War Games (Professionals story)

Bodie/Doyle Fanfiction
Title:	War Games
Author(s):	Meg Lewtan
Date(s):	1986
Length:	60k
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Professionals
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War Games is a Bodie/Doyle story by Meg Lewtan.

It was published in The Hatstand Express #9.

Summary

"Bodie and Doyle have been sent on their annual refressher course, but Bodie is really enjoying it. Doyle confronts him about his attitude and, after Bodie explains the way he looks at it, understands, while not necessarily sharing his views. Meanwhile, Doyle isn't the only one who's noticed the shift in Bodie's attitude and Cowley has roped Macklin into assessing the potential danger his poses to the team and the organization as a whole."

Reactions and Reviews

"War Games" reminded me a bit of her earlier "Nothing So Dead As Yesterday", probably because of the inclusion of Macklin as the "nemesis", but I liked this one a lot better. B&D both seemed a lot more "in control", this time, especially Bodie - well, the relationship was a lot more "established" by this time, too. They have both, by now, come to accept that they are, at once, each the other's greatest strength, as well as being the other's greatest weakness (sort of a mutual "Achilles' Heel). I was glad to see that Bodie refused to let Macklin "get" to him, this time - it was nice seeing amore "mature", more settled and "wiser" Bodie! Strangely, I almost liked Macklin in this one (the only other story I can think of, off-hand, in which I "almost" liked Macklin was "A Question of Semantics" in the zine POEMS, PRAYERS & PROMISES). It was a nice twist seeing him actually"defend" the guys for a change — to Cowley no less — saying that it wasn't necessarily such a bad thing that B&D always came first with each other, even before the job (of course, that was just the answer that the crafty old sod was looking for!). My favorite aspect of the story was probably Bodie's explanation as to why he enjoyed the yearly "assessments" so much. Typical Bodie! It's just how I can envision him thinking of it. What was also good was Doyle's realization that he can sometimes be some what obtuse in understanding what should be obvious to him about the way Bodie feels about certain things — I've always felt that was the case even on the series. I was always intrigued by that study in "opposites" — outwardly, at least, Doyle seems to be the more thoughtful, analytical of the pair — yet, especially when it comes to Bodie, he often "misses the forest for the trees." Whereas, with Bodie, he tends to see things more simply, directly — to cut right through the BS, that is! I think a lot of the fans see Doyle as more of the "enigma", and to some extent, I guess he is — at the same time, I think Bodie understands HIM a lot better than Doyle seems to have the ability to understand Bodie!

Lewtan strikes again with another Bodie-analysis: "War Games" is actually a very clever bit of psychology, as well as a story right up to Meg Lewtan1s usual high standard. How about tackling some of Raymond s little problems, in this way, someone?! He has to have at least as many as Bodie (probably more), but he comes over as by far the more stable of the two in most of the stories (well, most that I've caught up with to date, and I must have read 100-200 so far).

It was, as always, a pleasure to see a story from Meg, and "War Games" was so good. And it had not only Bodie and Doyle, but Murphy. To my way of thinking there just can't be enough written about Murphy.

I enjoyed "War Games" very much. There was a sense of pacing and rhythm to the words and dialogue that made it easy to picture. The descriptions of movements were natural and detailed. From what I've read in the other letters, Meg probably does this consistently in her stories, but it is wonderful to see it happen, and not all that common. It is also nice to hear what you do right even if you've heard it before (I hope). The character assessments on page 22 were interesting because they weren't static. She describes the Bodie and Doyle we all know, then shows how they've changed in response to each other. In just a few words (fewer than I'm using). I like it when they discover things about each other. Even though they have a well established relationship, it is still fresh. I like George and Brian's relationship here, too. It works both on a business and personal level, as these men must to have the jobs they do. The interaction of the men in charge brings out the best in everyone in the organisation. The levels of emotion in this whole story, the levels of action and motivation combine into a well crafted whole.