared (and possisbly tortured).

Angry John forcing Percy to write a retraction of the confession. NOT IN THE BOOK.

Left out entirely John's visit to the Black Chamber (in Echo) where he blabs ALL PERCY'S SECRETS. And is informed Percy's file is missing (Red flag there John, did you notice?).

The hand on the thigh. Gripping hard. Book Percy never did that. WRONG.

Percy shooting himself and slumping to the floor (off camera). NOT IN THE BOOK. BUT we did not actually witness his death first hand. So they could bring him back in a S9, but really, who would want to see him?

And we never got to see any of Percy's moments of kindness. Giving a purse of money to Claire to pass on to Marsali. Rescuing Clarence the mule from the teamster.

They made him a one dimensional, unlikeable character. Sure, Percy has flaws, but Percy is actually a lot more complex than that.

And they didn't include my favourite line from the book.

"Not so fast, Buttercup."

I'm not impressed. Worst character representation in the whole of Outlander. There. I said it.

[lestatgetbehindme]

OUTLANDER 7.14

[lovinghoagieweaselpsychic]

William has been very ungrateful. John was always there for him, raised him, loved him, and educated him better than Jaime ever could have.

As if Faith's storyline wasn't enough, we have William throwing tantrums like a little kid, the way he treated John drove me crazy, and Amaranthus is so out of place; they could have done something better with his character.

The only good thing about the moment was John and Percy's kiss (I adore them, I don't care if others hate them). I was expecting anything but this; it was explosive.

[maidenvault]

“Lord John was a bad boyfriend to Percy.” “LJ is emotionally unavailable.” “LJ was never serious about their relationship and that pushed Percy away, he could have opened his heart to him more.”

Okay let’s look at what John actually does and is actually like with Percy the whole time they’re together.

He pursues this relationship despite it being potentially messy because they’re about to become family by marriage. Gets Hal to give Percy a place in his regiment despite some reasonable apprehension about it because he still barely knows him, meaning when he’s away from London he will also be close to Percy all the time. Is kind of frustrated they seem to keep getting cock-blocked by inconvenient timing, but still fine with taking things slow with him because though he’s not sure of his feelings yet he hopes this relationship can be more than just sex. 

Brings himself far out of his own comfort zone with Percy both emotionally and physically, trusting Percy enough to let him top him, telling him things he’s never told anyone before even though it opens up really bad wounds and it’s so uncomfortable he almost regrets doing so. 

At this point John has never experienced love without loving very deeply, and he doesn’t have those strong feelings for Percy. He’s honest with him about this and how he does feel that way about another. To someone like John it would feel deceitful and wrong not to be open about this, but he assures him this other man could never threaten what’s between them (implicitly saying that he is still devoted to Percy as much as he can be, wants to be monogamous, and will be faithful to him).

Of course he is faithful to Percy. The one time he interacts with Michael Weber he’s kind of checking him out and there may be some mutual attraction, but he obviously doesn’t intend to do anything about it.

John often worries about betraying a lover through his thoughts and feelings because of his love for Jamie, and is wary of the temptation of using someone - whether it’s Nessie, Stephan, or Brianna - as a kind of proxy to satisfy his desire for Jamie in a way that would be wrong. But for all that, whenever we get scenes of him with a lover or sleeping with anyone who’s not just an anonymous hook-up, he seems to be present with them and doesn’t think about anyone else. (Claire is actually the one significant exception to this, since in the circumstances they’re both basically knowing participants in this and using each other the same way so it isn’t wrong.) The closest he ever comes to indulging a fantasy about someone else with Percy is when they experiment with the cat, which can’t help but bring Jamie to the back of his mind. Still in a really intense way this moment is part of the growing intimacy between them, and I’d say he’s clearly turned on by it at least partly because it is Percy and he wouldn’t necessarily do this with just anyone. The erotic dream he has about it afterwards is melding this experience with Ardsmuir but describing a man with Percy’s features.

What about how Percy treats him, then?

It’s clear Percy does have real affection for John. He’s a sweet, careful, generous lover with him. He endeavors to be a kind and helpful new member of the family. He opens up about his difficult childhood and for the most part seems able to be himself with him, without artifice, in a way he probably never is with anyone again (the part in Bees where John observes for a moment “he really was Percy again” is so heartbreaking thinking about what his life’s been since). That John is the only person alive who knows his real name is sadly meaningful.

But there are obviously big omissions in what he tells him, and other things that stand out only in retrospect. He conveniently shows up on his step-father’s doorstep the day he’s about to meet these very wealthy future in-laws so that Sir George is awkwardly forced to invite him along. He tells John he’d never been to Lavender House before that time they met but seemed pretty comfortable there. He somehow gets separated from John when they’re attacked in the street, something John’s too disoriented to question at the time. He makes sure he’s closed the book on his past entanglements before spending much time with John, and maybe this is honestly in part because he wants a clean slate and intends to be faithful to him, but it also fully frees him from his past that he doesn’t want John to somehow find out about.

And it’s understandable that he would hesitate to tell him about this, but there’s no indication that he ever has any intention of doing so, after they’ve been together for a while. He begrudges that John can’t be totally body-and-soul devoted to him (though he never says what John offers isn’t enough for him) while not even being honest about a huge part of his life experience.

He also holds his tongue when he knows information about who might have had John attacked, telling himself he can make sure no harm comes to him, when the only reason not to share this is to keep secret his relationship with “Mr. A.” I can be charitable enough to think when Percy finally writes him about this he’s probably not angling for something but truly concerned for his safety, but he waits a damn long time to come out with this knowing it won’t win him more sympathy.

And of course there’s what happens with Weber. I don’t know if I’m convinced that sleeping with him is something Percy does wanting to hurt John, though I get how some take it that way (he did it in John’s room with an unlocked door). In any case, well, I’ve talked about what I make of Percy’s story before.

And when I try to understand the whole of how Percy acts throughout this relationship, I think he knows from the beginning it probably isn’t sustainable, that somehow his past and lies will catch up to him. He does a drawing of John saying he wants it to remember him by if he dies, but could also be thinking he’s not the kind of person who is likely to be able to hold onto him forever. And it could be he takes up with Weber again feeling like he needs a contingency plan. The way he speaks in the prison suggests to me that John not even letting him sustain the fantasy for a while by lying about his feelings was painful and made him so bitter because it wasn’t surprising. 

If you consider what things were like the only other time John had a serious relationship - he was very young, without the burdens and responsibilities he has now - I think it’s actually pretty normal and reasonable that someone like him has grown to have more ambivalent feelings about falling in love and isn’t the most comfortable being vulnerable with others. Love can easily be inconvenient or dangerous for him as a gay man and obviously has caused him a lot of pain. It’s also never gonna be something he can prioritize above all else, as someone with such a strong sense of duty. But I’d say we’re consistently shown throughout canon that John is still capable of accepting support and opening up to people when it’s important. He’s been through traumatic things that changed him forever, but he’s still been able to heal and move on, and despite these experiences he’s grown into a strong person who demonstrably doesn’t allow his traumas and fears to control him or keep him from doing what he wants or thinks is right.

Everyone always remembers John thinking during that conversation about love with Percy that he “fears” love, but not that he also “values” it. It’s described how their growing intimacy, both physical and emotional, is “unsettling” to him, but also “intoxicating.” His uneasy feelings about getting so close to someone are always balanced by positive ones and never actually make him pull back from Percy, and he honestly comes across as very healthily self-aware and reflective in his thoughts throughout the relationship, which makes sense because he’s always so obsessively looking at his own behavior to be sure it’s right and honorable.

Even when he realizes that his feelings for Percy are stronger than he thought, it comes with the knowledge and regret that he still did not love him enough to give him what he wanted. And he finds he doesn’t regret that he ever met Percy, despite feeling that way about Jamie at this point in his life, maybe because he knows he’s probably been one of the only good things in Percy’s life. John cannot bring himself to regret that he got so close to him and allowed himself to get hurt. These are not the feelings of a person who’s going through life holding others at arm’s length and holding himself back from true happiness just to protect himself from pain.

Sure, John is not perfect, he’s very self-sacrificing and stoic in ways that are not always the most healthy. But he actually takes a lot of risks in this relationship, and arguably doesn’t notice some mild red flags because he really wants it to work, and Percy’s actually the one who is always first and foremost protecting himself.

[alloftimeandallofspace]

Anything bad that can happen to someone has already happened to Lord John

[telegraphavekiss]

sharing my journey of reading the lord john books for the first time after my recent outlander reread