driving in cars with boys;

[ever_neutral]

17. rosaxx50 prompted: Kate/Seth/Richie and why this worked for you.

I'm using this opportunity to revive THE WRONG!SHIP MEME OF COLD SWEATS AND TERROR. Yet again I have no idea which day to put this entry, but with no further ado:

23 | a couple trio you ship for the wrong reasons that fits too many of these criteria

I mean, obviously the answer to this question is that it works for me because it's HORRIBLE IN EVERY WAY. If it isn't common knowledge that I LIVE FOR THAT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME SHIT (already going to hell, nothing to see here, etc.) then let it be so now. So yeah, when the Geckos held Kate's family hostage I was like "lol, prob gonna ship it" and then lo and behold.

Oh yeah, what other kinds of things do you pick up on? Underage girls?

That would be despicable.

*derp graphic prob to be re-edited when i cbf


I ship every leg in this trash OT3. Let me count the ways.

1. Richie/Seth speaks for itself. It's become mainstream in this day and age to ship the two outlaw brothers together BUT WHAT CAN I SAY, I'M A MAINSTREAM BITCH. The lengths to which Seth and Richie have gone ~for~ each other are respectable indeed. Seth has put Richie first to the detriment of his every relationship, turned the other cheek as Richie crosses lines that (supposedly) disgust him. He doesn't know anything else; his whole world is consumed by this "debt" he owes Richie for saving his life when they were children. Meanwhile, Richie KILLED THEIR ABUSIVE DAD 4 SETH! THAT'S LOVE, BITCH. (Well, that, and Richie just wants to watch the world burn.) Of course Seth would consider that revelation a betrayal, in part because it means the narrative of his life has been a lie the whole time. But the truth frees them to turn a corner in their codependence and, by the end of the season, Richie rides away with Santanico, and Seth with Kate, away from each other. WILL THEY BE REUNITED ONCE MORE? Probably.


2. Kate/Richie was initially squick to me thanks to that pool sequence (also nhf the weird hypersexualisation of Kate) and because frankly Richie pings me on the threat level way more than Seth ever has, which I'd say is fair considering his record of murderating people (inc. women) in both alarming and hilariously blase ways. NONETHELESS, it just goes to show that I can't have Moral Objections to ships for too long before the despicable factor starts appealing to me, which is to say that re: Kate/Richie I went from SHUDDER to YEAHHHHHHHHHH in a remarkably short amount of time! The YEAH part is largely due to the way Kate employs dat soft power after the Geckos take the Fullers hostage: she's playing on that observation of Richie's spontaneous attraction to her in an effort to throw him off -- and by the time they reach the bar, she's enjoying it too.


3. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: The beauty of From Dusk Till Dawn is that it's so balls-out insane that Kate riding off with Seth into the sunset at the end of the season is one of the less eyebrow-raising events in the show. And it is absolutely testament to my inability to give a fuck that I found this ending rather hopeful and even romantic (#a moment of silence for my psychological health). NO BUT LISTEN. Is there any trope more bulletproof than people unexpectedly banding together because of mutual abandonment? Kate's trauma is obvious: she's just lost all the family she had left, almost all at once -- first the senseless loss of her mother, followed by her brother being turned into a monster, following by her having to stake her own goddamn father. Meanwhile, Seth's built his entire life around his brother, believing they would always be Us VS. The World, only to have him apparently pick someone else. (THEM KATE|SCOTT + RICHIE|SETH PARALLELS.) They're the leftovers: the preacher's daughter whose faith has been obliterated, and the professional thief who doesn't believe in anything. It actually makes sense that after everything they'd choose to stick together, because the rest of the world no longer makes sense to either of them.

IN CONCLUSION:

✿♥‿♥✿ ✿♥‿♥✿ ✿♥‿♥✿ ✿♥‿♥✿ ✿♥‿♥✿

Comments

Part 3

[scorpiod1.livejournal.com]

So okay, full disclaimer, I am really not into Seth/Kate as a ship? /o\ (I am not sure if you're aware of this or not) It's mainly because from venturing into the tags and reading the fic, everyone or most of everyone sees and writes them as a standard happily ever after ship the sweeps under the rug the kidnapping and all the shit Seth's done and tries to make it a nice ship. Idk I have a lot of issues with the overall fandom, and I think if you took all that away, I still wouldn't be into the ship because tbh it hits some personal squicks, but I wouldn't dislike it, I just wouldn't be my thing.

But I really appreciate your thought on it, like, it makes a lot sense to me and I actually find the dynamic really interesting in terms of "well, you kidnapped me and we come from utterly different walks of life but I guess I'll go on a roadtrip with you because what else am I gonna do" kind of way. If that makes sense #I like Stockholm Syndrome fuckery too, I just rarely see people explore it. Tbh I like Seth + Kate as a platonic thing, I just can't go there in a shippy sense, but their relationship has A LOT OF POTENTIAL for interesting stuff, and I'm writing like...post S1 Seth + Kate fic that I'm sure no one will like (I'M TRYING to get done before the next season premiers lol let us hope)

I tend to see the ending as not exactly hopeful (to me, I mean. I can see why it rings hopeful, given they're the survivors riding out into the new day and where is there to go but up, so I am not trying to downplay that, but I am just...these two are gonna be so messy, man. But like, I enjoy messy so maybe that's why I focus on that?), but interesting, because Seth and Kate are probably just all out of fucks to give about most things so like, I imagine Kate's "WHY NOT GET IN THE CAR WITH THE DUDE WHO KIDNAPPED MY FAMILY. WHAT ELSE HAVE I GOT TO LOSE, LOL." and Seth is probably all out of fucks to give so instead of doing the responsible thing and drive Kate back to the border, he's gonna take her with him on whatever else he goes (I don't actually think he has any direction or idea yet). It's a really interesting state of mind for both of them and like, I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose your foundations so hard and fast and overnight, essentially. Idk. I don't exactly have feels but I have a fascination?

Part 4 LAST ONE I PROMISE

[scorpiod1.livejournal.com]

They're the leftovers: the preacher's daughter whose faith has been obliterated, and the professional thief who doesn't believe in anything. It actually makes sense that after everything they'd choose to stick together, because the rest of the world no longer makes sense to either of them.

Bless this sentence. THE WORLD NO LONGER MAKES SENSE /o\ Though I think they both come at this from different angles? I think like, in terms of thinking of them as the leftover ones that no one wants, that's important, but I see a big fundamental difference between them in what they've lost, which is--Seth tried to go with his brother at the end and had to be pushed away, while Kate is the one who explicitly pushed her brother away (for like, perfectly understandable reasons, even if they make me sad but still. I suppose you can argue that Kate lost her brother when he became a culebra, but Seth doesn't really seem to feel that way about Richie--initial bad reaction aside--and I don't think show is saying this). So while they've both gone through the same kind of hell, I think they're in different places, mentally. Seth's being rejected while I think Kate is explicitly making the choice to move away from the wreckage and redefine herself in some other way (aka rejecting Freddie's offer). Kate's the one who kills her father; Kate's the one who pushes Scott away; Kate's the one who chooses to go with Seth at the end, while Seth accepts. She's the one making these active choices (like, she's been doing this since the start--Kate makes the active choice to ditch her family and go off with her boyfriend because she wants out on this trip; which is teenagery but I was rooting for her). IDK mainly I bring it up because I actually find that factor really interesting and it's something I don't see other people bring up and it's something I tend I keep in mind.

(though I wouldn't actually say Kate's faith was obliterated? like, I actually really liked her ending, where she yells at her father that God doesn't live in the pages of a book but in them both, and i imagine Kate's taking her idea of what faith is and rethinking it and forming it on her own terms. It's weird, because I found the resolution of her arc really spiritually hopeful and I didn't expect that but I dug it (speaking as like, an atheist but former catholic lol. Sometimes Kate hit personal buttons). Granted we don't know if she changed her mind after that or if she's decided on something else (which she could have, there was a deleted scene cut from the final episode? It's SOMEWHERE. So I always worry about missing material) but I still didn't get that vibe.

Wow I'm really sorry for the length of this comment this is embarrassing I'll show myself out (I swear I tried to cut it down. But I just kept on rambling? /o\)

RE: Part 4 LAST ONE I PROMISE

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

Seth's being rejected while I think Kate is explicitly making the choice to move away from the wreckage and redefine herself in some other way (aka rejecting Freddie's offer). Kate's the one who kills her father; Kate's the one who pushes Scott away; Kate's the one who chooses to go with Seth at the end, while Seth accepts. She's the one making these active choices

A;IOSJ;DSKLJSDS;LJS#%#^ EXCELLENT POINTS. Kate's the agent with purpose, Seth is the directionless wanderer. In that sense I don't see a future dynamic where Kate gets "corrupted" by Seth. I mean, she's already had to do terrible things to survive so far, of her own volition, so I hope the show keeps up with making her the active agent in her life.

"Rearranged" would probably be a better description? Although what's really been obliterated is her faith in the people closest to her, since her father's dead and her brother's a culebra, so the only person she can believe in now (besides God) is herself. It's not a dissimilar state to the one Seth finds himself in, where he can no longer rely on Richie and has to redefine himself away from him.

NEVER APOLOGISE FOR EMBARRASSING COMMENT ESSAYS. COME BACK SOON.

RE: Part 3

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

I AM DEVO THAT YOU ARE IMMUNE TO THE KATE/SETH. I HOPE WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS.

"well, you kidnapped me and we come from utterly different walks of life but I guess I'll go on a roadtrip with you because what else am I gonna do" kind of way. If that makes sense #I like Stockholm Syndrome fuckery too, I just rarely see people explore it.

Ya. I don't need to see it "happen" either, their interactions in canon are my shit, but when I say I ship it I mean it gives me TEH FEELZ (and also I make no distinction between platonic shipping and otherwise shipping, idk). I'M ALL OVER THIS FIC IF/WHEN YOU FINISH AND POST IT.

because Seth and Kate are probably just all out of fucks to give about most things so like, I imagine Kate's "WHY NOT GET IN THE CAR WITH THE DUDE WHO KIDNAPPED MY FAMILY. WHAT ELSE HAVE I GOT TO LOSE, LOL."

QUITE. I realise my understanding of "hopeful and romantic" is fucked. (lol, I described the ending of Gone Girl in those terms too and I'm sure everyone passing by gave me a wide berth). Basically, what you're saying about "losing your foundations so hard and fast" and being in that state with another person where you're both all out of fucks to give... actually really viscerally appeals to me because it's so uncompromisingly honest, and that's why it feels "hopeful" to me (despite it being about the absence of hope) -- as opposed to, I don't know, having a relationship that's driven by idealised notions of the other person and which I'd hope would expect to crash and burn any minute. I honestly think witnessing someone at their lowest point is like... the most romantic thing that can happen, in that it's so DE-romanticised that it becomes romantic. BUT AS HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED, I DO EMOTIONS WRONG, SO FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS PARAGRAPH.