The Exorcist 2x08, "A Heaven of Hell"
Dec. 1st, 2017 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI'm going to talk about the sexuality stuff first, because there's no point in even pretending it wasn't my main focus when watching this episode. It wasn't as bad as it might have been, but not very good, either, in my opinion. We get Marcus rejecting Peter, and meanwhile Mouse is shown as being the great lost love of his life, the one he might even have left the priesthood for. Or, in other words, bisexual man is attracted to another man, but his real true emotional connection is with a woman. In other other words, exactly the dynamic that infuriated me on Torchwood, and about which I am still 200% bitter. Also a distressingly common dynamic in other stories featuring bisexual male characters.
We did at least get an acknowledgement that Marcus feels something for Peter, but that was it.
Besides that, and I honestly don't know if this is just me reading in because I don't like het and I resent a het relationship being made so central to Marcus's backstory, I found his past interactions with Mouse pretty damn skeevy. He's patronizing to her, and sexual in a way that I can't disentangle from him being older/more experienced/more powerful and that therefore has a creeper vibe. (The awful wig that made him look like every dudebro scumbag who's ever pretended to be a feminist DID NOT HELP.) In all those flashback scenes Marcus came across as an utter shit, somehow, and even beyond the het thing, this is not the backstory I wanted for him. This is not a backstory I think makes sense for him, even. He's a flawed man, but he's not a creepy or callous or abusive one.
Attempts to make the relationship look romantic and mutual felt forced. Ben Daniels has had better chemistry with almost everyone he's ever shared screentime with on the show. And not only men--he's had a great friendly, bantery, very mildly flirty vibe with a couple of women characters (though it was a vibe I honestly had no clue I was supposed to see as sexual until I started seeing it cited as "proof" of him not being gay). Part of the problem, I think, is just that because it's all in a quick flashback, we don't see any affection develop between them; we're just meant to accept that a priest trying to seduce (maybe? his intentions and feelings towards her are not at all clear, which adds to the discomfort) a young postulant nun is a romantic/tragic situation. The whole thing felt like Designated Love Interest Syndrome, with added ickiness. (I could feel a little bit sorry for the showrunners, who had no way to predict that this episode would be airing in the midst of a massive sexual harassment scandal. On the other hand, I also think the writing of all of Mouse's scenes, including the ones Marcus isn't in--I'm thinking especially of the scene with the priest when she wakes up--is clunky and heavy-handed. I don't think the showrunners know what to do with Mouse as a character, or even how to make her a rounded character, which adds to my suspicion that she was introduced purely to be a het love interest for Marcus. This reduces my inclination to pity anybody's wasted artistry.) (And as for Designated Love Interest Syndrome, to some extent it affects Peter/Marcus as well; their chemistry is better than Mouse/Marcus, but it still feels a bit forced.)
Please, please, please, PLEASE, show, don't make Marcus/Mouse into an ongoing present-tense thing. Let them decide it was all a fantasy that has no relevance to their lives now, and go their separate ways without any repining. Please do not fuck up the incredible Marcus-and-Tomas dynamic by trying to stick a third person into it.
To quickly touch on some other aspects of the episode: Verity continues to be awesome; I am exceedingly worried for Tomas and also touched that the thing he wants most in the world, apparently, is for Marcus to be proud of him; I think Marcus is eventually going to have to exorcise Tomas--probably next season after a cliffhanger, and let's hope there is a next season--and it's going to be traumatic for him; and Father Bennett had better not die, damn it.
We did at least get an acknowledgement that Marcus feels something for Peter, but that was it.
Besides that, and I honestly don't know if this is just me reading in because I don't like het and I resent a het relationship being made so central to Marcus's backstory, I found his past interactions with Mouse pretty damn skeevy. He's patronizing to her, and sexual in a way that I can't disentangle from him being older/more experienced/more powerful and that therefore has a creeper vibe. (The awful wig that made him look like every dudebro scumbag who's ever pretended to be a feminist DID NOT HELP.) In all those flashback scenes Marcus came across as an utter shit, somehow, and even beyond the het thing, this is not the backstory I wanted for him. This is not a backstory I think makes sense for him, even. He's a flawed man, but he's not a creepy or callous or abusive one.
Attempts to make the relationship look romantic and mutual felt forced. Ben Daniels has had better chemistry with almost everyone he's ever shared screentime with on the show. And not only men--he's had a great friendly, bantery, very mildly flirty vibe with a couple of women characters (though it was a vibe I honestly had no clue I was supposed to see as sexual until I started seeing it cited as "proof" of him not being gay). Part of the problem, I think, is just that because it's all in a quick flashback, we don't see any affection develop between them; we're just meant to accept that a priest trying to seduce (maybe? his intentions and feelings towards her are not at all clear, which adds to the discomfort) a young postulant nun is a romantic/tragic situation. The whole thing felt like Designated Love Interest Syndrome, with added ickiness. (I could feel a little bit sorry for the showrunners, who had no way to predict that this episode would be airing in the midst of a massive sexual harassment scandal. On the other hand, I also think the writing of all of Mouse's scenes, including the ones Marcus isn't in--I'm thinking especially of the scene with the priest when she wakes up--is clunky and heavy-handed. I don't think the showrunners know what to do with Mouse as a character, or even how to make her a rounded character, which adds to my suspicion that she was introduced purely to be a het love interest for Marcus. This reduces my inclination to pity anybody's wasted artistry.) (And as for Designated Love Interest Syndrome, to some extent it affects Peter/Marcus as well; their chemistry is better than Mouse/Marcus, but it still feels a bit forced.)
Please, please, please, PLEASE, show, don't make Marcus/Mouse into an ongoing present-tense thing. Let them decide it was all a fantasy that has no relevance to their lives now, and go their separate ways without any repining. Please do not fuck up the incredible Marcus-and-Tomas dynamic by trying to stick a third person into it.
To quickly touch on some other aspects of the episode: Verity continues to be awesome; I am exceedingly worried for Tomas and also touched that the thing he wants most in the world, apparently, is for Marcus to be proud of him; I think Marcus is eventually going to have to exorcise Tomas--probably next season after a cliffhanger, and let's hope there is a next season--and it's going to be traumatic for him; and Father Bennett had better not die, damn it.
