BSG: Unfinished Business

[lizardbeth]

Random sports SQUEE!



over the hated and despised USC Trojans!

Okay, ahem, back to my unfinished commentary on Unfinished Business. Yes, ironic, I know.




First the yay, cuz that's easy:

Love the sunlight and how bright everything was on New Caprica in the flashbacks. It was nice to see proof of why people would really want to move down there, rather than the damp, cold, gray place of later. It was also good to see Baltar looking like a sane person for a change. And hey, Tricia got some time off, good for her!

Roslin/Adama are the cutest thing ever. It was great seeing them all relaxed and having sex (well, I think so), teasing Gaeta, and just putting down their burdens for awhile.

Helo/Athena: she jumped him when he won. So cute! And she was rubbing his shoulders and giving advice, and even better I didn't notice anybody giving her a wide-berth or glaring at her, or people shouting at Lee to bring down the toaster-lover or anything like that. Helo beating the crap out of Lee was nice. Do we know whose name was called? Might be interesting to see which was trying to get out some resentment.

Although I still think Tyrol/Cally are a bit odd when I think back to what he did, they were also cute in this, especiallyin the flashbacks when they were both gearing themselves up for staying on Galactica. "It'll be nice." "Yeah, it'll be great". Both thinking: "Man, is it gonna suck." And how their happiness when they got permission made Adama smile too, that was a lovely moment.

Sam! I'm such a Samgrrl I was glad to see him, despite the rather horrible present circumstances. But the cuteness of their time together on New Caprica made up for some of it. He was so happy! (Does MT have one of the best smiles or what?) And then he gets his heart stomped on. Again. Though he can't say she didn't warn him, I guess.


Okay, to the part we can all agree on (/sarcasm):

Unfortunately I think my Sam fan-love has grown at the expense of Lee. Suffice to say, Lee/Kara isn't my favorite ship in the universe, and Lee has probably become my least favorite character. Which is sad, since I think I should like him, but... I like him less and less. Not just this episode, but it sure didn't help.

Maybe it was just the shipper in me, but I was a bit disturbed by the Lee - Leoben parallel in the flashback scene. Why is it both of them have to push her to declare her love to them? Both of them assume there's a destiny, an inevitability to their relationship with Kara. Both of them are so wrapped up in their own screwed-up obsessions with her that they seem to have a complete inability to set her free to find her own way. And of course, they both fuck up her relationship with Anders, in rather more literal sense than is probably over-come-able.

Not to mention Lee also has managed to fuck up his relationship with Dee, because that was not the face of a happy woman there at the end. That was the face of someone who had her fears realized. I feel sorry for her, and I hope she finds better. Maybe she and Sam should go off and have beautiful, angst-free babies and let their partners blow themselves up. *sigh*

The boxing... did nothing for me. metaphor, blah blah, whatever. It was beautifully edited though.

Last, who the hell was running the fleet or the ship while everyone and their goldfish was at the fight?



Well there could be more, of course, but I'm off to celebrate the Bruins complete surprise, underdog spoiler victory!

Comments

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*shakes fist* There is always AU fic? (I have just depressed myself watching the end of Exodus again. stupid directing.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is always AU. And future fic. And pirates, and crossovers, and just plain denial. Which is where I plan to live if necessary.

stupid writers. Stupid directors. *grumpy*
But at least he's not dead, y'know. And he's coming back. So there is still hope that all the parties will get their collective heads on straight and make up and be where they ought to be. (and damn, I sound like the sort of crazy OTP-er I usually mock. What did this ship do to me? *woes*)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*points at icon* See that? I'm already there, m'friend.

And I have to live in denial (although, chattering at lucyparavel has been interesting and helpful) because otherwise I get flaily and want to say horrible things about the writers who are actually kinda hacks, and, dude, David Kemper should be writing BSG.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

We should link arms and lalalala very loudly in our land of denial.

OMG, yes! That would be awesome, though also very angsty and crazy-making, because, three frelling years!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*sings*

Actually, dude, I just wrote revisionist history. Sigh. And I didn't mean to, but it happened. But I have the perfect explanation for the AU I've now created which is different from the other AUs. For one thing, Billy is alive.

Yes, but then I could stop bitching about the writing, because I know the payoff would be good.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

Billy's alive? yay. New AU, or are you now putting several other things in a timeline? mmm, if new, yummy. can't wait. :)

very true. Sad that we shall have no good payoff. We probably will have no payoff at all, since these writers are TEH SUCK at relationships. Except Helo/Sharon and I expect them to fuck that up each week.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

He is. And I think it's a completely different AU. Mostly, it was an excuse to rewrite bits of the episode.

And. I kind of want David Kemper. 'cause he would come in and stare for a while and be like, "...dudes. Your characters need to grow and change. You know that, right?" and then smack them and kick Kara a bit and smack some sense into Lee.

Sigh.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

rewriting parts of an episode you don't like is a timehonored fanfic tradition. I say do it. Especially if you have some cool AU where many things are different. Like Billy, yay! (so does Lee get killed in the bar instead? Say yes. (g))

and yes, I would love to see Kemper's face after this last one as the situation is set exactly all the way back to S.1. Nothing's different, except Kara is more screwed up than before. Gah. Well, okay, not exactly fair as Sam isn't dead (unlike Zak), but still. you know what I mean.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Oh, quite true. I'm currently being distracted by the incredibly hot mental image of shower sex from the two of them.

*clings to Sam like a limpet*

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

*clings with you*

Shower sex? oooo.... I like me some o' that.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Let me put it this way: I would really like to be able to hook my brain up to the computer and broadcast the mental images I currently have.

Because, dear god, it's hot.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

uh huh. I can imagine pretty well all on my own.

I'll be in my bunk.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

ALSO. Go read this fic. http://likeadeuce.livejournal.com/686317.html

[weissman.livejournal.com]

Hi

I think Tahmoh did a bunch of the fight coordination in this episode since he has an extensive martial arts background. I loved the cutness between Sharon and Helo, my love for them just grows and grows. It did seem that Sharon is generally accepted and even more so that Sharon and Kara are back to being friends.

After the whole Kara/Lee thing I just think Sam and Dee should get together because Lee and Kara deserve each other as punching bags.

Bob

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

Tahmoh was certainly one of the few who really seemed to know what he was doing in the fights, that was for sure.

Wouldn't it be nice if Kara and Sharon could just talk? I might have to write that, because the lack of a woman friend for Kara really isn't helping her at all. All the guys in her life want something from her. Not that Kara would talk easily to anybody, that's not how she copes, but just to have a friend, who accepts her for who she is. She needs that, and it occurs to me that Sharon might be or could be that person (as she became for Adama).

[weissman.livejournal.com]

That would be a great character piece, and a great idea. I know I would like it. Sharon would also give good advice, or she could just listen.

Bob

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

You and Lys have officially made me very unhappy. Now I want David Kemper writing BSG and it's never going to happen. *cries softly*

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

*cries with you*

though I'm sorry we have depressed other people in our depression... ;)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

HAH HAH HAH.

You know it would be utterly brilliant.

[eisenkreis.livejournal.com]

Again on the agreeance-- had to backtrace after reading that last post.

One of the things about Lee that I've always found appalling is his sense of entitlement. The way that he dealt with finding out about Kara sleeping with Baltar early on... set the stage, really. He's surprisingly derisive in concerns to a lot of things, while still being unbelievably possessive. The scene with him shouting his love to the sky made me retardedly uncomfortable; I think even my boyfriend remarked on the levels of Wrong that that seemed to hit.

Thing is, though, he's just a (painfully) normal guy who'll never be able to crawl into her headspace until he tries real, real hard. While he's a bit of girl at times and he's got his own bundle of shit to deal with, he doesn't seem to have many skeletons other than the heaping helping of butthurt between him and Daddy Adama. One of the many reasons I'm none too fond of him in general-- while he makes mistakes, Lee falls deftly into the category of Ye Olde Typical Good Guy, to an extent that it cripples him as a character I could potentially identify with. Maybe that's just me-- I've always seen him as trivial and shallow; though, bless his heart, he -tries-. He's got some inkling, but he's too overwhelmed with his situation; the boy does not have the experience to deal with all of Kara's issues.

She'd damage him huge, and he'd probably return the favor. One out of force of habit, one out of ignorance. Hilariously, by marrying Anders, Kara -was- showing Lee how much she loved him-- she saved him from her. And she still is, which I'm convinced is -part- of her vehemence about remaining married.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

The scene with him shouting his love to the sky made me retardedly uncomfortable; yes, me too. And then it bothered me even more when I connected it to Leoben. Lee has some image of Kara in his mind that he's fixed onto, and I don't think it has a lot to do with reality. Or, no, to be fair, he sees her, but it's an incomplete image. But he doesn't grasp her levels of fucked-up-ness, especially after her time in Leoben-land. And I think she knows this (on some level, if not consciously), and she fears what she could do. Or really, what they can do to each other. And yes, Lee often shows no awareness of her personal life, anything aside from her Starbuck the Pilot rebel personal, at all. If it doesn't fit into his little Starbuck box he mocks it and tries to make her feel ashamed of it.

I certainly agree that her insistence on not divorcing is partly a tactic to keep Lee away from her. I tend to believe she married Sam because she knew she'd made a mistake with Lee. Not that she was frightened of her overwhelming love, but that she knew going further with him would be wrong when she didn't really love him in that way. And in fact, I wonder if part of her insistence on the fight in UB and the reason she was angry at Lee was because she felt he pushed her.

hrm. been sitting here trying to put into words why me and Lee are not buddies. I'm not a bad boy follower, I usually like the Hero (thus I fangrrl Sam and Helo). So you'd think I should like Lee. But ... no. because... well, since I've now written and erased several random thoughts on this, I think this is probably something I should think about when more awake. :)