Big Neurodivergent Energy Books: 1-5

Branching out into books now. Most of the entries on today’s list are middle-grade novels and series, formative reading for a neurodivergent kid who’s looking to see themselves in their books. I loved some of these when I was a kid, and I discovered others a bit later in life. Oh, and I couldn’t resist putting a little Jane Austen in there too!

 

Bridge to Terabithia

It occurs to me that, with characters who could fall within the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the most nuanced examples can often be read as autistic. Yes, Leslie comes into Jess’s life and makes it better, because she cares about chasing her passions more than what other people think of her, and she encourages Jess to do the same. When I was a kid, I was absolutely enchanted by the thought of a hideaway in the woods where I could create my own imaginary kingdom, where I wouldn’t have to think about any of the boring, frustrating, challenging things about “real” life. And I don’t know about you, but that feels like a big autistic mood to me!

 

Matilda

There have to be a lot of autistic folks who feel they’ve found a champion in the little girl who gets revenge on a bully with the power of her mind—which includes her encyclopedic knowledge from her extensive reading, her logical problem-solving, and her literal telekinesis. Three cheers for this hyperlexic kid with a strong sense of justice who’s misunderstood by her family but loved by the teacher who appreciates her extraordinary mind!

 

Pride and Prejudice

It makes sense that neurodivergent coding would jump out in a social satire, even one from the 1800s. It isn’t much a stretch to take an ADHD interpretation of Lydia or Mrs. Bennet, or an autistic read of Mr. Collins. Of course, though, this is mainly about the one and only Mr. Darcy, the most autistic Eligible Bachelor you’ve ever met. Given the age of the source material, it’s impressive just how many autistic buttons he presses for me, from his difficulty in unfamiliar social situations to his penchant for plain honesty over flattery to his tendency to say the impolite thing while doing the caring thing. So much love! 

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I already talked about the Netflix show, which feels so autistic in large part because it’s such an effective adaptation of the books. Oh, how I love Lemony Snicket stopping in the middle of the action to clarify things, define words, or reflect on the illogical nature of an expression. Nearly every character is happily obsessed with a particular subject that they’ve made their life’s pursuit, and I love that the Baudelaires process their emotions in such analytical ways. From the first book, I was utterly taken with this series, and I absolutely knew it was for me.

 

Time Quintet

Oh, Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, my beloveds! Incredibly smart, unable to fit in, willing to accept the impossible. I can totally see the Murry home as a place where it’s safe to be autistic in a hostile world, with only the twins masking reliably. Whereas Calvin might be the lone autistic in his family, high-masking to the point where he’s easily accepted by others, but he comes alive when he meets people like him. I love Meg for her anger, her insecurities, and her obstinate square-peg-in-a-round-hole-ness. These books were so formative for me growing up!

A Little TLC(w): The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Season 1, Episode 29 (1986)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

The love polygon stuff is even stronger here than in the last episode, and Zhang Wuji is very much caught in the middle of it. We also get significant character reappearances and extended backstory flashbacks!

Zhang Wuji, Zhao Min, and Zhao disguise themselves to follow Granny Golden Flower, who’s captured Zhou Zhiruo. She’s also after the Dragon Sabre, but they’re surprised to learn that she’s already found it. They discover that she’s brought Wuji’s godfather Xie Xun to the island where she makes her home, and she’s trying to convince him to lend her the sabre. But there are even more enemies on their tail.

There have been several episodes of the show that feature lengthy flashbacks for older-generation characters, and here, we get the lowdown on Granny Golden Flower. Xie Xun tells the young people about her origins, her history with Ming sect, and the reason she now has additional heat on her. We get some good information, and I continue to be very curious about Zhao; I feel like the camera lingers too much on her reactions for her not to be mixed up in all this somehow.

Back when Zhang Wuji was rolling with Zhu’er, he was under an assumed name. At that time, he found out that she’d been in love with him since their first encounter at Master Hu’s, but also that she thought he was dead. Zhu’er didn’t make much of a showing in the love polygon in the last episode, but she makes up for that in a big way here. When Xie Xun asks why she treats him so well, she simply answers, “You are his godfather. In this world, only you and I remember him.” Not to mention, she babbles some serious love-confession stuff while delirious.

Zhao Min, unsurprisingly, is the other possible love interest who really comes in hot here. When she learns that Zhu’er still admires the scar from when Zhang Wuji bit her to get away during their first meeting, the girl bites him and then puts poison in the wound so it’ll leave a more prominent scar. She’s down bad, and she’s such a loose cannon, I love it!

Not as much specifically for Zhao and Zhou Zhiruo in this episode, but all four women are in the same place with Zhang Wuji, and their feelings for him are more out in the open. That’s obviously tough for Wuji. I’m not positive whether he’s attracted to all of them, but regardless, he certainly doesn’t want to hurt anyone. In a way, whatever his own feelings are, he’s put them on hold for the moment to try and juggle everyone else’s. I love how gentle he is when he realizes that Zhao Min got reckless with her safety after seeing him interact with Zhu’er. Very softly, he tells her, “I know you are very good to me. But please don’t do that again.” And I like that, just as he’s a pretty collaborative leader of Ming, he isn’t outright calling the shots here either. When a new plan of action is proposed, he’s quick to ask, “Ladies, what do you think?”

My favorite part of Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s performance this week are the scenes where he encounters Xie Xun under his disguised persona. We’ve seen this sort of thing from him before, when Zhang Wuji was using an alias and ran into Wudang. In these scenes, it’s clear how conflicted he is, how much he longs to reveal himself and get the reunion he’s been craving for like fifteen years. When this happened in earlier episodes, he was the only one who knew who he really was, but now, he has Zhao Min beside him, warning him not to give himself away. It all results in Leung putting his soulful eyes to excellent use!

Other Doctor Lives: Jessica Jones: Season 1, Episode 6 – “AKA You’re a Winner!” (2015)

*Spoilers from previous episodes.*

And the hits keep on coming. Sorry if this is getting redundant, but it’s true. This is a strong episode for Jessica, for the show, and for David Tennant.

Rebounding from a failed attempt to apprehend Kilgrave, Jessica is feeling hemmed in. Kilgrave continues to find ways to twist the knife, she’s trying to protect Kilgrave’s last victim Hope, and Luke has just come to her with a missing-persons case he wants to hire her for. On the latter front, Jessica’s wary. She’s already felt herself getting a little too close to Luke and doesn’t want to get in any deeper— what’s more, the case threatens to stir up a part of her past that she doesn’t want coming to the surface.

Jessica’s case with Luke is the main focal point of the episode, along with the tug and pull of their relationship. Luke wants things to go further but Jessica wants to keep her secrets to herself, even as she doesn’t want to push him away entirely. It’s a good chance to explore Jessica’s issues more while also learning a bit about Luke’s history. The final scene between these two is a standout.

It’s also just cool to see the dynamic of Jessica and Luke working together. While not nearly as stark as the stuff with Simpson in episode 4, we do see ways in which Luke goes against Jessica’s instructions, pushing ahead when she urges him to pull back. It doesn’t have the same icky feeling as when Simpson does it, and to be fair, there are mitigating factors; aside from this case is deeply personal for Luke, Jessica is in fact doing things at times purely to keep him at an arm’s length from the case, not because it will help find the missing person. Still, it does sometimes result in him zigging when she tells to zag, and she obviously struggles as he pushes at her boundaries.

I didn’t mention it last time so as not to spoil that episode, but we’ve now been introduced to Malcolm properly. The tragicomic junkie of the first several episodes, it turns out, was made into a junkie by Kilgrave in order to keep him in Kilgrave’s thrall (Kilgrave’s mind-control effect wears off after about ten hours, and he needed someone who would consistently do his bidding day in and day out.) In the last episode, Jessica helped Malcolm get away from Kilgrave and detox, and now we see him struggling to reconcile the person he was with the person Kilgrave turned him into. Also? 100% on Team Jessica. It’s heartwarming that such a prickly person keeps drawing people’s loyalty to her: Trish, despite their issues, will go to the mat for Jessica, Luke keeps coming back, and Malcolm has a newfound devotion to her, fiercely protective even though he’s far from physically intimidating. (Him coming at Luke all “what are your intentions toward Jessica?” is a great scene.)

This episode gives us more of Kilgrave left to his own devices. After the events of the last episode, he and Jessica aren’t in one another’s immediate vicinities, but he’s still completely obsessed with her. I like that it’s actually kind of pathetic, that the all-powerful Kilgrave is constantly fixated on this woman who got out of his clutches. And yet, Tennant manages to make it both pathetic and creepy/terrifying at the same time. It’s a neat effect.

One interesting bit in this episode is a scene where, for reasons of his own, Kilgrave needs to try and accomplish something without directly using his powers. And I suppose you could say that being a well-dressed white guy with resources to flaunt is basically the non-superpower version of his abilities, but still. It’s a stretch for him. It’s so easy to have anything and everything he wants literally at a word, and he repeatedly has to catch himself to keep from compelling this person to do what he wants. Terrific scene, and Tennant plays it excellently.