Fear Factor

Fanfiction
Title:	Fear Factor
Author(s):	Linda3
Date(s):
Length:	426K
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):	The Sentinel
Relationship(s):
External Links:	online here
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Fear Factor is a Sentinel story by Linda3.

Reactions and Reviews

There are a fair few warnings at the top of this story. There's a "this is my first story" warning (though it is the eighth posted, this was apparently her first written, though I would think that since she finished it off at this late date, it has the benefit of more mature polishing, though the bulk of it is typical of a First Story). There's a "smarm and cliche" warning; and there's certainly plenty of fanon cliches here there and everywhere, from the "trouble magnet" to the "heartbeat" to the "Jim was a loner before he met Blair", to the "Blair never stays in the truck" to the Sentinel/Guide bond, to the "Jim stops breathing if he zones out too long" and one which isn't quite popular enough to be fanon, though it happens fairly often: that Blair has low self-esteem. There's also smarm, though I liked this smarm for the most part, because I do enjoy smarm which happens as an angst-aftermath. (And there was a fair bit of angst here too.) However there was a point when my smarm-overload alarm went off in the epilogue.

There's also an "Anti-Warning" that "this is not a Domestic Discipline story", and, strictly speaking, that is true. From what I know of DD stories, a typical story has Jim punishing Blair (up to and including hitting) and both of them thinking that it is just and fair for Jim to do so, and Blair being grateful for Jim's parental oversight. This story, a sense, is more of an anti-DD story, in that it shows what might happen if Jim were really to do such a thing... with an added twist. That whole thing is what I found compelling, the central mystery of why it actually happened (though the explanation finally given seemed a bit thin to me) and watching Blair trying to cope with the aftermath. It made me remember the most frightening day of my life, and I could really see why Blair reacted that way. However, some people are definitely not going to like this story, either (a) because they can't accept that this would be one possible reaction, feeling that this is character assassination against Blair, or (b) simply because they couldn't bear to read a story in which Jim and Blair are emotionally at odds for a lot of the story; that they can't bear the factors in this story which do make it like a DD story, even though it isn't.

Other things I liked about it; the scene where Jim is trying to be really really calm dealing with an incoherent Blair; the title -- a nice double meaning, because it applies to both Jim and Blair -- and, well, it just reminded me of why I like TS fic.

Well, I'm afraid I didn't care for this one at all. It wasn't just all the fanon, but the characterizations. These guys just didn't act or sound at all like the Jim and Blair I watched on TV. I also found the explanation for Jim's actions to be unsatisfying and way out of character. I also found myself wondering at the beginning why Blair had to get out the truck at all. Even if Blair didn't have his cell phone, I'm assuming Jim's truck has a police radio and that Blair knows how to use it.