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bywordofaphrodite · 3 years

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Book Reviews 3&4: Nancy Drew and the Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene & Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell Tatham

This review’s theme is girl detective books ! Audience age range: roughly 12 and up !

Just as Enid Blyton’s books made me fall in love with magical creatures and faraway lands, detective novels became an obsession during late primary school, with classic lead female characters Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden being my absolute favourites. My school had an extremely small and limited library, and the Nancy Drew books were one of the only decent series there- even with a great chunk of the collection missing. My mother introduced me to Trixie Belden, which she insisted was better than Nancy Drew, though I refused to listen to such a declaration at the time.

Now, though? My opinions have definitely changed.

Nostalgic review

Rating: ★★★★★

From memory, Nancy Drew is a clever, beautiful and well-off girl in her late teens, living with her lawyer father Carson Drew and her housekeeper Hannah Gruen, who has looked after Nancy since her mother’s passing when she was only three. I always enjoyed the dynamic between Nancy and her father, as it was similar to mine with my father, also a lawyer- Carson doesn’t step in unless Nancy needs his help, but he does assist in legal advice when necessary. I also loved Nancy’s friendship with the cousins Bess and George, and liked that her relationship with her ‘special friend’ Ned never got in the way of solving mysteries or hanging out with her friends (‘hanging out’ was practically code for sleuthing in these novels anyway). Overall, my memories of this series amount mostly to exciting searches for missing heiresses, finding beautiful jewels and battling crocodiles in Florida.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Trixie Belden- rough-around-the-edges thirteen year-old from a poor family living with both her parents and three brothers. Where Nancy has a housekeeper, lives in an affluent suburban neighbourhood and never wants for money, Trixie lives on the outskirts of a small town, both her parents work, and she is constantly reminded of how important it is to work for money as they do not have much of it to spare on mindless things. Nancy is a fairly solitary character, often working alone unless her friends show up, and even then she does most of the legwork; Trixie is also the main sleuth in her series, but her best friend Honey is almost always at her side. While the mysteries were great, the warm friendships in Trixie Belden novels are what I remember best.

Regardless of whatever my thoughts may be after rereading books from these two series, I’ve never ceased referencing either of them and my love of the mystery genre still holds fast even now.

Nancy Drew and the Lilac Inn Review

Post-read: ★★

Synopsis: girl detective Nancy Drew is called to solve a series of odd goings on at her newly engaged friend Emily’s inn, in what seems to be an attempt to prevent Emily and her fiancé from opening. Disaster strikes when her aunt retrieves Emily’s inheritance of diamonds- Emily’s last hope to cover the costs of fixing up the inn- and they are swiftly stolen within the hour. Nancy vows to catch the thief and the intruder and save Emily’s inn from failure.

I struggled in choosing which Nancy Drew book to reread for this review, and after reading through multiple rankings lists I decided on the Lilac Inn because it ranked highly on every list. I now wish I had just gone with Crocodile Island anyway… at least there was something snappy about it. In between the bomb, the theft, the doppelganger, the underwater fake-shark, the kidnapping, the spear-gun attack- I think I’ve made my point. There’s far too much going on, and if it was well-written I would be okay with it, really I would, but it’s all so blandly articulated that half the time I had to reread just to make sure I’d read correctly what nonsense was occurring at any given time.

Straight out the gate, I just want to say how shocking the writing was- that’s shockingly bad, by the way. If I thought Enid Blyton’s work was stunted, well, this was far, far worse. Especially since it lacks the excuse of being written for young children. It was incredibly difficult to push through in the slower parts, and I must admit I basically skim-read the lead up parts to the action sequences (which were incredibly minimal compared to the gnashing crocodile teeth I longed for, but alas). Sadly for me, Bess (my old fave), George and Ned were not present at all, and I cannot remember if they had actually been introduced that early in the series because they are not mentioned once.

I did really like the concept of the story, and the element of Nancy having a creepy doppelganger posing as Nancy to cause mischief (she has several over the series) was fun, even more so that said doppelganger was an actual actress and quite ruthless in her attempts to steal Emily’s diamonds- I love a morally-corrupt pretty female villain as much as the next person, after all. There is a romance teased between Nancy and a young man staying at the inn, a young man who continuously seems to be in the same room as the diamond thief messing with Emily’s inn, but ultimately both never amount to anything. This hardly surprised me given the book is written in the thirties, and Ned and Nancy never do anything but attend dances together the entire series, but still, come on. He could’ve at least stolen the diamonds to add some spice to his useless appearances.

It’s possible that were a very talented scriptwriter to take this book and make it into a movie it could work out a lot better than it does on paper- provided the casting was done well. The sets would be interesting, and I think the creepiness of the ‘ghost’ in the orchard and the diving scenes would translate a lot better on camera. Normally I’m not one to nominate live actions of novels for no reason, but this thought kept recurring as I struggled to get through the writing.

Characters who aged well: Nancy is smart and weirdly good at everything (they don’t explain why she knows how to do all the things she does, but diving and freeing herself from bonds seems to be easy enough for her. Given male characters are always allowed to be perfect without training, I’ll allow it). For a female character written in the 30s she has plenty of agency and does not once rely on a man’s help to do anything, which is why I always enjoyed her books. Carson Drew also aged well- not present that often, but useful without being interfering, and his trust in his daughter is refreshing. As for the other main characters in the series… they didn’t even show up in this book so I can’t really comment on this.

Characters who aged badly: plot twist- I’m adding Nancy here too. She is a little too perfect, too polished, a common criticism by modern readers, though at the time of publication was her main selling point. Additionally, earlier editions of the series featured racist comments made by Nancy, although those have since been taken out. However, the publisher and creator of the first books was not a very pleasant person, so I find myself able to separate that from Nancy’s character.

Favourite scene/quote: ‘The article went on to tell that Nancy had just completed a course in advanced skin diving in the Muskoka River, and that she had finished first in total points in the twenty student group’.

I find this quote amusing because there is really no need for Nancy to be good at every single thing, and this is a good example of the many times throughout the series that Nancy is the ‘best’ at a very random activity that is often never mentioned again.

As for my favourite scene, though nothing interesting actually ends up happening in the orchard, I did like the eerie setting of Nancy dressing up as a ghost and chilling behind a tree for a while (okay it was partially eerie, mostly just oddly comedic). The actress/impostor posing as Nancy provided a few good scenes, too, but for the main villain of the story she was hardly in as many scenes as she should’ve been in.

After doing some research, I discovered something most interesting: Nancy was written with significantly more character by the original ghost-writer of the series, a woman named Mildred Wirt Benson, who wrote Nancy ‘embodying qualities that she wished she had’- but the publisher Edward Stratemeyer did not want a bold female character, and she was rewritten with similar dialogue but now accompanied with ‘dainty’ verbs to sweeten her words. Stratemeyer was also known for his beliefs that women belonged in the kitchen, and the only reason he created Nancy in the first place was to capitalise on young female readers who wanted their own equivalent of the Hardy Boys.

With all of this in mind, it’s very possible that the Nancy from my memories is a mix of the older and new editions, which allowed Nancy more personality as the series went on, no longer needing to confirm to the sexist expectations of the 1930s. And despite these origins, Nancy Drew aged quite well as an unintended feminist icon: she solves her mysteries alone and rarely needs Ned’s help at all; in fact, most of the time, Nancy is the one doing the saving. It’s nice to think that, almost one hundred years later, Mildred Wirt Benson’s version of Nancy is the one being kept alive, both on paper and onscreen.

Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion Review

Post-read: ★★★★★

Synopsis: energetic teen Trixie Belden’s boring town of Sleepyside is turned upside down when a rich new family moves onto the property opposite her own, an old miser winds up in hospital and his empty mansion is suddenly inhabited by a runaway boy, and a missing fortune is waiting to be uncovered.

Whewww.

This was a massive breath of fresh air after the Lilac Inn! After being so unimpressed by both Blyton and Keene’s writing, Tatham’s writing restored my faith in my childhood judgement. Her words flowed well and the conversation between the characters was very natural. The blank slate characters in the Lilac Inn were showed up by the animated and multiple-dimensional characters in the Secret of the Mansion, and I never once felt the need to rush myself through the chapters.

Unlike my method of choosing a Nancy Drew book, I simply decided on reading the first Trixie book for this review. While I almost went for a later book where all the main characters had been introduced, I couldn’t remember how Trixie first met Honey and Jim, which I felt was pretty important to her character. I’m very glad I did. Even in the first book, Trixie endures so much character development (contrasting very strongly with Nancy’s flawless existence). Longing for a friend, Trixie takes herself up the hill to the newly habited mansion to introduce herself and her little brother Bobby, who she is babysitting to earn money to buy herself a horse. There she meets rich girl Honey Wheeler, a sickly and sheltered but sweet girl of the same age, whose parents pay little attention to her. Things fall into place with all the expected luck of a teen heroine- Honey’s governess is a lovely woman who wants Honey to befriend Trixie and offers to look after Bobby, and of course Honey’s stables are now filled with horses and a stable hand who can teach her to ride.

But for every easy thing comes an opportunity for Trixie to grow: she comes to admire Honey’s bravery after previously being irritated by her fear of trying outdoor activities; she ignores the stable hand’s orders not to ride the stallion and falls as a result, leading to her having to work to regain his trust and also being taught the valuable lesson to recognise her own limits; finally, as much as Trixie hates looking after little Bobby, when he is bitten by a snake Trixie is resourceful and quick on her feet in helping him, keeping him well enough until a doctor and other adults arrive.

Rather like the Lilac Inn, the mystery of the story centres on the hidden will to a supposed fortune of the elderly man who lived in the old mansion not far from Honey’s new home. On a whim, Trixie nags Honey into accompanying her to snoop around the building, leading to their discovery of the old man’s nephew Jim hiding there. By the end of the book, the girls have helped Jim to find the will and safely escape his abusive step-father. Later in the series, Jim is adopted by the Wheeler family, and also becomes Trixie’s primary love interest (I love that this relationship is not at all rushed either).

The reading level for the Trixie Belden series is listed as grade 3 and above, but I had no problems being completely involved and intrigued by the storyline and characters as a twenty-three year old. I think I’ll continue to read the series on my own time, as I always enjoyed the full character line-up developed after a few books in.

Characters who aged well: Trixie! If my praise during this review didn’t make clear enough, she’s a wonderful character with great development. Honey and Jim are also solid characters, and Bobby and Trixie’s parents are well-written too- supportive and kind, but realistic concerning raising Trixie to be a responsible kid. Also going to add that Trixie’s group of best friends- self-named the Bob-Whites of the Glen and consisting of her two older brothers Brian and Mart, Honey, Jim and the later additions of Dan and Di- have a strong presence and very distinct personalities when they show up in the later novels.

Characters who aged badly: nobody! All the side characters were well done, including the villain. He wasn’t over-the-top by any means, his abuse of Jim was both emotion and physical in a realistic manner that concerned the adults around him enough to comment on it without actually taking proper action to help him, as it often goes. I appreciated the author’s ability to write a male character the vulnerable one, to recognise what was wrong about the situation, and to gladly accept help from two girls younger than him.

Favourite scene/quote: “‘serves him right,’ Trixie said, wiping her grimy hands on her rolled-up blue jeans. ‘The mean old miser. You should have left him lying in the driveway, Dad.’”

An earlier quote in the book, this sets the tone for Trixie’s character: she’s messy, no-nonsense and cheeky. For a female character written in 1948 I found this quite amusing. There’s none of the internalised misogyny that often popped up in ‘tomboy’ characters of the time: Trixie just is what she is, and she’s great.

A standout scene would be Trixie sucking the venom from her brother’s snakebite to save him, and the chapters focused on the developing friendship with Honey and Jim while the two teach Trixie how to handle horses is also enjoyable.

Overall verdict:

My mother was right, Trixie Belden is far better than Nancy Drew in every category I can think of. I wish that the series had gained the popularity that Nancy Drew did, because it would make for a fun movie or television show. There is an eighteen year gap between the publication of the first novel from both series, and both heroines saw many more books written after that. Nancy Drew is so persistent, however, that multiple movies and even a recent CW show have been made, though it is not very accurate to the books at all. Even now, modern-day setting Nancy Drew mysteries are still being released under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, showing her unending mythical status.

I still love Nancy, bad writing and all, but in all fairness, Miss Trixie deserves a cut of the nostalgic hype surrounding the girl-detective genre. I’d also like to bask in the poetic justice of Nancy not only remaining a more iconic character than the Hardy Boys, but also becoming more feminist as time goes on. I’m sure the publisher is rolling in his grave!

#nancy drew #carolyn keene #trixie belden #girl detective #fiction #university project #nostalgia #feminism #female characters

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quicksilversquared · 5 years

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The Designer and the Twins

When Adrien volunteers to look after Alya's twin sisters for a bit but ends up having to go to a piano lesson instead, it forces Mr. Agreste to step in and look after the girls himself. How hard can babysitting two young girls be?

As it turns out, it can be VERY hard.

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Gabriel Agreste was in the middle of a round of edits on some evening dress designs Saturday afternoon when he heard the front doors open. He spared only a single glance in that direction- no doubt it was Adrien, returning from whatever outing he had managed to persuade Nathalie to allow, just in time for piano lessons- before returning his attention to his work.

The squeals of excitement yanked his head back up a moment later. He frowned, sitting up fully and staring in the direction of the atrium. Two voices- young, definitely girls, and sounding nearly the same- exclaimed over how large it was, how there was no color, how the other should look at the big painting, could they play in the plants-

Gabriel Agreste pushed himself up out of his chair and strode to the office door, scowling out into the atrium. The first thing he saw was Adrien, trying his best to contain two young girls that came up to hip-height. They were running to and fro, trying to look at everything all at once.

He cleared his throat, unimpressed. Adrien's head whipped around, but the girls didn't slow down at all. Gabriel spared them a glance, then turned his attention on his son. Adrien was cringing a bit as he watched the girls tugging at a door, but he straightened as he turned to Gabriel.

"Father, I can explain," Adrien said quickly, gesturing to the girls. "These are Alya's sisters. I was helping Alya bring some books for our project back to her house so we could work on it there during the week, but then her bike hit a hole and it fell over and she got a really bad cut on her leg. So her older sister had to bring her to the hospital because she'll probably need stitches, but her younger sisters still needed to be watched, so..."

"So you offered," Gabriel finished, entirely unamused. "Forgetting, I'm sure, that you're meant to have piano lessons in three minutes? Your instructor is already waiting for you in the lounge."

Adrien froze, gaze shooting back to the twin girls. They had finally paused in their exploration, glancing between Adrien and Gabriel with wide eyes. "Uhh..."

"Were none of your other friends available to help?" Gabriel demanded. "Or were none of them willing?"

"They- well-" Adrien shifted from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable. "Nino is on the other side of the city- he's got family over, apparently, and they were going to a roller garden- and Marinette is busy right now, Alya said. She's already babysitting Madam Chamack's daughter, and Manon is a handful just by herself."

Gabriel glanced at the two other girls. They were giggling over something between the two of them. Then he looked back at Adrien, who was looking a little stressed, and he considered.

Adrien had to attend his piano lesson, of course. He had gone without lessons for a while now because his instructor had been gone on vacation and then sick leave for several weeks already, and there were several things that Gabriel had already asked the instructor to work on so that Adrien would be able to perform at the Gabriel winter investor's dinner. Adrien wouldn't be able to concentrate or learn a thing with the twins around, that was obvious. They were unruly and Adrien had absolutely no experience with kids. He wouldn't be able to control them. Gabriel, however, had raised a kid- or helped raise a child, at least, considering that Emilie and their old nanny had done most of the work so that he could focus on designing- and was aware of how to keep kids under control.

There was no other option, really. If the twins went along for the lessons, Adrien's instructor could very well quit and then Gabriel would have to waste some of his time finding a suitable replacement. A quick mental cost-benefits analysis confirmed that, and he sighed before addressing Adrien. "Very well. I'll watch them while you attend your lesson. As soon as it's over, though, remember to come collect them at once."

Adrien lit up. "Really? You would do that, Father? Thank you so much!"

"No more lollygagging now, go," Gabriel instructed, and Adrien scampered off as instructed. The twins made to follow, until he cleared his throat. "Girls, you'll be coming with me. Adrien has lessons right now."

"Lessons! Ew!" they chorused in almost disturbing unison, turning away from Adrien at once. "Lessons are yucky! They're boring and we have to sit still!"

...okay, yeah, forget almost disturbing unison. That was disturbing unison.

"We'll come into my office," Gabriel continued. "And then I'll, uh..."

He came up blank. It had been too long since Adrien had been the twins' age, and Gabriel hadn't exactly been a particularly involved parent at that time. He would have Nathalie search up some activities, or perhaps take over the babysitting herself, but she was currently out on lunch break.

Surely he could manage alone until she came back. She was due to return any time now.

"Can we have juice?" one twin asked, tugging at Gabriel's sleeve as they entered the office.

"And cookies?" the other added on, tugging the other sleeve.

Gabriel resisted the urge to rip his arms away from both of them. That would no doubt end in tears, and he neither wanted to nor knew how to deal with tears. "I- fine. Wait here for one minute, I'll page the kitchen staff to bring up juice and cookies."

"Yay!"

Well, so far, so good, Gabriel figured as he headed across the room to Nathalie's intercom to order two cups of juice and two plates of cookies. It was important to keep kids fed and hydrated, and getting them a small snack would keep them from whining. They could sit down on the floor and eat, and he could return to his designing and actually get some work done.

"Can we see what you're drawing?" one twin wanted to know as soon as Gabriel had ordered their food and headed back to his desk. "Is it something pretty?"

Her sister pushed her. "Dummy, adults don't draw! They only write!"

"No they don't! Look, see, all of the drawings of dresses!"

Gabriel stiffened as he suddenly found himself surrounded by two small, curious girls, one on either side of his chair. "Now girls, go back over to the door and wait nicely-"

"Why are you drawing dresses?" one twin asked. "Boys don't wear dresses! Can you draw a dress for me?"

"I design-"

"I want a dress, too!"

"But I asked first!"

Gabriel moved his sketchbook and the loose pages of designs out of their reach. "I am trying to work here, girls, go-"

His movement bumped his computer mouse, minimizing the window that he had up and revealing the one behind it, which was the Ladyblog. That was an immediate distraction for the twin terrors at his elbows.

"Look, it's the Ladyblog!"

"Our sister runs that! Does she know you look at it?"

"Everybody in Paris looks at it!"

"Yeah, because Ladybug is so cool! MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" they cheered in unison, both miming throwing a Lucky Charm up into the air.

"You should design something for Ladybug!"

"Are you any good at designing?"

"Do you sew, too? I don't see any needles!"

"You asked for juice and cookies, sir?"

Gabriel tried not to slump in relief as the twins promptly abandoned him to run to their chef, who did quite a good job of not reacting as he handed out two cups of juice and two plates of cookies before making a hasty exit. Now that was them distracted for the time being, so he could actually think about what to do next. Clearly the twins would not be content to simply sit in silence until Adrien came to collect them- they didn't seem at all intimidated by his raised voice, which suggested that they probably got ordered around quite often but never saw any real consequences- so he would have to find some way to entertain them. Without, of course, exerting any real effort himself. He had work to do, after all, and couldn't be bothered with spending any extended amount of time dealing with kids.

Even as he thought that, his Miraculous started to warm. Somewhere in the city, someone was upset enough to get akumatized. Gabriel almost automatically moved to get up and head for his elevator before realizing that he couldn't. There were two very, very nosy pairs of eyes in his office, and they would absolutely blab about anything strange that they saw. And with their sister running the Ladyblog...

He scowled and sat back down. Within a couple minutes, his Miraculous started cooling back down again, the opportunity gone.

"We want to watch cartoons!"

Gabriel startled out of his thoughts, his attention going back to the twins. They had finished off their cookies already- and he was going to have someone come up and clean, because there were crumbs all over the floor and one of the girls had clearly spilled a bit of her juice- and were headed back over for him, this time with chocolate-smeared fingers and sticky hands.

He panicked for a moment, then realized that they had literally just handed him a distraction- cartoons. While he had heard plenty in the news lately telling parents not to let their kids get raised by screens and to limit TV time, he was neither the parent of these two little terrors nor their guardian, and so that didn't apply to him. But he did know that he would have to find some age-appropriate cartoons for the girls to watch, because otherwise he would have their parents coming after him with "concerns" and he really had neither the time nor the patience to deal with that. They would no doubt do the same if he yelled at the girls to get them to behave, so he had to watch himself.

"All right, all right, I'll set up some cartoons- if you promise to sit still and watch," Gabriel told them. "No running around or anything."

"We promise!"

Gabriel tried not to grumble as he headed for Nathalie's computer. He knew that she had Netflix on her computer because she liked having cooking shows on in the background as she worked her way through particularly tedious paperwork, which he normally rolled his eyes at but right now he couldn't be more grateful that she had a resource like that on hand for him to borrow. She was logged in, which was good, and Gabriel went ahead and flipped through the listings of cartoons.

...he really wasn't familiar with what was age-appropriate for kids that small. Gabriel didn't know what any of the shows were- he had no reason to be- so the most he had to go off on was the pictures. And pictures could be misleading. He had seen enough commercials recently to know that there were some very young-looking designs for shows that had much more adult humor. So after a couple minutes of waffling with increasingly impatient twins at his elbow, Gabriel picked the youngest-looking show- surely it would be safe- and clicked on it, letting the first episode load a bit before turning the computer to the kids. It took a minute to get them seated- they were each convinced that the other was closer, which resulted in a bit of pushing back and forth before Gabriel finally got them to cut it out- and then he could finally, finally get back to his seat and start up his work on reviewing the designs again.

It had only just occurred to him that these two had made up the akuma Sapotis and that they had been quite the handful as akumas. They hadn't listened when he warned them about the trap, only wanting to run around and eat what they wanted and go to the amusement park and stay up and night and watch cartoons and...and not listen to rules.

Gabriel was starting to suspect that maybe things wouldn't go quite as smoothly as he had initially thought, but now the twins were settled in front of the computer screen and listening to some show with obnoxious music and high-pitched voices. It was distracting, but he could tune it out well enough. It took a few minutes for him to get back into the designing groove and figure out where he had left off. The design that he was reviewing was from one of his younger designers, which meant that it was easy enough to pick out where the lines needed to be altered just a touch and mark a change in the type of fabric. The piece was original and creative, though, inspiring enough that Gabriel set it aside for a moment to grab another sheet of paper, sketching out the starting lines for a matching suit to go along with the dress. It would be close-cut, absolutely tailored to perfection and creating a bit of an illusion of broader shoulders.

These pieces would end up on the runway, Gabriel was positive. Paired pieces were always popular.

He had just started scribbling down detail on the side of the paper when he glanced up briefly and spotted Nathalie's computer playing to an audience of...zero.

Frowning, Gabriel sat up fully. The sound of giggling caught his ear, and he spun around to see one twin crouching next to one of his mannequins, the hem of the dress there draped over her head like a wedding veil.

"No playing with the dresses!" Gabriel barked, and both girls jumped before scrambling away from the mannequin. He frowned over at the dress- he would have to get it cleaned soon to remove any chocolate-y fingerprints that might have gotten on the fabrics- before returning his attention to the girls. "I thought you were watching cartoons!"

"Those cartoons are boring," the first twin complained. "They're for babies."

"They're so dumb," Twin No. 2 chimed in. "I don't wanna watch a baby show. Do you have fabric scraps we can play with?"

Gabriel frowned. All of the fabric scraps that he had around the office were exclusive Gabriel print samples, or silks and embroidered pieces or things that he had beaded. They weren't things that he wanted ruined or accidentally going home with the girls. "No. And you promised-"

"But it's a baby show!"

Movement by the door caught Gabriel's eye, and he turned in relief to see an unimpressed Nathalie standing there, surveying the scene in front of her. He opened his mouth to ask her to take the girls- surely she could entertain them elsewhere in the house- but Nathalie beat him to it.

"I'll be taking a late lunch now," Nathalie told him, turning to stride right back out the door. "I will see you in a bit, Mr. Agreste."

"You were just out on lunch, Nathalie!" Gabriel objected, jolting straight up in his chair.

"And I was just summoned to the Gabriel building on urgent business," Nathalie continued as though she hadn't heard him, pulling out her phone and consulting it as though an email had just come in. "So I have to go sort that out. I will be back...at some point."

And before Gabriel could protest, she was gone. He gaped after her for a few seconds- she was his employee, she couldn't do that!- then turned back to the girls still tugging at his elbows, trying not to growl in frustration.

He had to remember, if he lost his temper, it would get back to their parents. If it got back to their parents...

So Gabriel took a deep breath, glanced at the clock- was it broken? Surely more time had passed than that!- and then turned back to the twins. "Okay, what do you want to watch?"

The girls lit up, hopping up and down and yammering at him faster than he could follow. He let them tug him up out of his chair and towards the computer, having them point out the show that they wanted to watch instead. They then spent five minutes arguing over which show they wanted to see out of a pick of four or five things before settling on one. Sighing with relief (and trying his best to ignore the headache starting to build at the edges of his temples), Gabriel clicked on the first episode that came up, arranged the computer to the twins' satisfaction, and returned to his seat. He glanced up as the cartoon started to play and- okay, he could already tell that the cartoon was a bit less babyish than the first one, though it still had annoyingly high-pitched voices for all of the characters. The girls seemed content, so Gabriel gave himself a pat on his back and returned his attention to his designs. Several minutes later, he was just getting back into designing mode. He picked up his pencil, and-

"We've seen this episode already!"

"Yeah! I don't wanna see it again, I already know what happens!"

"We've seen this so many times!"

Gabriel let out a long breath through his nose as he was unceremoniously ripped from designer mode yet again. The twins were already clambering to their feet, clearly ready to abandon their activity and start tearing through his office again. He stood before they could get too far, strode to the computer, and maneuvered back to the menu to pick out another episode. It started playing, and the twins sat back down.

Hopefully he would get more than three minutes to himself this time.

They got past the intro without incident, and Gabriel turned his attention back to his work. He had almost gotten back into the groove when the complaints started up again.

"I've seen this already! This is an old episode!"

"Really old!"

"I'll change it, I'll change it, just keep sitting!" Gabriel said hastily, completely willing to agree to anything to get them to shut up already. Thank god he and Emilie had gotten a nanny to get Adrien past this age, and thank god that they had only had one kid. Having two or more- having twins- would have been a nightmare. And hadn't Adrien said that there were four kids in the Ladyblogger's family? That would be awful. "How many episodes of this have you seen?"

There was some whispering between the two girls, and then some arguing. Finally they resurfaced with a shrug and an unhelpful "I don't know".

Small children were maddening.

Gabriel selected another episode, this time just a little further along. There weren't that many episodes listed, so if they had selected this show it meant that there had to be some that they hadn't seen yet, right?

Apparently not. Over the next thirty minutes, the girls kept interrupting him every few minutes, taking anywhere between three to six minutes to recognize an episode and start complaining. At one point, they lost interest in the cartoons entirely and started asking if they could have cake. With a groan, Gabriel realized that he shouldn't have given in so easily to their request earlier. It had been a test to see how much they could get away with, and he had failed it.

He also missed another prime akumatization opportunity. Two so close together was rare, and yet he couldn't slip away and take advantage of it.

"Of all the days for Adrien to have a two-hour lesson instead of a one-hour one," Gabriel groaned as he pushed his work to the side again to put an end to the complaining that had started anew. The twins were looking antsy now that so much time had passed without them watching all the way through an episode, and he had to wonder how much longer he would last.

Would it be possible for him to go online and hire a babysitter to finish up the time? If they stayed in the house, surely no one could complain? But it seemed unlikely that he would be able to find someone on such short notice, and it would take time for them to arrive. Besides, finding a babysitter online would require actually having more than a couple consecutive minutes to focus on that, and he didn't have more than a couple consecutive minutes, not with the girls needing constant attention.

Three more episode switches later, and Gabriel was ready to start pulling his hair out. Right before he was about to snap at the girls to just sit down and enjoy an old episode, the door buzzer rang. Gabriel dove for it, welcoming the interruption. Maybe Nathalie had sent a babysitter. Maybe the twins' family had finally decided to come pick them up. Maybe-

It was one of Adrien's classmates, the designer girl- Marinette Dupain-Cheng, he remembered. Next to her stood another very small child, her brown pigtails barely reaching the bottom of the camera.

He couldn't deal with another small child, he really couldn't.

"I'm here to collect Ella and Etta!" Marinette said with a cheerful wave at the camera. "Adrien texted me and said that he left them with Mr. Agreste?"

"He did," Gabriel said at once, noting the way that Ms. Dupain-Cheng startled. Clearly she had been expecting Nathalie at the other end. He pressed the button to open the gates. "Enter."

"Who was that?" one of the twins wanted to know at once. "A new babysitter?"

"Yes-" Gabriel started, but they were already on their feet and racing out to the atrium. Just as they got there, Marinette stepped in with the other small girl in tow. She took one look at the racing girls and raised one eyebrow, planting her free hand on her hip.

"Ella! Etta! Is that how we behave indoors? And when we are guests in someone's house?"

Much to Gabriel's surprise, both twins slowed down and shook their heads. "No..."

"I didn't think so." Marinette turned her attention to Gabriel. "I hope that they've been behaving themselves."

Gabriel opened his mouth to answer before thinking better of it. He didn't need to admit to a fourteen-year-old that he had been having trouble keeping two five-year-olds in line, not when they had settled down so quickly at her demand. Instead, he changed the subject. "Are the twins' parents finally back home to take them? Or your friend?"

Much to his surprise, Marinette shook her head. "No, not yet. Alya needs stitches and a tetanus shot, so she and Nora aren't going to be home for a while, and their parents are super-busy right now and can't leave work early. We're going to go over to the TV studio to drop off Manon and after that, I was planning on taking Ella and Etta back to their apartment so that they won't be destroying anyone else's house." She paused, glancing over in the direction that faint piano music could be heard coming from. "I. Uh. If it wouldn't be too much to ask, I would really appreciate it if Adrien could come over and help out, so I'm not the only one watching these two."

"I will send him over once he finishes his piano lessons," Gabriel promised at once, partly so Marinette wouldn't change her mind about taking the twins and partly because Adrien had offered to take up that responsibility in the first place and he needed to understand what following through would be like so that he wouldn't do it again in the future.

A chorus of whining followed Gabriel's words, and he looked over to see both twins pouting at Marinette.

"I don't want to go on a walk!"

"Yeah, that's too far! And it's too hot!"

"I want to stay here and watch cartoons and eat cookies!"

"And drink orange juice!"

The small girl holding Marinette's hand stomped her foot and turned to her babysitter. "I want cookies, too!"

"Cookies and no walking!"

Gabriel's headache spiked as the whining got louder, but Marinette only frowned at them. "Manon, you've already had cookies. Also that's too bad, we're going on a walk. No, you don't get a say in this. Now thank Mr. Agreste and we'll be leaving."

"But I don't want to!"

"Yeah!"

"If you don't behave, I'll tell your parents and you won't get dessert for a month and you'll have to go to bed early," Marinette warned them, and Gabriel watched in utter disbelief as the twins straightened up and promptly fell into line next to her. "Now what do we say to Mr. Agreste?"

"Thank you!"

Gabriel could only nod in response as the group headed back out the door, following Marinette down the steps and across the courtyard like a line of little ducklings. He waited until they had exited the gates and turned the corner before heading back into his office and collapsing into his chair.

He could deal with uncooperative suppliers and diva clients all day long, but two young children wore him out in a heartbeat. If Ms. Dupain-Cheng hadn't shown up, he- he-

He didn't know what he would have done. His patience had been gone, he had been at his wit's end, and the twins had just been whining and whining and whining.

Ms. Dupain-Cheng deserved a reward of some sort for coming in and rescuing him from those little monsters, Gabriel decided as he reached across his desk for some aspirin. Nothing obvious, of course, because he couldn't let on that he had had any problems with the twins, but she hadn't had to come over and add two more little terrors on top of the handful of a girl that she had already been babysitting. She could have just continued with her day and assumed that he was fully capable of dealing with the twins until Adrien finished his piano lesson, which is what he assumed most teens her age would have done.

Perhaps he would grant her immunity from getting akumatized, Gabriel decided after a minute's thought. He wasn't experienced enough to be able to identify individual imprints himself, but Nooroo could and he could block her imprint's emotions from getting picked up by the Miraculous upon request. Gabriel had heard talk that it wasn't a particularly pleasant experience for those who hadn't gotten akumatized voluntarily. Something about how their memories during that time were fuzzy or lost completely, which was terribly disorienting. He hadn't experienced the same, of course, and neither had Nathalie, but the two of them were special cases. Everyone else had to deal with holes in their memories and a nagging sense of confusion, neither of which were pleasant.

Yes, that was what he would do. It would be a way to express his thanks without giving away that he was doing that at all, Ms. Dupain-Cheng would no doubt appreciate being able to express her emotions safely, and it wasn't as though it would be any great loss to him.

There would always be other people to akumatize, after all, and giving one normal teenage girl a free pass out wasn't going to make any big difference in the long run.

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #Gabriel Agreste #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #do I enjoy tormenting Mr Agreste? absolutely

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uncloseted · 5 years

Text

Effy’s Closet Watches Skins: 302 “Cook”

Hey everyone! I'm back with another recap. I've always found this episode to be a bit of nonsense and i've never loved Cook as much as the other characters, but I think it gives a lot of insight into who he is and what motivates him. More under the cut!

- I’m still annoyed about the music change. I get why they had to do it but whoever chose the replacement music really didn't even try. I've said this before, but the original music isn't just music- it adds emotion, but it also adds commentary and lets us know what the characters are feeling. This is missing that.

- Cook and the boys are wandering down the street. It's Cook's 17th birthday, and he's having a party. Freddie says he hopes some people will show up; JJ says he invited half the college. It's a throwaway line, but I think it's actually pretty important- Cook wants people to pay attention to him, to think he's funny, to witness his debauchery. He wants people to like him despite how hard he tries not to give a shit about anyone or anything. So he invited everyone to make sure some people would come. Cook almost gets into a fight with some posh kids and looks thrilled about it. They're at Uncle Keith's pub and I'm a bit offended that the bartender is named Christina. It seems like Uncle Keith might be the only adult male influence Cook has had in his life in a long time, which explains some of why he is the way that he is. He introduces Freddie and JJ. Cook has an earring, which I don't think I've noticed before now. Keith is telling stories about his wild days and I think Cook feels like he needs to live up to those stories. Cook claims that Uncle Keith is a legend and JJ asks who exactly Keith is a legend to. Cook, who's looked up to Uncle Keith for a long time, seems really offended by the idea that Uncle Keith isn't a legend to *everyone*.

- Enter the girls. Cook says, "Look, man. Look at that. Quality totty. That's top shelf shit" about Effy to Freddie and then "hey baby" to Effy and puts his arm around her. Effy looks very uncomfortable. At this point in time, Cook really views Effy as being a hot girl more than anything else. Freddie looks upset by this. Then Cook declares that his party will be legendary, which it clearly is not. There's also an interesting throwaway interaction with this guy who wanders into the pub. Cook says the guy burnt his house, and the guy apologizes. Cook's life is clearly very hectic if his house is being burned down by some random dude, and yet he doesn't feel like that's enough. His party needs to be wild, crazy, legendary.

- Effy and Freddie share a really nice "Cook is crazy" look, and for the first time in this episode she seems happy that she came. They sing "For he's a jolly good fellow" and Effy looks very unamused and bored with how tame this whole situation is. "He's already had half a bottle of vodka" says JJ. "Really? How crazy" deadpans Effy. She looks about ready to leave, except Freddie is there so we all know she won't. The gang does tequila shots, and Cook howls. JJ joins in, excited to be included, and Freddie begrudgingly follows along. Effy gives him this cute little understanding smile. I just noticed that the headband she's wearing has star studs on it. Freddie says that Effy will like JJ's magic trick, and what I love about this is that he's right. Effy is all "what? He does magic?" And then she's totally amused by JJ's magic trick. It's one of the first times we see her smile like that in the series, which doesn't mean anything right now, but it's interesting in the context of her mum saying that she likes magic. I think part of the reason JJ likes her so much is that she really, unapologetically likes his magic tricks. She spends so much time being unimpressed about pretty much everything else that I think her liking his magic makes JJ feel special. She seems uncomfortable with Cook drinking the goldfish- the other girls definitely are.

- Pandora pukes, and Cook is excited- that means they're having a good time. Freddie and Effy share another glance, and then Naomi enters. She looks vulnerable, like she's not quite sure what she's doing there. For Naomi, this is being brave. The guy who harasses her and the girl who tells lies about her in one room... all because she wants to see Emily. Katie makes a lesbian joke, and Emily hisses, "Shh... I've told you to fucking... Just leave it, ok?" Clearly they've had this conversation about Naomi before, and it gives us a hint that maybe Emily has been standing up to Katie more in private. Cook tells Naomi that the cure for gayness is his cock. I think he likes the challenge of a girl who won't sleep with him. He's really set on impressing Naomi pretty consistently in the early episodes of this series. Effy is not having Cook's views on lesbians, but meanwhile Katie finds it hilarious, I guess because someone is finally on her side about it. Emily comes to the rescue by producing a cake. I like this because she's saving Naomi from this awkward situation, but without actually having to defend Naomi or tell her how she feels. Very series 3 Emily of her. Also, how cute that Emily made Cook a cake? Cook eats the whole thing and Effy smirks. Everyone else looks disgusted.

(Also, can I take this time to ask people why on earth they color edit gifs of Skins like this? The entire show is already color edited by professional color editors. It’s a big part of its look. Why make everything orange?!) - Katie is fed up with the situation. She asks where the conversation, the dancing, the men are. Cook is offended and tries to insist that they're men, but the rest of the gang finally says what they mean- this party is shit. Cook stands outside, waiting for a sign from God about how to improve his party. This is really, really important to him, and nobody else seems to care, so he has to make it happen himself. Then an opportunity presents itself- Freddie's sister is at an engagement party. Cook seems pleased at the idea of seeing Karen (he mentions that he's always touching with her and flirting with her, to which Freddie responds that that's why she doesn't like him), and I've always thought they should have delved into that relationship more. They have a really interesting dynamic- both Cook and Karen are characters who will do whatever it takes to be noticed and to be loved. One thing I really love about this episode is the pressure that everyone is feeling to have a crazy night and a good time. I feel like that's such a relatable part of being a teenager that doesn't often get depicted- you feel like you're supposed to be going out all the time, having the craziest moments of your life, but sometimes there's just nowhere to go and nothing to do. This episode captures that restlessness really well.

- They get to the engagement party and are turned away by the bouncer. Freddie talks Cook down from fighting the bouncer, which it seems from his expression like he has to do a lot. Karen and her friend come out, Cook offers them drugs, and finally they get let into the party. It's clearly not exactly their scene, but Cook isn't deterred. He meets Johnny White, a gangster, who threatens him, but he doesn't seem to care all that much. Pandora has decided she loves drugs, I guess because she's on a quest to get everyone to like her and everyone else is doing drugs. Pandora eats all the drugs, which provides a big problem for Cook. Effy, who is used to Pandora, thinks the situation is hilarious. Everyone else, not so much. Kayleigh tells Cook to get her more drugs. The rest of the gang is dancing. Effy's maroon dress has a black diagonal stripe on it, which I guess I always thought was part of her jacket but isn't.

- Cook talks to Freddie and JJ about how he needs the drugs so that he can get with Kayleigh. Freddie says, "I thought you liked Effy", to which Cook replies, "Yeah, she's a peach. But I already tapped that. Top-dollar shag. She's my last resort. Sure thing, I reckon." Freddie didn't know that Cook and Effy had sex, and now he's upset. "But...JJ likes her", he says. Meaning, "I love her. Why would you do this to me?" I think it's the first time he realizes how Cook will never put Freddie before himself, and that he's a way better friend to Cook than Cook is to him. Effy and Freddie steal another glance; she seems to be trying to inviting him over to dance with her with some flirty eye contact, but he's still processing what he just learned.

- Now we cut to Naomi and Emily in their first real conversation of the series. As a sidenote, both of their outfits are utterly ridiculous and perfect for them. I like how the pink in Naomi's top matches Emily's cardigan. Emily asks Naomi not to leave, and Naomi asks her why not, maybe hoping, just a little bit, that Emily will say "because I want you to stay". Here's Emily, being brave, going out on a limb for Naomi. She may not seem like it on the surface, but I think Emily is actually one of the bravest characters in the show. She knows that if she pushes Naomi too far, Naomi will run away from her, and so she's subtle, gentle, leaving room for Naomi to feel how she feels. Emily starts to say exactly what Naomi wants to hear, "I don't know....because...." and then thinks better of it and backs off. She knows that even though it's exactly what Naomi wants to hear, Naomi isn't ready to hear it. Naomi asks her why Katie thinks she's gay, and Emily apologizes. Naomi leaves.

- Johnny White gives a speech, and clearly this marriage is political; he's merging two gangs so that they won't fight anymore. Freddie looks upset, in general I think but also because of all the people there, he believes in love, and I think he feels like Kayleigh shouldn't be getting married for politics. Pandora faints and Effy tries to wake her up. Cook gets more drugs from Keith and gives them to Kayleigh. He has this argument with Kayleigh where he tries to convince her to have sex with him, which is gross but also I think shows his desperation. Cook is not someone who knows how to let go, even if he doesn't really care about the endgame. She says that if he impresses her, she'll have sex with him, and so Cook hatches a plan. He does the rest of his drugs (interestingly, he eats them in the same way Pandora does) and then does a whole song and dance number, angering Johnny in the process. Freddie sees danger coming, but not before Cook gets hit over the head with a bottle. Cook continues to poke at Johnny, getting himself deeper and deeper into trouble, and it's at this point that I wonder how prevalent gang activity actually is in Bristol. Every series these kids get into some sort of altercation with a gang. Is that normal for the UK? Anyway, Freddie sweeps in and saves the day, promising that they'll leave, and Johnny tosses Cook off of a balcony, starting a gang war in the process.

- Cook seems relatively unharmed from this fall, and begins to laugh. He's definitely gotten the legendary night he wanted, and to him that's all that matters. The gang runs away, hooligans that they are, before their situation can get worse. Effy concedes that it was a cool party and has this cute moment in the background where she and Pandora are playing. Freddie says that Cook is "fucking unbelievable", still with a mixture of admiration and disgust, which I think is common for their relationship. Still smiling, Freddie says, "you're always fucking trying to get laid", and it's interesting, because it's friendly but sharp. Cook isn't sensing the escalating situation with Freddie, and just says that he tries and succeeds before turning to the girls to see if any of them want to fuck. All of them evade him, including Effy. She pauses, thinks about it, looks at Freddie (who seems very nervous about what she's going to say), and then turns Cook down, saying that she has to take Pandora home. She looks like she might be wearing some sort of feather in her hair?

- Cook, undeterred, says that he wants to go somewhere with women. Freddie says he's tired, and Cook initially thinks he means sleepy, but Freddie says no- he's tired of Cook. I think Cook propositioning Effy right in front of him is the final straw for Freddie; clearly Cook doesn't care about his feelings, and if Cook doesn't care about Freddie's feelings, Freddie's not going to go with him and protect him from himself anymore. Cook responds with anger, a "fuck you, then" and tries to get JJ to come with him. JJ, I guess not wanting to rock the boat further, only hesitates for a second before he goes along.

- The rest of this episode is mostly filler nonsense so that Skins can earn its "edgy and provocative" stripes. It feels like a rehash of the events of episode 101, except now Skins has a reputation to uphold. Cook and JJ go to a strip club/brothel situation. Cook says JJ is going to lose his virginity; JJ stands up to him (a bit) and says he's not sure he wants to. I think Cook thinks he's doing JJ a favor, and by getting JJ laid, he'll make sure JJ stays on his side if this fight with Freddie is real. JJ is totally out of his element and clearly uncomfortable. Cook can't afford what he wants, and I think he's surprised that this is not a situation where he can bargain, no matter how good or sexy he thinks he is. JJ just wants a kiss; he's never kissed a girl and doesn't know how. He realizes that Johnny White is in the other room and goes to get revenge, but not before he sees JJ kissing Megan and calls it "gay shit". JJ apologizes to him, as if he's wronged Cook in some way. Cook takes pictures of Johnny in a... compromizing position... and takes Johnny's necklaces. Like Cook was doing before, Johnny provokes him- he won't let go even when he knows it's in his best interest. Johnny makes some comments about Cook's mum, and Cook physically fights him. JJ tries to pull him away and accidentally gets caught in the crossfire, with Cook almost hitting him. Cook looks disturbed by the fact that he got so angry that he almost hit JJ, and JJ runs away. Johnny threatens to kill Cook, and Cook, for the first time all episode, seems to realize that his actions have consequences.

He walks across a park alone at dawn. He doesn't have anywhere to go, so he goes to see Freddie, the only person who's always been there for him. Freddie comes out of his house and into the shed, looking like a bit of a grandpa in his dressing gown. Cook is drinking and Freddie calls him on it, but he's not willing to push the issue. I think he's hoping Cook has come to offer some form of apology. But Cook asks, "so what are we doing today then?" And Freddie knows that that's not why he's here. Freddie says he almost got them killed, and Cook finally offers up an apology of sorts. Freddie says that it's a first; even Cook's half apology seems to be more than Cook has ever said before. But Freddie's not having it- Cook says he wouldn't have done the stupid things he did if Freddie was there, and Freddie reiterates that he's not going to take care of Cook anymore, that he's tired of being a bystander to Cook's death wish. Cook pulls the Three Musketeers card and says he loves Freddie to bits, and Freddie relents. He knows that he's all that Cook has, and I don't think he's ready to let go of that. He asks just one thing, that Cook "stops all this crazy shit". But even that's too much for Cook. His response is only "shut it, you pussy". And so he goes right back to his old ways, walking down the street and singing loudly, just like he did before. Only this time, he's all alone. In this episode we see how far Freddie has been pushed, how much he just wants Cook to be okay. How much he thinks that somehow, he'll be able to get through to Cook and save him from himself. And it's so clear from the ending of that episode that that's not where Cook is,that's not what's going to happen. He wants to keep things exactly as they are, with Freddie looking out for him so nothing truly bad happens, where there are no consequences for his actions because Freddie will shield him from them. This conversation marks Freddie's final straw- he's trying again, one more time, hoping he got through to Cook. Forgiving him for everything with Effy, for creating messes he always has to clean up... offering one final olive branch.

Bonus: Effy and Freddie sharing glances in this episode:

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