Warning: Mild spoilers for stories in the Caffrey Conversation AU.
It’s one of those topics Silbrith and I have touched upon briefly on occasion, without having a specific plot line built around it. Therefore, it’s safe to speculate without giving away spoilers – even we don’t know what will happen with James in our AU.
I’ll start with the first question: Could James be redeemed?
Well, I’m a softie who tends to think most characters can be redeemed. Remember, I’m the one who wrote a case in Choirboy Caffrey without an actual bad guy, and thought for a long time that my Robert Winslow character could see the error of his ways and turn things around.
So, could we learn that James’ actions were in self-defense? Or that his confession was a lie to give him a cover to expose further corruption? Or perhaps he did everything he was accused of, and now is sincerely sorry for his actions? Those are only the first possibilities that jump to mind. Just wait until I can channel Mozzie for conspiracy theories to explain everything that happened with James when Neal was a child. An evil clone is responsible? Robert set James up for a fall?
The next question is: Should James be redeemed?
On the positive side, it could help counter the damage done in Neal’s childhood. It would challenge his fears that he’s damaged goods and might never be able to live up to the expectations of his heroes, such as Peter. From a writer’s perspective, it could be a fascinating plot to develop.
On the negative side, it could get in the way of the relationship Neal has been building with Peter as a father-figure. We certainly saw in canon how Neal felt torn between the two of them, unable to please either as James and Peter were almost competing for Neal’s loyalty. And then there's the fact that the opportunity to write a really good villain is hard to pass up, and James could be a formidable bad guy.
No matter what direction we take, angst is inevitable. However, I suspect we have many months of playing with plot bunnies before we make a decision about James.
On an unrelated note, Silbrith will start posting her next story on 8/24, and it's going to be a doozy. Meanwhile, I'm taking a mini-vacation before starting my new job, and it's possible I won't be posting to the blog next week -- we'll see if inspiration strikes
Should James be redeemed? That's an interesting question. If he was a good guy caught in a bad situation he sure didn't have a lot of people on his side. I mean, there's Ellen figuring he's guilty, a man's partner. There's his wife, who did an emotional disappearing job, but she certainly wasn't trying to rally the not inconsiderable family resources to save her husband. WinWin couldn't have looked into the matter? I know Robert was being an ass but grandpa was still around and Noelle does not strike me as a blushing flower nor does her mom or the ambassador. If they really felt that James was a good guy where were they? It seemed like everyone took it as 'oh dear, but well, not too surprised' which is rather telling about James. And where was James' family? Does Neal not have anyone on that side that stepped forward for James? Maybe James was just a very driven cop who was known to cut corners so that when push came to shove, they could all see him having slipped from grey to the dark side, but wow, even if he's innocent, does Neal really need that type of guy back in his life? I guess I'm just not sure that it would help Neal to see his dad and I don't know what it would do to his relationship with his family. I mean, Neal's actually been pretty cool about the fact that Aunt Noelle encouraged her sister to take him away and that he ended up in a hellish situation with an emotionally distant and mentally unstable mother and her abusive boyfriend. He's also been incredibly forgiving about the uncle by marriage who gave him and not insignificant push towards a life of crime and removed the only family member who seemed to be on his side, his cousin Henry. Honestly, I don't think even Neal could then deal with the fact that James was innocent and no one sided with him. What also makes me wonder about how well James was accepted into the family was the fact that Noelle is actually Neal's mom. James just shrugged his shoulders at that and said fine Merry, whatever you want? I cannot see Peter's brother or his family not stepping in if that situation were happening today and I suspect it would have all ended completely differently. I love the Caffrey's but I do wonder about them from time to time lol. On the other hand, perhaps things do need to get aired out in regards to James but maybe on the Caffrey side and not the Bennett side if you see what I mean?
ReplyDeleteThat's giving me ideas for a future chapter for Caffrey Vignettes. Maybe next year, Neal could have a conversation with the Caffrey family about what happened with James. I'm imagining something called the Bennett Conversation to give Neal more info about that side of his family.
DeleteSuch excellent thoughts and inspiration - thanks! The next vignette I have in mind is for when the series hits Mother's Day of 2005, which would be the first time we've hit that holiday since Noelle's revelations. I could imagine Neal mentioning his father but making a mutual decision to cover that topic later.
I suspect that Graham Winslow was being brainwashed by Robert into thinking that James was bad news, so he wouldn't have done much to help out. Or perhaps he used Win-Win resources to do his own investigation and decided that James was guilty. There's another possible aspect to a Bennett Conversation, if Graham had files on James.
The ideas just spin around and around, don't they?