GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW.

[quigonejinn]

"A Sandbagger's got to know that his D-Ops is willing to die in a ditch for him."

SWEET JESUS, COULD I LOVE NEIL BURNSIDE ANYMORE? JS: LDKJGdf BURNSIDE. BABY. YOU ARE HIS BOSS. HE IS ONE OF YOUR SOLDIERS. WHAT DO SOLDIERS DO?

This man is is so unutterably, unbearably awesome, and really. The more I watch of Sandbaggers, the more sure I am that not only is this is the best TV I've seen since watching the Wire -- better than Rome, man, even better than Rome -- but that Neil Burnside is my favorite fictional character.

Ever.

Ever.

Book, film, novel, short story. Fiction, fanfiction. I love him more than William Bush, in a way, who I love desperately and who I have described, to non-fannish people as being the one man in the world who I'd be interested in dating right now. XD (Also: William Bush ain't a fictional character, really. He's my future husband.)

In a way, it's because Burnside built to be quigonejinn beloved. Witness, insane, over-the-top loyalty to the people he loves. Witness, calculating brain. Witness, completely atrophied personal life because he is so devoted to his work. Witness, the change in him. At the beginning of the series, he's completely ruthless and minded primarily to advance his own career. Now, ask him, and he'll say that his section's reason for existence is to wipe out the KGB, and it's cod for That's my reason for existence.

And the loyalty, really? It's overcompensation for having to murder one of his Sandbaggers -- who happened, also, to be his woman, and the first spark he had of life outside the office after his wife left him for loving his career too much. And he's completley effed his career over in the mostly-futile effort to protect his remaining Sandbaggers.

Season 2, in essence, is the story of what happens when you break a hard, tough man. And OMG. His interactions with Willy. And Jeff Ross. And OMG, this is a man who says, canon-wise, that there are homosexuals who can't be blackmailed these days.

"Stupid bitch."

"Why do you resent her so much?"

"Because she's alive."

I MEAN. IN THE HANDS OF ANY OTHER SERIES, THAT'D BE SOME KIND OF STUPID MISOGYNISTIC EXCHANGE, BUT IN THE WORLD OF SANDBAGGER, THIS HAS DOUBLE MEANING. THERE ARE DOUBLE MEANINGS TO EVERYTHING. IT'S GOT TO BE "BITCH" RATHER THAN "MORON" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT BECAUSE BURNSIDE HAS THAT STREAK OF GALLANTRY IN HIM AND OMG. ALIVE IS NOT ALIVE.

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