marbleglove (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marbleglove) wrote2010-06-13 11:07 pm
marbleglove) wrote2010-06-13 11:07 pm
Entry tags:
Plot-bunny: Primeval / Highlander
So, I've recently started re-watching Primeval, a simply wonderful bit of recent schlocky sci-fi from the BBC. There are portals through time and creatures (like dinosaurs) are coming through those portals into London, and must be caught and sent back where they came from. All done by various beautiful people, of course. And there are quite a few interesting love-triangles, although it's unclear (to me at least) how many of those were intentional.
But anyway, one character is Stephen Hart, how is not only utterly gorgeous but also wonderful at everything he does: he's a great academic, a great fighter, a great shot, and just plain uber-competent. Except in his love-life which he is terrible at sorting out: he's obviously in love with his boss but had an affair with his boss' wife instead, and is apparently oblivious to the crushes that various other characters have on him, including his boss who he clearly should have seduced in the first place, since it wouldn't have taken much, especially after the wife abandoned them both and was declared dead eight years ago.
However, things get messy and the boss, the wife, and Stephen are, at one point, in front of a door that's jammed open. It can now only be closed from the other side, which has ravening hordes of creatures inside it. So, whoever goes inside will die, but will save the rest of the neighborhood. There's much arguing, and it's pretty clear that both Stephen and the boss think the wife should be the one, since the situation is her fault anyways. But, given that she's the sort of person who creates messes like that, she's not exactly the self-sacrificing sort. She refuses. Then there's this taut moment when Stephen and the boss both consider it. The boss says he'll do it, but then Stephen steps in before he can go through with it. Thus the end of Stephen: torn apart by ravening dinosaurs etc.
My thought is that Stephen was a Highlander-style Immortal. This would, among other things, explain how he's so good at everything he does. And possibly also why the whole sexual awareness is a bit lacking. Maybe he grew up somewhere where women were chattel and homosexuality was treasonous.
He's still dead: Highlander-style Immortals do not survive being torn into little bits and then eaten.
The issue comes when the executor of his will comes to town. The executor is another Immortal. The way I see it, most Immortals would have two wills at all times. One will is the one that would come into effect if they were simply killing off an old identity. They'd then take the second will with them so that it was never found and they maintain control over various assets that their last identity didn't officially have. However, if they're challenged and loose their head, then the second will is found and the rest of the assets get dealt with.
However, there wasn't a challenge, and the head of the project that hired Stephen would be trying to cover up the manner of his death, saying it was a work-place accident or something. The executor of the will is not convinced: it's pretty rare, now-a-days to have a workplace accident involve decapitation, after all. Of course, he's not saying that that's the reason for his suspicion.
Eventually, Nick Cutter (the boss) discovers that Stephen was immortal and feels even worse about the death than before, and the executor has to raise an eyebrow and point out that it doesn't actually make the sacrifice any more tragic than it ever was.
And possibly the executor winds up going through one of the anomalies (the portals) back to the past. And then just ages forward again. And Nick Cutter is really bemused.
But in the end, the story is really about the complexities of cleaning up after an Immortal's death. Because they tend to have complicated social and financial lives and those lives are always ended abruptly, generally under unusual circumstances.
But anyway, one character is Stephen Hart, how is not only utterly gorgeous but also wonderful at everything he does: he's a great academic, a great fighter, a great shot, and just plain uber-competent. Except in his love-life which he is terrible at sorting out: he's obviously in love with his boss but had an affair with his boss' wife instead, and is apparently oblivious to the crushes that various other characters have on him, including his boss who he clearly should have seduced in the first place, since it wouldn't have taken much, especially after the wife abandoned them both and was declared dead eight years ago.
However, things get messy and the boss, the wife, and Stephen are, at one point, in front of a door that's jammed open. It can now only be closed from the other side, which has ravening hordes of creatures inside it. So, whoever goes inside will die, but will save the rest of the neighborhood. There's much arguing, and it's pretty clear that both Stephen and the boss think the wife should be the one, since the situation is her fault anyways. But, given that she's the sort of person who creates messes like that, she's not exactly the self-sacrificing sort. She refuses. Then there's this taut moment when Stephen and the boss both consider it. The boss says he'll do it, but then Stephen steps in before he can go through with it. Thus the end of Stephen: torn apart by ravening dinosaurs etc.
My thought is that Stephen was a Highlander-style Immortal. This would, among other things, explain how he's so good at everything he does. And possibly also why the whole sexual awareness is a bit lacking. Maybe he grew up somewhere where women were chattel and homosexuality was treasonous.
He's still dead: Highlander-style Immortals do not survive being torn into little bits and then eaten.
The issue comes when the executor of his will comes to town. The executor is another Immortal. The way I see it, most Immortals would have two wills at all times. One will is the one that would come into effect if they were simply killing off an old identity. They'd then take the second will with them so that it was never found and they maintain control over various assets that their last identity didn't officially have. However, if they're challenged and loose their head, then the second will is found and the rest of the assets get dealt with.
However, there wasn't a challenge, and the head of the project that hired Stephen would be trying to cover up the manner of his death, saying it was a work-place accident or something. The executor of the will is not convinced: it's pretty rare, now-a-days to have a workplace accident involve decapitation, after all. Of course, he's not saying that that's the reason for his suspicion.
Eventually, Nick Cutter (the boss) discovers that Stephen was immortal and feels even worse about the death than before, and the executor has to raise an eyebrow and point out that it doesn't actually make the sacrifice any more tragic than it ever was.
And possibly the executor winds up going through one of the anomalies (the portals) back to the past. And then just ages forward again. And Nick Cutter is really bemused.
But in the end, the story is really about the complexities of cleaning up after an Immortal's death. Because they tend to have complicated social and financial lives and those lives are always ended abruptly, generally under unusual circumstances.