![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereThis is, as promised, thinking aloud about my WIP (Written on the Mirror or Mirror from here out). Lots and lots of detail and some degree of uncertainty below the cut.
So I have reached part four of twenty, and this portion is where two specific subplots get underway regarding Theo, Jeremiah and their roles as parents. So if I'm getting it wrong, going out of character, making stereotypical storytelling decisions or other errors, this is the best place to figure it out and try to course correct. So I'm gonna lay out what I've got and my reasoning for it.
Since children on Jeremiah operate particularly as symbols of hope and carry a frequent narrative weight (ran a quick mental count and there are twelve episodes of thirty five that deal in some way with young or unborn children, which feels way above the television average) there was no way I was skipping these plot threads. I simply want to handle them to the best of my ability.
There is a third main parental character, that being Smith, but the plot I have for him vis a vis Rose is a different beast entirely because Smith is used to his role and appears quite good at it in canon. Jeremiah and Theo are both completely new to it and therefore likely to struggle.
Narratively, Theo drew the short straw as without a time skip there is no second character brought into play here, and yet I still have to try depicting how motherhood changes her (I headcanoned her having a son in a story I've never been entirely satisfied with, but it functions as prologue to this, so will refer to him as Leo from now on).
In her final appearance on the show itself, Theo was uncertain she would have anything to offer her child. She seemed to regain her confidence by the end of the episode, but I never accepted that as the end of her story. I always viewed Theo as starting a long process, not finishing a short one. I don't know if this is a justified interpretation or is some sort of bias on my part - Theo lacking traditional maternal qualities, therefore she struggles with caring for an infant and eventually abandons him (for a short time) to what she sees as more qualified caregivers.
Meanwhile, in 'Mother of Invention' Jeremiah reunited with Michelle (a favorite one shot character of mine) and she refused to confirm whether her son Gabe was also his. Jeremiah seemed willing to step up, but between his need to find Valhalla Sector and Michelle's trust issues, that particular door was slammed in his face. I don't think it any coincidence that in the very next episode after being symbolically told he had no future, his nightmares about his father and obsession with his past went into overdrive. So addressing this and getting them to the point of amicable exes was always on my to do list.
Here on is all my rough draft speculations...
So, Written on the Mirror begins right after the final credits and the status quo for both of these subplots does not begin to alter until part four. Michelle pays a visit to Thunder Mountain (which mostly serves to signal that she will be a recurring character). Meanwhile, Theo is visiting Millhaven and when the detente at Four Roads begins to deteriorate she packs for the Mountain at once, putting her son's safety ahead of her own and making her feel like she can't be Theo and a mother both, and has to betray one to be the other. For the next several installments, she picks Leo and struggles internally with it.
In part six, Michelle visits Jeremiah and he makes his case to her. While I interpret Gabe as his actual son, Michelle never confirms this to Jeremiah and he never presses, because it's essentially a leap of faith for him. It's chosen family, and of course a reaction against his own father. "If he's my son, I have to try, I have to be there for him - I don't want him writing letters someday asking why I didn't give a shit." Also, while he makes his case to her, she's the one who comes to see him in the first place. Jeremiah is not creating a new obsession here, and being low key about it is how I'm trying to portray this as a healthy step forward for him.
In part nine, Michelle lets her son stay with Jeremiah for a couple of days and they get to bond. Then Jeremiah is given a choice between staying in Alliance territory as his life comes together or going east in the grip of obsession - and he picks the latter, like he always does.
Meanwhile, Theo is given a very similar choice between emotional support of Erin (who desperately needs it by this point in her story) or working with Markus to take rogue elements in the council to task, and she picks revenge, beginning to reject anything which makes her feel vulnerable. It doesn't cause any lasting damage to her friendship with Erin but at the close of part thirteen the other shoe drops and she finds out her son is most likely going to be some kind of child prodigy. This confirms her worst fear from 'Rite of Passage' that she has nothing to offer except herself - and she's not good enough. So in part fourteen she takes Leo to Sister Hannah's orphan school and signs up for the Alliance mission east (where the plot connects with what Jeremiah's up to).
I have no real sense for how anyone else would react to her decision, given that on the one hand it's not exactly uncommon in that world, and on the other that parental abandonment is a massive trauma to them all. Jeremiah being by this point on what he's certain is a one way trip, would have enough guilt over his own son so he would argue against her actions (despite and because of doing the same thing), although I would want this to feel more like sharing his perspective rather than him solving her problem.
End result would be in part fifteen, Theo would finally synthesize the different aspects of herself, returning to her boy and taking back Clarefield. Jeremiah would continue falling off the wagon in a major way until he's eventually able to resolve his own emotional conflicts and come home.
Side problem here: I have zero in-universe justification for Theo not taking Clarefield back when she's got Alliance support, personal motive and Rasmussen is a thug. Basically, I put it off because if she's in Clarefield, she's in Clarefield and her plot ceases to intersect with anyone else's. I realize this is not a great reason and still have no actual solution for this.
And that's pretty much all I've got on these two connected subplots right now. Just typing all this out has been helpful in processing and tightening up the narrative I've got. So, progress...
So I have reached part four of twenty, and this portion is where two specific subplots get underway regarding Theo, Jeremiah and their roles as parents. So if I'm getting it wrong, going out of character, making stereotypical storytelling decisions or other errors, this is the best place to figure it out and try to course correct. So I'm gonna lay out what I've got and my reasoning for it.
Since children on Jeremiah operate particularly as symbols of hope and carry a frequent narrative weight (ran a quick mental count and there are twelve episodes of thirty five that deal in some way with young or unborn children, which feels way above the television average) there was no way I was skipping these plot threads. I simply want to handle them to the best of my ability.
There is a third main parental character, that being Smith, but the plot I have for him vis a vis Rose is a different beast entirely because Smith is used to his role and appears quite good at it in canon. Jeremiah and Theo are both completely new to it and therefore likely to struggle.
Narratively, Theo drew the short straw as without a time skip there is no second character brought into play here, and yet I still have to try depicting how motherhood changes her (I headcanoned her having a son in a story I've never been entirely satisfied with, but it functions as prologue to this, so will refer to him as Leo from now on).
In her final appearance on the show itself, Theo was uncertain she would have anything to offer her child. She seemed to regain her confidence by the end of the episode, but I never accepted that as the end of her story. I always viewed Theo as starting a long process, not finishing a short one. I don't know if this is a justified interpretation or is some sort of bias on my part - Theo lacking traditional maternal qualities, therefore she struggles with caring for an infant and eventually abandons him (for a short time) to what she sees as more qualified caregivers.
Meanwhile, in 'Mother of Invention' Jeremiah reunited with Michelle (a favorite one shot character of mine) and she refused to confirm whether her son Gabe was also his. Jeremiah seemed willing to step up, but between his need to find Valhalla Sector and Michelle's trust issues, that particular door was slammed in his face. I don't think it any coincidence that in the very next episode after being symbolically told he had no future, his nightmares about his father and obsession with his past went into overdrive. So addressing this and getting them to the point of amicable exes was always on my to do list.
Here on is all my rough draft speculations...
So, Written on the Mirror begins right after the final credits and the status quo for both of these subplots does not begin to alter until part four. Michelle pays a visit to Thunder Mountain (which mostly serves to signal that she will be a recurring character). Meanwhile, Theo is visiting Millhaven and when the detente at Four Roads begins to deteriorate she packs for the Mountain at once, putting her son's safety ahead of her own and making her feel like she can't be Theo and a mother both, and has to betray one to be the other. For the next several installments, she picks Leo and struggles internally with it.
In part six, Michelle visits Jeremiah and he makes his case to her. While I interpret Gabe as his actual son, Michelle never confirms this to Jeremiah and he never presses, because it's essentially a leap of faith for him. It's chosen family, and of course a reaction against his own father. "If he's my son, I have to try, I have to be there for him - I don't want him writing letters someday asking why I didn't give a shit." Also, while he makes his case to her, she's the one who comes to see him in the first place. Jeremiah is not creating a new obsession here, and being low key about it is how I'm trying to portray this as a healthy step forward for him.
In part nine, Michelle lets her son stay with Jeremiah for a couple of days and they get to bond. Then Jeremiah is given a choice between staying in Alliance territory as his life comes together or going east in the grip of obsession - and he picks the latter, like he always does.
Meanwhile, Theo is given a very similar choice between emotional support of Erin (who desperately needs it by this point in her story) or working with Markus to take rogue elements in the council to task, and she picks revenge, beginning to reject anything which makes her feel vulnerable. It doesn't cause any lasting damage to her friendship with Erin but at the close of part thirteen the other shoe drops and she finds out her son is most likely going to be some kind of child prodigy. This confirms her worst fear from 'Rite of Passage' that she has nothing to offer except herself - and she's not good enough. So in part fourteen she takes Leo to Sister Hannah's orphan school and signs up for the Alliance mission east (where the plot connects with what Jeremiah's up to).
I have no real sense for how anyone else would react to her decision, given that on the one hand it's not exactly uncommon in that world, and on the other that parental abandonment is a massive trauma to them all. Jeremiah being by this point on what he's certain is a one way trip, would have enough guilt over his own son so he would argue against her actions (despite and because of doing the same thing), although I would want this to feel more like sharing his perspective rather than him solving her problem.
End result would be in part fifteen, Theo would finally synthesize the different aspects of herself, returning to her boy and taking back Clarefield. Jeremiah would continue falling off the wagon in a major way until he's eventually able to resolve his own emotional conflicts and come home.
Side problem here: I have zero in-universe justification for Theo not taking Clarefield back when she's got Alliance support, personal motive and Rasmussen is a thug. Basically, I put it off because if she's in Clarefield, she's in Clarefield and her plot ceases to intersect with anyone else's. I realize this is not a great reason and still have no actual solution for this.
And that's pretty much all I've got on these two connected subplots right now. Just typing all this out has been helpful in processing and tightening up the narrative I've got. So, progress...
no subject
Date: 2023-05-21 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-22 12:28 am (UTC)This also means I don't have to write Rasmussen, which is a huge bonus for me. And since I had Markus refer to regimes like Rasmussen's as being inherently unstable in Vantage Point, this even has some accidental foreshadowing behind it. Theo feeling like she's lost her town twice over would fit the story so well. I spent today beaming over how happy your idea makes me. Thank you so much!
no subject
Date: 2023-05-21 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-22 02:34 am (UTC)Kurdy was left the least in the lurch, emotionally speaking, at the end of the show. He had a whole season to grieve for Elizabeth and begin to heal and unlike Markus, who buried his grief and barely ever spoke of it, we were able to see a lot of that process. For continuing it, my main thought is that Crystal's continued flirting would lead him to realize that he's not ready to move on and that this is okay. He's probably in the best place emotionally of any of the core group and thus has the most reliable perceptions.
Therefore he spends a lot of time struggling with the fact that his two closest friends are both falling apart - Smith via one hell of an existential crisis and Jeremiah thanks to the abject failure of his mission to kill Sims. He also struggles with his role as general - his inherent desire for peace means he's never truly comfortable with the role (like Jeremiah is never comfortable running Millhaven). And as Jeremiah starts into self-destructive impulses, I feel like Kurdy's desire to protect him by pulling rank would increase, as would his fear that doing so would only drive Jeremiah away.
He's also the instigator of the trip east, so seeing the damaging effect that has on Jeremiah would be another source of angst. Once they accomplish their original goal, the goalposts shift constantly afterward and as Jeremiah makes excuse after excuse not to head back, Kurdy finally concludes that he can no longer reach him and returns to the Alliance in part sixteen. Whereupon he goes to Clarefield to visit Elizabeth's grave, which a reinstated Theo will have had cleaned up. She finds him there and proceeds to spell out the deeply obvious, so he goes back east to finally fetch Jeremiah home.
Of course, no one can actually save Jeremiah from himself, but Kurdy facilitates the moment where Jeremiah is finally able to internalize what Kurdy tried to tell him in the truck after Libby's death, at which point Jeremiah is finally able to let go of his obsession and walk away.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-22 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-23 03:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-24 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-24 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-26 06:17 pm (UTC)