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Nov. 25th, 2010 05:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlofpreyI didn't see Tuesday's Emmerdale when it was on. My mum is working tomorrow, so we had my youngest nephew on that day instead, and when I went to watch the recorded episode later, it hadn't taped, so I had to find a repeat on ITV2 or ITV3. But I couldn't watch it because I had to have a bath and get to bed to get up for my CBT group today. But. I just watched it and tonight's episode. And oh my god. It's like the two sides of Nathan Wylde. The first one had him wandering around with cereal (!) being kind of the only sane man while Maisie was trying to pretend nothing mattered and everything was going to be fine, instead of that EVERYTHING WAS INCREDIBLY FUCKED UP. And it also turned out Nathan and Declan's hate-flirting was VERY MUCH IN TOP GEAR. Nathan walked into the office to pack some things - I don't know what since he hasn't worked there in a while and I don't know why Declan or Nicola would let him keep his stuff around - just in time to hear Declan trying to chase up his ex-wife about transferring Home Farm and the business over to him. Nathan twigged what was happening pretty much immediately and proceeded to taunt him about it, while Declan pretended he had the upper hand because he'd tricked Nathan once, at least. Declan said that he was actually going to miss Nathan, because it was nice having an easy target around. Nathan basically quietly swore revenge on him. It was amazing. Then they both tried to use Maisie to get at each other, like kind of dicks. But other than that it was kind of brilliant.
THEN TONIGHT - I don't even know, it was the night Natasha was being sentenced, and Nathan ended up being the only one going. Maisie basically didn't even consider going, and insisted that Will didn't want to go even though he didn't say anything either way, I think. Nathan went and his dad's first wife Faye was there, he didn't smile at his mum when she came into the court and looked up at the public gallery, but that might have been because Faye was there, because when Natasha was sentenced to 21 years he shouted out to the judge, begging him to change his mind, saying he didn't know what his dad put them through, and he cried. Then he went home and was angry at Will and Maisie for not coming, and Maisie was all 'what did she get?', and was properly upset when it was 21 years, so I am not sure what's happening with her. Possibly she's meant to not be handling it very well - when she was packing before she was talking about how much stuff they had, and how maybe they should just burn or bin it all, and start fresh? I don't know.
Then Nathan went down to the Woolpack, to be rude, and have another fight with Declan, and then announce to the whole pub - but especially to Declan's face - how long his mother got. Then he apparently sat in the corner with his drink, being angry, until Ryan and Cain came in, at which point he - possibly drunk - walked up to Ryan, offered to buy him a drink, got onto him about how Faye had been at the court, talked about all the money he had, and how he and Maisie and Will would be gone soon, and they were turning their backs on Ryan so at least he'd have that. And Ryan said Maisie would see through him before too long, or something, and Nathan made some truly awful remarks about how she was really messed up and she'd be putty in his hands. Then Ryan nearly attacked him, stopped only by Declan, and Cain playing the reasonable card, somehow. Nathan tried to goad Ryan into attacking him, saying he'd get him put into prison again. Then Ryan stopped and Nathan was just face to face with his two arch-nemeses/boyfriends and the half-brother he hates, in a room full of witnesses, he told Ryan that a real man fights his own battles (NATHAN DO YOU EVEN HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON THERE? Possibly in terms of him doing things, rather than any sort of fighting), then walked off, Ryan went for him again but was held back, and then stood back at the bar ominously muttering that Nathan was going to get what was coming to him.
Tomorrow is the one where the awful thing happens, or where the awful things start to happen. And he's kind of bringing it on himself, I can't tell if that's better or worse than things seeming to work out for him, and then Ryan getting his revenge just because he is still angry and doesn't think Nathan deserves to have things go right for him. But oh God. The announcer man said at the end "Will Nathan ever learn?", and APPARENTLY NOT. But it does make sense, kind of, with him having just definitely lost his mum for 20 years or so, even if she was awful, and him hurting, and kind of feeling in control with having Maisie and Will coming with him, but kind of feeling out of control because of his mum and what happened with Declan. And oh God. I hoped that the terrible things might happen less often when he wasn't desperately trying to cover up a death/murder for his horrible mother. Thinking back on anything Nathan has done, I don't know why I thought that. But I wanted to see the emotional breakdown and aftereffects of everything he'd been through, but apparently we're not going to get that, because he's leaving and they want to give him a proper exit. It is quite nice that they want to give him a proper, exciting exit. But also kind of awful. OH GOD. Why won't Declan just let him live in the house, and kind of make sarcastic quips at him, but also kind of take care of him? Why not that, dudes? OH.
THEN TONIGHT - I don't even know, it was the night Natasha was being sentenced, and Nathan ended up being the only one going. Maisie basically didn't even consider going, and insisted that Will didn't want to go even though he didn't say anything either way, I think. Nathan went and his dad's first wife Faye was there, he didn't smile at his mum when she came into the court and looked up at the public gallery, but that might have been because Faye was there, because when Natasha was sentenced to 21 years he shouted out to the judge, begging him to change his mind, saying he didn't know what his dad put them through, and he cried. Then he went home and was angry at Will and Maisie for not coming, and Maisie was all 'what did she get?', and was properly upset when it was 21 years, so I am not sure what's happening with her. Possibly she's meant to not be handling it very well - when she was packing before she was talking about how much stuff they had, and how maybe they should just burn or bin it all, and start fresh? I don't know.
Then Nathan went down to the Woolpack, to be rude, and have another fight with Declan, and then announce to the whole pub - but especially to Declan's face - how long his mother got. Then he apparently sat in the corner with his drink, being angry, until Ryan and Cain came in, at which point he - possibly drunk - walked up to Ryan, offered to buy him a drink, got onto him about how Faye had been at the court, talked about all the money he had, and how he and Maisie and Will would be gone soon, and they were turning their backs on Ryan so at least he'd have that. And Ryan said Maisie would see through him before too long, or something, and Nathan made some truly awful remarks about how she was really messed up and she'd be putty in his hands. Then Ryan nearly attacked him, stopped only by Declan, and Cain playing the reasonable card, somehow. Nathan tried to goad Ryan into attacking him, saying he'd get him put into prison again. Then Ryan stopped and Nathan was just face to face with his two arch-nemeses/boyfriends and the half-brother he hates, in a room full of witnesses, he told Ryan that a real man fights his own battles (NATHAN DO YOU EVEN HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON THERE? Possibly in terms of him doing things, rather than any sort of fighting), then walked off, Ryan went for him again but was held back, and then stood back at the bar ominously muttering that Nathan was going to get what was coming to him.
Tomorrow is the one where the awful thing happens, or where the awful things start to happen. And he's kind of bringing it on himself, I can't tell if that's better or worse than things seeming to work out for him, and then Ryan getting his revenge just because he is still angry and doesn't think Nathan deserves to have things go right for him. But oh God. The announcer man said at the end "Will Nathan ever learn?", and APPARENTLY NOT. But it does make sense, kind of, with him having just definitely lost his mum for 20 years or so, even if she was awful, and him hurting, and kind of feeling in control with having Maisie and Will coming with him, but kind of feeling out of control because of his mum and what happened with Declan. And oh God. I hoped that the terrible things might happen less often when he wasn't desperately trying to cover up a death/murder for his horrible mother. Thinking back on anything Nathan has done, I don't know why I thought that. But I wanted to see the emotional breakdown and aftereffects of everything he'd been through, but apparently we're not going to get that, because he's leaving and they want to give him a proper exit. It is quite nice that they want to give him a proper, exciting exit. But also kind of awful. OH GOD. Why won't Declan just let him live in the house, and kind of make sarcastic quips at him, but also kind of take care of him? Why not that, dudes? OH.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-25 01:45 pm (UTC)ANYWAY, I did at least see Nathan wandering around all lonely with the cereal and Maisie pretending to be all together (it's funny how Maisie's problems have been dropped, although knowing the spoilers for the end of the week I do understand why). And then him and Declan (I am still viewing this through a lens of 'they were shagging and it went badly wrong, probably about the time he got kidnapped').
TBH with the show and spoilers I am basically coming to the conclusion that Nathan may be a bastard, but Declan is just as much of one. I'm not sure what Maisie is at the moment - it seems pretty obvious even without the annoyances she's only putting up with Nathan under sufferance. I sort of want her to just walk away from Nathan/Declan/Ryan/Cain (there's a lot of men in this show whose names end in n or an) muttering about them being idiots, but on the other hand she seems to want Nathan to take care of everything. IDK. Nathan seems to get that a lot off people - they want him there to be annoyed at but they want him to do stuff for them at the same time.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 12:52 am (UTC)But the way Maisie's acting did remind me, sort of, that she only ever said she'd 'try' living with Nathan again, for Will's sake. So it's not like things really were okay, and then this just ruined them - there was always a chance she wasn't going to really forgive for even what she thought he'd done, or that it would come back out at a later date. I know you haven't watched Wednesday's episode yet, but from the way Nathan was acting, there's a good chance that Declan and Ryan thought Maisie needed protecting from him as much as they wanted to ruin things for him - and to be honest, while he's in 'Controlling twat' mode and still in that mindset of having to 'protect' them, whilever he was lying to them, maybe her and Will are better off without him. It's sad, but the only way he could have probably got some sympathy off anyone was to explain exactly what it was like trying to help his mum, and why he did it. And while he was lying about what he did, that probably wasn't going to happen. And again - the only way it seems like he's going to be able to get out of his weird mindset and stop doing fucked up things, is to talk about what he did and how he felt about it all, so he can realise or come to terms with - or someone else can point out - how fucked up it all was. But the only people he'd probably want to or feel safe enough telling are Maisie and Will, and they might well never want to talk to him again. Oh Nathan.
Anyway.
Nathan seems to get that a lot off people - they want him there to be annoyed at but they want him to do stuff for them at the same time.
I know. That was basically the relationship he seemed to have with Natasha, especially up to just before she was imprisoned. Apparently that's the way you deal with rich, fairly competent people who don't have a massive amount of social skills, down Emmerdale way. It's incredibly frustrating, really - the amount of times people said he was sick, he was twisted, he wasn't right in the head - and yet they never thought, actually, maybe he's NOT right in the head, and needs some serious help. Easier just to believe he's a complete bastard/just like Natasha, I suppose. That's kind of why I like the (melodramatic) idea of him coming back as a super-businessman to strip mine the town in a few years - it's kind of indulgent, but just that idea that hurting him and playing games with him doesn't actually make things any better, it just makes him - and then things generally - worse. It's just like that constant cycle of he's hurt or angry, he does something awful, people get their own back on him, he gets more hurt or angry, he does something worse, people do something worse to get their own back on him, he gets more hurt and angry...etc, etc. And no-one seems to want to try to break that cycle. I know it's not their job, and they weren't going to do it just before he left, I guess. But still. It's irritating, and awful.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 02:30 pm (UTC)TBH I still kind of think Will is better off without either of them (and his mum), sometimes. I know it's soap, but they're all sooo screwed up.
I think that's a good point, no-one does want to let him talk, and he needs to.
Yeah, I think maybe somewhere it crossed a line from 'he's privileged and not very good with people' to 'actually, he's just a bastard'. And he is, but he's a maniuplated bastard as well as manipulative.
I sort of want him to break the cycle while he's away - not entirely, but enough that he comes back and someone like Cain, say, can no longer automatically get the better of him.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 10:18 pm (UTC)Yeah, he was clearly always a bit of a bastard. But it just seems like a lot of that is that game-playing is just what he's used to, or his only weapon when things go wrong and he's scared - and with Natasha for a mother, that doesn't seem terribly suprising - and no-one wants to try saying 'Actually, let's try not playing any games, and just see how that works'. And it's just really sad. But like I say, it's not like his behaviour has ever led them to try anything else.
I sort of want him to break the cycle while he's away - not entirely, but enough that he comes back and someone like Cain, say, can no longer automatically get the better of him.
Given that it seems quite likely he might end up in a lunatic asylum after everything that's happened to him, maybe he will hopefully. It's just kind of sad that we won't get to see any of that happen. Although maybe that's what this massive, painful ending is about - making things as bad as possible for him and having him get no sympathy or real opportunity to talk about, so it's all still there to talk about and deal with should he ever come back. Although I don't know how they'd be able to keep it in character, to have it come out after all that time. Who knows.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 12:53 am (UTC)I am still viewing this through a lens of 'they were shagging and it went badly wrong, probably about the time he got kidnapped'
If it was angry, hate-sex, then I could kind of buy that. I don't know if I could see them being nice to each other, especially given that just before Nathan got kidnapped Declan was trying to bribe Natasha into sending him to prison. But if it was another way of screwing him over, so to speak, then yes, I could see that. It has long been a part of my personal canon that Nathan would be totally up for hate sex with Declan, out of a feeling that he was getting one over on Declan by getting a reaction out of him and a sort of slightly masochistic urge of his own - but that the minute Declan tried to be nice to him, he would just freak out. It makes consent issues tricky, but kind of great. I'm still seeing it through the lens of 'Nathan is too weird and fucked up for Declan to be able to come to terms with how much he really likes him', to be honest. Which is sort of equally fucked up and great.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 02:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-11-26 11:50 pm (UTC)Mmm, yeah. To be honest, Declan's old phrase, "I don't think I'd ever get sick of walking away from you" does keep running through my head nowadays. I still have vague hope though, that if Declan really is 'basically a good man' like they keep claiming he is, that if he ever found out just how messed up he was or what it had been like for him, helping out his mother, that he could sympathise with him, or even help him. Possibly in spite of himself. I do quite love them still, even though things have gone really pretty wrong with them lately.