Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Wednesday Women (Fanfic month): Root/Shaw, Person of Interest, by inspectorboxer



 July 19th this year marks the International Day of Femslash, a celebration of all  Femslash fanworks that has been around since 2009. I started the Wednesday Women blogs last summer, but decided that this year, we'd have a full month dedicated to fanfiction. Many published writers started out in the community (in fandoms like Xena: Warrior Princess or ST: Voyager) which also provided a visibility of LGBT-related (love) stories that mainstream TV was and still is slow to integrate into their usual schedule. I met inspectorboxer in (you could guess from the name) Women's Murder Club fandom to which fanfic definitely has a special meaning--it helped us keep the stories of four exceptional women alive long after the show's cancellation. Since then, she has written in various fandoms, and for this week's Wednesday Women, she'll take a look at one that is likely in her future: Root/Shaw from Person of Interest.

 (Graphic provided by guest blogger)

When Barb kindly asked me to do this blog entry for her fanfiction month, I was both flattered and panicked. Asking me to choose my favorite pairing is a like asking a mother to pick her favorite child. She might actually have one, but admitting it out loud might not be a good idea. I love all the pairings I’ve dabbled in, but as a writer, I confess that female characters that are flawed and damaged challenge me the most. I’ll play it safe here and choose a pairing I have yet to write: Root/Shaw from Person of Interest.

Some fans call them “Raw,” others prefer “Shoot.” Whichever portmanteau you like, the nicknames are apt. Both women have a thing for guns, and when it comes to their mental states… let’s be polite and say they don’t have issues, they have a subscription. As dangerous and unhinged as they are, I easily find myself cheering them on week after week as these enemies turn into reluctant allies.
The characters in a nutshell: Root (Amy Acker) might be more than a touch insane. A woman who once killed for kicks and money has now found God in the form of a machine created to spy on us all. Shaw (Sarah Shahi) is a borderline sociopath who used to work as an assassin for the CIA. She has a thing for pain – both giving it and receiving it. As dark as their characters sound, their moments together are often infused with some of the show’s rare flashes of humor. Their flirty, uneasy alliance is like nothing else on television right now, and it’s as fascinating as it is unpredictable.


The characters come across as soul mates – two tortured and disturbed sides of the same crazy coin. If their damaged characters aren’t intriguing enough, there is always their whip-smart banter to hold your attention. On any other show, these two characters would be villains. On Person of Interest, they are the heroes.

If you haven’t watched Person of Interest before, I highly recommend it. The writing is top notch and the characters, especially the women, are crafted exceptionally well. I suggest watching from the beginning. Give the show a few episodes for it to find its stride, and you won’t be disappointed. You’ll have to wait a few seasons to meet Root and Shaw, but I don’t think you’ll mind when you have such a well-written series to catch up on.

While I haven’t written this pairing yet, I am tempted, but I have a number of my own stories to finish up first. There isn’t enough fan fiction out there with these two, so perhaps this brief post could inspire a little more. A girl can dream.
If you’re curious about my writing, you can find my stories about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly, Nikki & Nora, Women’s Murder Club, and Rizzoli & Isles at either Live Journal or Archive of Our Own.

~ ~ ~
Thanks inspectorboxer for joining me this week! There'll be more fanfic related blogs all through July and a summer break in August after which the Wednesday Women will resume in September.

No comments:

Post a Comment