Hey Niki

[amathela]

I was feeling a little maudlin about Niki's death, so I decided to watch some Heroes vids to maybe cheer me up. This, as it turned out, was not as good an idea as you might think, because it pretty much just made me incredibly sad. I know a lot of people didn't love Niki, and I still have problems with her storyline, but when it comes right down to it, she was one of my favourite characters.

(Claire is my favourite; it used to be Nathan, and I really didn't realise that had changed until I accidentally said so to talumin. I'm not even sure when it happened - maybe sometime over the hiatus? Peter is third, and Niki was is fourth. Also, though Peter/Claire is definitely my favourite pairing in fandom, Nathan/Niki just might be my favourite pairing in the show. So, that sucks.)

Anyway, the more time I have to think about it, the more incredibly bummed I am that she's dead. (Another unpopular fandom opinion? I liked season two. It may not have been as good as season one, but I found it actually got a lot better on rewatch, probably not least because I always enjoy shows more when I can marathon them. Heroes, especially, really benefits from being watched all at once; I'd love to be able to watch it that way, but I want to be able to keep up with fandom, to read and write fic and meta, and I really don't want to be spoiled. Also, season two had some great Nathan/Niki moments, plus a little Mohinder/Niki - which I really liked and, sadly, is all we're ever going to get.)

I keep thinking that maybe if she'd actually got a decent arc in the end (or even a not-sucky one), I wouldn't actually feel so sad - although there is something in the parallel of her dying in a fire that I really like. (Or, maybe not like. Appreciate?) Barring that, though, I can't help wishing that her death hadn't been a cliffhanger. As it is, there was no resolution to her storyline (except as seen through Tracy's eyes, which is not the same thing) - the scene in New Orleans was part of Tracy's storyline, not Niki's, and provided just enough information to basically say "oh, yeah, Niki's dead, did we forget to mention that?" And I know they probably hadn't decided her fate when they filmed the season two finale, and the fate they had in mind for her then may have been completely different to what's happening now - it's just, I would have loved some real closure. (I'm so not used to my favourite characters dying. Characters I liked, but not my favourites.)

Also, it would have given me nine months to grieve and mourn and get over it, during the hiatus when I could process to my heart's content. As opposed to now, with me trying not to get all depressed while new episodes are trying to show me shiny superhero-y stuff, and getting a few minutes to mourn in the time it took between seeing the casket and the start of the next scene. Not ideal circumstances, obviously, which is probably why it's a little delayed in hitting me. Also, it would have given me the entire hiatus to write sad coping mechanism fic. (Which, don't get me wrong, I still intend to write, but it's all depressed and angsty and conflicted when I really just want to be writing about shiny explosions or whatever. And I can write happy denial fic, but not until I've written coping fic. It's just the way these things work in my head, I think. Like how I had to write Kiss Kiss Bang Bang before I could write happy Lamb/Veronica post-season three fic, which, actually, I still have not written. But I fully intend to.)

Anyway, I guess this is sort of my first step on the road to acceptance, or whatever. If Veronica Mars season three is any guide, I will write death fic, and then I will want to write happy denial fic, and I will feel much better. In the meantime, some vid recs:


3 AM Call by shati

Who is this? Awesome, chilling Niki vid, and the music choice is fantastic.


The Wreckoning by charmax

A Niki-Jessica vid that kicks ass - one of my favourites.


Jack, or, Adventures in Reading Against the Text by lcsbanana

One of my very favourite fanvids of, like, all time. Wherein Niki and Claire and Monica all get to be as awesome as they rightfully deserve, even if it does take some fiddling with canon. Because that's what fandom is all about, right?

Comments

[sinandmisery.livejournal.com]

YAY for someone else who loves Niki. Really, I loved Niki AND Jessica and I think that storyline really got shafted in comparison to some others that maybe weren't as interesting and could have had less screentime in order to develop the Niki|Jessica storyline. I agree with you about the lack of closure, however I'm hoping maybe this new twist revealed last ep gives us some insight into the whole "whoever Ali Larter is playing this week" storyline and could help with that

[amathela.livejournal.com]

Yay for Niki love! I can understand people not liking her storyline, but I never really got the character hate - there's so much interesting stuff you could do with Niki (and Jessica); just because the writers didn't, it doesn't mean she isn't an interesting character.

I'm looking forward to finding out what the deal is with Niki, Tracy, etc., and hopefully it'll explain Niki's split personalities at the same time. Not that it really helps much now, since she's already dead, but at least it'll be something. I'm still going to miss her heaps :(