Changeling in the human cradle

I saw 27 films at Whānau Mārama the New Zealand International Film Festival this year. It should have been 28, but sometimes a distributor fails to update the passcode for a digital file and it's 5am in France when the projectionist finds out.

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Here's the full list of films I saw.

Well this will be quick.
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AO3 Link | where the love light gleams (1505 words) by Aquila
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Riot Women
Rating: General
Warnings: no warning given
Relationship: Kitty Eckersley/Beth Thornton
Characters: Kitty Eckersley, Beth Thornton, Inez, Jess Burchill
Additional Tags: christmas, mistletoe

Summary:

Beth has a small freak out.
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AO3 Link | Everybody Knows (891 words) by Aquila
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Riot Women
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationship: Chloe/Inez
Characters: Jess Burchill, Chloe Burchill, Miranda Burchill, Rocco, Junior, Bronte, Manuela, Inez,Jerry, Auntie Mary
Additional Tags: mostly gen, with a smattering of chloe/inez, just because, family stuff, giving space, post show

Summary:

Apparently everybody knew Jess was learning the drums. Except Chloe.

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Notes:
Apparently any attempt by me to write about Jess' family is going to sound like something out of a mid-last century English kid's books. Guess what I grew up reading.

We started 2024 on a fairly low ebb for queer women on Shortie. But Nicole and Maeve were still together, and happy.


And then Leanne returned for a visit, having broken up with Ros again. The storyline began with her seeing the ghost of her dead grandaughter and ended with her death from an untreatable cancer, and Jennifer Ludlam made the most of every scene. Ros did come back for to say goodbye.


Meanwhile, we discovered that Phil - the female half of a couple of two young surgeons in an open relationship who joined the show at the start of the year - was not straight when she kissed Harper.


They embarked on a will they won't they affair that proved earth shattering all around. It was glorious!


Billy has started school. Bonus best guest casting for the year - Alison Bruce as Olivia, Harper's mum.


Gia returned from Chicago to take over the community clinic. She briefly dated a guy involved in something criminal, and was also getting phone calls she tried to duck from a girl she dated before she transitioned who hadn't known.


Nicole was thrown for a loop by Leanne's death, and so were her and Maeve's finances. She got sucked into an online grief group, continued to be nasty to everyone; especially to Cassie who hasn't always managed to stay drug free. Then Louisa, whose husband kidnapped Knox last year, kidnapped Nicole and then Maeve and Nicole escaped and confronted Lousia who ended up dead. There was a court case, Nicole was found not guilty of Louisa's murder but afterwards remembered her guilt and handed herself in to the police again. It seems that she will be undergoing psychiatric inpatient treatment for the forseeable.


Harper regretted her affair with Phil and did everything she could to reconcile with her husband. Drew tried to kill himself but Boyd and Vili found him in time. Harper and Drew finally did get back together, planning to move to New York for a job Harper was offered, but were in a motorcycle accident and Harper died in the final episode of the year. Phil was devastated, not having had any closure on her relationship with Harper.

(Zara - we never saw her, but Boyd came and went a few times during the year - he had apparently cheated on her and they broke up, but were tentatively trying again by the year's end.)

Tally for the year - 1 intersex child and 7 queer women (one for only one episode), two of whom died and a third who killed someone and ended up in a mental hospital, leaving three broken relationships. The old cliches can still catch us when we least expect it.



Sally and Ria, that was so sudden, you will be missed.


Shortland Street lost some funding this year, so will be three episodes a week when it returns on the 10th February, which may be relevant to two long term cast members leaving.


There will be some new characters starting, so place your bets on who isn't straight.

2023
2022
2021
2020

A much smaller list of 24 this year after last year's 49, partly because I've been less thorough in obtaining them, partly because I've been reading more widely including older books, partly because I've struggled on occasion to read paper and ebooks.

( Every Speculative Fiction Book I Read This Year Featuring Queer Women, A List - 2024 )
I'll follow up with a favourite books of the year post, once I have them in order.

Not a review as such, and full of spoilers, probably won't make much sense if you haven't read it.

( Thoughts )

1. 2023 started with Maeve battling it out for top dog in Ferndale Prison, as soon as she won she rang Rebekah, the leader of the evangelical cult Brightshine and asked her to get her out on bail. Meanwhile Brightshine was bankrolling the Shortland Street rebuild and Rebekah ended up in the CEO seat. She gave Maeve a no patient contact job, and as they spent more time together a romance built. Maeve was so relieved to have someone supporting her that she was prepared to overlook Rebekah's need to remain closeted, with only Nicole finding out about their relationship, but Rebekah's various lies slowly came to a head; when she had to go on the run she finally admitted to Maeve her part in Wilder's murder - Maeve tried to drown her but decided not to, and Rebekah was arrested.


2. Maeve returned chastened to Nicole's arms, and despite an STI scare they started fixing their marriage.


3. Gia took off to a job in Chicago and I guess is unilkely to return since her family has mostly since also left the show.


4. Dawn also left for pastures greener, which is a pity because she was always a character who attracted gay shenanigans.


5. Six new surgery registrars were introduced, and one of them, Quinn, proved to have very good gaydar, admiring Harper and flirting with both Nicole and Maeve... Somehow Nicole acted liked they'd had a big romance instead of a weirdly inappropriate kiss when Quinn died in the winter cliffhanger. Pretty coulrophobic on the part of the show.


6. Leanne lost all her money financing son Eric's pyramid scheme, then won the lottery for the second time and announced she was off on a world tour - taking Rosalyn with her! Last we heard she and Rosalyn were living on a vineyard in the South Island - Pele went to stay with them for a while, and we saw Jennifer Ludlam on a video call briefly just before Christmas. Offscreen reunions are better than nothing!


7. Harper - still married to Drew. Billy - still a preschooler. Marley briefly had a storyline where he played with Drew's clippers and had to buzz cut his long hair, and then Billy had short hair just like their idol older brother a week or so later, I wonder if one or both actors wanted shorter hair in real life.


8. In the latter half of the year Cassie, Wilder's girlfriend, returned, no longer pregnant but with no memory of what had happened to the baby, and that mystery has been Maeve and Nicole's main storyline.

So an odd year, with decreasing numbers of queer characters, but at least Nicole and Maeve are still together, something that seemed unlikely this time last year. Somewhere in there they've become the show's longest running gay couple, passing Jay and Maia's threeish years.

Shortie returns on the 5th of February. We'll see what 2024 brings.

2022 recap
2021 recap
2020 recap

OK, this is now an annual catch up for our local queer friendly soap, we finished 2021 with an unexpected kiss between Samira and Francesca, plus two ongoing f/f relationships, and then 2022 turned out to be an absolute rollercoaster.

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So yes, a year with lots of ups and downs for the fans. Shortland Street is back from hiatus on Monday, it'll be interesting to see where they go this year.



2021 Shortie Recap
2020 Shortie Recap