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firlefanzineChapter Five
Chapter Five
There has been a bomb explosion, and like the other emergency services, Bodie and Doyle, now working together as a team, responded. On arrival, however, Doyle remained by the car, too scared to go any further, while Bodie ran straight into the cloud of smoke to help.
Eventually Doyle screws up his courage and joins Bodie, who is assessing what seems to be a detonator. Doyle recognises it as a specific Irish terrorist group, and Bodie immediately knows who he's talking about. They realise that there's a second device nearby, ready to go off when the emergency services have arrived. They find it, and Doyle uses his penknife to cut the wires - a mad guess between red or blue, because it could be either - and saves the situation.
Even as they're laughing in relief, however, one of the first bomb's victims staggers into them and collapses. They're badly burned and blinded, and asking for Richard. Bodie recoils but Doyle pretends to be Richard as comfort as the man dies in his arms.
The next thing Doyle knows is that he's sitting on a wall outside a church with Bodie, though he can't remember getting there. Bodie is rubbing his back, then "tangles... fingers into his hair, carressing" and explains that the first time in such a situation is the worst, and he'll be okay. Doyle points out that he doesn't ever want to be "okay" with this situation, and begins to feel guilty about not having been able to stop it. He knows London so well, he should have seen some sign. Bodie rejects this - "Jesus Christ, Doyle. You'll sink both of us."
Doyle realises he's been in shock, recovers, and just as he's getting up spots a priest helping the victims. He's not impressed - "Oh great... God's here." Bodie's puzzled by this, and Doyle realises that the priest is giving first aid, not the last rites. As he watches the priest, however, and then hears his voice, Doyle realises that he's familiar. ""Gabriel. Gabe!" and begins to walk into the crowd."
So - what did you think?
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Date: 2019-04-27 11:24 am (UTC)The author is still describing Doyle as "a Stepney beat-copper", completely ignoring the fact that he was a Detective Constable by the time he was recruited to CI5, and had served in the Drug Squad at least, as further experience from being a "beat-copper". Quite apart from the fact that he's surely already used to seeing pain and violence and injury at various levels through this experience, he was also in the Met in London in the 1970s - just checking Wiki for 1970-76 gives 50 terrorists incidents involving bombs (some of which were defused, but many went off). In 1976 there was the Olympia bombing, where "1976 Olympia bombing: A bomb placed by the Provisional IRA exploded in a litter bin at the top of an escalator in a crowded exhibition hall. 20,000 people were attending the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition at the time. 70 were injured." Doyle is not likely to be unprepared to have to deal with this sort of carnage - quite apart from his own CI5 training!
And gaah for super-Bodie (in comparison) running straight in while Doyle cowers. That's just not a Doyle that I can see from the eps, or canon, or a realistic view of London and its emergency services at the time.
Yes, he redeems himself afterwards and is more the Doyle that I know - but why in the world set him up like that? It makes no sense to me... Just as I think I'm starting to believe in the characters, the author does something to make me back off again. By the end of this chapter I'm believing in them once more - but now I'm waiting to be knocked back again, to have them snatched away again...
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Date: 2019-04-27 11:49 am (UTC)But I can't say that I didn't enjoy the chapter, I suppose because I found the plot exciting. I wasn't sure if she was talking about an actual bombing or not, though I imagined she was (what a thing to make up!) Anyway, I do so hope her portrayal of Doyle gets more into line with the Doyle we saw in the episodes.
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Date: 2019-04-27 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 12:13 pm (UTC)I just ... I feel as though a storyline that means "life has nearly broken both of them but they save each other" and one that means "they're already survivors, each in his own way, and all they need is to respect and trust each other" are both perfectly plausible, but they do not mesh. Then the writer ends up slicing and mixing them up, and I'm getting whiplash here. Plus the "Bodie actually IS perfect" subplot doesn't help either storyline.
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Date: 2019-04-27 08:50 pm (UTC)I suppose Bodie's damage came out a bit when he started getting his gun out to put the bombing victim out of his misery, and the way he wasn't sure what Doyle was doing when he tried to comfort the man - but he does seem to have things a bit more in check now...
It was a good chapter end!
"life has nearly broken both of them but they save each other" and one that means "they're already survivors, each in his own way, and all they need is to respect and trust each other" are both perfectly plausible, but they do not mesh
Hmmn, why wouldn't they mesh? Surely they could both be nearly broken but survivors, but they save each other into being something more than just survivors because they each open the other's eyes to ways to react to things...? But I might not be understanding what you mean...
I'm still finding Bodie a bit Mary-Sue - the hero who rushes in, but then is tragically flawed in a way that means he'll save everyone else... but he's getting a bit better, I think. And I mean, I'd expect them both to rush into the bombing site, because that's the sort of thing they're trained to do - it's Doyle not doing it that bugs me rather than Bodie doing it this time!
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:40 pm (UTC)I want Bodie to get better, but I want to understand better how that is happening. There are parts of this story when I feel like he packs up his baggage and ignores it for a while, and that doesn't feel true to me.
I'm anxious to get the Gabe plot resolved at least somewhat, but I can't see how that really furthers the B/D part either. I know we're still in the middle, but I guess I don't want to think the problems in forming a real partnership are unsurmountable.
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Date: 2019-04-28 12:08 am (UTC)I do agree that things seem to be okay for a little bit, and then suddenly blown apart again, which is rather roller-coaster-ish, but really that's what life is like, so even that isn't entirely off the map.
I think for me the difficulty is that we seem to see Doyle's pov when he's feeling weak and unsure, but we see Bodie's pov when he's feeling sure and all-hero, and so I think it's as much an imbalance in the writing, for me, as anything else.
If I were to guess (since I don't remember what happens, despite reading this before!) I'd say that Gabe is probably going to be a catalyst for Bodie realising that he does actually fancy Doyle, and then realising that he has stronger feelings about him. I'm quite looking forward to seeing what happens though, cos I'd like to think that Angelfish can be a bit more complex than that... *g*
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Date: 2019-04-28 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 02:38 pm (UTC)LOL! Exactly my thoughts!
"...And gaah for super-Bodie (in comparison) running straight in while Doyle cowers."
That's the way professionals should act in such a situation. In any case, showing any feelings AFTER such an operation.
No, I have no problem with the Bodie here. But that's not the Doyle we know! And it's not just his hesitation at the beginning, it's also all this musing about heaven and hell - at this wrong moment, when there is real hell around him.
"...tough one for a Catholic, taught from birth that God is up there and mankind down here, hopelessly and forever separate. He has put God back where He should be -- right in his own human breast, with all the joy and pain and agonising responsibility that entails. There is need for him to enter hell..."
And so on..., and so on...
What follows is a superb bomb disposal scene. *bows*
And then again, as you mentioned it, the scenes outside the Brunswick church, and the moment he sees Gabe. All his professionalism is forgotten, and he acts like the heroine in a regency novel.
Hello? Where is my Doyle, please????
Anyway - up until now, I still enjoy the powerfull writing!
...it reminds me a bit of reading Kate MacLean - you don't like these guys, you don't even know them - but you can't stop reading! ;-)
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Date: 2019-04-27 04:31 pm (UTC)We are inside Doyle's head, but have no idea what Bodie is really feeling, only getting to see his perfect behavior under pressure.
I'm trying to tell myself that Doyle's hesitation is really just a split second, before going in like he is trained to do.
In the episodes, Doyle does what needs to be done, and saves any doubts and feelings for later.
He really doesn't display that kind of behavior (though we aren't mind readers, and Bodie has said he is scared all the time, for example, but we don't really see that from his actions)
So conceivably, they could both be scared to death, but in this story, Doyle is always the one needing support from a Bodie who knows it all, and has so much more experience.
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:01 pm (UTC)Maybe that's something else that throws me though - because we do get the story from Bodie's pov sometimes. Like when he thinks about how he thought Doyle was going to abandon him because he didn't follow Bodie straight in - "he'd gone cod white...", that bit. I suppose below that we get a bit of Bodie's positive view of Doyle, in the bomb defusing scene, but it's not the sort of hero-view that we're shown of Bodie... When we see Doyle he's quite often scared or nervous or summat, but when we see Bodie he never is... It just seems unbalanced as writing, as much as anything, I think....
a Bodie who knows it all, and has so much more experience
And that - that right there's what I don't get, or believe! Different experience yeah, but in fact Doyle's been the one dealing with the IRA's terrorism in London since he started in the police force...
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Date: 2019-04-27 08:56 pm (UTC)Yes! Exactly! That's what they've been trained to do!
this musing about heaven and hell - at this wrong moment, when there is real hell around him
Yes, that too. Although I think the bit you quote below isn't so much him musing as the author telling us what his life has been like. But still... It's too much hesitation, too much cowering, when he should be getting on with his job.
Love the bomb defusing scene - now that I can just picture! *g*
and the moment he sees Gabe. All his professionalism is forgotten, and he acts like the heroine in a regency novel.
Hmmn, I don't know about this, I actually didn't have a problem with him here. His professionalism has taken a hit anyway when he's reacted so strongly about the man dying in his arms (which I have no problem with - there's professionalism and then there's being a robot, and I don't think there's many trained professionals who wouldn't be affected by what happened then), and he's just about to head back in to help again when he sees Gabe. As long as he doesn't just vanish from the job entirely, I'm okay with this bit...
reading Kate MacLean - you don't like these guys, you don't even know them
Ah, now we disagree over Kate MacLean too, I seem to remember... I adore her Pros stories! *g* And I'm also never thrown out of them by the sort of inconsistencies we see from Angelfish here...
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Date: 2019-04-28 10:32 am (UTC)...As long as he doesn't just vanish from the job entirely, I'm okay with this bit..."
But he does! He could have come back later, after the event, to look for Gabe. Now that he knows where he probably works. But no! Without thinking he "...and begins to walk into the crowd."
That's a very stupid thing to do at that moment!
"...Ah, now we disagree over Kate MacLean too, I seem to remember... I adore her Pros stories!"
Well, then we should put her on the list for the next Novel Read-Along! :-)
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Date: 2019-04-28 01:25 pm (UTC)No, it makes absolute sense to me that he walks towards Gabe at the end of this chapter (But he does! had better not be a spoiler, btw!). He's not leaving the site of the bombing, and just abandoning everything, but he has just seen someone who's absolutely tied up with a major trauma in his life. I don't think it's a conscious decision on Doyle's part at all, and I don't blame him either - if I suddenly saw someone I'd loved and lost years ago, and not been able to find since, then I'd probably drop everything to follow them too! And to be fair, he doesn't know that Gabe works at the nearby church, he could just have been passing when the bomb went off, he could have been visiting it, etc.
That's a very stupid thing to do at that moment!
Why?! Why is it "stupid"?
We've got the next novel-read-along story lined up, but we can put Maclean on the list for another time! *g*
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Date: 2019-04-28 02:18 pm (UTC)It is absolutely nonprofessional. It's a very critical situation, and every helping hand is needed - and this CI5 man walks away to follow some ghost from his past...
"...but he has just seen someone who's absolutely tied up with a major trauma in his life. I don't think it's a conscious decision on Doyle's part at all,... "
Oh, come on! Even worse! He's not some butcher or school teacher, or whatever. If he can't handle his past - at such moments -, he's in the wrong job!
And I'd like to see Cowley's reaction if he knew! ;-)
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Date: 2019-04-28 02:56 pm (UTC)Okay, so you're saying unprofessional (an assessment of the situation) - "stupid" is just a person insult with an ambiguous basis!
I still disagree though - it's not as if Doyle's been slacking (if we ignore the un-Doyle-like behaviour of not running straight in like Bodie did). The reason they're sitting on the wall in the first place is that they worked out who planted the bomb, worked out that there was a second bomb, found it, defused it with seconds to spare, and were just recovering from that when a victim so badly burned that he's blind and his nerves are no longer working, literally falls onto them. Doyle offers what comfort he can, but the man still dies in his arms. I think any professional, no matter how experienced, would be excused for taking whatever kind of break they need in order to keep their sanity. Professionals and the emergency services are trained and experienced, but they're also still people.
And as I said before, there's a limit at this stage to how much they can personally do. Yes, they can jump in and help triage any victims who haven't been given attention yet, but to be honest I'm surprised that Gabe is finding bodies out in the open like that to deal with, because as Doyle notes at the start of the chapter, the emergency services were already there when Bodie and Doyle arrived - "no need for Bodie to run straight in". So there'd be police and other CI5 agents and first responders already on the scene, plus ambulances and medics, plus apparently unhurt passers-by like Gabe. If there was no need for Bodie to run right in as soon as they got there, then twenty or so minutes later there are going to be even more people there to help, and even less need for the lads to wade in. So I reckon they're due a breather, myself!
I reckon Cowley would have recalled them once they'd found the second bomb - and sent them off to chase down Christy McMahon... *g*
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Date: 2019-04-28 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-28 07:55 pm (UTC)I think I know that song!
Stupid Cupid you're a real mean guy
I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly
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Date: 2019-04-28 08:04 pm (UTC)But not bad! :-)
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Date: 2019-04-28 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-28 08:37 pm (UTC)I hope you can see it too.
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Date: 2019-04-28 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 12:33 pm (UTC)Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).
no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 04:41 pm (UTC)And Bodie the Super-Hero again, who jumps out of the car and into the fiasko without thinking or hesitation. But at the other hand Bodie isn't able to comfort a dying man, which Doyle can do without thinking about it? That doesn't fit for me, even if Doyle's reaction is the reaction I would expect from him.
I know from first hand experience that your brain stops telling you what to do when there is a situation with hurt people. You don't think or hesitate, you're going to help. The shock comes later, so it was ok that Doyle is sitting next Brunswick church without knowing how he got there. That was very realistic.
What doesn't sound right to me is his behavior when he sees Gabe or a man he thinks is Gabe. His behavior reminds me of a Barbara Cartland heroine. Blah.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 09:09 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly my thoughts - he's trained to do this, and he's been doing it in the police to various degrees for years too...
Bodie isn't able to comfort a dying man, which Doyle can do without thinking about it? That doesn't fit for me
For me that was Bodie harking back to the past few chapters, where he's still coming to terms with a kind of non-harsh, non-military way of thinking. I can see Doyle being better at giving comfort than Bodie right now, because he's had more experience in the police, whereas Bodie's "thrown grenades into the bush". So his first thought was how to put the man out of his misery, and he reaches for his gun (though I can't actually see Bodie doing that in the middle of London, even if he might have done it in the otherwise-empty jungle).
The shock comes later, so it was ok that Doyle is sitting next Brunswick church without knowing how he got there.
Yes, I agree - although again it was Doyle having to be comforted about it rather than Bodie - although to be fair she does say "Bodie sounds - looks - as if he could use some kind of comfort himself. He's pale, his eyes..." etc. We seem to get Doyle's pov when he's feeling weak, and Bodie's pov when he's feeling strong, and it makes me feel as if it's more unbalanced than sometimes it is, I think...
his behavior when he sees Gabe or a man he thinks is Gabe. His behavior reminds me of a Barbara Cartland heroine. Blah
Hmmn - Firlefanzine said that too, but I didn't actually have a problem with the end of the chapter like that... It's perhaps the one moment when he isn't swooning! *g*
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:22 pm (UTC)We seem to get Doyle's pov when he's feeling weak, and Bodie's pov when he's feeling strong, and it makes me feel as if it's more unbalanced than sometimes it is, I think...
Well, I always thought that it could be me not beeing a native speaker that made it difficult for me with the changes in the pov, so I tried to ignore it. But I think you're right, that might be my main problem too.
Hmmn - Firlefanzine said that too, but I didn't actually have a problem with the end of the chapter like that... It's perhaps the one moment when he isn't swooning! *g*
I just don't think that he would walk away like a girl seeking for the knight in shining armor only because he hears a voice he remembers. For me he is to much a professional and he knows there is more to do. He isn't swooning, but he doesn't react like the Doyle I know from the eps. The Doyle from the eps would do his job and after all he could do is done would go to the church to look if the priest is really Gabe.
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:29 pm (UTC)Oh okay - I guess I wasn't thinking of him being mentally and psychologically a super-hero, just with the physical bravery and so on.
I just don't think that he would walk away
Oh, but I don't think he's walking away from the bomb scene, or what needs to be done - Gabe is actually trying to help he victims too, so it's more that Gabe's in the middle of things rather than that Doyle is leaving. And since he and Bodie have worked out who set the bombs, stopped the second bomb from detonating, and perhaps don't have as much of a role now as the medics and ambulance drivers (maybe until Cowley gets there to give them their orders etc.), then helping with the victims is surely acceptable - especially when it's his adolescent ex-lover who's just turned up doing the same... *g*
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Date: 2019-04-28 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-28 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 06:21 pm (UTC)Yes, he redeems himself afterwards and is more the Doyle that I know - but why in the world set him up like that? It makes no sense to me
I agree. I think the author’s characterisation of Doyle is strange… why - what is the point - does she persist in making him look such a wimp? And, as you say, denying him his experience of 70s London (in particular) under prolonged IRA threat? Is it just to make Bodie look better? She obviously *does* know the lads well because at other times in the same chapter she gets it spot on, e.g. with the choosing which wires bit, it’s so Doyle and so them that Doyle would do the opposite of what Bodie suggests!
But aside from what I've nitpicked, I really did enjoy this chapter (especially Bodie's hands tangled in Doyle's hair) for the tension, action, Bodie being Bodie and I welcomed the return of Gabriel, not just because it gave more point to the Prologue, but because I'm looking forward to Bodie's response!
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:17 pm (UTC)Heee!
And what’s with all the vomiting that goes on in some stories? Do people really vomit *that* easily?
To be fair I've definitely felt the urge to vomit myself when I've seen (and smelled and all...) someone else vomit, so I can imagine that there might be a reaction to something really raw and grisly... But not from our lads, who are both trained and experienced as well! They might have vomited the first time they'd seen something awful, but I reckon that would have been a long time ago for both of them...
I think I've said before that what properly bugs me about this story is that the author does write in a way that makes me want to read, and makes me want to know and feel more - so when something jars it probably jars much more than for a less-skilled writer (if that makes sense...)
I like the way that she captures moments - like Bodie tangling his fingers in Doyle's hair, and at the end when Doyle realises for a moment that Bodie's just as thrown by what happened as he was (though he then stops himself from believing it). She adds detail in a showing us way, and even bits where she's giving us information feel less like telling than showing.
And, as you say, denying him his experience of 70s London (in particular) under prolonged IRA threat?
There's a bit of me that does wonder if this is a familiarity thing. The author seems to have a good grasp of the lads sometimes - and then is completely off in others, and I wonder if it had been a while since she watched an ep when she wrote this, so that we're getting her most vivid impressions and memories as part of this story, but not the overall picture of the lads from when you remember what they did in this-ep or that-ep...
I'm looking forward to Bodie's response!
Yes! *g*
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Date: 2019-04-28 07:52 pm (UTC)Yup, I think that's how I view them as well.
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Date: 2019-04-27 09:28 pm (UTC)Yes, sometimes they do. Even professionals. For example my mother. She was a nurse and she fainted when she was to observe an operation and she told me that she vomited very easily when she smelled someones vomit. That was one of the reasons why she had to use a face mask with two or three drops of peppermint oil.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-28 04:34 pm (UTC)