One last S&A thought before bed

[icepixie]

Okay, I feel really dense, but I was just watching the scene in 1x3 where Geoffrey and Terry are in the bar (research!), and...was Terry supposed to be attracted to Geoffrey? Because the, "Life cannot compete with that." / "I can't compete with that," exchange seriously makes me wonder.

For further, er, research, I ended up spending a few hours tonight watching S1 episodes of due South. Man, I'd forgotten how gorgeously that show was shot, and how even more gorgeously it was edited. I think car chases are pretty much the most boring thing in the world to watch, but the one from "Gift of the Wheelman," with the Sarah McLachlan song, "Steaming," in the background, is just riveting. It's so, so well put-together. (That whole episode is really a gem. Bob shows up! Fraser gets some excellent speeches! The plot is touching without being saccharine!)

Comments

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

Dunno. I think it's possible for Terry to be attracted to Geoffrey's life without actually being attracted to Geoffrey. He's saying his life can't compete with that, and he's re-imagining himself as an actor based on how he sees Geoffrey. (When Terry shows up again at the opening, it's the acting he's intoxicated with, not his proximity to Geoffrey.) So it's a kind of attraction, I guess, but not necessarily a sexual kind.

Then again, that's sort of my default soapbox reading, because our collective tendency to conflate 'like' and 'like like' in tv relationships bugs me. :) Anyway, I haven't seen that episode in ages.

[icepixie]

That was my original reading, that Terry was attracted to acting/what Geoffrey described rather than Geoffrey. But the exact dialogue makes me wonder...why would he say "I can't compete," rather than just agreeing that life can't compete, or his life can't compete, or something like that?

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

My first reading of that line was, "I can't compete with that [story]" -- like, I can't one-up you there, my life hasn't included anything comparable.

Anyway, what else could he have said? Not "My life can't compete with that" -- because Geoffrey is comparing his life and his acting, but Terry is comparing his life-plus-career to Geoffrey's life-plus-career, and "my life can't compete with that" wouldn't allow for that distinction. It'd just sound like Terry's saying his regular life can't compete to Geoffrey's acted life. (I guess that's my big problem with Terry as bisexual in this scene: if he's saying "I can't compete with that [romantically]," then he's missing that distinction too, because nothing can compete and that's Geoffrey's point.) And "My career can't compete with that" is just lame.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

My first reading of that line was, "I can't compete with that [story]" -- like, I can't one-up you there, my life hasn't included anything comparable.

Agreed; that's how I interpreted it, too. And I am all over subtext usually. :)

[icepixie]

And I am all over subtext usually. :)

I think I managed to put some extremely, extremely mild Geoffrey/Fraser subtext into my crossover, mostly thanks to Oliver. I'm pretty sure I should be afraid.

[icepixie]

Anyway, what else could he have said?

I think he could've said "My life can't compete with that," maybe in a mocking kind of way, like, "Yeah, of course my life isn't as cool as this thing you do for a living"? Keeping in mind that both of them were really, really drunk at the time.

I dunno; like I said, my first reading of it was basically the same as yours, that Terry was saying he had no comparable experiences and was otherwise agreeing that acting was The Best Thing Ever. I just happened to wonder this time, perhaps because I'd just finished attempting to write some Oliver/Geoffrey subtext into my current piece...