Five Figure Fanwork Exchange

Media: TV show

Approx length: I'm only requesting season 1 (season 2 is an entirely different story); 10 episodes of about 47 minutes each

Where to find it: Vudu, Amazon, Youtube, Google Play, etc

What is it, in summary? A fictionalised account of a real Arctic voyage made by the British navy in search of the NW Passage in the 1840s; the voyage slowly spirals into disaster.

What do you love about it? I love how intrinsic the military hierarchy is to the mission's failure; it's fascinating to see it push and pull with religious faith, faith in the Empire, and base survival needs. I adore the characters: Crozier, the captain who believes from the beginning they will likely fail, the miserable little Irishman no-one wants to listen to (at first); Fitzjames, who starts out the swaggering crony of the main commander and grows into so much more; and Goodsir, one of the ship's surgeons, the kindest and tenderest man on board, who is trying his best to keep it together (and keep his faith) as it all crumbles around him.

The tender moments between men are so beautiful -- looking after someone going through withdrawals...I was going to say more, but they're probably more impactful in context.

Also, Hickey the little rat man, who is just so much fun to watch.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it? I've requested Crozier, Fitzjames, and Goodsir as solo characters, but I'm very happy for friendship and/or (un)requited, deeply repressed rom fic. I'd love to see some of the relationships fleshed out more -- with so many wonderful characters the show can't show us everything I want to see, though that's not a critique of canon -- I adore the show. What-if scenarios where something happened sooner or later than in the show. Goodsir character study diving into his struggle with his ideals and what he was thinking when he did [redacted].

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships? I would strongly, strongly recommend watching the whole thing. But after you've watched it all and just want to review the best bits -- the last three episodes have such DELICIOUS conversations and tender moments between Crozier & Fitzjames and Crozier & Goodsir.

Content notes: I say all this with the understanding that it sounds like a LOT, but I would say I'm fairly squeamish and I survived. (It was very helpful from a horror angle, since I don't do super well with suspense, that I knew a lot of what happened ahead of time -- eg I knew X character would survive an encounter because I knew that wasn't how he died.) With that said: alcoholism, animal death, cannibalism, colonialism, fatal illnesses, flogging, gore, graphic animal attacks (animal attacking humans), homophobia, medical procedures (autopsy, amputation), murder, racism, and suicide.