Saint James Infirmary 374: Control Issues

[Daphne]

his crucial role in the first Snake Eyes of the Destiny Dice

I'm not sure I know what event you are referring to here.

[jmundt29]

Look, I understand I'm in the minority here.  But you'll notice--I was just as hard on Coates until his wife came home and was basically..."oh, honey, you shouldn't have.  My favorite!" and joined right in.  That scene whether it was influenced by the belltower or not made his behavior colorable.  Weston's presence in the first Snake Eyes of Destiny tolls against him, and how he presented himself when we first saw him between scenes at rehearsal tolls against him...heavily.  We see that he plays with Reka and accepts her decisions, but the fact that he was "wooing for himself" at rehearsal and that his success could be a factor in Fugly Future #1 is damaging.

Snake Eyes of Destiny--the first guest page has Adrian back with his ex, broke, both of them miserable, and the entire world has the sort of chemical Sound of Thunder taint.  And Erin is working out her rage over whatever happened to bring them to this pass by performing vehement classic plays and originals under Weston's direction--and given what we know of his proclivities, it's a small hop to believe they're together.  That's Fugly Future #1.  It's HORRIBLE.  Now Snake Eyes #2 is the Heartbreak of Pyrrhic Victory.  Adrian defeats Jakob, but it costs Erin's life and Adrian's health and Adrian is so shattered that if he had to do it over again, he'd have let Jakob win just to keep Erin alive.  #1 is not as bad as #2, but it is a future to be avoided.

[Daphne]

To be fair, you are not the only person who dislikes actors.

No one is required to like or dislike any character, of course; it's a mortal sin for an author to instruct readers what they should think about individual people, and whether or not one likes someone has very little to do with their actual behavior.

[GodWilling]

He makes my flesh crawl a bit but I don't really know why. It can't just be the beard.

[jmundt29]

I don't dislike ALL actors.  I dislike THIS actor.  Oh, and I went spelunking in the Calendar and I think what I'm referring to is Guest Page #12 posted March 2, 2013.  Adrian and Echo are back together.  Broke.  Fighting.  Miserable.  Erin is starring in angry plays with Weston and given how he was after her when we met him, it wasn't any stretch to believe they might be "together."  That's just ugly.  And as I said.  Pearl has a glorious ass and a hidden fetish for being spanked.  Watching her and Reka enjoy that while they were buzzed and horny would be one of the most delicious splash page I could imagine...if they were alone (even if I think it would be cooler with a different participant).  However, with Weston there as Lucky Dog/Disloyal Peacock, the tableau is ruined.  Not as bad as having one of the Kuppler brothers laughing maniacally in the corner, but close.

[GodWilling]

given how he was after her when we met him

They kissed, which is in the play. It went on a bit longer than it might have. It takes two to tango. I'm starting to see both Weston and Réka as the sort of satellites Erin was used to having.

[Daphne]

It went on a bit longer than it might have.

I think it's safe to assume that Erin would not protract a kiss that she was not enjoying.

[Haight]

Weston's kind of a goober, it's true, but I don't see anything sinister about him. He's a guy who likes the ladies. You can't really blame him for 'following his dreams' in a college town with apparently a fairly vibrant hookup culture, while he's in college. Since Adrian isn't aggressively staking his claim on his harem, it's only natural that some of these ungodly beautiful women who've been MCed to a simmering heat of libido are going to look for some action elsewhere. While I prefer sort of 'possessive' harems where the women are exclusive to one man, freer love can be pretty hot too.

My money is on Reka and not Weston though, since Dani's been doing the programming, and she's been in Adrian's corner on the harem thing from the beginning. Reading over the comics, I'm actually not sure if Adrian is in the know about it, though - he did go up to get her, and she's still rubbing her eyes on the way down, and Adrian's got a bit of a smirk in 369.

[jmundt29]

Maybe my initial read was so annoying that I just confabulated stuff to justify my view.  But I thought it was the kiss, then cut, cheesy overconfident pickup line, then phone call.

Yes, a goober.  But guys who start out as chasers or goobers or minor self-important annoyances in the SJI-verse tend to metastasize.  Look what happened to Vik.  He went from ominous but harmless nerd to desperate nutball in less than two days.  In the John Hughes universe, Weston would be a guy good looking enough to carry off John Kapelos' attitude in Sixteen Candles and stupid/self-confident enough to try it.  Or Robert Downey Jr. in Weird Science, etc.

Not necessarily evil, but truly annoying and made even more annoying by their almost bizarre self-confidence.  These are characters who I wait for the Piano of Karma to fall on or the divine boot to kick in the butt so they'll leave.  And Weston has been...exceptionally fortunate so far.

[Haight]

Maybe I veer too hard the other way, but the 'all men are devils except for our MC protagonist' presupposition just seems weird to me. Like I said, big harems of women MCed to be exclusive to one man are hot, but I don't put myself so much in the MC protag's shoes that I see other men as competition and thus worth despising.

[jmundt29]

I was hoping Sawyer and his bodyguard were good guys.  For about a hundred episodes, I was convinced that they WERE good guys.  Guess not.  And that sort of sours the impending feature night with Jacqui and Dani which should be one of this comic's most hotly anticipated spectacles.  Instead....ah, damn!  Oh well...

[GodWilling]

Weston's kind of a goober

The other aspect to this is that mystery is at the heart of SJI. Adrian is a just an ordinary decent guy? Well, maybe. But we've never known that for sure because we don't know anything about him. It turns out he has a link to the New York harem through Echo. And he has a link by parentage to (possibly) Rain's promise. So it's not clear to us exactly what his motives are.

Maybe Weston is just a goofball. But that scene with Erin kissing Réka while Weston looks on... Is he a mind controller? Every bugger else is, why shouldn't he be? I'd hardly be surprised if someone we've no reason to mistrust in this thing turns out to be a traitor or a villain. I know I'm looking for mystery where there is none. But that's inevitable, I think.

[jmundt29]

He doesn't seem to know about Rain or her promise, even if he is the current instrument of her centuries' old oath.  It seems that the incident that set him to wandering is tied to the New York Harem, but it seems that he was one of a largely nameless group of family members and jilted significant others who were tangential collateral damage to Jakob's appetites and the programming of his harem.  I don't think that makes him nefarious.  But it would be interesting to find out if Jakob deliberately set out to target the Cavanaughs because of his history in at Wilmot.

[Daphne]

The following is not canon, but I love this quote so much I have to drop it here: For me, it was Tuesday.

[jmundt29]

Entirely possible.  And a very satisfying way to approach this.  However, Jakob seems to have been craving the kind of existence, the kind of fulfillment that had been accidentally created for Patrick and Miel before he got there.  Just as Claudia's quest for Dani accidentally triggered a better existence for Adrian and the SJI gals that would be the envy of those who were pursuing their own aims when they accidentally helped to created it.