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impracticaldemon · 7 years

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Nalu Fluff Week 2017 Within the Law, Chapter 2

fanfiction by impracticaldemon Words: ~3000 | Also on FFnet | AO3 (coming soon) | CH. 1

Author's Note:

Chapter 2 of Within the Law is based on the Day 4 prompt "History", with several nods to the Day 1 prompt "Soulmates".

I'd like to thank everyone who is reading, following and liking this story so far, with special thanks to those who have taken a moment to drop me a line to tell me what they think of the story.

Chapter 2—Friend or Foe?

Prompt: History

I—Scrutiny

The interview did not go at all as Lucy expected. For one thing, it was a great deal more informal than any interview she'd ever had for a job (other than one for a paper route that her father wouldn't let her keep). The real shock, however, was finding out that the law firm of Makarov & Vermilion—known to lawyers as Fairy Tail—had a history with her family.

The room was more or less what she had envisioned—corporate-Fiore standard boardroom with an oval table, big comfortable chairs, and fully updated with the newest in lacrima technology. The artwork was a little unusual, and appeared to have been contributed by various members of the firm, since there wasn't any cohesion or similarity between the pieces that she could make out. Lucy couldn't help but glance at Natsu when her eyes caught what appeared to be an original Star Wars movie poster in all its kitschy, late- seventies glory, mounted in a place of honour on one wall. Natsu gave her two thumbs up, apparently aware of her interest—in the poster—and Lucy found herself smiling.

"That's the slightly more common version, of course," he stage whispered to her as she sat down in her designated spot. "But I have the Type A poster at home."

Lucy had no idea what he was talking about; apparently Natsu was an even bigger geek than she was. Also… was that a pick-up line? Gray either shared her concern or saw her expression. He punched Natsu none-too-lightly on the shoulder.

"Seriously, Pepto B? Lucy's here for a job interview and you sound like some kind of nerdy pick-up artist."

"What the hell, Gray?! I just thought she'd like to know—I mean she can recognize an Imperial Destroyer-class capital ship when she sees one!"

"So could anyone who's known you for at least five minutes," argued Gray, unconsciously pushing back his sleeves. His pale blue shirt was now unbuttoned most of the way down his chest, revealing a stylized silver sword on a matching chain around his neck—and some very nice muscle, and part of a dark blue tattoo.

Lucy saw Erza Scarlet, the firm's youngest-ever managing partner start to tense at the childish behaviour. She leaned forward, but Makarov Dreyar, the firm's senior partner, shook his head at her slightly, and Ms. Scarlet sighed but didn't intervene. Lucy wondered just how often this kind of thing went on around Fairy Tail. Were they at least more professional around clients? And did their lead forensic specialist really need to show off his chest like that? Lucy found herself looking back at Natsu in the hope that maybe this was a common habit for Fairy Tail guys. Hope?! Did I really just think that? Ugh! This is getting out of hand.

Ignoring Ms. Scarlet's glare, Natsu poked Gray in the chest with a forefinger. It didn't look like much, but Gray almost fell out of his chair.

"Hah!" crowed Natsu. "Shows what you know, Stripper! Lucy hadn't known me for five minutes yet!" He beamed at Lucy, who once again felt like a deer caught in particularly attractive headlights. She scrambled to get her wits together, her task made harder as Natsu reached up and loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. Mercifully, he stopped with just one button.

"… I guess not," she ventured. "At least, I know it wasn't for very long."

Gray leaned forward toward Natsu with a predatory smirk. "Thought so. You didn't go fetch Lucy like you were supposed to, did you? I'll bet you ran home to let Plue out, set Happy to keep an eye on him, and then—let's see—you had to rush back here because you can't stand riding the subway. You know, I thought it was strange that Lucy got caught in the rain."

Lucy felt a blush starting—why had she lied to cover up for Natsu? Then she discovered that nobody else seemed especially upset, although Ms. Scarlet was obviously irritated.

"And which great detective are you today, Ice Cube Brain, Poirot or Holmes?" Natsu rolled his eyes. "I mean for crying out loud, Ice Princess, don't you—"

"That's enough!" Ms. Scarlet's hand smacked the table, and Lucy jumped right along with the guys. "Natsu—we'll have to have another chat about your billable hours later today. Gray, put your shirt back on and stop baiting Natsu."

Wait, what? Lucy stared at Gray, whose expensive broadcloth shirt was hanging neatly over the back of his chair. What the hell?

Okay, so the lawyers at M&V were a little… unusual. Lucy had already known that in advance. She'd done her research—and seen the news stories—so she'd been aware that Makarov Dreyar was extremely short and tended to conduct business sitting cross-legged on top of tables, podiums, bars, and—in one very famous case—the back of a client's expensive and extremely explicit Greek statue of three lovers.

Mr. Makarov had argued that as the statue was a perfectly functional chair, and as there were no obscenity by-laws regarding lawn furniture, the City of Magnolia had no right to either fine his client or force him to remove the object from his front lawn. He'd lost the case, but it had made his law firm known to most of Fiore by the time it was over. On top of that, the client had reputedly been pleased that he and his statue had been on the news for the better part of two months. It had allegedly doubled the client's business, which Lucy preferred to not think about too hard.

Lucy had also been prepared for Erza Scarlet to be a gorgeous redhead who was not much older than she was. Ms. Scarlet was known equally for her uncompromising courtroom tactics and her custom-designed suits, which had a strange tendency toward colorful bows and thematic patterns that she claimed were related to her cases. Three years ago, journalist Jason Khol had commented that if Erza Scarlet ever showed up for court in a regular black or navy suit, he'd know for sure to leave immediately; the case would either be boring or leave people dead. He had also reported that the lawyer's one weakness was strawberry torte with real whipped cream. Looking across at the giant portrait of a piece of cake so deliciously realistic that Lucy's mouth immediately began to water, Lucy concluded that the information might have been more accurate that Jason's usual offerings.

She was called back to the present when Ms. Scarlet cleared her throat and thanked Lucy for coming to the interview. Lucy almost hugged her for saying something so normal.

"I'm very happy to be here," she began.

"Well, that's just it," interrupted Makarov. "You see, we've had our eyes on you for some time, but since we're all very much like family here, we had to make sure that you weren't just applying for a position in order to spy for your father."

Lucy froze in place. This was actually worse than she'd expected. She'd become more or less inured to being courted for her family's wealth and connections, but she'd never ceased to be hurt on the rare occasions that she'd been met with grim scorn or open hostility because of her family's "opportunistic" business practices.

"Oi, gramps!" Lucy blinked in surprise. It sounded like Natsu was—angry?—on her behalf. Sure enough, the pink-haired securities lawyer waded in with total disregard for rank or protocol. "You didn't have to put it like that! Besides, it's perfectly obvious that she's not here to spy for Old No-Heart Heartfilia!"

No-Heart Heartfilia. Yes, that's what they called him—the nebulous "they" being almost anyone from whom he'd ever wanted something.

Lucy looked up when a heavy arm dropped around her shoulders and squeezed. She automatically noticed the high-quality wool of the suit and the fine linen of the shirt cuff. She'd been raised to notice things like that in the same way that others noticed hair and eye colour. Still a little in shock at the unexpected—well, not attack exactly, but close—she mused that she didn't like Natsu's cuff links and would have to choose him a new pair. That thought brought her out of her daze. What was it with him that made her think things like that? He smells good, her nose suggested. She didn't recognize the soap, so it was probably an off-brand—something he'd picked up for himself—but there was a hint of pine and fresh wood smoke that was both very odd and somehow comforting.

"I have to agree with Pinky, jiji." To Lucy's surprise, that was Gray's cool, rather deep voice, and it sounded like he was on her side too. "Lucy lied like a champ for Natsu and—as we've heard—she barely knew him. Not just that, but I'm pretty sure she didn't know he was a partner, so I doubt she was looking to buy favours." Gray must have moved closer, because she heard him murmur sotto voce: "Waste of time with Natsu anyway…"

Lucy looked up at Mr. Makarov, who seemed to be frowning at her. All at once she realized that Natsu was still hugging her. It was nice, but she preferred to stand on her own two feet, metaphorically speaking.

"Um, Natsu?"

"Natsu—personal space?" Erza's voice sounded slightly weary; no doubt they'd had this conversation before.

"Yeah, Natsu, she hasn't accepted your offer to come see your Type A Star Wars poster yet you know." Sure enough, Gray was right behind her.

"Gray—put your shirt back on."

"Oh—sure thing Erza."

Gray's presence disappeared from behind her and at the same time the warmth around her shoulders vanished. She felt surprisingly disappointed, but persevered.

"Mr. Makarov—Ms. Scarlet—is this still an interview for a job? Or am I here because you're angry with my father?"

"Hmmm, well, I wouldn't say I was ever angry with you, Ms. Heartfilia. It's just that your father has a way of hurting people when he doesn't get his own way, so I am… protective."

Lucy stood up, pleased to find that she was fully in control of herself and her voice again.

"There is nobody who understands my father's nature better than I do," she said in a clipped voice. "Am I here for a job? Or a trial?"

Mr. Makarov smiled at her, and to Lucy's surprise, his smile had quite a bit of the same elusive, sunny charm as Natsu's.

"Actually, if Gray and Natsu hadn't jumped in so quickly, I would have explained that although we were concerned about your motives for seeking employment here, we've already determined that you're just the kind of person we want here—and the right person to make sure that past history stays in the past."

"Oh." Lucy suddenly felt deflated. Then her normal good spirits—which had somehow survived her father's rule after her mother's death—started to bubble back to the surface. "Um, Mr. Makarov?"

"Yes?"

"Does this mean I'm hired?"

"If you want the position, it's yours."

Lucy nodded firmly. "Absolutely. I've dreamed of working here."

"Awesome!" That was Natsu, and he was grinning even more brightly than before.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," said Gray, who still hadn't put his shirt back on. He offered Lucy a slight smile—the first she'd seen other than when he'd been laughing at Natsu.

"We're very happy to have you here," put in Erza. "Please, just call me Erza. If you have some time now, we can do up the proper contracts and so on."

"And discuss billable hours," muttered Natsu.

"Nonsense, she's a summer student," Erza told him sharply. "You on the other hand…"

"Right—got it! And, uh, I've got to get going… are we done here? I mean, gramps has a beer out now and all…"

Sure enough, Mr. Makarov was drinking placidly from a giant beer stein. Where had that come from?

"Fine. Go." Erza shook her head as Natsu rushed off. "That boy… brilliant, of course, but not focussed."

"He's young," murmured Erza's boss—to the extent that she had one. She started to nod in agreement, when Makarov added, "So are you, of course."

"Well then, time to wrap this up," said Gray. He was looking impatient, but was too polite to simply leave.

Just then, Natsu stuck his head in at the door.

"Lucy! I forgot! I'll walk you home, okay? Also—don't let Gray convince you to try out for the hockey team and don't let Erza talk you into putting on a musical. See you in a couple of hours!"

The pink hair vanished as quickly as it had come.

"Musical?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

"Oh yes!" replied Erza, suddenly looking much less severe and considerably younger. "I happened to notice on your résumé that you've done some amateur theatricals, and…"

Lucy heard a snicker from Gray; he patted her on the shoulder on his way out, careful not to interrupt Erza's excited description of the potential for the first ever Fairy Tail musical operetta. Seated to Erza's right, on the conference table, Lucy saw Mr. Makarov smile into his beer.

II—Not Alone

"So, how was your first day?"

Lucy looked sideways at Natsu, who looked cheerfully unrepentant about leaving work early. He'd told her that he'd probably go back later. Unless she wanted to see the poster today, of course. Lucy had declined, citing fatigue and a need to find a place to live in the city now that she could more or less afford to pay rent.

"Well, I didn't really do any work… I mean, I still have end of year exams to go before I can work full-time for the rest of the summer."

Natsu gave her a knowing look.

"I'll bet Erza talked you into the musical."

"True. But she agreed that it might be better to consider a play to start."

"Heh. She wants Gray to sing—he's a dork, but he's got a good voice. He's usually willing to go along with stuff, but he's put his foot down on the singing." Natsu paused, considering. "So far."

"I know exactly what you mean," Lucy told him with considerable feeling. "Erza's amazing, and she's been my idol for the last two years, but she's really… intense."

"Accurate," Natsu agreed. Despite the beautiful clothes, Lucy was starting to believe that he really wasn't much older than she was.

They walked along for a few more minutes, chatting and laughing with surprising ease, when Natsu stopped abruptly and looked toward a park about a half-block away.

"Come on," he said. "I've got to get Happy and Plue."

Bemused, and amazed that she was going with him despite her skirt and heels—she'd ditched the stockings and not bothered with her spare pair—Lucy trailed along behind Natsu. When they reached the park, the white dog and blue-grey cat came trotting up. At Natsu's request, Lucy carefully squatted down in her tight skirt to pet the dog. He was an adorable little thing, with short, velvety fur and dark, expressive eyes.

"So his owner is away?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah… Well, kinda." Natsu shifted from foot-to-foot, his cat Happy in the crook of one arm. "Actually, they're not coming back. But I didn't want Plue to go to just anyone, so I took him in. The building doesn't allow dogs, but I'm planning to get my own place soon anyway, so I thought—why not?"

There was obviously some kind of story there—more old history?—but for some reason, Lucy didn't feel the need to find out about it the way she usually did. She liked the dog—more of a puppy, really—and for some reason, she liked the man. She smiled when it occurred to her that Natsu seemed like a bit of a puppy himself at times. Corporate law shark he might be, but she hadn't seen it so far. She might feel differently once they'd worked together for a while, of course.

A hand reached down, and Natsu helped her to her feet. He seemed a little abstracted, so Lucy gave him his space. Or tried to, anyway. He appeared to like walking close to her, and—again, she wasn't sure why—it didn't bother her.

"How about I give you a hand with finding an apartment?" Natsu asked, after several minutes of silence.

Lucy stopped, since they were about to head down into the subway station, and it would be next-to-impossible to chat down there, given the noise and people. She was surprised by the offer—but not really.

"You don't mind?" She hesitated, and then said bluntly, "The thing is that I'm going to have to do a fair bit of looking. It's got to be nice enough to be comfortable, but not too expensive—although I've got some money saved up, which will help. But the big thing is that my dad's going to be really upset. So I need to look without him knowing."

Natsu nodded, obviously thinking. "So you're running away then?"

"Pretty much. But I've still got a year of school to go so… I don't know exactly how it will work out."

Her companion studied her face and then smiled reassuringly. "We'll make it happen—no problem! You're not on your own now, you know?"

An odd lump rose in Lucy's throat, and she hastily blinked away tears.

"Yeah. Thanks, Natsu."

"There is one thing, though."

"What?" Lucy could feel her original wariness return.

"I really hate subways. Worse than anything." He looked embarrassed and ran a hand through his pink hair.

"Oh. I see the problem." Lucy pulled herself out of her unproductive thoughts. She smiled at Natsu. "I think I can make it home from here on my own, to be honest. Besides, Erza will be happier with you if you head back to work, won't she?"

"Yeah… After I drop off these two, anyway." He seemed a little disappointed, and Lucy hoped it was because he was sorry she had to go. "Well, maybe you can come by on the weekend? Hang out with me and these guys?" His head indicated the cat and the dog.

Lucy didn't know what to say. She wanted to say yes, but it was ridiculous to trust a guy that she barely knew.

"Aren't you going to be working?" she temporized.

"Probably not; there's nothing big in the works for a couple more weeks. Actually, that's the thing—I don't always have a ton of free time, but this weekend's good. That's how it goes in my practice area—you're either working flat out or not too much. I don't mind it. But I want to help you find a place, so…"

"Well, okay then." Lucy gave in and decided to go for it. She couldn't tell if the guy was just being nice—very nice—or whether he was asking her out in a very, very circuitous way. It was impossible to tell. At the very least, he seemed to want to spend time with her. She definitely wanted to spend time with him, although she couldn't quite explain why. She felt less alone than she had in years.

Natsu was frowning again, but he grinned at her response. "Great! Okay, let's exchange numbers"—they each pulled out their communications lacrima—"and we'll aim for early Saturday afternoon. Good?"

"Works for me."

"Also, if you ever just want to come over and study, I can probably help. Gray's not too shabby either, though I wouldn't tell him that."

"Such fulsome praise!"

"I know, right?" Another blinding grin.

"See you on Saturday, Natsu!"

"Bye Lucy! Don't trip in the turnstile this time!"

Lucy opened her mouth to protest—it was Happy and Plue that had tripped her up—but Natsu was already jogging away. She suspected he was laughing.

[END]

A/Note: So, this chapter ended up three times longer than planned—mind you, I'm using the term "planned" in a very general kind of way. I hope you enjoyed it! I'll probably do one more to wrap up Fluff Week. The story needs at least a kiss and definitely some cuddle time... but what do I know?

As always, your reviews and comments are very much appreciated! You'd be surprised how encouraging it is to know that people look forward to reading your work. :)

Confession time ~ I do have a law degree and practiced law in a large firm for just over two years after finishing law school. I practice law in Canada, which means primarily "common law" - that is, law based on both legislation and the decisions of the courts. The US, and most former British colonies, are also common law jurisdictions. The system is different in "civil law" jurisdictions, such as Québec (in Canada) and most of Europe.

@shell-senji @nalufever @eliz1369 @nalu-natic @naluloverforever @unashamed-shipper @kazama-hime @sabinasanfanfic @sanguine-fairy @very-x-vice @walk-tall-my-fr1ends @hakusaitosan @strawberrysweetlove35 @fic-writer-appreciation @ftfanfics

Note: I may not be tagging all the right people; I apologize to those I’ve included by mistake and (in absentia!) to those I’ve missed.

#fairy tail #nalu #nalufluffweek #fanfiction #impracticaldemon #within the law 2 #prompt history #nalu fluff wk 2017

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nettvnow-blog · 7 years

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All For One Has Something For Everyone

All For One is yet another Canadian web series. I’m mostly very sick of them, and most of them are bad. Luckily, this one is not. Produced by Cherrydale Productions, distributed by KindaTV, and written by Sarah Shelson and RJ Lackie (Inhuman Condition), All For One invites inevitable comparison to Kinda’s most famous property by manifesting as a queer-tinted modern-day remake of a classic literary work captured entirely by webcam. I originally planned to write this review without acknowledging that comparison, partly because doing so would be a pain in the ass, but moreso because A4O does not have the same problem with being compared to Carmilla most other web series might: it doesn’t pale in comparison. It’s not really fair to either show to say one is better than the other (A4O has one season, Carmilla has three), but for those of you who keep fandom power rankings, I’d take A4O’s first season over Carm’s, which is the only apples-to-apples comparison to be made. Inevitable comparison over with, let’s talk about the actual show now. It’s The Three Musketeers, but about sororities and super queer. You wanna know more about the plot than that, go watch the damn thing; this is a review, not a summary. Structurally, the show revolves around nominal main character Dorothy’s webcam, with her never-seen-except-as-IMs crew of internet besties (“the Inseparables”) serving as a modern day Greek chorus, chirping away in the margins. This is a very smart creative decision for a few reasons*. First, it allows the writers to manipulate tone and pace on the fly by injecting comic relief, self-awareness, and/or cheap pathos whenever the fuck they feel like it without eating up that most precious of web series resources: screentime. Second, it allows them to multi-task; one plot line may be advancing on-screen while a second plays out quietly among the Inseparables (occasionally joined by whichever lead characters aren’t appearing in a given episode). Third, it gives the writing team (Lackie/Shelson) an easy counter to one of Lackie’s writerly crutches; almost all of Lackie’s characters are prone to bouts of plot-centric myopia, and in the past his shows have allowed, if not downright enabled, them to get away it, but with an ever-present jury firing off incisive running commentary, characters are generally (and effectively) called out when they start to go down that road. Not all of them course correct, but once the issue’s been dragged into the narrative, that becomes a feature, not a bug. Speaking of writing…

*Worth noting is that many, maybe even all, of the Inseparables are characters from other shows. I only caught two of them myself, but I’m assured that there are others. One is from Carmilla, making me feel better about giving in to the cheap comparison above, and the best of the bunch is from Lackie’s older web series, Santiago. It’s likewise worth noting that neither Lackie nor Shelson has (to my knowledge) ever admitted to either of those, but I’m not an idiot and hopefully neither are you, dear reader, so let’s call a cameo a cameo and move on with the review.

A4O is an excellently written show, and not just by the admittedly low bar set by web series. I haven’t seen any of Shelson’s other work, so I can’t speak to how the partnership affects her, but what I can say is that she seems to have a knack for allowing Lackie to be Lackie (which, my own pot shots at his previous monomaniacal characters non-withstanding, is a very good thing) while subtly steering him away from his bad habits and injecting her own high-energy voice and full-auto black market machine-gun pacing. A4O does an exceptional job of serving a way over-sized cast (five main characters, at least three major supporting roles, a few off-screen-but-still-developed side characters, plus the Inseparables) in a relatively brisk three hours or so; not only does every major player in the show have an arc (or several, in some cases), even the off-screen ghosts and most of the text-only Inseparables are gifted with pathos, progression, and payoff. It’s an absolute masterclass in using every available bit of narrative real-estate to build your characters and tell your story*. *Bringing up the vampiric elephant in the room one (hopefully) last time, this is something that even Carmilla never totally figured out in its three seasons, largely punting on giving its supporting players any real meat in exchange for more time with its leads. That was probably the right play for that specific show (they were really great leads), but it’s refreshing to see a web series have its cakes and eat it too in a kitchen where most of its peers, far from either having or eating cake, accidentally added salt instead of sugar to the batter and have long-since retreated to the vomitorium. For that matter, even most twenty-minute TV sitcoms with more than five or six characters generally can’t serve them all nearly as consistently/artfully as A4O**, either. ** Footnote to a footnote! Brooklyn Nine-Nine is probably the current show that comes the closest, with seven principles, two consistently present supporting players, and a large tertiary library who usually get strong, character-driven notes to play, though of course Brooklyn has roughly quadruple the screentime to work with that A4O does.

Beyond that big-picture high-concept goodness, Lackie/Shelson also have a strong ear for banter (though both clearly watched way too much Buffy in highschool); A4O has a comedic batting average that hangs with all but the strongest of its TV brethren. They may be shorter on A+ knock-you-off-the-couch laugh grenades, but they’re firing off laugh bullets near-constantly and score at least a glancing blow with most of them. Their dramatic beats also mostly land, and they generally obey one the most oft-broken cardinal rules of good writing: thou shalt not sell-out thy characters* for either plot convenience or lazy comic beats. The writing isn’t perfect—as great as the overall pacing is, there are a couple conversations that overstay their welcome long past the point of narrative utility (occasionally to the point of undercutting what had up till then been a home-run scene), and Shelson/Lackie have never written a conversation they felt couldn’t be improved by an awkward pause or seven—but I can count on my thumbs the number of web series pilot seasons that get closer. *There’s one major exception to this, and I’ll bitch about it later when I get to the part of the review where I’m hateful jerk who ruins things I like.

Given the size of the cast, I don’t have the ink to spill to cover everybody individually, either as a character or an actor, but top-to-bottom the cast is stellar, and every single one of them should be proud of the work they did. The worst performance in the show is probably still in the B+ to A- range. Gun to my head, I’d shout out Alejandra Simmons (Alex) as the MVP of the leads and Denise Yuen (Treville) as the top dog among the supporting players, but sincerely, I’ve got nothing bad to say about the cast as a whole in twenty-nine out of thirty episodes*. *We’re almost there, pessimists. I have nothing terribly interesting to say about the direction. The cast act in front of a stationary webcam. The blocking is functional. They mostly use the setup to their advantage, cutting off scenes that work just fine implied (except as noted above). Solid, functional work that does the job, but doesn’t exactly leave you racing to the director’s IMDB. Alright, before I get into the higher-concept thematic stuff, let’s get the part where I piss all over something I really like out of the way (we all knew this was coming and when I do alone we’ll all understand why).

The show does have two major warts, and one begets the other. The first is the live episode, coming in right around the 2/3s mark of the season. It’s by far the show’s longest episode, and neither the writers nor the actors are up to the sudden formula shift, the unscripted environment, or the awkward necessity of combining what probably should have been three or four separate major sequences into one clunky stationary set-piece. One conceit of this…look, I like the cast and crew a lot here, but calling this episode anything kinder than a tire fire is being a disingenuous reviewer so… one conceit of this tire fire is that, as it aired, fans were able to masquerade as Inseparables and ask the cast live questions in-character. I’m sure it was great fun for the fans involved, but the fans involved had nothing interesting to say, and the actresses were stuck and-yessing responses without either the help of the writing staff or the freedom to really riff (as I assume the rest of the season was already pretty thoroughly structured or maybe even filmed and they couldn’t risk contradicting or redirecting anything with a careless opinion or anecdote). Oh, also, the single-set-for-twenty-minutes-and-also-they-all-need-to-get-their-turn-talking-to-the-fans setup necessitates a whole lot of contrived entering, exiting, and maneuvering that does nothing for the story and everything to remind you that you’re watching a manufactured production, and could only feel less authentic if accompanied by flashing text to the effect of “fuck your suspension of disbelief, loser.”

The episode is an amazing technical achievement in that they did it at all, but to paraphrase one of the least annoying iterations of Jeff Goldblum, they were so excited to see if they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. While I’m sure the episode was effective as a gimmick to goose the fanbase, removed from the context of the twenty minutes where it was accomplishing that goal, it mostly just saps the narrative momentum of the show right as it was cresting, takes its actresses away from doing what they do best, and introduces the single biggest creative misstep (in this not-so-humble reviewers estimation, anyhow) of the season in Alex’s sudden, dramatic, and inorganic character shift.

…which brings us to wart number two, wherein the show’s strongest character, fed up with being the responsible one, suddenly morphs from nuanced character into a party-girl pastiche that seems more at home on MadTV than KindaTV. While the idea behind the change is a decent one (Alex lashes out against her role as “Mom”) it scans totally false for the character we’ve been given, doesn’t fit the tone of the show, and doesn’t serve much narrative purpose beyond forcing one of the other leads into the leadership role (there were better ways to get there), and letting actress Simmons show off her comic chops (which, granted, are sharp). It’s also completely devoid of the nuance and verisimilitude that otherwise permeates not only Simmons’ work but the show’s character-writing in general. In a world where every other character is consistently, painfully, beautifully themselves at their own expense, turning the best of the bunch into a cartoonish punchline for three episodes or so fucks up the emotional feng shui something fierce. I suspect the writers might even agree with me, as the gimmick is quietly dropped a few episodes later with no lasting consequences.

Now, that was a negative couple paragraphs, but let’s put it all in perspective: ultimately, A4O has one bad episode out of thirty. Show me another show with a better batting average and I’ll show you Banshee, which I’ve previously described as “the best show on television*”. *And as “The Ballad of Sheriff Punch,” though that’s neither here nor there. Beyond that, the show’s only real creative misfire happens to its best character and isn’t bad enough to keep her from staying its best character. I’m picking nits here, and I’m using some very precise tweezers and a microscope to pick them. I’m also done doing it. Onto the abstraction! One of the most incredible things about A4O is how many hats it manages to wear. It’s a comedy and a drama, sure, but it’s also a character study… scratch that, six or seven character studies. It’s also The Three Musketeers and sometimes it’s Animal House. It’s a virtuoso performance of an increasingly well-traveled formula, but thanks to its Inseparable gimmickry, it’s also the only show of its kind. It’s about persistence, and friendship, and admitting when you’re wrong, but it’s also about ambition, and narrative, and perspective, and bikini fund-raisers that end when one of the show’s stronger supporting players marches in cheerfully proclaiming “Hi. I’m here to ruin everything.” This is a show that tries to do about three-hundred* more things than any other web series out there**, and somehow feels less rushed, crowded, or inept than any of its competitors. * Estimated. I’m not a math person, I swear on my thirteenth finger. ** Well, beside Next Time On Lonny, I guess, but the whole point of that show was that it did everything. All that narrative ambition and versatility feeds back into the show’s characters, allowing them to exist in more dimensions than their screentime ought to allow. Pay attention to Yuen’s Treville, and note how much we learn about her simply from the things she owns or the way her eyes react to a certain name or an unexpected offer. I doubt she’s on-screen more than seven or eight minutes in the whole show, but she’s got more depth and nuance than anyone outside of the two leads on that apparently inescapable point of comparison*. This is something Lackie’s shown before in flashes (the bodyguard from Inhuman Condition is arguably its most interesting character and might not have ten lines), but here its displayed consistently. Almost all of the Inseparables have at least two or three layers to them, and that’s without the benefit of an performer to embody them or any capacity to meaningfully interact with the A-plot. *Last time, I swear. For the record, I do *really* like Carmilla, and it’s because I like it so much (and because it’s so much better than web series have any right to be**) that it’s such a useful measuring stick to show exactly how impressive A4O is at its best. ** I’ve previously compared its second season favorably and mostly sincerely to Shakespeare.

That’s not to say the leads are underdeveloped, either; in contrast to, say, Parks and Rec, where every character seems to exist solely to populate the Parks Department, all of A4Os feel lived in, with rich personal histories and plenty of implicit relationships and interests we don’t need to see or even hear about to take as read. Shelson & Lackie do an excellent job of letting the things they do reveal or spend time on imply a thousand more they don’t, and it’s the sort of expansive and elegant world-building you never get from web series* and rarely get from anything. *Credit where its due, Inhuman Condition was similarly economical at building its world, but not nearly as adept at bread-crumbing the personal histories of its principles. More than all that, though, at the end of the day, A4O is just fucking fun. The heroes have Sepinwall’s oft-discussed but rarely attained “I don’t even care if they’re not being funny right now, I like them and I just wanna hang out with them,” vibe, the villains are enthusiastic and memorable without succumbing to camp, and even the damn theme music is smiley. The emotional moments (mostly) feel earned and make you feel feelings, and they’re paced properly to do it without burning you out or risking diminishing returns.

Since it’s nominally a KindaTV show and I didn’t spend any time on the gender politics, I’ll awkwardly pause here to quickly note that A4O is pleasantly open-minded and inclusive. These people care about telling these stories respectfully and for as many people as possible, and it shows.

End of day, A4O is television in microcosm. It’s funny and cute and sad and angry and it’s still got time for both nerf gun duels and planted meth. It’s got close friends and bitter rivals, will-they-won’t-they’s and wish-they-wouldn’ts. It’s a pleasant place to escape to when you’re feeling shitty, and it’s a great neighborhood to show your friends around when you’re feeling good. It’s inventive and ambitious and yet familiar and comfortable. It’s great actresses (and actors) giving strong performances of sharp lines equally charged with uniquely subtle character biases and peppy Lackie-banter, all done at Shelson’s bullet-train pace that somehow never feels rushed and always gets you to exactly where you need to be. It’s fearless but rarely reckless, smart but never condescending, and sweet without ever veering into twee-town. It’s got all your favorite things from classic literature and modern television, and yet it’s something you’ve never quite seen before. It’s one of a kind, for now, and that’s a shame. Incidentally, it’s also currently fundraising to make another season. How’s that old Musketeer mantra go again? All for one and whatever amount you feel comfortable donating for All For One…

Written by Nick Feldman.

#Nick Feldman #RJ Lackie #Sarah Shelson #KindaTV #Carmilla #The Three Musketeers #The Soliloquies of Santiago #Cherrydale Productions #Denise Yuen #A4O #All For One #Gwenlyn Cumyn #AJ Simmons #Shannon Litt #Claire Gagnon-King #Angie Lopez #Linnea Currie-Roberts #Dan Mousseau #Damien Doepping

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