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rangersyl Don't get me wrong, I love J/I fic, and there is some fantastic stuff out there. And even right now, I'm following several stories that I really enjoy. But some things I see drive me right up the wall. And most of it has to do with Irina.
I'm primarily a Jack fan. JBE (Jack Bristow Enforcer) to the extreme. And can I say it? I enjoyed S1 Alias more than S2. I've got my Mom hooked on Alias now and we're done watching S1, and halfway through S2 at this point. My misgivings with S2 are primarily that Jack as a character was purposely weakened in order to make Irina look good. His entire arc was centered around Irina and he was a tool used to enhance her standing.
Enter a significant quantity of current fanfic. It's all about Irina, and it annoys the heck out of me. Yes, Irina is smart, deadly, mysterious, sexy, and all that. But many authors (like the S2 writers) can only illustrate that if they keep Jack standing still and ineffectual as Irina runs circles around the poor man.
The other thing that sticks in my craw is the twisted concept that Jack is somehow a jerk, or worse, because he can't bring himself to trust Irina. Many authors understand that Jack doesn't trust her, but they don't understand WHY. So he's written as the bad guy, the mean old Jack who won't give sweet little Irina the benefit of the doubt when everyone around him can see that she really means well. And then to add insult to injury, legions of feedbacking fans punctuate this with 'ooh that mean old Jack.... etc. etc.'.
Puh-leaze.
The amount of psychological damage Irina did to Sydney and Jack cannot be underestimated. It cannot. Lesser people would not have been able to pull their lives back together. As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
synaesthete7 has succinctly pointed out: Jack is not a jerk. He simply has a healthy sense of self-preservation when it comes to Irina. And he's learned the hard way not to set that aside.
The burden of earned trust is firmly on Irina's shoulders. It is Jack who must go against all he has learned in twenty years to take a leap of faith. For me, that is the fascination of the relationship, the question of trust, when it is earned and bestowed.
And maybe that's why I have a hard time trying to write J/I, because I just can't wrap my brain around Irina to the point where I'm comfortable interpreting her motives.
That being said, in many ways, I am actually enjoying S3 more than S2. Gone is the whole Irina thing that was like watching a train wreck. You knew she was going to betray them, it wasn't going to be pretty, and it was only a matter of time. Now Jack seems to have found himself, is growing as a person, and his development isn't hinged on Irina.
If only Lena Olin would come back now so we could perhaps see a more equitable relationship in action.
Any Irina apologists out there?
I'm primarily a Jack fan. JBE (Jack Bristow Enforcer) to the extreme. And can I say it? I enjoyed S1 Alias more than S2. I've got my Mom hooked on Alias now and we're done watching S1, and halfway through S2 at this point. My misgivings with S2 are primarily that Jack as a character was purposely weakened in order to make Irina look good. His entire arc was centered around Irina and he was a tool used to enhance her standing.
Enter a significant quantity of current fanfic. It's all about Irina, and it annoys the heck out of me. Yes, Irina is smart, deadly, mysterious, sexy, and all that. But many authors (like the S2 writers) can only illustrate that if they keep Jack standing still and ineffectual as Irina runs circles around the poor man.
The other thing that sticks in my craw is the twisted concept that Jack is somehow a jerk, or worse, because he can't bring himself to trust Irina. Many authors understand that Jack doesn't trust her, but they don't understand WHY. So he's written as the bad guy, the mean old Jack who won't give sweet little Irina the benefit of the doubt when everyone around him can see that she really means well. And then to add insult to injury, legions of feedbacking fans punctuate this with 'ooh that mean old Jack.... etc. etc.'.
Puh-leaze.
The amount of psychological damage Irina did to Sydney and Jack cannot be underestimated. It cannot. Lesser people would not have been able to pull their lives back together. As
synaesthete7 has succinctly pointed out: Jack is not a jerk. He simply has a healthy sense of self-preservation when it comes to Irina. And he's learned the hard way not to set that aside. The burden of earned trust is firmly on Irina's shoulders. It is Jack who must go against all he has learned in twenty years to take a leap of faith. For me, that is the fascination of the relationship, the question of trust, when it is earned and bestowed.
And maybe that's why I have a hard time trying to write J/I, because I just can't wrap my brain around Irina to the point where I'm comfortable interpreting her motives.
That being said, in many ways, I am actually enjoying S3 more than S2. Gone is the whole Irina thing that was like watching a train wreck. You knew she was going to betray them, it wasn't going to be pretty, and it was only a matter of time. Now Jack seems to have found himself, is growing as a person, and his development isn't hinged on Irina.
If only Lena Olin would come back now so we could perhaps see a more equitable relationship in action.
Any Irina apologists out there?
