Midnight Texas (TV)

[queer_scribbling]

My brain, randomly around 3 to 4 AM: What was the name of that guy several people headcanoned as ace because he wore a black ring in that gifset that went around on tumblr for a bit?

Me: ... Who?

My brain: The guy -- from the show -- the one where there was kinda-sorta a Rromani character attempt? But mostly, there was a lot of {g-slur for the Rromani} usage.

Me: Manny?

My brain: MANFRED!

Me: Okay... Uh, are we going to do anything with this information?

My brain: Nah. We're gonna think about how Midnight Texas had a subplot that played off the Virgin Sacrifice Trope, and it was kinda personally weird.

Comments

[queer_scribbling]

Originally commented on 9 January 2021:

It was a bit surreal to have no pre-existing knowledge of the books [trilogy], to see some excited ace headcanons, and then to suddenly have canon deal with 'Who in this group of adults is actually a virgin?' humor and the whole Virgin Sacrifice thing. (Manfred was not the character who had to deal with this, btw.)

It was pretty obvious that Fiji (the witch affected by the upcoming sacrifice bit) and the human she liked were going to get together somehow, and this was a plot convenient means of achieving that, but if I'm remembering correctly, she basically 'levelled up' in the magic she could access and/or do after she had p-i-v sex for the first time. (Season 2 was after the plot covered by the books, and I think that was where the negative magical effects started to kick in and change Fiji's personality, making her cold and uncaring, which didn't sit well with some fans. At a basic level of description, she turned "evil" after "losing her virginity".)

Season 1 wasn't the worst show ever. Some of the characters on their own were pretty interesting, but sometimes, the dissonance between a headcanon and canon can be noticeable. And season 2 just never happened.

[queer_scribbling]

From a reply on 9 Jan 2021:

The premise of supernatural misfits getting along in a quasi-Found Family thing in Midnight, Texas sounded intriguing. The execution was eh. I mean, having a were-tiger instead of a werewolf was pretty cool, and the vampire is exclusively psi or emotional (feeding on emotions) as a nice break from the sanguine type. Most people liked that there was a chasing Neonazis out of the bar moment, but it also seemed like a relatively easy thing to fit in compared to potentially not doing some sensitivity reads on other choices.

I have no idea how inaccurate or selectively accurate some of the stuff from the attempted Rromani character was, but throwing around a word that I've seen actual Rromani bloggers try to impress upon non-Rromani is considered a slur made it feel cringingly outdated or unresearched even before season 2. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with "a forced supernatural fight ring run by [g-slur]" with money hungry characters in s2e4?