{ I will leave this to my daughter. }

[delga]

So, I'm browsing the latest enslaught at hires_hotties, as you do when you've spent the morning walking in and out of D. running errands for the paternal rental. Anyway, I'm browsing and I come across two consecutive posts, the first of Megan Fox, the second of Olivia Wilde. Damn those two look alike. That said, I find Wilde to be prettier, even if she does sometimes drape herself in table sheets. (On closer inspection, Fox looks somewhat more menacing. Who in heck is she, anyway?)

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I have been wasting time spectacularly the past couple of days, watching Oz and Medium. More Medium than Oz because there are more episodes and I'm trying to stretch out the four episodes of Oz that I have left. Anyway, next week is all about The Wire. Or, it will be, if I can ever get my apocalyptothon entry written. SIGH, EVERYONE, SIGH.

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The NCIS cast are so cute, it's near criminal. I gave The Sister season 3 of Numb3rs to watch yesterday and realised I have a lot of NCIS, too. So, I may end up ditching everything for that instead. It would be good preparation if I did. Last night's episode was an early season 1 installment; tonight's is the season 2 finale Twilight? I haven't seen that in a long time. I feel like I should, just for Ari, even if the Ari arc actually closes in Kill Ari part 2. Since doing all that 'Ziva-tracking', I find I'm sometimes disgruntled about the lack of canon regarding her and Ari. There are several reasons for this, naturally, the first being, Ari = evil, Ziva = not. Another is, there's more to Ziva than her issues with patriarchy, and here I'm not just talking about Ari and their father, I mean Gibbs, too. (Um. I NEED AN ARI ICON, OBVS.) But whilst this is true, I think the producers are to blame for not linking back to the more important parts of her heritage more often. I know the whole idea was to talk about her integration, not only into the team, but into America, and that's a lot to do with dealing with audience prejudices (there: I said it) BUT STILL.

Ari hates his father; Ziva loves her father. There's so much conflict there because in Kill Ari, Ziva believes in her brother, and by the end, her trust is shattered. But she doesn't go back to stay in Israel because she's carries two burdens - one of shame, one of guilt/grief. Essentially, she doesn't go back because she can't look her father in the eye. And yet she forms this tenuous connection with Gibbs (I've said it before: this isn't made concrete until Shalom) who Ari says has the unfortunate quality of reminding him (Ari) of his father. Thus, to my mind, it naturally follows that Ziva probably sees something of her father in Jethro, too.

As ever, I can't remember my point. I'm going to rewatch the Ari episodes, I think. The thing that I find most distressing is that on first glance, I don't think Ziva and Kate would get along so well. That's why Ziva isn't Kate's replacement: she fulfills a different role. There's more instinct to Ziva than Kate, whose profiling skills were something she systemtically learned and adopted. (I feel the latter was handled badly by production. On the one hand she used to protect the President. On the other hand, she was forever being belittled. I find it misogynistic, especially if you consider that Ziva is often made to appear much less feminine than Kate. I'm not suggesting there's a lower level of sexuality at play because, hello Cote de Pablo is mind-bendingly gorgeous, but the racial and gender undertones there are a mindfuck unto their own. At this point I'd even bat off with Kate's Catholicism, but I don't think that's entirely safe territory.)

In conclusion: yeah, I'm still fixated on wanting to know more about Ziva. I'd say we have a similar problem with Tony but I'm just not as invested in his character. (HEH. It's a good thing twincy is away for the weekend. I'm certain that one would get me a bump on the head.) That said, Tony's complexities say much more about his insecurities than people suspect, I think, and his own pater issues, which is something he shares with Ziva, whether the two of them admit it or not.

ENDING THIS NOW. I mean, damn. Chatty! I still want to talk about Jenny's RANDOM plotline.

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My latest musigasm is over Gustavo Santaolalli's Santaolalla's score work. (Thank you, Deadwood soundtrack.)

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Likely someone has already done this, but there really needs to be Medium fic where Allison's premonition regarding the red haired girl comes true. Or, fic from Ariel and Rachel's perspectives as they get older, with Ariel losing her knack and Rachel not, and the mutual resentment that lends them. No, seriously, I'd read that if it was good.

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edit: !!! There should be fic concerning Ari's Oedipal Complex! Because there's a fair amount of that going on, y/n?

Comments

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

re: Fox, thanks. I waste a large proportion of my time paying attention to who these people are so it stuns me when I see someone and have no clue who they are. (Alternatively I could have IMDB'd her, but obviously I didn't care that much.)

So I've heard! Am looking forward to indulging in the boxset that recently arrived. :)

I think that Gibbs and Ziva share a similar moral code which, whilst not specifically embraced by the Western public, is definitely a honour code upheld by the military. I think Gibbs understands Ziva's ethics, even though he often has to get her to temper them. Gibbs is not a straightforward hero; he's all for going in and getting revenge, and that's something that Ziva recognises as being natural. I think. (I think about this a lot? Yes, how could you tell?)

From Ziva's side, though, I don't think it's necessarily easy for her to note his respect, or his understanding because Gibbs clouds it a lot. I think until Shalom Gibbs only has Ziva's back half the time, like he's not sure that she's trustworthy, or that she's not going to be as duplicitous as Ari was. It's never explicitly said, sure, but it's only really in Hiatus pt2 that he openly acknowledges Ziva's sacrifice, re: Ari. In the episode before the season finale (Jenny is kidnapped; Ziva is with that guy who dies in the elevator), Gibbs is so cautious with Ziva, and even at the end of the episode he's not completely behind her. That all changes after Shalom (4x01).

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I think they recognise that in each other.
Yes, definitely. I'll go with that. I'm easy :) I think you're right in that his respect for her comes from a different place than it does for the others on the team.

Never seen Shalom! Ohnoes! Although, in the UK, all the episodes are in repeats right now. I don't think they've even begun to air S3 of Numb3rs?

The funniest thing about all this NCIS talk is that I only started watching a year or so ago. I mainlined the first 2.5 seasons in March of last year, fell out of love with the show, dropped it, and then picked up when S4 started to air. I only recently went back to rewatch the S3 episodes that I missed. And now I can't stop talking about it. I love it. I used to talk about N3 like this except I don't care so much anymore? I hope you get the chance to catch up with what you miss.

[rainsquall.livejournal.com]

I dunno whether Ziva really loves her father, though - I've always felt this air of resentment about her, mostly from 'Shalom', when she says "and you wonder why I barely talk to him anymore?" Or something along those lines. The impression I got from the two was that the father was a pretty pushy man - utterly devoted to his work and never really having time to figure out the whole fatherhood deal? Wouldn't have been the most ideal of childhoods, and he would have put a lot of pressure on Ziva and Ari, too - which would have ended up with Ari this bent-on-revenge guy, and Ziva the assassin with Super Major Daddy Issues. So yes.

Goddamnit we need more Ziva canon.

On the other hand, she was forever being belittled.
YES! Poor Kate. Like, rewatching 'Bête Noire' and 'Reveille', I noticed there seemed to be this atrraction between them - well, maybe it was more one-sided Ari being a bastard, but still! I was quite creeped out by that. It kind of went from Ari sorta pursuing Kate, even though she kept brushing him off, and then in 'Twilight'? Yeah, it was just. . .

Did that make sense?

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I think I cut that too black and white up above. But father-daughter relationships being a thing of a great many complexities, I think that as difficult as her relationship with her father may be, there's as much love as there is resentment. (Actually, you made a good point re: 'why I barely talk to him' because I always put that down as being a result of her attempting to sever ties from Israel post-Kill Ari. Except, I see what you mean.)

WE DO NEED MORE ZIVA CANON. Or, we need specific niches of that canon.

Ha! I didn't think it was all that one-sided, to be honest, heh. I mean, the reason she doesn't shoot him in Bete Noire is because she makes eye contact with him, and in Reveille (which, let's take a moment to note what a weird season finale that was) there's something lustful in that anger and frustration between them. What I could never place is whether he was actually attracted to her, or he was attracted to playing with her (because he sensed that she was attracted to him). I watched Twilight last night, and he and Kate don't meet. In fact, the only person he meets is Gibbs (who is brilliant in the cafe scene - if you go near [Kate], I don't care, I'll kill you).

Heh, I was watching with The Mother who watches the series intermittently and I thought she'd seen Twilight before. Um. Apparently not? (I quote: "Oh. Wait. She died?")