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crack_van2003-10-26 03:05 pm
November Small Fandom I: Fastlane
Quick Links
Recurring Guests
- Cassidy Shaw (Jennifer Sky)
- Gina (Tangi Miller)
- Shelly (Tatyana Ali)
- Sophia Jones (Jamie Brown)
- Alexa Tan (Catherine Kwong)
- Bree (Bianca Kajlich)
- Sara (Jaime Pressly)
- Jill (Colleen Porch)
- Skyler Chase (Krista Allen)
- Gretchen (Jenny McCarthy)
- Simone (Mischa Barton)
- Murdoch (Tommy Lee)
- Lena (Naomi Campbell)
- Oliver Jax (Hal Ozsan)
- Hillary (Ali Landry)
The Fanfic The Links
The Premise:
Welcome to the Candy Store. Everything you see came off some high rolling scrod who thought he was too rich for the backseat of a squad car. Normally it would go to auction. I had an idea. Everything we seize, we keep. Everything we keep, we use. This is a life of crime twenty-four seven. You don't drop cover. You never flash a badge. So? - Billie Chambers, Fastlane (The Pilot)
When Officer Van Ray's partner, Andre Hayes, is killed while they are on an undercover bust gone wrong, he longs to avenge his death. He is approached by Billie Chambers, who offers him a position with a covert team of the LAPD, which has its headquaters in what is known as 'The Candy Store.'
The Candy Store
Van is initially reluctant but faced with resistance from his superior, he agrees to join her in exchange for getting a chance to find his partner's killer. Meanwhile, Dre's estranged brother Deaqon returns to LA, also looking for his brother's murderer. They inevitably cross paths during their investigations and (after some misunderstandings) decide to work together. After they catch Dre's murderer, Billie invites Deaq to join them and thus begins a rollercoaster ride of an undercover (police) partnership.
Most episodes find the boys on some undercover job. Coincidentally, these jobs also seem to involve many good-looking people. And of course, they have to use their suped-up sports cars, obscenely copious amounts of cash and totally pimptastic clothes. They also have the tendency to put their best assets to good use - meaning that every other episode or so we get to see either Van or Deaq without their shirts. On the off chance, that that's not in the books for the week, we'll get to see either Billie or some random handful of women in bikinis and g-strings.
Let me just put it this way, the creator and executive producer of the show is McG - that's right, the guy who brought you Charlie's Angel (and Full Throttle) and The OC. The show is as flashy and cheesy as one could hope for. It does, however, boast a truck load of insanely enjoyable action scenes - so much so that it won an Emmy for Outstanding Stunt Coordination (although to be completely honest, Dick Ziker was tied with Alias' Jeff Habberstad for the Emmy). It's also worth saying that the show was inspired by the movie The Fast and The Furious and so, stylistically feels a lot like the movie.
Towards the end of the season, they started doing two-episodes arcs which really helped the show because it enabled them to construct and excute better thought out storylines. Regretfully, the show was cancelled after twenty-two episodes, which is particularly unfortunate given that in the season finale, Billie was captured by a very bad person. We never got to see the resolution to that arc, but I'm positive that Deaq and Van would have found a way to rescue her. The Playas: Regulars Van Ray a.k.a. Van Strummer (Peter Facinelli):
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He's impulsive - quick to anger, quick to love. Armed with a ninety words a minute mouth, charmingly good looks, and a penchant for fast cars and big guns, Van is thoroughly committed to police work. In fact, it's his life. However, his problems with his father, a convicted criminal, and his inherent insecurities find him constantly falling for his marks and getting him in more trouble than is safe for him. |
Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy):
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He's also another impulsive, quick witted, and dedicated police offer. However, he often finds himself contemplating his less than pristine past and the fact that he never reconciled with his brother before his death. Although more grounded, he is still struggling to rebuild his relationship with his family, including his father, a retired cop. |
Wilhelmina Chambers a.k.a. Billie (Tiffani Thiessen):
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She's the brains of the operation. She's in charge. She knows it and the boys know it. Plus, you know, she's pretty. I think we're also supposed to believe that she's a lesbian. Or at least bisexual.
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Recurring
Andre Hayes (Vondie Curtis-Hall [Chicago Hope, ER]):
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Deaq's brother and Van's ex-partner. |
Aquarius (Big Boy [Charlie's Angel: Full Throttle, The Proud Family]):
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An old friend of Deaq's and also one of their informants. |
Rolland Hill (Jay Mohr [Last Comic Standing, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno])
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A chief investigator from Internal Affairs who is hell bent on trying to shut down the Candy Store. |
Guests
Fastlane is about... well, the fastlane. Sports cars, dirt bikes, big guns, stacks of cash, sparkly diamonds, and of course, beautiful people. In fact, few episodes go by without an attractive guest star or two. Some notables include...
Cassidy Shaw (Jennifer Sky [Cleopatra 2525, Columbo, CSI, Boomtown])
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She is the fence that Van falls for in the Pilot episode. While attempting a transaction with her, Andre is murdered by her secret sniper cohort/boss. She and Van have several 'moments' followed by a 'night together.' By following her, Van and Deaq discover that the man who killed Dre is actually a crooked DEA officer, who hits Cassidy for no apparent reason. Later, when the boys have cornered said bad guy, Deaq struggles with wanting to shoot his brother's killer, but is beaten to the punch line by Cassidy. For some reason, Deaq decides to let Cassidy go. This is a decision that comes back to haunt them in Slippery Slope, when Van and Deaq are sent to recapture Cassidy, who has fallen back into a life of crime. Unfortunately, she manages to escape at the end of Slippery Slope. |
Gina (Tangi Miller [Felicity])
from Girls Own Juice (102)|
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One of the three in an all girl team of robbers. The cops (Robbery-Homicide) lean on her to rat out the other girls by threatening to take her son away. During a bust, one of the cops is shot and Gina accidentally reveals to Jade (the group leader) that she knew the guy was a cop. Jade is about to kill her when Van and Deaq show up. When the SWAT team shows up, Gina escapes. Deaq and Van attempt to convince Jade to give up peacefully, but she declines and is sniped. |
Shelly (Tatyana Ali [The Fresh Prince of Bell Air])
from Girls Own Juice (102)|
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Another member of the all girl team of robbers. She is shot when the cops (Robbery-Homicide) bust them. |
Sophia Jones (Jamie Brown [The Shield, Cold Case, The Practice])
from Wet (107) and Slippery Slope (116)|
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Van goes undercover to an AA meeting to find a woman suspected of murder. She and Van develop a relationship. It turns out that she is a hired gun. Van apprehends her, but she escapes while being transferred. Their 'relationship' comes back to bite Van in the ass when Sophia is the hired gun sent to capture Cassidy in Slippery Slope (116). |
Alexa Tan (Catherine Kwong [The West Wing])
from Mighty Blue (108)|
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An old friend of Billie who is an undercover cop with a very bad Asian drug lord. She and Deaq develop a romance despite Billie's displeasure. When the drug lord is captured, it is revealed to him that Alexa is really a cop. On the way to prison, his cronies free him. He then finds Alexa and murders her. Billie goes on a rampage and ends up killing the drug lord during a huge bust. |
Bree (Bianca Kajlich [Dawson's Creek, Boston Public])
from Get Your Mack On (109)|
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A high-end call girl who ends up being the target of her pimp. |
Sara (Jaime Pressly [Jack and Jill, Charmed, Those 1-800-Collect Ads])
from Strap On (111)|
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One part of a two girl team of buglers. They pose as valets and rob their victims while they are dining. By coincidence, they rob Deaq and when Deaq's housekeeper walks in on them, Jill shoots her (the housekeeper later recovers). Deaq and Van go under to try to catch them, but discover that the girls are lesbians. So, Billie goes undercover as a bisexual woman to develop a relationship with Sara. In the end, Sara is caught and seems extremely betrayed by Billie's actions. |
Jill (Colleen Porch [Charmed, CSI])
from Strap On (111)|
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The other half of that two girl team of lesbian buglers. She is responsible for shooting Deaq's housekeeper. |
Skyler Chase (Krista Allen [Smallville, CSI, Days of Our Lives])
from Defense (113) and Offense (114)|
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An undercover FBI agent who implicates Billie in the murder of a crime lord. |
Gretchen (Jenny McCarthy [BASEketball, Scary Movie 3, The Jenny McCarthy Show, Just Shoot Me])
from Popdukes (115)|
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Van's father is released from prison, but is in trouble because he double crossed a Nigerian crime lord. With the help of Gretchen, a counterfeiter, Van and Deaq help nab the crime lord in order to save Van's father. |
Simone (Mischa Barton [The OC, Once and Again, All My Children])
from Simone Says (117)|
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The daughter of a very rich ex-arms dealer who becomes a target of assassination. Deaq and Van are assigned to be her baby sitter, much to their displeasure |
Murdoch (Tommy Lee [The singer])
from Asslane (120)|
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An insane meth dealer who Deaq and Van try to bust. |
Lena (Naomi Campbell [The Supermodel])
from Asslane (120)|
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A porn producer who is also a big time distributor for Murdoch. |
Oliver Jax (Hal Ozsan [Dawson's Creek, Six Feet Under])
from Dosed (121)|
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Van is poisoned and in order to find out what poison has been used, Van, Deaq and Billie have to break Jax out of jail. |
Hillary (Ali Landry [Miss USA 1996])
from Dosed (121) and Iced (122)|
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Van's love interest. |
The Fanfic
Campy show that it is, Fastlane has canon for many het pairings, including Van/Other Female and Deaq/Other Female. Also, there's strong canon hints for Van/Billie. In addition, Billie/Sara is also a popular pairing. But a personal favourite is Van/Deaq...
Aside from my conviction that most cop shows and their 'partners' are slashy (I refer you to Starsky and Hutch, The Sentinel, due South, just to name a few), Fastlane is especially slashy because of the nature of Van and Deaq's partnership. You see, Van and Deaq are the ONLY two members of an extremely covert undercover squad. So, basically, they only have each other as company. In addition, they are also constantly getting in each other's space and bickering like a married couple (a running bit on the show). I present to you actual snippets from some episodes...
From Girl's Own Juice(102), while Van tries to convince Deaq to hang out with him outside work
Deaq: Whatever, Van. (shakes head) I'm out of here too. Big party tonight. (brushing past Van)
Van: That's cool. Maybe we could--
Deaq: No. (stops and waves his hand) No.
Van: Why not?
Deaq: We're partners. (shrugs like this should be self-explanatory)
Van: (looking disappointed) So, we can't hang if we're partners?
Deaq: Look, you're a great guy, Van. You're a little unstable, but I think, we'll work better if we keep it clean and simple.
From Asslane (120), upon learning that they are to be split up for their assignment
Van: You're splitting us up?
Billie: Yeah. (sarcastic) Oh, I'm sorry, you guys wanna exchange a mix tape so you feel like you're still working together?
Van: Perhaps I do. (to Deaq) You like Huey Lewis?
Deaq: No.
From Dosed (121), while Deaq to his Dad about his partnership with Van
Mr. Hayes: Sounds like you two are having some problems.
Deaq: Why you gotta do that, Pop? You make it sound like we walkin' down the aisle or something, man. We're PARTNERS, not DOMESTIC partners!
And of course, they are such pretty boys. Pretty, pretty thangs. The Links
The Candy Store - A handcoded slashfic archive run by
creedcascade
Billie and Sara Slash Fic - A Yahoo Group (does not have an archive)
The Fastlane Resource Center - Screencaps and Transcripts
no subject
Wow that is a coincidence! Especially since so many of my favorite shows are the same way!
Great overview, chica. Can't wait to read some fic!
no subject
But I can't get the Candy Store link to work? It keeps giving me a server error page and when I go to "stopawhile.com" I don't see it listed there?
no subject
I don't why you couldn't get to the Candy Store. It should be okay now. Give it another try. *g*
The Candy Store
If you still can't get in a "stopawhile.com" try http://candystore.populli.net
OK?
Take care,
Connie Linck
Fastlane
Oh God! I love this fandom. The show was great and yes very slashy. I'm so glad to see this here! Hope soon to read some fic too!
Take care,
Connie Linck
What About Ray-Ray?
Oh, we have to bring the Daddies into this! Van's Daddy (the Con) and Deaq's Daddy (the Cop). Oh yeah.
I also loved the fact that Deaq's Dad was played by Clarence Williams III, also known as Lincoln Hayes on The Mod Squad. So cool!
Re: What About Ray-Ray?
The cop/con dichotomy is also very intruiging. My guess is that they would have played with that in the second season. There was a lot of set up for these two fathers (and Deaq's family, in general) to be recurring roles.
Thanks for bringing it up. I really should have mentioned it since there are some very good fics that revolve around Deaq and Van's relationship with their respective fathers, and how it affects their other relationships, personal or otherwise. Good point!
no subject
no subject