Sore and poked

[sparkindarkness]

I’ve been kind of raw lately, partly it’s some family ignorances, partly my work both for the firm and outside of it that are poking some sore spots and partly it’s because of confronting personal issues and trying to confront some more, and worst, only to have large parts of my mind say “aw, hell no, let that crap LIE” has generally left me feeling kind of skoojy. Not just skoojy but less… resilient.

Which also means things that poke me and normally irritate and hurt are now poking me and making me flinch and my anger (my main defence mechanism) isn’t working so well.

So yesterday, after having stepped back from the net during the day because someone’s idea of argument was to yell “queer queer queer” at me until I decided that it actually wasn’t a bad word and I would use it (as far as persuasive techniques go, this was… rather lacking) I collapsed with Beloved to watch out lovely Saturday night collection of fluff and fun.

Going Postal (good film, but doesn’t do the book justice), Silent Witness (Tom Ward, nom nom nom nom. And was a good one because while it didn‘t focus on Nikki, it also didn‘t have her harrumphing around the corners in a complete strop because people aren‘t focusing on her), Waking the Dead (the actors in that are incredible – they have such a natural rapport) and Dalziel and Pascoe (I love this programme. It’s set in Yorkshire and actually LOOKS something like Yorkshire. It’s not edge to edge GRIM, nor is it all farmers and sheep but the characters are still very Yorkshire. Also Andy rocks like a rocking thing).

And I looked with curiosity at Dalziel and Pascoe because it was an older one and focused on Wieldy. D&P usually have a token sidekick – yes it is token. The series I’ve seen have had a blond woman, a gay man and a Muslim of South Asian descent. But, while they all rather glaringly stand out as ‘equality inserts’ the characters are usually extremely well done. They’re not stereotypes, they’re police officers who do their job, they’re effective, they have personalities and I generally like them.

So I was surprised at an episode that focused more on Wield, a gay man. And then we had the new Assistant Chief Constable. Who keeps a Bible on his desk. And is concerned about the “morality” of police officers.

Oh dear.

The episode wasn’t bad, not really and for 1998 it was positively brilliant (despite the hair comments at the end and the ‘unnatural acts‘), but, yeah not what I was expecting. I suppose it’s rather naive to expect to have a gay character in a series without having the obligatory gay episode