#Thorn and Rusty are hypocrites

[coco0milkshake]

Gonna be spreading my ‘Rusty befriends and takes care of Nine’ propaganda because I REFUSE to believe they leave him alone in the Grim

[sincerelybluevase]

Fairy Tale Retellings, Little Red Riding Hood: Rouge, Part Five (FINAL)

Part one- part two- part three- part four

Poivre heard them before she saw them.

She left the path and slipped between the slim birches, pressing herself against them till she was safely out of sight.

The men were drunk, though solely from drink or from liquor mixed with euphoria, Poivre didn't know. They were loud, leaves crackling under their boots, branches snapping.

"It went up like a torch. It's a good thing it was already dead. Its screams might have attracted others," someone said.

"What did you expect? They burn as well as any animal."

"The smell, though..."

They came into view. There was at least a dozen of them. They carried knives and shovels and cudgels, holding them so tight that their knuckles were white.

Poivre had a knife, too. She could take it out of her basket and stab one of them in the kidneys, in the neck... But there were many of them, and revenge was not her goal; Wolfsbane and grand-maman were. She pressed her body closer against the birches, her breathing shallow. They should not see her.

"Of course they smell. Magic is disgusting, and they're full of it."

"This fairy isn't anymore, though," Gustave said. His eyelid had swollen shut.

Oh, God, Poivre thought. Her stomach lurched. Were they talking about Wolfsbane? Please, God, no...

"Shut up," someone she recognised as Pierre said. "Do you really want to boast about this in a forest filled with fairies?"

The men glanced around, their mouths grim, their irises rimmed with white. "Come on. Let's get home. It'll be dark soon," a man with a shovel murmured. The others nodded, and moved a little quicker, their feet throwing up leaves and dust.

Poivre stared at her hands. They had started shaking, had become slick with sweat. Her knuckles were raw from where she'd punched Gustave. The skin had split when she'd shown her knife to the goldenrod. Blood had trickled down her fingers, forming dark crusts under her nails. It had dried and turned rusty, almost the same colour as some of the leaves at her feet.

"I mustn't dawdle," she whispered.

But you've heard them. Wolfsbane is already dead and burned...

She shook her head and stepped onto the path again. The wind ruffled her hair and pushed her on.

"Time to go to grand-maman," Poivre said.

***

She smelled it before she saw the cottage. The air was thick with the scent of burning wood, of burning flesh. It smelled as if someone was roasting a pig. The scent was a hearty one, and made her stomach rumble. Poivre pressed a hand against her belly, trying to swallow down the sour surge that fought its way up her throat when she realised what exactly it was that she was smelling.

Then, the road curved, and grand-maman's cottage came into view. The door had been wrenched from its top hinge, and hung at a strange angle, the wood groaning and straining as gravity pulled at it, trying to tear it from the bottom hinge, too.

The smoke came from the garden. She circled the house slowly, not wanting to see what had been burned yet irresistibly drawn to it. She had to know for certain; this state of not-knowing, this doubt that seemed perpetual would surely kill her if it lasted much longer.

The fire had already died. It had reduced the wood to ashes and glowing embers, and scorched the grass around it. The smoke was hot as a person's breath.

Poivre's hands had gone numb. The thing on the pyre didn't look much like a person at all. It had blackened and cracked and shrunken till it was quite unrecognisable. She took it for another piece of wood, at first.

She had to tear her eyes away. She didn't feel her legs as she stumbled away. She fell on her knees, doubled up, and moaned. How long she stayed like that, she couldn't say. It couldn't have been very long; the sun had just dipped below the horizon when she straightened herself and picked up her basket.

The door had sagged a little more on its hinges. The dying sunlight fell through the windows at the other end of the cottage, throwing the bundles of herbs that hung from the rafters in stark relief.

Poivre took the knife in her hand, her knuckles smarting. "Grand-maman. I've brought you something," she whispered.

She went inside.

***

"Are you not going to say anything?"

She heard Jean's voice as she stood in the hallway, her breathing shallow. Had he heard her?

"There was nothing we could've done, grand-maman. You know it," Jean continued. Was he pleading?

Poivre shivered, almost dropping the knife. What had she expected? She wasn't sure.

"Don't give me that look!" He laughed, hollow and throaty and horrible. "Don't you dare give me that look! Not after how you ruined my family!" His voice grew soft. "Oh, you know you did! Why did you have to save that disgusting thing? It would've died if not for your interference. But no, you had to help it, like Amélie had to. She was a good woman but for that need to help everyone, everything..."

His words were slurred. Was he drunk?

"I know the village needed another fairy for when you died, but why did it have to be Poivre? Why did it have to be placed in my family? Like a cuckoo... And now I had to do what needed to be done to make her stay. Did you think I would let her go after all she cost me?"

He was silent for a little while, waiting for a reply that didn't come. "I didn't mean to kill that fairy, but the village wanted his blood. Gustave wanted it. I don't blame him. You should've seen Poivre. She was quite wild. She'd have done you proud, I'm sure."

Silence.

" WHY WON'T YOU SPEAK?" A glass shattered.

She hated him.

She hated him so much it was a physical thing, coiled and quivering, sending little tremors through her hands. Her ire chased away the horrible numbness that had taken a hold of her from the moment she'd seen the blackened corpse in the fire.

She would kill Jean.

Poivre darted inside, her teeth bared in a snarl.

She took in the room in less than a heartbeat. Grand-maman was lying in bed, wearing a white nightgown that buttoned all the way up to her throat. She had turned her head away. Jean sat on a chair, nursing a bottle of cheap wine. His eyes were bloodshot and widened in surprise as she flew at him.

He tried to grab the butcher's knife that lay beside a plate with half a slice of bread, but Poivre was quicker. She snatched the plate from the table and smashed it against his hand. It broke into three jagged pieces, cutting Jean's palm. Thick, hot blood pulsed out of the cut. She swept the knife from the table and pressed her own against his throat.

Jean breathed hard. His Adam's apple bobbed. It dragged along her knife. A sliver of skin stuck to the blade. A little blood trickled down. His filthy collar soaked it up.

How easy, she thought.

"You shouldn't be here," Jean murmured.

She pulled the knife back a little so he wouldn't filet his throat by talking.

"Oh, I'm exactly where I should be. Didn't you say so yourself? Didn't you say this is why you've kept me all these years?" She spoke through gritted teeth.

"Poivre, I..."

"Shut up. You don't get to do the talking. You don't get to decide anything anymore." She tightened her grip on the handle. Her hands were slick with sweat, but they'd stopped trembling.

Jean swallowed again, but snapped his mouth shut.

He actually listens to me. It's easy. It's so easy. Laughter bubbled up in her throat, hysterical and mad. She talked so as not to laugh, so as not to sob.

"You've killed him," she moaned. "You've killed Wolfsbane. You've shot him and hunted him and when you found him, you murdered him and burned him. And for what? Because he asked to marry me?"

She swallowed. Her throat was small, her spittle thick as leather. "Because he said he'd take me away? Because then I was no longer a thing that belonged to the village, but my own person?"

Members of the Fair Folk never cried, but her vision swam, and she felt close to weeping.

"Or was it because he was fae?"

Her eyes slipped to the side, to grand-maman. She was in bed, lying very still, her chest rising and falling rapidly but rather shallowly.

"Don't kill me," he whispered.

She turned her gaze on Jean again.

"Why shouldn't I?" She bit her lip till the skin split and blood bloomed in her mouth. It tasted like warm iron. "You've been nothing but cruel to me, you and the villagers. You've spat at me and called me names, and not just me; you've locked grand-maman away in this cottage, far from everyone. You've isolated her and called her sinful. Father Gabriel called her the product of ungodly fornication, and you all nodded and agreed, but sent me to get her remedies anyway. You are filthy hypocrites. And now, you've ruined my one chance at happiness. Why shouldn't I?"

His bloodshot eyes locked with hers. "Because you believe you're better than that."

She grabbed a fistful of his greasy hair and yanked his head back. He yelped.

"Don't you dare, you pig. Don't you dare act as if you know what I am. I'm not some stupid young girl you can talk into doing what you want. I'm not some... some delicate little flower. I am stem and wood and thorns," she hissed.

"No. You are so much more," grand-maman rasped, voice impossibly deep.

She turned her head to her. Grand-maman's eyes flickered golden.

In that moment, Poivre realised what had happened.

She smiled, and sobbed.

Jean pushed her hand with the knife away, and lunged at the butcher's knife.

Poivre was still fast, though. She darted forward and stepped on his fingers as they closed around the hilt. Jean moaned and tried to push her foot away, but she only stepped down harder. She squatted down, her knife at his throat once more.

"You filthy..." Jean grunted.

"Colette asked me not to kill you. For the love that I bear her, I will let you go. Know that I've could've killed you a hundred times over. Now, be gone," she hissed. She removed her foot and kicked the cleaver away, under grand-maman's bed.

Jean stumbled as he got to his feet. For one moment, he looked as if he was going to lunge at her.

"I won't hurt you, but other members of the Fair Folk might," Poivre said. She nodded at the forest that stretched around the cottage on all sides. "After all, it'll be dark before you're home. Two miles of forest, and you're all alone..."

Jean shivered, and ran.

Poivre dropped her knife and fell down at grand-maman's bedside.

Grand-maman turned to her.

"Grand-maman, such strange eyes you have," Poivre murmured. They were not entirely black, like they'd always been. Gold swirled inside the darkness.

Grand-maman placed her hand on Poivre's cheek. Poivre put her own hand over it, stroking the knuckles. "Grand-maman, such strange hands you have." They had always been webbed, the digits very long. Now, they were almost the size of that of a human's hand.

Grand-maman leaned forward with a grunt, and kissed her.

"Grand-maman, such strange lips you have. They taste like Wolfsbane." She rested her head against the other woman's and cupped the face between her hands. "She glamoured you, didn't she? She put a spell on you to make you look like her, and made herself look like you."

"It's fading now that the villagers killed her," Wolfsbane whispered.

Poivre got up and brought her basket back. She uncorked the bottle of wine Colette had put in there, and helped him drink. She unbuttoned the nightgown he wore. Only the bits of him that were on display had been enchanted; his chest was still his, as was his shoulder. Grand-maman had sterilized and bandaged the wound.

She placed her face against his chest and sobbed. "Poor, poor grand-maman..."

He kissed her hair. "She did it for you, Poivre. She did it for me. She did it because she loved us."

He held her as her grief tore through her. Later, when her eyes were red-rimmed and she felt bone-weary, she sat up and helped him eat.

"We must leave. I'm afraid the villagers will return in the morning," she said. "Can you travel?" Her fingers hovered over his shoulder, unsure of whether to touch him.

"The bullet ripped straight through. It's a good thing. I could've lost all my magic, had it stayed in. it hurts like hell, but we're so near Faerie..."

She found a pair of trousers and a linen shirt in one of grand-maman's cupboards. There was also a roughly-knit jumper that was large enough for him. She had to cut the sleeve open to get his wounded arm in, and sewed it up rapidly, crookedly. There were no shoes that would fit Wolfsbane. She put a pair of socks on his feet, then helped him up. He moaned in pain and stumbled. She put his arm around her shoulders. She took her basket in her free hand, the other resting on his ribs.

Outside, night had fallen. The only light came from the multitude of stars that were visible between the dying leaves, and the dying fire. The embers burned like eyes. The scent of charcoal and roasted meat was still thick in the air.

"She deserved so much better," Poivre murmured.

"She did," Wolfsbane agreed. Sweat had sprung up on his brow, even though the wind already carried the promise of winter.

Poivre kissed him. "Come, let's get you to a fae doctor," she said.

They turned and walked down the path that led away from the cottage, away from the village. Darkness was around them, but the sky they walked towards was turning rosy with the coming dawn.

They didn't look back.

For now, Tales From Faerie has ended.

This does not, of course, mean I have stopped writing. In fact, I am busily rewriting a novel set in the same universe as these stories. I will also be writing more fairy tale retellings as well as short stories with tropes and elements from well-known fairy tales. One of my plans is to release an Amazon E-book which includes the tales here on Wattpad as well as previously unseen ones. Another future plan is to write retellings for some of the stories of 1001 nights, again taking place in this universe which has our world as well as Faerie.

I'd like to thank everyone who has read my Tales From Faerie stories. Your votes and comments made my day, and inspired me to keep writing.

@lovetheturners and @purple-roses-words-and-love always read my tales and came with helpful criticism. Thank you guys for that!

JEHallows I'd like to thank for her comments and our talk on books, writing, and more.

Special thanks, however, must go to @alice1nwond3rland for all her votes and the many, many comments she wrote for me. They always made me smile. I hope you realise how amazing you are, girl 😉.

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Major Crimes Re-Watch-The Agony and the Ecstasy

To me, this episode was all about the “new kid”, being the new kid and dealing with the new kid, and how the different characters handle that. Sharon’s life lesson to Rusty at the end of the episode is that throughout life you will always be the newbie at some point but if you don’t run, eventually you’ll find your place and someone else will be new.

Right now, Sharon is the new kid on the block and she has spent the last few episodes dealing with the barbs and cold shoulders of a team not completely ready to accept her. However, instead of running, she stood her ground and worked to forge relationships and take her place among them—and it is working for the most part. . Provenza is still struggling to deal with the new kid who has walked in and taken what he considered his place as the leader of the team. He is irritated that his friends/colleagues are accepting Sharon so easily and it leaves him feeling rather lost. But now it isn’t so much about Sharon as it is about his bruised ego and not being sure where he fits in anymore.

And of course, Rusty is struggling with his first day of school and all that goes with being the new kid. However, unlike Sharon he is not trying to forge relationships and make a place for himself because he is convinced that he is not going to stay and it’s easier to shove people away before they shove you away, which has been the story of his life.

Ovi kills his father because he does not want to go into witness protection, move to Oklahoma and be the new kid there. He doesn’t want to lose his friends. His is the most extreme response of the four.

“I need to be at a crime scene!” “My clothes are off, MY CLOTHES ARE OFF” The episode starts with one of my favorite Sharon/Rusty scenes—Sharon trying to wake Rusty up so she can get to work. Typical mother/son morning. The way Sharon wakes Rusty, slowly, then more urgently each time she goes in shows us that she really is used to dealing with teenagers. You cannot just wake a teenager and expect them to jump right up and Sharon gets that.

So, Rusty looks at the clock and complains that it is not even 6:00am yet—and that is the third time Sharon has gone in to wake him so she probably started somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 and she looks THAT GOOD. She had to have gotten up around 4:00 to have showered, blown her hair dry, done her make-up and dressed so impeccably. In episode one Sharon tells Rusty that “lights’ out” is 10:30. That means Sharon only got about 5 hours sleep. She looks damn good for only five hours. Later we hear that the murder occurred around 5:20am so Sharon couldn’t have gotten the call until around 5:30ish so she was obviously up and very nearly ready to go before she even got the call.

“I shouldn’t even be going to this school I’m not even Catholic.” “Just walk around with a guilty look on your face. You’ll fit right in.” LOL, I just had to remark on this, because as a Catholic, I totally get this. Also, it gives us more insight into Sharon and the world of “doing the right thing” where she resides--and the weight of the guilt when she feels she hasn’t. It is ingrained in her and a lot of that comes from her religion.

“Stay THERE” Here we can see why Sharon chose the more family friendly hours of working in PSB while she raised Emily and Ricky. Being a single mother and being a homicide detective is NOT easy. She’s lucky that Rusty is a witness and she could get Buzz to drive him to school.  

Andy and Sharon-Again, in this scene we get a sympathetic look from Andy to Sharon over Rusty. I think watching Sharon deal with Rusty really changed the way that Andy looked at her. He began to respect her not just as a colleague but also as a person and he grew to have a certain warmth and empathy for her. Later in the episode when things go the way Sharon planned in the case—a scenario Provenza was against---she gives Andy a fist pump and he gives her a thumbs up. They have become a great team.

“What happened in Pittsburg?” “You think you need to know everything?” LOL, the look on Andy’s face. Not sure he’s heard that one before in response to police questioning. Roma was pretty outlandish but for some reason this simple line really made me laugh.

“You had me at overtime”- Again, really liked watching Sharon dealing with the FBI and her professional relationship with Fritz. She doesn’t hesitate to put her foot down when she feels taken advantage of, however, she’s more than willing to work with the FBI—provided they do as much giving as they are receiving.

“You’re divorced, you have a hole in your heart so deep you couldn’t fill it up with booze so you cover it up with a badge. You feel like you destroyed your children’s lives even though they say they forgive you.” “Is that all you got?” Said through Andy’s gritted teeth. “You’re smart, cynical and tough.” This is my other favorite scene in this episode because for the first time we get some insight into who Andy is and a tiny bit of back story.  Though this is coming from Thorn, Andy’s response shows us that the guy obviously hit a nerve so there is some real truth in there. Andy tried to cover up his loneliness with booze, then with long hours at work and then with a string of pretty women, but it is only when he focuses on himself, on trying to understand his past and be a better, healthier person physically and mentally that he finds peace and a love with Sharon that will finally fill that hole. I think that is really quite beautiful, and I really wish there had been a greater focus on this over the years. Again, yet another missed opportunity.  And of course, great little chuckle when Thorn said of Provenza, “You’re cynical and tough” leaving out the smart, much to his chagrin.

Lt. I told you what I want done, do I really have to phrase this as an order?” Sharon is stepping it up and taking control, letting Provenza know that she is willing to pull rank if needs be. Provenza seems surprised, as Sharon has been so careful with him. However, I think he needed that. For him to accept his role and where he stands in the pecking order he needs her to step in and completely take control as his boss.

“I am also considering the message that you send by turning away an abandoned boy. Is that the message you want our congregation to follow?” “I am concerned with the safety of my other students.” “And what about their souls? Do you worry that they hear one thing at mass and another thing at school?” Sharon lives her faith. She does not play lip service to it, does not sit at church on Sunday playing at being pious then turn around and live a different life Monday-Saturday. She is not a hypocrite and this priest is behaving like a hypocrite by accepting the behavior of three St. Joseph boys but not the behavior of the new kid, Rusty, and by preaching about helping the poor and downtrodden but being so willing to expel Rusty. This scene also showed us that, while Sharon’s faith is an important part of her life, she not a meek follower. She is willing to stand toe to toe with a priest and call him out on his behavior—even shaming him by standing up for being a better Christian.

I love Sharon in this scene, but I also think it was important for Rusty. He thought for sure Sharon would accept everything the priest said at face value and take his side. Instead, she stood up for him and made sure he got fair treatment. I doubt anyone has ever stood up for Rusty like that before.  But then as soon as the door shuts, the table is turned and the smug look quickly disappears from Rusty’s face. While Sharon stood up for Rusty for telling the truth and for him to receive the same fair treatment the other boys were receiving that does not mean she condones his behavior. On the contrary. Violence is never the answer---she sees every day what happens when people allow violence to control their actions—and she knows Rusty was not just defending himself. He hurt those boys more than he needed to and she needs him to sit back and contemplate why he felt the need to hurt them so badly so this does not become a pattern in his life.

It was a good lesson for Rusty. Sharon has his back when he is right, but she also has very clear boundaries and will not put up with it when he is in the wrong. She is teaching him the difference between right and wrong, something that has not been a part of his life before.

“While I’m gone in addition to considering your future at St. Joseph’s you could think about the word civility and if it might be proper to treat me with the same respect that I’m showing you.” Yet another lesson in teaching Rusty the golden rule-- that he should treat people the way he wants to be treated. Again, this something that Sharon lives. She treats the people in her life and at work with respect and dignity so Rusty is not just hearing her telling him this, he sees it modeled in her behavior with him and with others.

“So, are you just not talking to me on purpose or what?” “I try to avoid conversation with people who can’t treat me as respectfully as I treat them.” Sharon is really driving this point home. It is obviously very important to her as a mother and as a person. Not speaking to him really got Rusty’s attention and he begins to open up to her, telling her how hard it was to listen to the other kids talk about their families. Sharon understands how hard it is to be the new kid, she’s going through some of that at work right now, but tells him that no matter what school she sends him to he will always be the new kid.

“No matter where you go, no matter when, you’ll never be a stranger to me. I’ll always know you.” “Whether I like it or not?” “That’s right buster, whether you like it or not.” Rusty has asked Sharon for a deal. He knows he is not going to stay with her and he would just like 30 days’ notice before he has to leave.  It has become apparent that he is actively pushing people away so he doesn’t get attached—which was probably behind his over the top reaction at school—because he knows he isn’t going to stay.  The 30-day request shows us that despite his tough stance, he is growing attached to Sharon and it will be hard for him to leave her. But Sharon is telling him that no matter when he leaves, now or well into the future, he will always mean something to her, he will never be a stranger to her. To a boy who was abandoned by his own mother this really means something to him.

The first time I watched this episode I wondered about the blue sweater zipped to the chin and the weird ponytail. It was a strange and rather jarring look for Sharon—her messy up-do in a future episode was much more attractive. But later, I can’t remember if it was in a James Duff Facebook chat or in one of Mary’s WWSRD podcasts, but someone—maybe Greg Lavoie-- said that they had Sharon zipped up to the chin to show that she was mindful of the fact that she had an impressionable young teenage boy living with her and hadn’t yet developed that mother/son bond where she could be more casual in her appearance with him. By season 2, Rusty was waking her up in her bed and she was walking around in her nightie so we got that slow progression.

I liked some of the humor in this episode—Thorn was funny and was useful in helping us see Provenza‘s mindset right now. But best of all I loved the greater insight into Sharon’s religion and Andy’s personal history and I loved all the mothership scenes, especially the first one.

[deliciouslyimpossiblegarden]

Arrowverse rant.

As amazing as the shows are, the core of the verse, the OG (#Arrow) has one major problem. The character of #FelicitySmoak and how it's written, combined with a highly annoying razzie-winning performance.

The character, she, is highly toxic not just to the show but just as a person if we met her.

She is the epitome of nerd-rage narcissism and self-absorption. (She literally trashes Barry's beautiful wedding WHILE HE IS EXCHANGING RINGS with his wife and asks Oliver to marry him RIGHT THEN N THERE(sic) after having insulted and humiliated him just a day or so back for him asking her hand for marriage!! I mean, wtf!! Who would do that?! A monster is what.)

And the only rationale I could find for this #olicity relationship is that somehow Oliver takes on toxic relationships? But that is untrue irl. His character even in the fictional verse when he makes his personal growth should have yeeted this awful Felicity ideally a

In season 3. But esp. after season 4 after how much she constantly abuses him and is so self absorbed and yet her same actions that she blames others for is somehow fine!

And will the other characters stop treating her like some guiding light of effervescent truth or some shit? She is hypocritical. Highly.

Absolutely whiny and judgemental for no reason.

Yes, it is primarily bad writing. But the actress has no sense of emotional depth or acting. There are only two modes to her performance:

A. Try to mumble and talk fast (to pass off as a nerd?) like Jesse Eisenberg's performance in social network, but unlike that performance there's no meter or rhyme to her words, thoughts or communication!

B. Start talking, fast again, on a nasal whiny pitch (that grates on my nerves like nails on chalk) which is her being emotional.

It is an absolute caricature of what it means to be a geek/nerd or a woman. Pretty sure it's written by some guy.

And the actress' lack of depth in acting is understandable once we realise that she was supposed to be a non-canon supporting role and not even a recurring one, let alone make it a lead character in the show!!

The writers probably placed a bet to see if they can pull off non-canon to canon transition like Harley from BTAS. The losers are us.

I literally googled a few days back, "how to tolerate Felicity Smoak" lol. I did. And funnily (but not surprisingly) it has been a searched item! I have then decided to mute arrow shows until I absolutely needed the volume.. I can live with the subtitles, and god, I don't have to hear her whiny inflections of pseudo-emotions again!!

What does that have to state about the show?

It is still great and I wanna watch other characters because I love them, especially #JulianaHarkavy's brilliant performance as the next Black Canary / Dinah Drake

Laurel Lance is also a consummate performance! And one should see the mastery of the actress' acting skills when she marks an immense difference in personality and presence of the earth-2 Laurel with zero disguises or wardrobe change. She literally has to convince earth-1 society in the show that she is the original Laurel but must convince us that she is from Earth-2! Give that a woman an Emmy nomination at least.

Stephen runs the show and hold it all together, in his own humble, quiet and with not any show stealing antics kind of a way. His performance is masterly.

And in the midst of such great performances, there's an absolutely UNWANTED lead character, sticking out like a rusty nail!

The show MUST have shipped Oliver and Dinah D. #Olivake? Or anyone else would have been fine except for this petulant, whiny, hypocritical, pseudo-character of Ms Smoak!

The only real thorn of the Arrowverse.

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Major Crimes Re-Watch-The Agony and the Ecstasy.

To me, this episode was all about the “new kid”, being the new kid and dealing with the new kid, and how the different characters handle that. Sharon’s life lesson to Rusty at the end of the episode is that throughout life you will always be the newbie at some point but if you don’t run, eventually you’ll find your place and someone else will be new.

Right now, Sharon is the new kid on the block and she has spent the last few episodes dealing with the barbs and cold shoulders of a team not completely ready to accept her. However, instead of running, she stood her ground and worked to forge relationships and take her place among them—and it is working for the most part. . Provenza is still struggling to deal with the new kid who has walked in and taken what he considered his place as the leader of the team. He is irritated that his friends/colleagues are accepting Sharon so easily and it leaves him feeling rather lost. But now it isn’t so much about Sharon as it is about his bruised ego and not being sure where he fits in anymore.

And of course, Rusty is struggling with his first day of school and all that goes with being the new kid. However, unlike Sharon he is not trying to forge relationships and make a place for himself because he is convinced that he is not going to stay and it’s easier to shove people away before they shove you away, which has been the story of his life.

Ovi kills his father because he does not want to go into witness protection, move to Oklahoma and be the new kid there. He doesn’t want to lose his friends. His is the most extreme response of the four.

“I need to be at a crime scene!” “My clothes are off, MY CLOTHES ARE OFF” The episode starts with one of my favorite Sharon/Rusty scenes—Sharon trying to wake Rusty up so she can get to work. Typical mother/son morning. The way Sharon wakes Rusty, slowly, then more urgently each time she goes in shows us that she really is used to dealing with teenagers. You cannot just wake a teenager and expect them to jump right up and Sharon gets that.

So, Rusty looks at the clock and complains that it is not even 6:00am yet—and that is the third time Sharon has gone in to wake him so she probably started somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 and she looks THAT GOOD. She had to have gotten up around 4:00 to have showered, blown her hair dry, done her make-up and dressed so impeccably. In episode one Sharon tells Rusty that “lights’ out” is 10:30. That means Sharon only got about 5 hours sleep. She looks damn good for only five hours. Later we hear that the murder occurred around 5:20am so Sharon couldn’t have gotten the call until around 5:30ish so she was obviously up and very nearly ready to go before she even got the call.

“I shouldn’t even be going to this school I’m not even Catholic.” “Just walk around with a guilty look on your face. You’ll fit right in.” LOL, I just had to remark on this, because as a Catholic, I totally get this. Also, it gives us more insight into Sharon and the world of “doing the right thing” where she resides--and the weight of the guilt when she feels she hasn’t. It is ingrained in her and a lot of that comes from her religion.

“Stay THERE” Here we can see why Sharon chose the more family friendly hours of working in PSB while she raised Emily and Ricky. Being a single mother and being a homicide detective is NOT easy. She’s lucky that Rusty is a witness and she could get Buzz to drive him to school.  

Andy and Sharon-Again, in this scene we get a sympathetic look from Andy to Sharon over Rusty. I think watching Sharon deal with Rusty really changed the way that Andy looked at her. He began to respect her not just as a colleague but also as a person and he grew to have a certain warmth and empathy for her. Later in the episode when things go the way Sharon planned in the case—a scenario Provenza was against---she gives Andy a fist pump and he gives her a thumbs up. They have become a great team.

“What happened in Pittsburg?” “You think you need to know everything?” LOL, the look on Andy’s face. Not sure he’s heard that one before in response to police questioning. Roma was pretty outlandish but for some reason this simple line really made me laugh.

“You had me at overtime”- Again, really liked watching Sharon dealing with the FBI and her professional relationship with Fritz. She doesn’t hesitate to put her foot down when she feels taken advantage of, however, she’s more than willing to work with the FBI—provided they do as much giving as they are receiving.

“You’re divorced, you have a hole in your heart so deep you couldn’t fill it up with booze so you cover it up with a badge. You feel like you destroyed your children’s lives even though they say they forgive you.” “Is that all you got?” Said through Andy’s gritted teeth. “You’re smart, cynical and tough.” This is my other favorite scene in this episode because for the first time we get some insight into who Andy is and a tiny bit of back story.  Though this is coming from Thorn, Andy’s response shows us that the guy obviously hit a nerve so there is some real truth in there. Andy tried to cover up his loneliness with booze, then with long hours at work and then with a string of pretty women, but it is only when he focuses on himself, on trying to understand his past and be a better, healthier person physically and mentally that he finds peace and a love with Sharon that will finally fill that hole. I think that is really quite beautiful, and I really wish there had been a greater focus on this over the years. Again, yet another missed opportunity.  And of course, great little chuckle when Thorn said of Provenza, “You’re cynical and tough” leaving out the smart, much to his chagrin.

Lt. I told you what I want done, do I really have to phrase this as an order?” Sharon is stepping it up and taking control, letting Provenza know that she is willing to pull rank if needs be. Provenza seems surprised, as Sharon has been so careful with him. However, I think he needed that. For him to accept his role and where he stands in the pecking order he needs her to step in and completely take control as his boss.

“I am also considering the message that you send by turning away an abandoned boy. Is that the message you want our congregation to follow?” “I am concerned with the safety of my other students.” “And what about their souls? Do you worry that they hear one thing at mass and another thing at school?” Sharon lives her faith. She does not play lip service to it, does not sit at church on Sunday playing at being pious then turn around and live a different life Monday-Saturday. She is not a hypocrite and this priest is behaving like a hypocrite by accepting the behavior of three St. Joseph boys but not the behavior of the new kid, Rusty, and by preaching about helping the poor and downtrodden but being so willing to expel Rusty. This scene also showed us that, while Sharon’s faith is an important part of her life, she not a meek follower. She is willing to stand toe to toe with a priest and call him out on his behavior—even shaming him by standing up for being a better Christian.

I love Sharon in this scene, but I also think it was important for Rusty. He thought for sure Sharon would accept everything the priest said at face value and take his side. Instead, she stood up for him and made sure he got fair treatment. I doubt anyone has ever stood up for Rusty like that before.  But then as soon as the door shuts, the table is turned and the smug look quickly disappears from Rusty’s face. While Sharon stood up for Rusty for telling the truth and for him to receive the same fair treatment the other boys were receiving that does not mean she condones his behavior. On the contrary. Violence is never the answer---she sees every day what happens when people allow violence to control their actions—and she knows Rusty was not just defending himself. He hurt those boys more than he needed to and she needs him to sit back and contemplate why he felt the need to hurt them so badly so this does not become a pattern in his life.

It was a good lesson for Rusty. Sharon has his back when he is right, but she also has very clear boundaries and will not put up with it when he is in the wrong. She is teaching him the difference between right and wrong, something that has not been a part of his life before.

“While I’m gone in addition to considering your future at St. Joseph’s you could think about the word civility and if it might be proper to treat me with the same respect that I’m showing you.” Yet another lesson in teaching Rusty the golden rule-- that he should treat people the way he wants to be treated. Again, this something that Sharon lives. She treats the people in her life and at work with respect and dignity so Rusty is not just hearing her telling him this, he sees it modeled in her behavior with him and with others.

“So, are you just not talking to me on purpose or what?” “I try to avoid conversation with people who can’t treat me as respectfully as I treat them.” Sharon is really driving this point home. It is obviously very important to her as a mother and as a person. Not speaking to him really got Rusty’s attention and he begins to open up to her, telling her how hard it was to listen to the other kids talk about their families. Sharon understands how hard it is to be the new kid, she’s going through some of that at work right now, but tells him that no matter what school she sends him to he will always be the new kid.

“No matter where you go, no matter when, you’ll never be a stranger to me. I’ll always know you.” “Whether I like it or not?” “That’s right buster, whether you like it or not.” Rusty has asked Sharon for a deal. He knows he is not going to stay with her and he would just like 30 days’ notice before he has to leave.  It has become apparent that he is actively pushing people away so he doesn’t get attached—which was probably behind his over the top reaction at school—because he knows he isn’t going to stay.  The 30-day request shows us that despite his tough stance, he is growing attached to Sharon and it will be hard for him to leave her. But Sharon is telling him that no matter when he leaves, now or well into the future, he will always mean something to her, he will never be a stranger to her. To a boy who was abandoned by his own mother this really means something to him.

The first time I watched this episode I wondered about the blue sweater zipped to the chin and the weird ponytail. It was a strange and rather jarring look for Sharon—her messy up-do in a future episode was much more attractive. But later, I can’t remember if it was in a James Duff Facebook chat or in one of Mary’s WWSRD podcasts, but someone—maybe Greg Lavoie-- said that they had Sharon zipped up to the chin to show that she was mindful of the fact that she had an impressionable young teenage boy living with her and hadn’t yet developed that mother/son bond where she could be more casual in her appearance with him. By season 2, Rusty was waking her up in her bed and she was walking around in her nightie so we got that slow progression.

I liked some of the humor in this episode—Thorn was funny and was useful in helping us see Provenza‘s mindset right now. But best of all I loved the greater insight into Sharon’s religion and Andy’s personal history and I loved all the mothership scenes, especially the first one.