An Alternate Timeline Headcanon for the Final Episode of Last Twilight

or; There Was A Much Better Way To Handle This And It Wasn't Timeskips: Plotting Out MorkDay Post-Breakup to a Satisfactory Happy Ending

or; I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS I HAVE TO DO THIS! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A FREAKING SERIES!

... *ahem*. Apparently this is my coping strategy.

Disclaimer: I'm keeping the breakup at the end of episode 11, because I actually believe the conflict of it was in character for both of them, and I wanted so badly to see it handled well, and... well, we all know it wasn't.

Let's set some parameters for this. Going into this finale, we needed to sort through three main things (thank you very much @lurkingshan, your post about this is the inspiration and I 100% agree):

Day's trajectory of acceptance in the narrative

ableism in Day's family and the unresolved issues they have

Mork's trauma vs. Day's trauma, aka the reason for the breakup

Before we dive into the plot part, let's go into a little more detail on each.

I wrote recently about how filtering female characters through the male gaze can cause a project’s “center of gravity” to shift away from the agency and autonomy of female characters. This is how we end up w/ stories where women are there (narratively) to be pretty arm candy, or objects of sexual desire, or romantic partners (half a ship) vs characters who shape their own romantic and life choices. This is how we get female characters subjected to endless, pointless pain and trauma — usually sexual assault/ rape narratives (GoT, Veronica Mars). Or female characters who sacrifice endlessly and forgive every transgression, so that a man can be redeemed/ understood/ forgiven. (Why else would Buffy forgive Spike?) As I said, I don’t think every silly, guilty pleasure TV show or movie has to be a feminist icon story. Men can tell good stories about women. And give me flawed, complicated, nuanced characters and relationships any and every day of the week. I prefer truthful storytelling, not a kind of hagiography w/a side of feminism for my female characters.

Still, I had to just shake my head — after gagging on my coffee — when I saw the recent TV Line article quoting a senior executive at HULU as saying that the negative reaction to the ending of S4 Veronica Mars was A-O-K b/c it was a testament to how much people love the show. And, that the end was all part of RT’s super-well-thought-grand-plan to make VM into a noir detective show where Veronica solves random mysteries in random places and has no friends, no family, no relationships — having been an asshole to everyone in S4. Never mind S4 Veronica’s questionable detective skills, as evidenced by her failure to figure out who was behind the bombings until it was too late. Yeah. Whatever.

Of course, I didn’t stop at the article. I had to look at the comments. The official RT fanboy line appears to be that people who hated the ending are basically weak, stupid (heterosexual, I guess) girls who are upset that we won’t get to look at Jason D’s abs anymore. Apparently, we just don’t understand RT’s art and vision. Sad, really.

And so it goes. Once again, female fans are reduced to unthinking, stupid, crying hordes upset when we don’t get our happily-ever-after.

This is such complete and total bullshit. I hated all of S4 Veronica. VM in S4 is an unrecognizable asshole. She mocks Logan for seeking help for his PTSD. She misses or ignores her dad’s health crisis. She’s casually racist. She randomly uses drugs w/ strangers. She’s terrible to her friends (Weevil). And she’s the worst detective ever. Killing Logan off as some kind of suffer porn for VM was just one more piece of the shitty story telling that was S4. Especially since there was zero narrative explanation of how or why smart, gritty teenager Veronica fell into the abyss of self-loathing, self-absorption and cruelty that defines her in S4.

To my mind, though, the mansplaining from HULU, RT and crew is one of many examples of how Hollywood dismisses female fans along with female characters. In addition to Veronica Mars, I’ve written about how Shadowhunters TV betrayed both its female characters and many of its female fans. And, just as happened w/ Veronica Mars, when people objected, the show runners and their shills told us that we didn’t understand the showrunners’ art or storytelling; that we were upset bc not all of the couples got a wedding, that fan fiction could sort out the narrative mess left after the finale. As if completely sidelining the protagonist and her romantic partner, then tacking on a rom com meet cute at the end, made it all ok.

It wasn’t OK. It was BS. And, depressingly, not a surprise when one examines how the show treated its female characters and fan base all along.

- Cassie Clare, the author behind the six book series, has hinted on her Tumblr blog that from the very beginning, the male producers and show runners behind the TV adaption did not value her heavily female fan base. The show even added a lot of computers/ tech (explicitly NOT canon in the Shadowhunters universe), and made a character a police officer (not a bookstore owner) and added a police procedural framework when it launched to attract an older male audience according to Clare. (Aside from the tech not canon issues, gender stereotyping on who likes computers much?!?)

More importantly, the storytelling around female characters, and the treatment of their sexuality, showed the lack of regard the show had for female characters and their fans. Where to even start:

- The show aged-up the characters — which I am totally on board with — but then cast an actor who is only six years older than Matt D. (he played Alec) to play Mayrse, Alec’s (and Izzy and Jace’s adoptive) mother. 6 years!?! There are plenty of skilled, age appropriate performers one could have picked. Don’t tell me that casting decision was the product of anything other than the male gaze.

- Book Mayrse is a complicated and not always likeable character. Totally cool. Show Mayrse exists in S1 of SHTV for the sole purpose of being bigoted and homophobic re Alec (with a side of slut-shaming for her daughter Izzy). Then, in S3, she exists solely to be punished (w/ a random de-rune-ing) and then redeemed for her homophobia by becoming “captain of the Malec ship.” S3 Mayrse seems to be entirely unaware that she has other children. Not Izzy. And not depressed, and suicidal Jace. A more richly observed character who is a mother would not act this way.

-Book Izzy is sexy and body positive. And a formidable warrior. Awesome. Show Izzy is often reduced to slutty eye candy in S1. She’s turned into a drug addict in S2. And, then, in S3 and the finale, she’s charged w caretaking duties for Jace (bc the show ignored the parabatai bond bw Alec and Jace and Mayrse was absent, as noted above). And, in the climactic fight scene, she’s disarmed by Clary (who had been training for a couple of months at that point) and needs to be saved by Simon, her non-Shadowhunter soon to be boyfriend. Simon is hugely heroic in the books, as is Clary, but their heroism is not at the expense of, or in place of, Izzy’s strength and heroism.

- Clary, the protagonist, is wholly sidelined in 3B and the finale. I won’t go down this rabbithole again, except to say that the show’s decision to strip Clary of her entire narrative arc — her mother, her father figure, her memories, her magic, her identity her chosen family, and her love — deeply, deeply betrayed the character and her fans.

- And, as I’ve written before, the dark Clary storyline seemed more about putting Kat M. In sexy clothes and having her act in a sexually aggressive way toward Jace (let’s call it what it was - the show hinted that she went down on Jace in a club while Jace was distraught over losing Clary and basically roofied) (bc sexually aggressive women are either slutty or evil on SHTV, I guess.). It made no sense.

-The whole Climon storyline was cringe worthy, and her weird shame-y commentary on Jace’s past sex life made no sense either.

- Maia hooking up w/ Jace behind a bar, and forgiving her attacker.

The list goes on and on.

I am sick and tired of Hollywood reducing female characters and female fans to unsophisticated, silly, shallow people looking only for the love of a (generally straight white) man. I am sick of shows sacrificing female characters and their fans to tell stories about other characters, even when those stories are worthy. (We shouldn’t have had to choose between, say, Magnus, Alec and Malec, and Clary, Jace and Clace.). I am sick of characters and fans serving as a mirror or vehicle for other characters’ stories.

I give, but I never receive

I speak, but I'm never heard

I'm here, but not seen

Is it too much to be acknowledged?

Is it too much for my needs to be met?

Why can't happiness be mine too?

No matter how I ask, I'm never answered

No matter how I try, it never changes

No matter how I cry, it always hurts

No matter how it goes, it always repeats

We all gathered up into the car again, exhausted from being on our feet. I could feel my eyes getting heavier and heavier watching the sun's rays fade into night as we past mile after mile. Compared to the car ride to the hospital, full of laughter and merriment, this was especially quiet. I didn't mind. 

  "I'm boooored!" whined Nicole in her typical fashion. No, don't care that the general rest of the car was in a melancholic tone, worry about yourself. I tried loving her as she was apart of the group, but it was really, really hard sometimes. I rolled my eyes and looked over to John who was sitting straight across from me. I looked at him a lot, to be frank, and sometimes I caught him looking back, but I'm sure that it was just coincidence. Written all over his face was the same feeling of annoyance I was feeling. 

  "Why don't we play a question game of some sort?" suggested Nicole's mom, who was driving. Ever at her daughter's beckon call, I was amazed at how much she did for her daughter and manage to not smack her upside the head once in a while. Then again, Nicole would probably literally attempt to kill her. The anger issues on that girl…

  For the next ten minutes I listened to the questions and answers from each of the people in the full SUV, closing my eyes trying to sleep partially because I'm awful at answering and asking questions, and partially just because I was honestly tired as fuck. I stretched out across the car seat, careful not to touch John, but enough to make him take notice. I don't know why I tried these small, daring acts, but they gave me a little satisfaction. The questions were atypical of a bunch of teenagers, so as you can imagine, quite deep, with gems like, "Who do you like?", "How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had?". Moderately interesting, but not exactly my cup of tea. Everyone always lies anyway.

  "Allie, what about you?" asked Michelle. Dammit, she must have seen me move or something. 

  Act dumb. "What about me, what?" I replied back. 

  "Who have you gone out with this year? Or *do* you have someone special in your life right now?" she waggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

  My heart started racing. The car was silent. Could they hear it? What did I say? In my peripheral vision I watched as John, who had previously been occupying himself with his own work, stop writing. 

  He wanted an answer? Fine, I'll give a real nice answer. 

  "Well, um, I mean, I've gone out with a few guys this year, but none that really meant anything. At least, I didn't to them, obviously."

  I saw him take a large breath and sigh, looking out though his window. Purposefully not in my direction. 

  Maybe I was a bit too catty.