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Reviewer: Penny Lane Signed [Report This]
Date: 04 Dec 2013 1:49:17 PM Title: Part 14G

Another chapter full of interesting character-building details and moments balancing between bitter and sweet. Since this one seemed kind of like an extended character study, in a sense, (compared to the more episodic structure of the previous chapter that I reviewed mostly chronologically), I figured I'd jump in and list a bunch of things I liked/thought about.

Quote: "Why not?" she replied, shrugging. "Actually, most of the things August was crushing on you for – and, trust me, she was perfectly happy to tell me what those things were – are things you and Jeff have in common," Heather explained. Jake made a strangled noise at that, eliciting a soft giggle from his wife. "I thought it was a little weird at first, too," she admitted, "But I think it might actually work out as long as, you know, August could get to Jericho."

This was sweet – Heather setting up her brother's brother with her sister's sister – but with your trademark blend of finding the sweet in the moments of solemn, and solemn in the sweet. I like the way this network of family and friends has expanded throughout the series, and we've gotten to know characters, even ones like August who've never appeared on page, bit by bit.

Jake's dreams for taking over the ranch, and his reflection on the way his dreams and bigger dreams in general have changed and the ways they can still be realized, were neat continuing development for him. I loved that his horse is named Agamemnon. That's a horse that seems destined for a tragic end if there ever was one, though.

Quote: "Okay," Heather agreed, "I can see that. What mattered before, what matters now…" she sighed, "Sometimes it feels like two different universes."

Okay, this, taken in context, is telling and sad, but I have to admit I laughed. As a character from one of my other favourite shows would say, meta meta meta.

Quote: "It's not exciting or shocking or anything, Jake," Heather warned, "I mean, you could probably guess…." They watched one another for a long moment before she shrugged and confessed, "I wanna see my dad, I wanna wake up some morning and find out that he's here – that he's come to Jericho. Like Mikey did. Like April wants August and Autumn to do. That's all."

I want them to all show up in town some morning too! Even though that probably wouldn't make sense, by the laws of probability or storytelling. I like how you remind us that though this group of survivors is a fairly tight community full of twisty connections, rivalries, and common interests, they are still also very connected (or suffering from a loss of connection to) the outside world, with the thousands of individuals in town all possessing their own branches of friends, family, coworkers, ex-lovers, childhood teachers, sports rivals, etc., that extend outward. The show dealt with this occasionally but not really as much as you might expect for how many apparently single, parentless and childless characters there were. I know, narrative focus and visual medium and stuff, but it is really neat that you can show us this part of the characters, the parts of them that are with their loved ones, somewhere out there.

Quote: "You have now officially met every relative – by blood, marriage or shirt tail – that I have," Heather declared, looking around the banquet room at the Lisinski family's favorite German restaurant. "At least everyone who's within a two hour radius tonight," she amended, wrapping her arms around his neck in order to press a quick kiss to his mouth. "Seriously, Jake, thank you," she murmured.

Placing his hands on her hips, Jake drew Heather even closer, telling her, "Seriously, you don't have to thank me. This was easy and kinda fun. Way better than skating," he teased, kissing her in return. "Though I hafta admit, I don't remember half their names."

Sounds like a real extended family party! Having witnessed a few instances of outsiders introduced to my big extended family recently, I have to say I think Jake handled it like a trouper. Even though Heather's family is fun, any huge group with their own rules and culture, checking you out at all once, is bound to be overwhelming. Especially the names! It's been neat seeing Jake as the fish-out-of-water, and his reactions to being in that space and ways he adapts, throughout this part of the story.

I had to aw at Joe the engagement party planner. I would say man after my own heart, but I feel like I keep assigning that label to characters in all my reviews and it's going to start sounding cheap. I will say, he is a super sweet dad and dad-in-law-to-be. His enthusiasm for his daughter's new love and his support and encouragement of her plans are among my favourite parts of the Lisinski family scenes. It's also kind of neat, the contrast between him and Johnston, two very different kinds of fathers who are ultimately so dedicated to their children. I assume we'll probably see the dads in a scene together at some point right?

Quote: "FYI, priest at seven o'clock," Michael warned, sidling up beside them. "Might wanna tone down the kissy-kissy thing."

"Mikey," Heather growled, though both she and Jake glanced over their shoulders to see her father and her uncle Leo – actually her father's cousin, but as she'd explained to Jake earlier, "We've always called him Uncle Leo" – heading toward them. She found his hand with her own and, leaning against his arm, whispered against the fabric of his dress shirt, "I'm pretty sure this is interfering."

And my obligatory “aw, Mikey!” moment. In seriousness, it is nice to see Mikey in his lighter, more well-fed days. A nice contrast to where he was at when we last saw him, coming home with the stench of desperation on his clothes and the weight of a town secret on his shoulders. I was thinking about the Lisinskis not in town, and while from a character empathy feeling standpoint, I am wanting them all to be okay, I think Mikey really is the most interesting one, narratively, to have survived and made the trek to Jericho, because we get to see him moving across this sort of in-between, transitional time, literally going from a kid in the flashbacks to an adult in the present. Being so young in the flashback, not being as set in who he's going to be yet (unlike his brothers, who have settled into their life paths a bit more), I think, and really being a still fairly young adult in the present, it is neat to see him observing and absorbing all the things he's encountering in this weird scary world he's found himself in. Not that this doesn't happen of course with all the characters, but Mikey, because he occupies this slightly more liminal space, can sort of be the ultimate example of a person growing into a new identity for the new world. And that's kind of the role that Heather plays in the canon story, I think, whereas here she's the older and more settled sibling, doing her own adapting of course, but fairly solid in who she is and where she belongs and fits in as well.

Also have to say, Uncle Leo was pretty cool. I have a few priests in my extended family/friends network and it reminded me of those times when I was little and we'd have our distant relative/family friend priest over and all the kids would be totally amazed to see him drinking a beer and cracking jokes with everyone else. Of course we didn't have a close uncle who was a priest, so it wasn't as common an experience for us as for Heather. I liked how Uncle Leo was open and good-humoured with the happy couple. Also generous with his advice, though I guess getting to advise a beloved niece about a positive life event is probably a much happier kind of thing to do than to get asked about all kinds of medical problems, like a doctor gets.

So...Mark is not so gifted with the basic social skills is he? Like, at all. Or basic survival skills. I guess we probably shouldn't be putting him on the 'most likely to have survived in Buffalo' list. Actually though, this has made me think about the survival advantage of having social skills (seriously, just had a long meandering contemplation about it in my head, thinking about how they're portrayed and who has them and who depends on them more and what their limits are, on the show and in the story, neat stuff). So I guess he's good for inspiring thoughts about interesting things, but I'm glad Heather seems to have steered away from the man himself forever more.

Quote: "Jake, Tommy taught me how to swear like – well, like a hockey player when I was eight," Heather informed him. "And I actually have yet to encounter a new-to-me curse word since." Chuckling at his incredulous expression, she kissed him on the cheek. "He wasn't too smart about it though, 'cause he taught me what to say, and then he had me do it for all his friends which left them howling of course…. But he forgot to tell me not to do it for my dad."

Haha. I like Tommy. He's such a classic big brother. I also like when we get little moments from Heather's past, and this whole part of the story, going home with Heather and meeting parts of her history, have been fun and a nice addition and contrast to the more Jake-history-centric (by necessity, since he does have a longer history there for sure) scenes in Jericho past.

Quote: Taking the lantern with her, Heather headed to the bathroom first, hurrying through her dental hygiene routine. There was real toothpaste again, a small tube from the airdrop that still needed to be conserved, but that was a million times better than the two weeks they had gone completely without – not that there had been much to eat, or much to brush away.

I feel weird because my first reaction to this was “Eek the bacteria!” I don't know why the slow decay of undernourished teeth bothers me more than the squalid tank of desperation, but it really does. And there are so many worse things going on in their world too. I think your reminders of these little details really help to drive home all the texture of the totally new world they're living in, and all the little things to adapt to.

Quote: "Heather, I really didn't," Jake insisted, wrapping a lock of her hair around his finger. "She was standin' right in front of me, in her helmet and BDUs and I just thought she was some scrawny teenager who'd probably just gone through basic before everything happened, and had never managed to really buff up," he explained. "I didn't know she was female until I heard her talk."

Poor Maggie! I know this is what Jake had to say (and true for him – well, I'm not him but I assume, and glad Heather is no longer feeling that dip in self esteem) but poor girl can't catch a break. Again though, I guess this is the least of her troubles now. Now I'm thinking of her, off in New Bern (she's the character I think really shows the limits of social skills in the new world but that's a discussion for another time), and I guess we'll probably be seeing her again soon. It's probably silly to say I hope things go okay for her right? Right...it's not for the writer to make everything sunshine and rainbows, but maybe it is okay if we readers wish for all the good (if unlikely) things for the characters.

Okay, this happened throughout so I don't have a specific quote, but I was enjoying the sort of humorous back-and-forth exchanges between Jake and Heather that are sometimes suggestive, teasing, ultimately double entendres originally meant in serious contexts. I was going to say “they really are an odd couple, aren't they?” but I didn't know if that would sound right. What I mean in a good (classic) way is, I love pairs of characters that have a solid contrasting/complementary thing going on. It makes these kind of moments where they play off each other lively and fun. And with Jake and Heather here, it's like they know each other well enough to go to this playful place, and then find different levels of meaning in the things they're saying, sometimes flirtatious but sometimes more emotional.

Well done, and I look forward to the next part (while bracing myself as I assume there won't be all sunshine and rainbows).  




Author's Response:

Penny,

Thank you so much for the thoughtful and detailed review.  I really appreciate it, and probably spent more time than I should have re-reading and contemplating your comments.  Though maybe not…. You always bring up questions that I haven't thought of, and that then get incorporated at some point into the story.  So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

 

Quote: Another chapter full of interesting character-building details and moments balancing between bitter and sweet.

Aw, this alone made my day, so thank you again!

 

Quote: Jake's dreams for taking over the ranch, and his reflection on the way his dreams and bigger dreams in general have changed and the ways they can still be realized, were neat continuing development for him. I loved that his horse is named Agamemnon. That's a horse that seems destined for a tragic end if there ever was one, though.

I'm glad you feel this way.  I can't say that this is exactly the Jake I had in mind when I began this little adventure (back when I was thinking it would be, oh, four or five parts) but I realized that this is where he needs to go for this all to make sense.  His motivation for slogging through everything so far has to be the life he was planning, and obviously DC Jake is a little bit different from canon Jake.  Though I think even canon Jake might have been interested in taking over EJ's legacy.  As for Agamemnon, I have to admit I have not yet considered his fate particularly, only the fate of the Greens' horses generally.  I will have to put that on the figure out list.

 

Quote: "Okay," Heather agreed, "I can see that. What mattered before, what matters now…" she sighed, "Sometimes it feels like two different universes."

Okay, this, taken in context, is telling and sad, but I have to admit I laughed. As a character from one of my other favourite shows would say, meta meta meta.

:-)  Well, I do try to keep a small undercurrent of humor running through the story at all times, just to keep myself from bogging down too much.  And, I must admit, I could have gone with "two different worlds" or something else, I'm sure, but I thought "universes" was the way to go in an alternate universe story after all.  (And "meta" is a word that had lots of meaning in my life these days too.  So you made me laugh!)

 

Quote: "It's not exciting or shocking or anything, Jake," Heather warned, "I mean, you could probably guess…." They watched one another for a long moment before she shrugged and confessed, "I wanna see my dad, I wanna wake up some morning and find out that he's here – that he's come to Jericho. Like Mikey did. Like April wants August and Autumn to do. That's all."

I want them to all show up in town some morning too! Even though that probably wouldn't make sense, by the laws of probability or storytelling. I like how you remind us that though this group of survivors is a fairly tight community full of twisty connections, rivalries, and common interests, they are still also very connected (or suffering from a loss of connection to) the outside world, with the thousands of individuals in town all possessing their own branches of friends, family, coworkers, ex-lovers, childhood teachers, sports rivals, etc., that extend outward.

Well, the laws of probability and story-telling are hard to get around, but what I can say is that some Lisinskis (though definitely not all) will survive, and will reconnect with their family in Kansas at some point.  I have to admit that it was a rough week as I figured out everyone's fates, a week that I basically spent close to tears a lot of the time… they're like family to me now, so figuring out who died and when and how... that was rough.

 

Quote: I had to aw at Joe the engagement party planner. I would say man after my own heart, but I feel like I keep assigning that label to characters in all my reviews and it's going to start sounding cheap. I will say, he is a super sweet dad and dad-in-law-to-be. His enthusiasm for his daughter's new love and his support and encouragement of her plans are among my favourite parts of the Lisinski family scenes. It's also kind of neat, the contrast between him and Johnston, two very different kinds of fathers who are ultimately so dedicated to their children. I assume we'll probably see the dads in a scene together at some point right?

I hope I didn't over-do with Joe's transformation from a sceptic to a proud supporter of the engagement.  It was quick, but I think it was clear to Joe that Heather and Jake were in love, and fighting that wasn't the way to maintain the very important to him relationship with his daughter.  Plus, I think, having gotten to know Jake some, he does like him.  And, yes, you are correct that there will eventually be scenes with the dads, multiple probably.  And, random tidbit that may not ever actually make it onto the page/screen in DC, but Johnston and Joe are good enough buddies in the end that they start a running game of internet checkers that goes for years after H&J's wedding. 

 

Quote: Also have to say, Uncle Leo was pretty cool. I have a few priests in my extended family/friends network and it reminded me of those times when I was little and we'd have our distant relative/family friend priest over and all the kids would be totally amazed to see him drinking a beer and cracking jokes with everyone else. Of course we didn't have a close uncle who was a priest, so it wasn't as common an experience for us as for Heather. I liked how Uncle Leo was open and good-humoured with the happy couple. Also generous with his advice, though I guess getting to advise a beloved niece about a positive life event is probably a much happier kind of thing to do than to get asked about all kinds of medical problems, like a doctor gets.

This is exactly what I was going for with Uncle Leo, so I am going to take your comment to mean I was successful.  In fact, I picture Uncle Leo at family events, drinking beer and cracking jokes.  He's from the other side of the family than Jess, but I'm sure the Lisinski and Schulze sides mixed on occasion, so I like to think that Uncle Leo came across Jess playing priest and performing wedding ceremonies back when, and unlike her mother, he thought it was amusing and gave her a little professional advice.

 

Quote: So...Mark is not so gifted with the basic social skills is he? Like, at all. Or basic survival skills. I guess we probably shouldn't be putting him on the 'most likely to have survived in Buffalo' list. Actually though, this has made me think about the survival advantage of having social skills (seriously, just had a long meandering contemplation about it in my head, thinking about how they're portrayed and who has them and who depends on them more and what their limits are, on the show and in the story, neat stuff). So I guess he's good for inspiring thoughts about interesting things, but I'm glad Heather seems to have steered away from the man himself forever more.

While I agree that Mark does not take rejection well and has some social skill issues, I don't think he was always the world's biggest jerk.  Heather wouldn't have dated him as long as she did if he was only a JERK.  He just really didn't handle rejection well, and so that ogre side that she probably sensed in him (one of the many reasons she kept him at arm's length) came out in spades.  But Heather does think she lead him on a little bit, and while that doesn't excuse his reaction she still feels somewhat guilty for how things turned out between them.  Jake of course has none of her reservations!  And, yes, while Heather has dodged that particular bullet I can tell you that Mark does make one more appearance in Different Circumstances…. You'll just have to keep reading to see when.  ;-)

Now that the specific example is out of the way, I still need to address the brilliant and intriguing idea that social skills translate into survival skills, because it is so true.  People aren't going to go out of their way to help someone they loathe survive in this new world.  Karen Harper killed herself and her family because she was too proud to ask for help – and probably knew that she didn't really have anyone she could go to because she didn't have any real friends.  I'm not saying that the Greens wouldn't have helped, but they probably would have been gritting their teeth the whole time.  So yes, there's a Venn diagram somewhere that shows the most successful people in this world have themselves both some survival and some social skills, I'm sure.

 

Quote: "Jake, Tommy taught me how to swear like – well, like a hockey player when I was eight," Heather informed him. "And I actually have yet to encounter a new-to-me curse word since." Chuckling at his incredulous expression, she kissed him on the cheek. "He wasn't too smart about it though, 'cause he taught me what to say, and then he had me do it for all his friends which left them howling of course…. But he forgot to tell me not to do it for my dad."

Haha. I like Tommy. He's such a classic big brother. I also like when we get little moments from Heather's past, and this whole part of the story, going home with Heather and meeting parts of her history, have been fun and a nice addition and contrast to the more Jake-history-centric (by necessity, since he does have a longer history there for sure) scenes in Jericho past.

Well, clearly, I love the Lisinskis, so I am glad that they seem to have been well-received, or at least no one has said that they're boring and need to get off their computer screen.  The lack of a past for Heather (I don't count "Oh hey!  I forgot to mention these last three months that I grew up in New Bern and I have friends there that I love but really didn't worry about all this time…" as a past for Heather, sorry Jericho producers and writing staff) left me open to fill in as much as I wanted.  It's been fun for me, that's for sure.  And, of course, we will see the Lisinskis again in the DC Past…. They all will be attending the wedding after all.

 

Quote: "Heather, I really didn't," Jake insisted, wrapping a lock of her hair around his finger. "She was standin' right in front of me, in her helmet and BDUs and I just thought she was some scrawny teenager who'd probably just gone through basic before everything happened, and had never managed to really buff up," he explained. "I didn't know she was female until I heard her talk."

Poor Maggie! I know this is what Jake had to say (and true for him – well, I'm not him but I assume, and glad Heather is no longer feeling that dip in self esteem) but poor girl can't catch a break. Again though, I guess this is the least of her troubles now. Now I'm thinking of her, off in New Bern (she's the character I think really shows the limits of social skills in the new world but that's a discussion for another time), and I guess we'll probably be seeing her again soon. It's probably silly to say I hope things go okay for her right? Right...it's not for the writer to make everything sunshine and rainbows, but maybe it is okay if we readers wish for all the good (if unlikely) things for the characters.

In hindsight this does feel like one more mean thing to do to poor Maggie.  But it's one of those things I took from canon (and those are getting fewer and fewer for me) so let's blame the writers and producers who set that scene up so that the big "gotcha" is that one of the marines is <gasp> a woman.  And we will see Maggie again… in a jail cell in New Bern, I believe.

 

Quote: Okay, this happened throughout so I don't have a specific quote, but I was enjoying the sort of humorous back-and-forth exchanges between Jake and Heather that are sometimes suggestive, teasing, ultimately double entendres originally meant in serious contexts. I was going to say “they really are an odd couple, aren't they?” but I didn't know if that would sound right. What I mean in a good (classic) way is, I love pairs of characters that have a solid contrasting/complementary thing going on. It makes these kind of moments where they play off each other lively and fun. And with Jake and Heather here, it's like they know each other well enough to go to this playful place, and then find different levels of meaning in the things they're saying, sometimes flirtatious but sometimes more emotional.

Well, thank you!  Seriously, you left me a plethora of lovely compliments that warm the cockles of my fanfic writing heart, but this is the one that really makes me happy.  For this story to work, I think this is the Jake and Heather I need to present – a couple that know each other well, that both like each other AND love one another, a couple that has fun together, enjoys being together, and is each other's biggest fan.  Idealized, perhaps, but that's how I'm proceeding.

 

Quote:  Well done, and I look forward to the next part (while bracing myself as I assume there won't be all sunshine and rainbows).  

 

Yeah, the sunshine and rainbows I ordered didn't seem to ever arrive.  :-(  Personally, I've been bracing myself for writing of the next part of Different Circumstances ever since I saw Winter's End for the first time, sitting in my room in a Holiday Inn Express, on a business trip.  I'm sure it's a coincidence, but I got very sick that night, so the whole trip was miserable.  Anyway, bracing yourself is a good choice.

Reviewer: merryann Signed [Report This]
Date: 22 Nov 2013 6:08:42 AM Title: Part 14G

Oh, just wonderful!!  Loved it to pieces and can't wait for you to write more!  I am so glad you are continuing your wonderful story.

I'm not sure if you ever got my message way back when (early 2012?) giving you credit for inspiration and asking if I could borrow a couple of themes.  I have now been writing my own ridiculously long story for almost 2 years.  It is posted at fanfiction dot net; please check it out if you ever have spare time :)

Thank you once again for writing!!




Author's Response:

Thanks for reviewing, merryann!  It's great to know that I still have readers interested from "way back".  

I honestly don't remember if I got a message from you back during 2012, that was a rough year for me with both my parents ending up in the hospital within 9 days of each other.  They are both doing well now, but it was a tough row to hoe as the primary caregiver for both of them, and fanfic took a definite back seat to icky real life.

That said, I did take a peek at your story one day, and did note a few homages to Different Circumstances, so thank you for that.  :-)

Reviewer: Shadowflame Signed [Report This]
Date: 20 Nov 2013 4:50:08 AM Title: Part 14G

Hi, I would have been back earlier to read- but I had no time!

 

But now nothing can stop me! *laughs*

 

Ok, let’s start… ;)

 

Wow… that was a very long, nice, intense conversation they had… I so would hope that April’s sisters and all the Lisinski’s are ok, but I fear that’s too much to wish for… :(

 

Wow, so many Lisinski’s at once, Jake is really good in staying cool! *laughs*

And again I had to smile so much reading all those German words amidst an English text… yeah, there’s nothing over a good piece of Leberkaese mit Senf (with mustard)! *beams*

Right into your face, Mark! Hah! *sticks tongue out*

That really was a very nice love declaration from Jake! :)

 

And again - some quality time for our beloved couple... they love each other so much!

 

Loved to read all of that, each word, nice long as promised!

 

So thanks again for writing, I'm looking forward to chapter 15! *hugs*

 




Author's Response:

I am very glad to hear that you enjoyed this part of Different Circumstances.  Honestly, this "little" 14G was the culmination of a lot of planning that really goes back years.  (As does the beginning of DC 14).  Anyway, a lot of this part in particular is very neear and dear to my heart.... a set of important moments for our favorite couple.  They really do love each other very much, and they are in for a roller coaster ride, so I thought it was important to get them to a really good place so they can face what's coming secure in and bolstered by that love.

Okay, enough with the deep thought.  It was nice to see Jake take Mark down a peg or two, wasn't it?  That's a scene I'd been waiting a couple years to write!  And the German menu was fun to write, though it made me hungry!

Thanks so much for reviewing. 

 

Marzee

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