gyzym | and once upon a time i believed it was a victimless crime

I might as well call today National Jizzy Talks About Fandoms That Aren't Inception Day, because I'm making this post to flail about last night's White Collar and to rec (of all things) a Merlin fic, and then tonight I'll be posting 15-20K of Veronica Mars nonsense (wordcount pending final edits, cuts from three scenes, and the het porn I have to write this afternoon).

I could, based on the above, call it National Jizzy Writes Run-On Sentences Day, but I feel like that'll only doom me on the het porn before I start.

OKAY SO, uh, first, I need to talk about White Collar, just briefly. I know it's been forever since I did a post-ep reaction, but there was a lot last night that I think is worth talking about, just from a character development angle.

To start: ON A HORSE, ON A HORSE, HE'S ON A HORSE, PETER BURKE IS THE MAN YOUR MAN COULD SMELL LIKE, HE HAS TICKETS TO THAT THING NEAL LIKES, PLEASE INSERT EVERY OBLIGATORY OLD SPICE MAN JOKE EVER HERE. Now that that's out of the way: I really have to hand it to the writers on this ep, this is the most in love I've been with the show since S2 started. Don't get me wrong; there are some SERIOUS plot holes, but--and this is not something I generally say about television shows--I've gotten to the point with WC that I actually trust them to tie up their loose ends. I love the parallelism of Neal agreeing to go by the book as Peter agrees to run a con, I love Elizabeth so much I could fucking cry ("Now it's the Burke seven," GOD, I WANT TO GROW UP TO BE HER), and I surprised myself by loving Sara, which I never thought I'd say.

But mostly I love what they did with Neal's character here, the way that, even with all the betrayal and ridiculous bad decisions this season, they're pushing his growth as an upstanding citizen. When he was offered that deal I actually paused the show to sigh and steel myself for yet another Neal-runs-around-behind-Peter's-back-because-he-never-learns arc, and then...he learned. HE LEARNED, and I thought Peter's reaction was spot on and incredibly well-acted, that surprise--and then it was echoed as a motif throughout the episode, which was just brilliant. They might as well have called the thing "Surprised By Trust," because it's Neal trusting Peter and Peter trusting Neal and Sara proving herself trustworthy, not to mention the whole arc with pulling Jones in and all the beautifully understated loyalty there (although I maintain that Jones would not have been so stupid as to go "HEY DIANA I KNOW YOU AND PETER HAVE BEEN UP TO SOMETHING LOL" in the middle of the FBI while Peter was under investigation, that felt like a flub to me). OH ALSO THE MOZZIE BUSINESS, JESUS FUCK, FANTASTIC ACTING BY MATT BOMER, FANTASTIC ACTING BY WILLIE GARSON, THOSE SCENES WERE SO SHARP AND BEAUTIFUL AND THE TRUST MOTIF WAS THERE TOO, AND MOZZIE'S DOUBT AND NEAL'S THANKING HIM EVEN THOUGH THAT PROBABLY COMPLETELY FREAKED HIM OUT, JFC.

...And it's definitely Run On Sentence day, I don't know why I bothered trying to resist it. Ah, well.

Anyway, the *second* thing I have to do here is post an enthusiastic rec for the Merlin fic everyone's been talking about: Pairing Pendragon/Merlin, by Anon, in which Arthur is a BNF and Merlin is his beta. And, now, look, normally I don't rec fics already touted all over the place, because I feel like that asshole who is late to the party going I BROUGHT BEER...OH, BUT I SEE YOU...HAVE BEER...

But here's the thing, guys. When I see people from a fandom I'm not in going "Read this fic from my fandom, you don't need to know the canon," I tend to think, "Pshaw, you only think that because you know the canon so well you don't have to think about it, I WILL ONLY BE CONFUSED." I am sure I have missed out on a number of fantastic fics because of this, but there you go. In order to read a fic in a fandom where I don't know the canon, I have to have it basically shoved down my throat.

HOWEVER, if someone who is *not* in the fandom says, hey, I'm not in this fandom and I loved this fic, then I tend to sit up and take notice.

So hear this, people of my flist: I am not in the Merlin fandom. I have never been in the Merlin fandom. I have not watched even one episode of Merlin, because I know if I did I'd end up writing fic, and I can't have another fandom and continue sleeping, it's just not possible. My ENTIRE INTERACTION with Merlin fandom has been:

1) Reading this fic

augustbird kindly forced on me (STILL GRATEFUL, BTW) where Arthur was a frat boy and Merlin was like...his partner in English class? I don't know, but it was amazing--and actually if

augustbird or anyone else knows what fic I'm talking about, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LINK ME, I read it months ago and then lost it, and I'd like to read it again

2) Reading Teaching The Indie Kids To Joust Again, which a) is actually Bradley/Colin RPS and not Merlin fic at all and b) I loved and everything, but only read because (sorry,

bookshop) I was so captivated by the title

3) Reading this fic I'm reccing to you now and

4) Watching The Sword in The Stone so many times the year I turned seven that my parents eventually had to take the tape and burn it. At least, that's what my father tells me they did with it--my mom says it broke on its own, but, knowing them, I'm thinking the burning is more likely.

SUFFICE TO SAY, THE MERLIN FANDOM AND I ARE NOT SECRET BOSOM BUDDIES OR ANYTHING. I don't lurk there, I'm not a closet Merlin fan, I have no investment in telling you to read this fic. We are two roads diverged in a yellow wood, the Merlin fandom and I. I am the East and it is the West and never the twain shall meet, etc.

But this story, you guys, is just--I mean, aside from the obvious meta inherent in a fanfic about fandom, which others have talked about with far more intelligence and poise than I ever could--this is just straight up good storytelling. It's engaging on every level, the characters are sharp and believable and awkward and gorgeously rendered, and the whole thing is just a joy, an absolute joy to read. And I say that with no base knowledge of the canon--I say that because you guys should give it a try, regardless of your fandom proclivities. I would buy this as original fiction, and I do mean buy it, with money, like an adult. I would buy it with pride.

OKAY, I THINK I'VE PUT OFF WRITING HET PORN FOR LONG ENOUGH NOW. And, because I do feel guilty about the lack of Inception in this post, here is something you'd have to be soulless not to enjoy: