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harryandmolly · 5 years

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The Emancipation of Ginny ~ 1

summary: shawn and ginny could’ve ruined everything six months ago, and sticking together despite their past could make or break them now as ginny stays on as his personal assistant. but what happens on tour doesn’t stay on tour.

warnings: Language, dental health vs. mental health, Longing (TM)

WC: 4.6k

“Shawn, gum.”

He shuffles over sheepishly and spits his sugar free Dentyne Ice into the garbage can with a metallic ping. He makes a face at her and turns away.

The morning doesn’t look much like morning. It’s so absolutely dark at 3:30am as they huddle in the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge. There isn’t a single soul in there that doesn’t work for Andrew Gertler, so the team, a.k.a. Andrew himself, Shawn, Cez, Josiah, Brian, Jake and Ginny, are spread out over every available surface. Most of their cast of misfits is asleep. Andrew checks email on his phone, Jake is fighting a cold and snorts into a tissue every few minutes. Shawn and Ginny are the only others conscious.

The only reason they too haven’t passed out before their 5am flight to London is because Shawn has a call-in interview with a radio show in Paris. When they’re in full single promo mode like this, these kinds of squeezed operations are not uncommon. Ginny has to stay on the ball.

Maybe she’s nitpicky, but she just winces at the idea of some snotty Parisian gossip blog making comments about the tacky Canadian kid smacking his gum on air. It would get to Twitter, then Insta, then Tumblr, then god knows where else and she’d really rather just… not.

Shawn’s crisp, clear voice cuts through her fog as he tries to gamely repeat phrases in French (“vous les vous couchez… hey, don’t try to trick me, I know that one!”) for his beloved French listeners. Even at this ungodly hour, he can put on the charm when he needs to. And he rarely complains.

Ginny sighs, tipping her head onto her fist as her elbow props her up on the skinny arm of a terminal seat. She blinks slowly, listening to him laugh and try to pronounce French names as the fog takes her back.

Shawn and Andrew have fought time and circumstance for a week to sit down and have whatever this talk is about to be. Shawn leans forward in the armchair, sitting on his hands and bouncing his knees as Andrew wraps up his phone call. Before his thumb hits the “end call” button, Shawn is on him.

“So what’s up?” he chirps.

Andrew chuckles, exhausted. “Sorry, man. It’s been crazy.”

Shawn nods eagerly for him to proceed. Andrew eases into the chair across from him and rubs his stubbled chin. He smiles wearily, a man exhausted.

“I need some help, dude.”

Shawn’s gut lurches. Andrew’s never asked for his help before. Andrew doesn’t seem to need much of anyone’s help, the way Shawn sees it. Andrew’s his own personal superhero. Shawn’s eyes widen and he nods for him to continue.

“I mean, you’ve seen us lately. We haven’t had 45 seconds to catch up and get our heads on straight since before we started recording. Our world is changing. I think we have to expand to keep up.”

Shawn narrows his eyes and bobs his head again.

“I think we should bring on an assistant. A right hand for you to help you with all the stuff you don’t really need me for, you just need someone. Someone to help keep the schedule going, help with travel, deal with your personal stuff. Someone young who I can lean on too, and help train. Someone interested in artist management who I can help groom from the start of a career.”

Shawn shifts in his seat and sighs. It’s not that he doesn’t want to help Andrew. It’s not even that he doesn’t think he needs a PA -- he accepts that he probably does. He just… the chemistry of the team is so good. He gets hesitant about adding new ingredients. He’s grown so very attached to his people and how they all work together.

He’s about to voice this concern when he looks up at Andrew, his partner, the guy who reached down and hauled him up from Vine and YouTube and gave him the best chance he’s ever had. Andrew, wizened and worn to the bone, though he wears it well. Shawn’s heart swells.

“Of course, yeah, dude.”

“Ok,” Andrew sighs, shifting his glasses against the bridge of his nose, “Security says there are about 40 girls outside.”

Ginny doesn’t have to look to see (or hear) Jake wince. Her nose twitches in response, displacing the little gold hoop in her septum. Shawn just nods like a quarterback taking direction from his coach.

“So, they’re gonna lend us a hand to get us out to the cars. I’ve got Shawn, Ginny and Jake. Cez, Josiah, Brian in car two. You’re heading for the hotel.”

“The party car,” Cez chuckles, raising his eyebrows at his travel buddies. Brian and Josiah agree with a laugh and start hauling their bags over their shoulders in preparation to sift through the crowd.

“Hey, what time is it?” Shawn murmurs from just above Ginny’s head. She’s sifting through texts from Tiffany about scheduling Shawn’s next fitting. She cracks a smile.

“You don’t have time, mate,” she answers softly, reading his mind.

Shawn wrinkles his nose. “Just to say hi. Take a group selfie?”

“Might be late as it is,” she grunts under the weight of the backpack she’s overstuffed. Shawn helps her with the other strap and adjusts it against her back with a tap.

“Ok,” he says. It’s a little despondent with a candy coating. Ginny knows the voice well.

“But we’re gonna have time after Grimmy to say hi to the fans outside the Beeb,” she adds as they begin stalking off down the corridor toward the hulking men in black jackets waiting to escort them out to arrivals’ ground transport.

That seems to perk Shawn up. She snickers at his change in demeanor and flicks at a curl over his forehead. He wriggles his fingers by her face, widening his eyes as he slowly reaches for her hair. She smacks his hand away with a gasp.

“You wouldn’t,” she gripes, drowned out by the resounding shrieks of some very happy British girls as the automatic doors slide open. Shawn wiggles his eyebrows and smirks at her for a moment before he converts it to a billion-dollar rockstar grin and a double-handed toddler wave.

Ginny keeps her head down. It’s easier this way. In the beginning, she thought engaging with the fans would be fun, and Andrew encouraged it at first, thought it would be a good way for her to feel welcomed into the team, but things got out of hand quickly. As the only female on Shawn’s travel team, interest heightened to a level that none of them could handle. After Ginny’s personal Instagram was hacked for the third time, they sat down and had a meeting about her pulling back and becoming a face in the crowd. It was the right thing for everyone. Plus, she’s always really hated the flashes of the paps. If she isn’t expected to be photographed, she slides away from them more easily.

Andrew gets into the passenger side of the first blacked out Range Rover. Shawn and Ginny climb into the back after Shawn throws out a few more waves and “THANK YOU!”s.

With his gaze down at his phone as he thumbs through Twitter, Shawn mumbles, “I don’t know what the fuck they were saying, but this is definitely the fun car.”

Ginny’s lips twitch. Shawn looks over. She giggles. He giggles back. Andrew smiles down at his phone.

Ginny stares with her top lip squeezed under her teeth. She forces her dry, cracked hands between her knees and blinks quickly.

“You know I’m sorry, Gin,” Hannah moans, sitting forward to plant her tiny dark hands on Ginny’s legs, urging her to look up at her.

“No, I know, listen, it’s fine. It was going to happen sometime,” Ginny reasons politely over the smashing of her heart against her ribs.

“But listen, this is better for you!” Hannah hisses, shaking Ginny like she does when she’s trying to get something through her thick head, “If you’d stayed with me forever, you’d never have grown, never have learned anything new. This way, you’ll have direct artist management experience. And Shawn Mendes is one of the biggest acts on the planet. This is invaluable.”

Ginny hears it all, and she knows Hannah is right. But it doesn’t make being fired by your best friend any easier.

Ginny Dresden and Hannah Dyer have been best friends since primary school when they were sat next to each other because they were the only two little girls of color in their class at the tiny posh school in Bedford Park. In the back of their classroom, they colored each other’s hands purple and planted them on construction paper, giggling when they realized even though Hannah’s skin was much darker, they made the same color handprint.

As children, they sang in choir after school until it was no longer cool and then they sang in Hannah’s basement and recorded each other for when they became famous someday.

Now, Ginny waits for the day those tapes will become useful. Because Hannah isn’t just famous, she’s practically iconic.

Hannah, at exactly the right place and the right time, was discovered singing (though underage) at a bar in Fulham and within a few months was signed to a contract with Sony. As her star rose, she took Ginny with her in the hopes that her oldest and dearest friend could explore the world with her and find where she belonged. So she put Ginny on the payroll and off they went.

For four years, they took the world by storm. Ginny was a regular star of Hannah’s Snapchats -- “I’m building your brand,” Hannah would tell her. Ginny was happy to be along for the ride and took an interest in artist management as she saw Hannah cycle through a few different ones, the good, the bad, the ugly.

And then came Marcus. Marcus is the keyboard player of a group called “Bend Daylight” that played the festival circuit with them two years ago. From that first day of Pukkelpop, Ginny knew, even if Hannah didn’t. Marcus was the one.

Hannah and Marcus were married last summer. Four months ago, Hannah announced her pregnancy. And it’s not like Ginny didn’t expect things to change, to slow down. She just didn’t expect to be let go completely. But Hannah wasn’t about to throw her out into the world empty handed. She had set up a gig for Gin through a friend of her manager’s who knew Andrew Gertler from Shawn Mendes’s team. Andrew wanted an experienced PA who was looking to be educated out of her position into artist management. It’s the perfect fit.

Ginny agrees to a meeting. Her hesitance is clear by the furrow in her brow. Hannah reaches across the coffee table and over her swelling belly to plant a kiss between her best friend’s eyes with a wet smack.

“... and you love it here in London, don’t you, Shawn?” spouts Nick Grimshaw in that brilliant Mancunian accent that always makes Ginny feel at home wherever she is in the world. As she sits in a seat against the wall watching Shawn and Grimmy volley banter back and forth live on BBC Radio 1, she feels Shawn’s eyes. She lifts her head from her notebook and smiles warmly.

“Yeah, yeah I do, I really love it. I’ve thought about getting a place out here, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” quips Grimmy, leaning into the mic that he’s gripping with his bony fingers, “Where would you look?”

“Ahhh, I dunno,” Shawn begins, again looking to Ginny, who raises her eyebrows and shrugs as if to say, ‘you’re on your own, pal.’ Grimmy picks up on the gesture.

“Does Ginny have a say in this?” Grimmy laughs, his grin wide and toothy. Ginny shuts her notebook and sits up, shaking her head.

“Ginny, my assistant, she’s from Bedford Park in West London,” Shawn explains proudly, a smile in his voice, “So her vote would be somewhere over there, I’d guess.” He glances to Ginny for confirmation.

Ginny rises from her chair and steps toward the mic Grimmy is waving her toward. A producer hands her headphones. Ginny props her hands on the desk and leans down toward the mic, eyeing Shawn.

“I’d want you to get a posh bachelor pad in Mayfair for us to rage at, actually,” Ginny jokes, winking at Grimmy. Shawn rolls his eyes as Grimmy cheers, “way-hays,” and chants “lads, lads, lads!” Ginny joins him.

“Yeah, definitely my style,” Shawn snarks, lifting his chin at Ginny, who shrugs and settles back in her seat.

“Nice that your team knows their way around, though,” Grimmy concedes with a final smile toward Ginny before he gets back down to business.

“So, this new single…”

As things work out, ever so bizarrely, as is the norm in the Mendes camp, Shawn and Ginny’s first meeting is for a flight from Toronto to New York. By themselves. It’s circumstantial -- Andrew left earlier for New York for a few meetings and Shawn stayed behind in Toronto for his dad’s birthday. Jake, Josiah and the rest of the squad are absent for various reasons, so it’s just… Shawn and Ginny.

“How do I know what she looks like?” Shawn mutters to Andrew on the phone, knowing Andrew won’t judge him for his anxiety over this, as his car pulls up to departures.

“She’s tall. Like, really tall. Just… oh, hey Mike, can you wait up for a second? Hey… yeah, hi, sorry Shawn, just look for a tall, beautiful black woman with a septum piercing. I gotta go. Safe flight. Call me when you land.”

He hangs up before Shawn can say anything else.

Shawn’s gotten over his hangups about bringing on a new team member. He’s had a phone interview with her to make sure he didn’t hear anything crazy in her voice. And he trusts Andrew’s judgment the way he trusts that of his parents. All that remains now is the awkwardness of meeting someone new that’s meant to wait on you day in and day out as their profession. And she’s a tall, beautiful black woman? Why couldn’t they have hired a dude? A scruffy, old dude who Shawn didn’t have to worry about growing close to?

Andrew said she’d be waiting by the Air Canada check-in counters. When Shawn walks through the doors to the airport flanked by a couple security guys in lieu of Jake, he sees one person pacing back and forth in front of the counters on the phone, rolling a sleek red hard-covered suitcase that was absolutely silent as she tugged it around.

It seems almost everything about her Andrew had mentioned was an understatement. She’s tall. Yeah, she’s fuckin’ tall. She’s at least 5’11” but the height of her hair adds at least a few more inches. Shawn doesn’t often interact with women as tall as he is. So that’s new.

And beautiful. Yeah. Also probably undersold her a little.

She’s lithe and thin in that yoga-doing way. She’s wearing leggings that crop at her ankles and show off a truly stunning pair of legs, paired with a plain white t-shirt and a worn old jean jacket, the kind that even the most hipster store couldn’t replicate the cool of. Her hair is a bouncing, living whirl of tight, pencil thin curls that don’t have an ounce of frizz, somehow. She’s got a pair of aviators tucked up in there behind her ears. She doesn’t look to be wearing any makeup beyond a striking red lip color that makes Shawn lick his. Her face is angular but warm with a sweet little nose and a little dip in the center of her chin that reminds him of his own. Her eyes are a dark, clear brown and look like the kind of eyes that reflect every thought in her beautiful head.

Shawn’s chest deflates. He pastes on a friendly smile and tries not to imagine how complicated this could get.

“Shawn, gum!” Ginny calls from the back of the group of troops heading out from the Radio 1 building to greet the fans waiting outside.

Shawn raises a swallow-emblazoned hand and waves it at her as a thank you. She watches as he darts out from the pack to spit his gum into a bin and fall back in line. Ginny hears when they come into view of the crowd because it starts with a collective gasping of teenage breath and becomes a steadier, louder wail that Ginny knows well by now.

Jake looks to Ginny for a nod. She gives it. He shadows Shawn as he strolls over to meet and greet them, taking selfies, doling out hugs, signing and signing until he looks down at his pen with a frown. Before Jake can even look back to Ginny, she’s got a fresh Sharpie at the ready and hands it off to Jake, who hands it to Shawn. The minor interruption is noticed only by Andrew, who grins at the efficiency and shakes his head.

Thank god for Ginny Dresden. He thinks it to himself at least once a day now.

The crowd is only barely dissipating as it becomes time to wrap up. Ginny glances down at her watch and back up at Jake for the nod. Jake nods back and leans into Shawn for the heads up. Shawn does his bowing and praying hands as he backs away from the reaching, grabbing hands. Cameras flash. Ginny ducks her head. They pack themselves into the Rover for the next stop, a dinner at the Connaught Bar with some Island Records people who want to celebrate the new single, “Against the Noise.”

Shawn drops into the seat next to hers with a heaving sigh. She fights her instinct to dip her head onto his shoulder and snuggle into him. Instead, she smiles gently.

“You good?” she hums.

Shawn blinks over at her sleepily. He nods, “‘m good.”

What do I even say? Ginny wonders, trying not to look up at him from her Spotify, but he’s got one of those faces that’s hard to look away from. She knew, obviously, that he was criminally good looking, but Hannah neglected to warn her how overwhelming he is in person. She wants to put her nose right up against his jaw just to feel how sharp it is. What a weird instinct. She blinks hard to rid herself of the notion.

They’re in business class. He’s got his recliner out and is drumming his fingers against his thigh that Ginny’s also trying not to look at because his black jeans look like they’ve been painted the fuck on and his quads are magnificent and she would know because she’s got a very fine pair herself from yoga and pilates.

They’ve been in the air for 20 minutes. The fasten seatbelt sign just went off. Shawn has free WiFi because he probably has enough Air Canada miles to, well, buy Air Canada so he’s looking through his phone. He generously shared his code with her but it got lost somewhere between his big hazel-ish eyes and soft pouty lips and Ginny’s ears. She was too shy to ask for it again, so she pulled out her book instead.

She didn’t have to do this last time, the bonding thing. She and Hannah had been so bonded they were practically attached. But Shawn is essentially her new boss, though she’s technically employed by AG Artists, and she needs to make a good impression.

She’s studying a pathetic mental list of small talk starters that really should be longer given the British peoples’ propensity for chat when Shawn pipes up out of nowhere.

“Hey, where did you get that suitcase from? The red one?”

She looks up from her tragic cuticles and sees him looking at her curiously. Did his eyes get bigger? Warmer? Sweeter? Fuck.

“It’s a Victorinox,” she spits out, “It’s a great case. Super durable. And light. And the wheels are--”

“They’re like, silent,” Shawn interrupts, his voice hushed like he’s talking about magic.

Ginny smiles slowly and a giggle rises up from deep in her chest. And Shawn thinks maybe that really is magic.

Ginny likes the idea of the guerilla bookstore acoustic set better than the reality of it.

The planning was a headache. She and Andrew have been on the phone for a month planning it with the label -- which bookstore would get the honor? Exactly when? What would security be like? Would they drop hints? Would they do a treasure hunt? Would Ginny like to design and manage to execute the treasure hunt from a continent away? Please and thank you.

But Shawn’s excited. So she’s excited.

They crawl out of the Range Rover and traipse over slick pavement into the back entrance of the Waterstones in Piccadilly. Ginny picked it for practical reasons -- they agreed to the contract with the label, their chain could handle the security, it was a central location.

But Ginny’s grandmother used to take her here as a little girl and pick out books every third Sunday of each month like clockwork. She told Shawn this in a hushed voice beside a flickering candle at a business dinner in Century City a few weeks ago as he smiled and gushed over what a great idea it was, how sweet that she planned it to be there.

“It’s always nice to be home with you, Gin.”

Shawn runs the pad of his thumb along the sleek cut of her jaw. He doesn’t worry like he used to about getting her lipstick all over him. He’s living proof that it really is very long wearing. Instead he focuses on drawing out that sweet little noise from the back of her throat that he’s obsessed with.

Ah, god, there it is. It’s so perfect.

Just as soon as he gets it out of her, she pulls away. He grunts and chases her down, pinning his lips to her cheekbone. His fingers trail the seam of her jeans on the outside of her hip while he listens to her pant.

“We’re telling Andrew today. Or it’s done.”

Shawn swallows and he worries for a second his tongue will go down with it. He backs off her cheek and licks his lips with a firm nod.

“Yeah. Yeah, ok.”

It’s Ginny that spearheads the sit down. Andrew doesn’t even look surprised when Shawn reaches over for her hand mid-shaky explanation that they’ve been working together six months now, and they know maybe it’s unconventional, maybe it seems like a bad idea, but this is how they feel and they want to pursue it.

Ginny, to her credit, is not a shrinking violet about it. Her jaw is set, but her eyes are as warm and welcoming as ever. Andrew slumps into his chair and removes his glasses to rub his face.

“Guys…” he groans through his hands, “The thing is, I can’t tell you no. And I can no sooner kick Ginny off the team. Both of those things will lead to immediate chaos. And… and Shawn will be miserable.”

Shawn lifts his eyes from Ginny’s blunted round fingernails.

“I am trusting you both to be adults. Please, god, please don’t make me regret it. If this runs its course, it cannot explode in our faces. We cannot afford that. So if you’re doing this, do it smart. What the fuck am I saying? You’re in love. There’s nothing smart about it. Just… try to minimize casualties.”

He stalks off with his phone. Shawn and Ginny hold each other’s limp fingers, dumbfounded.

Ginny glances over. Shawn meets her gaze. She lifts her eyebrows. He lifts the corner of his mouth.

“Ok.”

Shawn’s smile is glorious after he plays a set, any set for anyone. He could be in a field playing an acoustic for the three blind mice and he’d be beaming like he just got offstage at Madison Square Garden. It’s beautiful. And it’s addictive.

Ginny follows him closer than usual as they leave the bookstore. Her general rule is to trail around the back of Shawn’s entourage. Any time she was photographed within five feet of him, they’d hear about it. But tonight, after he played under an arch where she used to curl up with the Chronicles of Narnia and the Series of Unfortunate Events, it’s harder to stay away.

She indulges the whim and walks beside him through the hoard of paparazzi flashing their cameras and hollering “Shawn! Oi, Shawn!” for a glance from the wonderboy. He notices her presence and offers a subtle smile, a moment he hopes won’t be plastered across the front page of The Sun in the morning. Perhaps that’s naive. But he doesn’t actually care that much right now.

They climb into the car, finally on the way to the hotel. Shawn sits back and tilts his head against the headrest, watching the Thames go by.

Ginny shifts and slides something out of her back pocket. Shawn hears plastic and foil crackling.

“Shawn, gum?”

He turns to see her holding a packet of sugar free Dentyne Ice. He grins.

“Please,” he begs, voice shaky with unshed tears, “Please don’t leave. Please. I know it’s fucking unfair to ask. I hate myself a little. I really do. But, fuck, please, I can’t do it without you, Gin. Not because… because I’d forget to fuckin’ put on pants in the morning if you didn’t tell me to, but because you’re… Jesus Christ, you’re my best friend. I can’t lose you like this.”

The conversation the night before had been quick and so, so painful. It had to be, coming out of nowhere like that. Ginny was blindsided, having woken up naked under him in the morning with his lips on her ear only to shuffle off to her own hotel room for the first time in two months because he wanted to focus on his career and their relationship had become… too distracting.

She really can’t blame him for that, she supposes. Things had gotten pretty mad. They were obsessed with each other, refused to spend even a few hours away. It was easily negotiable, given that he was the artist and she was his personal assistant. But the energy around them for those two months, it was like an overstretched coil waiting to snap and send the whole team back to 14th century Verona for a full-on Romeo and Juliet scenario.

Snap it did. Ginny was packing quietly in a daze, ready to tell Andrew she was leaving, that she was sorry, but that he’d made the choice. Instead Shawn knocked on her door and she let him in like she always had.

Ginny’s dry cheeks sting with her tears. She sniffs and toes at the floor, locking her arms over her chest. “Don’t really want to leave, you know,” she murmurs, “This is a good opportunity for me. I’m learning a lot.”

“So don’t leave,” Shawn pleads, lurching forward. She adjusts, taking a step back. Shawn notices and shivers, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Don’t leave. Stay. I think we can do it. I honestly think we can. We were best friends first, remember?”

She remembers. She remembers being in love with her best friend until that first night in Germany where he kissed her under the table in the Hofbrauhaus and they didn’t turn back.

Until now.

I know Brits love tea but consider buying me a Ko-fi (link on my mainpage)!

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Outlander: Duncan Lacroix Reflects On Murtagh’s Season 5 Journey

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The following contains spoilers for Outlander season 5.

Rewatching Outlander season 5 on the newly released DVD & Blu-ray set will remind fans once again how hard it was to say goodbye to Murtagh this past season. It turns out it was just as hard for Murtagh actor Duncan Lacroix to say goodbye as well.

Murtagh in season 1 quickly became a fan favorite because of his position in the Fraser family. He was Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) godfather and sworn to protect his position as Laird. As Claire (Caitriona Balfe) adjusted to Highland life, Murtagh is also there to lend a helping hand. “I was extremely grateful as an actor, and I was aware that I was very grateful for the fans’ reaction to that character as well,” Lacroix says.

Outlander fans who read the novels know Murtagh originally dies during the Battle of Culloden at the end of season 2. The decision to keep Murtagh in the story was developed much earlier than fans would expect. Lacroix recalls “I was talking to a couple of producers and they said, ‘Well, we want to keep you alive because we want some sense of continuity rather than kill everyone off from the first couple of seasons and just have Claire and Jamie left.’”

Adding that thread of continuity on the show began with Lacroix filming Murtagh’s role in the battle. He recalled: “You literally could not see a thing so we’re just running blindly and your sense of distance just goes, so it’s just like, ‘Okay, any second now I’m going to come across someone,’ just out of the blue. Knees were flying into faces. People earned their money that day.” Jamie and Murtagh bonded through the shared trauma of Culloden but were then separated by the British transporting Highlander rebels to the American colonies.

Originally the writers planned for Murtagh to return in season 3 as part of the Jamaica storyline but those plans were scrapped in favor of his reappearance in season 4. “I would have liked, in an ideal world, to have explored what was happening to him in those intervening years once he was sent to North Carolina,” Lacroix says. “All the stuff you don’t see happen on screen, and how that affects him and how that makes the character you see that comes back in season four.”

Along with wishing to explore more of Murtagh’s journey towards becoming a Regulator, Lacroix also wanted the chance to work with departed cast member Tobias Menzies. “He’s a very interesting cat.” Lacroix says. “I would have liked to have had a few more scenes with him somehow. Especially as Black Jack, he brought such an incredible intensity to that role and he’s such a brave actor.”

Murtagh’s evolution into the leader of the Regulator rebellion in season 4 caused a stir for Outlander fans who read the series. Jamie’s conflict between Governor Tryon’s demands for a militia to fight the Regulators and his sympathies towards fellow Highland Scots was presented in a more abstract fashion. The decision to personalize the conflict not only gave Lacroix another chance to develop Murtagh as a character but also a chance to expand his own knowledge.

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“It’s a history that I was aware of before,” he says. “And I just had done British history in school, imperialism, and colonialism, but it was interesting to find the nitty-gritty detail because I hadn’t heard about The Regulators and that element of the American story before.” Murtagh becoming the face of the rebellion allowed first-time viewers a path towards understanding the world of Fraser’s Ridge.

Murtagh’s storyline was not just memorable due to the politics of the time, but also because of the added dimension of Murtagh’s relationship with Jocasta Cameron (Maria Doyle Kennedy). Fans not only appreciated the expansion of a beloved character but also how the relationship upended television and genre tropes. It is incredibly rare to see two characters “of a certain age” falling in love and having a physical relationship. Lacroix says of these scenes with Doyle Kennedy “I think the script was there for that, but there were things you just can’t account for…But there was professional chemistry there that just seemed to work magically.”

All of the relationship and political tension comes to a head during the season 5 episode “The Ballad of Roger Mac”. Murtagh’s Regulators face Governor Tryon’s troops in a battle they’re sure to lose. Despite repeated warnings from Jamie and Roger Mackenzie (Rik Rankin) that the government will squash the rebellion, Murtagh is resolved to stand up for the poor farmers.

The experience of filming Murtagh’s final battle was also a moment in contrast compared to Culloden. “There was a huge amount of energy in season two, it was so much more fun because we were just pelting around in our kilts, bumping into each other, demolishing, stumbling,” he says. “[Season five] was more laden with emotion. We were both aware it was the end of that character and it was going to be a special moment.”

As a result, the directing of the Battle of Alamance Creek scenes had a different feel. “Stephen [Woolfenden] is very good on knowing that at this stage of the game, the characters are so embedded in us, there’s not a lot of direction that needs to be done character-wise,” Lacroix says. “It was all about two stages staging, blocking it, and then just letting us go at it.”

Fans were moved to tears by Lacroix’s performance, as Murtagh was dying on Claire’s operating table. “I tried to show the physicality of what would happen if you were shot, and hyperventilating,” Lacroix says. “But all the emotion was on his side, so kudos to Sam because he was sensational.”

Just as fans grieved for the end of Murtagh’s story, Lacroix had to process the end.“It’s weird. When you’re in there doing it season after season, you don’t think that much, and then when I was filming the death scene, it all sank in,” he says. “I got really emotional, not just for the scene, but just for the whole experience coming to an end.”

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s anyone’s guess as to when Lacroix will pop up in a series or movie again. But when he does, rest assured that the character he’s playing will have the same steely resolve as Murtagh…

The post Outlander: Duncan Lacroix Reflects On Murtagh’s Season 5 Journey appeared first on Den of Geek.

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smokeybrand · 5 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Riddikulus

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a paradox. It’s a complex hodge-podge of beauty, brilliance, potential, and butt. Like, it’s so much better than the first but, at the same time, SO much worse. This is the first time i can definitive point to one thing derailing an entire film but that definitely shouldn’t be the case because it’s the goddamn script. This thing is written BY J.K. Rowling! These are HER characters! This is HER world! How is she f*cking this sh*t up so bad? It’s wild to see but, before this becomes a rant instead of a review, let me get into the detail proper.

The Good

Goddamn, this movie is beautiful. The sets, the cinematography, the pageantry and costumes, the fantastic beasts; Everything in this movie is leveled up from the first and it shows. I was very impressed by the level of comfort exhibited by this crew and cast. They’ve kind of found their look and they’re effortlessly transcribing that from the first.

The costumes, in particular, are exquisite this time around. The Wizarding World always has the best costumes but i knew this would be something special because of the period in which these events take place. I was not wrong. also, it’s Paris. There’s a scene where cats have to get to a circus by entering under the skirt of this beautiful statue and the way that scene i framed? The juxtaposition of the statue in front of the modern, bustling, Paris? Simply breathtaking.

I really liked the casting in this flick. I think the addition of Depp and Law was a stroke of genius. These two cats were easily one the best things about this movie. It’s just a f*cking shame they weren’t given enough to do. That’s actually a continuing theme throughout this mess of a movie; No one ever has enough to do.

Dan Fogler is probably the best thing about this movie, really. But, like literally everyone and everything else in this thing, his Jacob Kowalski felt underused and underdeveloped. Dude did great with what he was given, everyone did, but what he was given, wasn’t much. That’s what this movie is, though, in a nutshell; Not much.

Eddy Redmayne did his thing. I’m pretty sure Newt is on the Spectrum and i think Rowling is trying to subtly hint at that, but she’s just a bit off. Newt comes across as dick most of the time, not some guy with difficulty reading and maneuvering social situations. I really like his take on Scamander but i can totally see how people find him unsympathetic and rude.

I liked the casting of Zoe Kravitz as Lita Lestrange. I think she was a bright spot in this film. I thick she could have shone brilliantly,though, if she has something to f*cking do! Like, the chemistry between her and Redmayne was palpable. I believed that they loved each other. It’s a goddamn shame we didn’t get to see that properly displayed.

This, young world Rowling is showing us, is absolutely stunning. Witnessing her magic set in a such a bygone time, is really something. I am thoroughly enjoying our current trip through the Wizarding World!

The Bad

The timeline is mad f*cked up in here. There are certain scenes and certain characters that, for all intents and purposes, shouldn’t even f*cking exist just yet. There is one in particular that, by the time Potter proper is a thing, should be LONG dead but nope! Because it’s cool i guess? I dunno, man, it’s all just frustrating from a writer’s standpoint. Sh*t should be tighter. It’s not.

There are plot holes here that are infuriating. Common sense sh*t like, you know, not doing a thing or maybe opening your mouth. Aside from the contradiction of certain events occurring that have not occurred or the appearance of certain characters that are established to not have been until an entire decade after these events, characters make heel turns that are outright ridiculous and objectively adverse to everything they are. Or at least, have been built up to be in the one movie we have before this one. I watched my favorite character, take a path that would be abhorrent to everything they are, because they were talked to kind of nice? I get that. The most dangerous villain is the one that talks sense to you. Lucifer. Hitler. Trump. I get that. I can see Grindlewald having that charisma, too. It’s why you cats Johnny Depp. He oozes that sh*t! But it only works if you establish that Grindlewald has that gift of gab, that essential charisma to turn even the staunchest of non-believers but...

You never get the necessary time with him to even believably establish that Grindlewald has that ability! When said turn comes from my favorite, it just comes across as forced conflict instead of misplaced belief. They weren’t convinced, they were throwing a tantrum. For a film with his name in it, Grindlewald is wildly underdeveloped and he’s not the only one. There are, at least, four characters intricate to the plot, that have NO development. None. They are there as plot devices and that’s it. There’s one, in particular, that find themselves standing against Grindlewald but will end up standing WITH Voldemort! These motherf*ckers preach the same goddamn thing! The f*ck?? It’s Nagini. Nagini chooses not to follow Grindlewald but becomes a f*cking Horcrux for Voldemort. The f*ck, dude? Why? You don’t f*cking know, because none of her motivations or anything were ever f*cking explored! And those are just the underdeveloped.

There are some characters, one of the four main characters of the entire f*cking franchise so far, that have NO development! You can literally remove them from this film, and there would be no consequence. Seriously, why was Tina even in this f*cking thing? Why was she here? Why even try with her character? She’s exactly the same person,now, that she was, then! It’s Ludicrous! But she’s not the only one! and that’s the paradox; Core characters, essential to the plot, are wholly interchangeable. They be outright removed and this narrative would chug along fine, probably better, with just the slightest of tweaks. it’s f*cking insane to see.

The climax was underwhelming.

There are certain revelations that’s suppose to make the audience gasp but, if you’re into the lore of Potter, they’re an impossibility. It’s just terrible. Like, mid-career Shyamalanian levels of sh*tty twists. Just, knowing what i know about Potter, the disbelief necessary to suspend in order to accept this sudden turn is impossible. It’s insulting, really. It’s as messed up as that whole Aliens-hate-Water thing from Signs. It’s really that bad.

All of the controversy with this movie is kind of stupid. The Depp and Heard stuff is kind of ridiculous to me because,at the time of his casting, that sh*t had been resolved for several months. The whole Dumbledore and Grindlewald being gay for each other in a family film was also stupid. I mean, did you expect them to just make out in the middle of the movie Really? you think middle America is going to come to this thing with their f*cking kids to see that? But this sh*t with Nagini, though? That sh*t is a reach and a half! At best, she’s an ill conceived addition to an ill conceived narrative. At worst, she’s a poorly executed narrative trope. What she ain’t is a racist caricature of an Asian person. What it isn’t is some long standing accusation of feminism, peered through the lend of toxic masculinity, or whatever other buzzwords we’re using today. All of this sh*t is forced and stupid, and legitimately distract from everything else wrong with what’s going on in this move.

The Worst

The writing in this movie is just terrible. Like, it’s written well. For a book. I can see the connections and understand where Rowling wants to take this but the detail she needs to build this story, she’s not getting within the confines of a script for film. She has all of these fantastic ideas, and they are fantastic, but the execution is just the worst! It CRIPPLES everything involved with what this movie is trying to do. I can see it, though, and that’s what really, really, hurts. I can see the forest through the trees and it’s a goddamn marvel! but the person in charge of caring for the forest, can’t. Not within the confines of cinematic narrative.

The Verdict

Fantastic Beasts 2 is kind of a quandary. Everything in it that makes up a movie, is mildly excellent. Everything. Except the goddamn script. Rowling is a brilliant book writer but has no idea how to right a film. At all. The entire time I'm watching this thing, all I can think is how dope this would be if it were book three in an anthology. Beasts 2 is just too much, too soon. There is so much going on; So many factions, so many distractions, so many happenings, so many actions, that you lose yourself in the whirlwind of circumstance. Half of which are unnecessary! Don’t misunderstand, i liked this movie but i liked it because i love the world Rowling created. I like seeing Grindelwald. I like experiencing the different Magic Ministries and the youthful versions of characters i love. But not everyone is going into this thing wanting any of that. A lot of cats are going into this flick to see, you know, a movie, and that’s where this thing fails. There is a great amount of potential that goes unfulfilled in here because this needed room to breathe; room a 2 hour run time does not allot.

Overall, it's fun but mad disappointing. There is a great deal of awesome here and the world, itself, is rich with stories. It’s like Star Wars. And, like Star Wars, these new films are kind of f*cking up the legacy a little bit. Again, i really want to stress this fact, i liked this movie but not for the reasons i should. I like the idea of an expanded Wizarding world. I like Harry Potter. I like the cast and core heroes. I like the idea of these prequels. I do not like how Rowling is telling their story.

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briangroth27 · 6 years

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The Punisher Season 1 Review

Going into this show, I’d seen all three Punisher movies and his appearance on Daredevil (in addition to cartoons like the 90s Spider-man animated series and guest spots in non-Punisher comics), and thought the character was OK, but none of those sources got me to seek out his solo comics. As far as I was concerned, the use of Frank in Daredevil as a foil for Matt is the best and most interesting role he’d ever played. Unfortunately, while this solo series introduced a couple of compelling ideas, I can’t say it made me a fan of Frank Castle.

Full spoilers…

I feel like the biggest problem was that the season’s focus was entirely on the wrong plot. I didn’t care about Castle’s (Jon Bernthal) battle with his ex-friend Billy Russo (Ben Barnes) at all; not only did we barely get any scenes of the deep friendship they supposedly had, which would’ve given weight and tragedy to their conflict as enemies, but unnaturally extending the conspiracy surrounding the murder of Castle’s family (Kelli Barrett, Aidan Pierce Brennan, Nicolette Pierini) after he’d resolved it at the beginning of the series fell totally flat. We got even fewer scenes of the Castles together than we did Frank and Billy together. We were shown his wife Maria shot in the face in a dream sequence in each of the first three episodes (which was totally unnecessary), and that felt like the majority of what we saw of them. So, not only did leaning on Frank’s vengeance arc feel repetitive since we’d already seen him fight that fight, the season failed to connect me to his family and the loss Frank was feeling because of the Castle family’s total lack of characterization. I shouldn’t feel the violence of his family’s death more than I know any of the characters who were killed—that makes it feel like Frank is fighting against violence itself, rather than avenging anyone he personally cared for—but that’s exactly what happened here. The show wanted me to mourn his dead family with him, but since I didn’t know those people, they came off as shorthand pain for Frank instead of characters it was a tragedy to lose (watching him bond with Micro’s (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) son (Kobi Frumer) isn’t the same thing as seeing Frank with his actual boy). As much as I hated Castle re-avenging his family, Frank’s near-death experience at the end of the season—where Maria tells him to come home with her, but Frank decides to live instead—was a well-made and well-acted sequence. It just should've happened at the start of the season, right after avenging his family. All that time where he’s a walking zombie at the start of the season could’ve built to a moment where he can’t go on just existing and has to choose to live again. I have to believe Frank has a purpose beyond avenging his family (it can’t be the only thing pulling him back into life) and this show should've been about him exploring and defining what that purpose is instead of just throwing him back into the same grief he already dealt with.

Castle admits he's scared to think about what to do when the war is over in the final minutes of the season and that’s an interesting angle to approach the character from (and Bernthal played it very well), but it too should’ve happened much sooner instead of regressing his character with the conspiracy. That's what they should've started with and expanded from there, particularly as that was already a briefly-mentioned theme early on. I would’ve been much more invested in a man trying (and sometimes failing) to get back into society than I was in a man who was essentially dead, like Castle was in the first couple of episodes. I did enjoy the ex-soldier support group run by Curtis Hoyle (Jason R. Moore) that met throughout the season. Not only was that a good place to tie Castle’s experiences to our world and lend the series some social relevance when it talked about society’s treatment of soldiers after they come home from war, but it provided what should’ve been the main plot of the season: Lewis (Daniel Webber) as a Punisher copycat/acolyte. Lewis’ psychological issues were fascinating and comparing his inability to deal with the real world with Frank’s failed attempts to reconnect would’ve been a strong juxtaposition. Furthermore, turning Frank’s mission on its head by having Lewis (and, if I were writing it, others) become a violent copycat who attacked the governmental system “that’s trying to take away their right to defend themselves” (along with sympathetic media sources) while Frank only killed criminals—making Frank the “half-measure” he called Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox)—would’ve been a great way to force Frank to deal with what he’d brought into the world and to reflect on his own methodology. Lewis should’ve been the main villain: he was the direct challenge to Castle’s morality and crusade that could force Frank to grow, not Frank’s old corrupt war buddy. Frank dealing with what he brought into the world would’ve been a much stronger conflict than anything they did with Billy and the conspiracy. Instead, Lewis was a short-lived subplot that didn’t really make Frank reflect much at all.

Between Castle and Lewis, they had the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into the gun control issue—Frank is practically the dream “good guy with a gun”—so I don’t know why they didn’t. I wish they’d dug deeper into the problematic nature of the character in today’s world—he would be someone (unintentionally) riling up gun fanatics who fancy themselves Wild West heroes to take matters into their own hands—and not doing so seems irresponsible. I wouldn’t have a problem with him bringing a conservative viewpoint to the table—I don’t have to agree with everything he does or thinks, after all—but bringing next to no viewpoint to the main character felt like a cheat. Maybe it would’ve been OK to come down on the side that says the Punisher is a problem, and then show Frank dealing with that. That would be something totally fresh; we’ve seen countless stories where the main character might be morally wrong but works for the greater good and is thereby absolved; maybe having Frank deal with the fact that his morality isn’t in society’s best interest but having him to go on fighting regardless would’ve been a compelling journey.

David Lieberman/Micro was a good foil for Castle and his steps toward becoming someone like Frank worked well without making him a full-on action hero. The ups and downs of their partnership provided some solid drama, as did his separation from his family (Jaime Ray Newman, Ripley Sobo). If we’d known the Castles at all, we could’ve felt more of what Frank was feeling about David missing his family—but still being able to watch over them—as well. I’m very glad the show didn’t seriously venture down a flirtatious route for Frank and Sarah Lieberman, though their scenes together did have a good measure of chemistry.

Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) was OK, but I never found myself rooting for her to either catch or team up with Castle. While her unique perspective on working in the government as an Iranian-American who saw herself as an American was interesting, her antagonistic role towards Castle didn’t really spark with me (showing her mettle in the early chicken scene was fun, though). I also didn't feel a big moment coming during the build to her discovering that Billy was betraying her (and his de facto confession in the stairwell didn’t seem like it had much of an impact either). I feel like both Revah and her character would’ve been better used in a better plot.

Early on, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) seemed to have nothing to do but deliver a clue or two and worry about Frank, which was a waste. I’m glad she came back during Lewis’ attacks and that she played a major role in that subplot. Going against Lewis with the media was exactly the role I wanted to see from her and it was great to see Karen so adept at wielding her journalistic voice. I would’ve liked to learn more about Karen’s dark past, since I read that Woll sees Karen as being able to open up about that with Castle, presumably in a way she doesn’t feel she can with Matt. I wish Karen had come back after Episode 10; there wasn’t time for her to check in on Frank (or he on her) after he was given a new life?

As for the conspiracy itself, I don’t have much to say about it because none of the power players interested me at all. The double-crosses and self-preservation in the upper echelons of government agencies didn’t make me want to know more about the broader Punisher world. I think Billy would've worked better if they'd made him either more emotionally dependent on his Anvil gig as his "place" in the world after the war, another Punisher copycat, or both (if you’re only interested in the name/arc of Jigsaw, just rename Lewis “Billy Russo”). As it was, I wasn’t invested in their friendship so their clashes fell flat (even Frank mutilating his face just had me realizing “Oh. He’s gonna be Jigsaw.”) and I certainly don’t care if he comes back for revenge. The show’s action was pretty underwhelming compared to the street-level fights we've seen on the likes of Daredevil. Perhaps this style of fighting just isn’t my cup of tea, though; I didn't need the violence to be as brutal as it was to prove this was some harder-edged take on the Marvel world. "Cool" sequences like Frank running around gunning down enemies in the forest and Micro’s lair did nothing for me.

Like Inhumans before it, Punisher introduced some interesting ideas but didn’t expand on them enough to keep me interested. Doubling down on Frank’s family’s murders felt redundant and I couldn’t connect to him or them. While the series did convince me that Frank (and certainly Bernthal) could be a compelling lead given the right enemy and emotional journey, this show didn’t provide enough of either. If this does not change, I don't think I'd be interested in a second season.

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