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Metaish: BSG, Kara/Anders, the Long View
I've been wanting to do meta, or at least, How I View Sam and Kara for a really long time. I'm not really sure if this is meta, in the normal sense. Possibly, it's more opinion. (mostly, it's because no one ELSE is talking about them in a way that makes sense to me--but then, my brain is kind of weird).
Ok. Disclaimer, because this is long and a lot of it is the way I perceive stuff on the show. I poke at a lot of meta, I read episode comments, etc. And a lot of the time, I'm left going "...are we watching the same show?" when it comes to the Kara and Sam and Lee dynamic. So, for most of you, I'm pretty sure you're going to be doing the same thing while reading this.
This will contain spoilers up through Unfinished Business, with the last bit speculation on my part (mostly the latter is based on watching the trends Ron has--and sadly, not in a way I can articulate properly.)
This is also really long, surprisingly.
In the beginning, there was just sex. Sex and mockery and pretty fluffy crap. Then she got captured by the cylons and Simon told her Sam was dead. Kara already blames herself for Zak, blaming herself for Sam is probably easy--if she hadn't frakked him...
Of course, he's not dead.
And she's angry and freaked about the farms and wants to stay and smash them (because, hey, angry). But Sam has a better idea.
He believes in her, he believes that she needs to take the arrow back--if she stays, she's as good as dead. He already cares enough about her that he wants her off the planet and away from the cylons--and, yes, the fleet is just as dangerous, but out there she's got a hell of a lot more backup. He's not expecting her to come back for them--sure, she said it earlier in the episode, but he's not stupid enough to think it would be easy.
But she promises. She gives him a dog tag, and she promises to come back for him.
And here, Sam does something that it took me a while to puzzle out. Most guys would go and kiss her on the lips and try hugging her. Kara, in her just-been-in-the-farm state, would probably have decked him or ducked away. So instead, he kisses her hand. It's the most sappy and romantic gesture EVER, but it works. It shows that he understands the state she's in, and that he still wants her, and... it's just really cute.
Separated, Sam tries to keep his people together and his head up. He puts Kara's dog tag around his neck and... becomes a terrorist. Well, more so than he already was. I think he organizes a little more, at least. I kind of wish we'd gotten to see a little more of him -- did he wake up every morning and finger the dog tag? Did Jean mock him when he got drunk and tried to explain how hot Starbuck was? We don't know.
I mean, we can extrapolate from the New Caprica stuff that he probably put the lives of everyone else and their safety, first. That he probably tried very hard not to think about Kara. And probably succeeded once every couple hours.
Kara, on the other hand, is good for a while. She plots a return to Caprica, gets shot down. Cain dangles the idea in front of her, then Cain dies. There's a deleted scene where she pleads with Roslin and again gets shot down. It's enough to drive anyone mad and Kara spins wildly into a meltdown. Lots of alcohol, lots of laziness, lots of bitterness. She's frustrated and unable to do anything about it--she doesn't know if he's dead or alive. And she made him a promise. And I think Starbuck's promises are one of the few things she keeps.
I also tend to think the descent was also caused by the combat fatigue, but they didn't get into that, sadly.
Lee. Because I do want to deal with this. Kara wants sex, she wants to feel connected to something. And, oddly, Lee is the perfect choice. He's attractive, he seems to like her, and he's right there. She tries to have sex, tries to use Lee to forget Sam. Except the entire time, all she can think about is Sam, and their morning after, and Lee wants to slow things down. And you can't tell me she wasn't comparing them, that she didn't think "Sam wouldn't question, Sam would just sex me."
Does she love Lee? Maybe, but I don't think it's enough to break her obsession with Sam--in a way, Lee was just a catalyst, a means to an end.
So, Kara finally hits rock bottom, decides she's suicidal and tries to take out Scar. At the last minute, Sam interrupts, and she realizes that, even if he's dead, she can't just abandon him. She may not be able to go back for him, but she can live with the hope that he's still alive. And it's gonna have to be enough.
And Helo mocks her. As Helo should. (Jean serves this function with Sam. Er, in my head.)
Downloaded. Sam is a terrorist. He wants to make them bleed enough to leave the planet. And he's still wearing Kara's dog tag (after eight months or so).
(I like the dog tag, cheesy as it is. Although, RON. "Tangible proof of love"? MY ASS.)
LYDB. We have to assume Kara's been trying new ways to come up with a rescue plan to go back to Caprica (but apparently, nowhere else. Huh. Only the C-Bucs and their friends survived!). She finally hits on one that the Old Man finds feasible.
And they get there, and he's alive. She is so happy, it kills me. There is hugging, and he mocks her for taking so long and she tells him to shut up, at least she came to save his stupid ass. And there is wacky smiling and then they get shot at. Which leads to cowering in the bunker and the suicide pact. Kara refuses to go back to a farm, and makes Sam promise to kill her if it comes to that. And he, after a moment of looking very much "you are insane", agrees.
I don't know if Sam could have killed her. Actually that's wrong. Knowing the way the farms work, if it came down to there being no way out, I think he could have. I don't think he'd want any woman to suffer that sort of indignity.
Unfortunately for Sam, he'd have to live with killing the woman he cared for (loved, whatever). Unless they were really good and shot each other at the same time. 'Cause, I'm pretty sure Sam would make certain to shoot to kill. If he's going to do it, he's going to damned well do it right. Which leaves him alive and her dead and the cylons pissed off.
But luckily for the both of them, the cylons call a cease fire, and brother Cavil prays to the "gods". Without air quotes, even! That must have sucked for his atheistic little heart.
When they're back on the big G, they're both ecstatic to be alive.
And they get drunk together, they have sex--Sam calls her charity work, she calls him a slut. And a hot little thing, too.
So. Kara finally went back for her man. I'm not sure I'm seeing the part where she doesn't love him, 'cause, continuing to plan and plot to return for him never seemed to be about guilt. More about need. Maybe she'd made her way through everyone on Galactica, and the Pegasus crew just didn't interest her?
Despite being cynical about love, I do have to note the following: going back for him, being so happy to see him, and making him promise to kill her? To me, that does not say "random caring and he's hot and fucks well". That says a bit more, like, "emotionally-attached, possibly even loves."
Do I believe in love at first sight? Hell, no. Not even in John and Aeryn's case. I do believe in lust at first sight, and deciding--subconsciously or not--that this is the one person (or one of several) who you want to spend a lot of your time with. Possibly with lots of sex. So, do I think Sam and Kara love each other, at the time of LYDB? Maybe.
I don't, however, think they know each other that well.
Which brings me to....
Unfinished Business.... (because this is now canon, and it goes before the last bits of LYDB)
Sam - Because I want to deal with Sam, and I should.
Sam loves Kara. Maybe not from the first, but I'm fairly certain it's the "I would die for her" type of love. The kind where he'd lay down his life. Or plan a resistance to frak with the cylons and get everyone off the mudball. Including his wife.
(and anyone who says MT can't act needs to fuck off, 'cause he brought it in Exodus. During the scene where he finds Kara? The relief, the terror, the tears and the thanking the gods were beautifully realized in five seconds.)
So. Sam loves Kara. Loves her enough that he lets her walk away, but still has sex with her (I still want to see that conversation--and yes, this is jumping past LYDB). Loves her enough that he wants their marriage to work, but lets her go when she needs it.
Which brings me to the slightly lengthier bit: Kara choosing Sam.
A ton of meta and commentary has been written that generally indicates Sam as the safe choice, the replacement for Lee, the shield between Kara's intense Love For Lee, and everything in between.
None, so far as I have seen, have actually said it was because Kara went for the man who could make her happy.
I think, in some ways, Kara sees Sam as her redemption. If she can make it work with this man who looks at her and believes in her, if she can grab life by the horns and live it. Then maybe her past will make some sense. Maybe all of the pain will have been worth it.
Kara looks at Sam and sees hope and life and the unknown. She takes that step and she is floundering in a world she doesn't really know.
Kara looks at Lee and sees her past, sees his disdain for her drinking and frakking and partying, his disdain and disrespect for her ideas, his lack of interest in anything that doesn't pertain to him and being a Perfect Pilot.
I'm not sure I get how Sam is the safe choice. If Kara fucks it up with Sam, she's left with nothing--not to mention further proof that she's nothing more than a cancer upon the lives of the people around her (I suppose she could try again with Lee). If she fucks it up with Lee, she can always go back to Sam (which does make Sam oddly dependable, I suppose).
To me, it's far more frightening to take that step into the unknown--to reach for happiness. To let yourself be happy. Especially when you're Kara, who's had happiness yanked away so often.
And that's the choice Kara makes.
Lee looks at the situation and sees it as simple: he loves Kara, wham, she is his.
Kara looks at it and sees that it's complicated. That there's Sam and Dee, and they deserve better than to get dumped just because Lee got a happy.
...ok, that last bit might have been a little snarky.
Ahem. So. Kara finally has sex with Lee, because Sam's dead to the world and she's horny. And she's always wondered what sex would be like. And it turns out to be good (one assumes), and she's now got this complicated situation, and Lee just... assumes it's all ok now.
Lee starts shouting and being gleefully obnoxious, Kara mocks him. He won't shut up, demands she do the same, so... She jumps up, chokes on it and finally gets out (in third person, no less), "Kara Thrace loves Lee Adama." Which, maybe she does. I don't know. I've never really seen their friendship as Love Forever on either side. Lee seems to be in love with the idea that he's in love with her (and she'll magically change and be a better person). Kara... seems to think he's attractive, and have conflicting emotions on the subject. Lots of other people have done meta on this, I'm sure.
Waking up in the morning, she makes a choice and she leaves him behind.
She finds Sam, wakes him, proposes, and they get married. By all visual cues, I'd say they're happy. Possibly blissfully getting over their hangovers, but happy. They're grinning madly, walking hand in hand (omg). And then he slings an arm around her and she reaches up and tangles her fingers in his (again, omg. I have a hands clasped kink).
They run into Lee, who's upset, and Kara loses her cheer. But Sam still has his.
Blah, blah, a year passes, a year where we don't get to watch them being married. And then we get a minute of cranky old married couple, with Sam being sick and Kara being worried.
I have talked about the married part before, but to reiterate: they looked happy.
And then the cylons show up and Kara disappears. We don't get to see Sam searching for her, we barely see his worry for her (although I do think it's there--the "if it wasn't for my wife" line proves he still thinks she's alive). And he asks Sharon to look for her. But he spends his time planning the resistance and kicking the cylons' asses.
Then he finds her. And, as mentioned earlier, he's grateful, happy, worried she's dead, and then thanking the gods that she is alive and CRYING.
Whatever Kara feels for Sam, it's pretty clear that he loves her.
Oh, oh, I almost didn't talk about the kiss in the hall. I forgot. Anyway. Kara wakes, draped over Sam's shoulder and he puts her down. She... flails at him, and is about to hit him, but he's saying "Kara, it's me, it's ok." and then can't help but kiss her.
And when he pulls back, she asks if it's really him and she's grinning like a madwoman, and happy to see him. It makes me think Leoben told her he was dead, a lot. Enough to convince her, at least (in much the same way I'm sure Tigh occasionally told Sam to buck up, 'cause Starbuck was dead. Or, that Starbuck was the contrariest bitch he knew and would be alive).
Sam, btw, made certain he was the one leading the group into the detention center. If the marriage wasn't happy? I don't think he would have cared so much. I also wonder how often Sam tried Very Hard not to consider the things they could be doing to his wife--like impregnating her, beating her, ripping her eyes out... I'm kind of certain he had a list of nightmares towards the end and Chief's rotgut was the only thing that got him to sleep, sometimes.
ANYWAY. He rescues her, then she wants to go back. He doesn't ask, he just follows. And then, well, there's the problem, because, due to dramatic directing, Sam somehow, despite being right behind her takes an extra five minutes to follow her.
If you're mean like me, you figure a Leoben grabbed him and made him listen, then let him go and wandered off.
So, you have Sam happy to have her back and Kara being "I'll explain later" with a kid in tow. I imagine the trip up to Galactica was full of him trying to talk and her saying "Not now". So, he seems a little pissed, because, baby! and no explanation, and she says Kacey is her daughter. When they're exiting the raptor, he's clearly irritated about something. And when Chief asks, he replies really snarkily and tersely.
Apparently, getting information out of Kara is like pulling nails and requires lots of pestering.
Then Kara finds out that it was a lie. And all of it, everything Leoben pulled on her, her past, Sam, Lee, ALL of it, just crashes down around her. That bright shiny future that had seemed possible is gone completely. And all she wants to do is ignore the pain and hurt others, instead.
Letting Sam go was probably the one thing she could think of to stop herself hurting him worse. That he basically looked at her and said she wasn't the woman he married hurts. But then again, she isn't. And I'm not sure he's the same man she married--or maybe he's distilled. I don't know. And Sam still seems to want her.
Because, despite the whole scene, where he gave back her dog tag (OMG), a few episodes later, he's sleeping with her again.
Sam should know sex doesn't solve anything. *tsks*
And, damnit, I still want to see the first conversation they have after the dog tag scene. Because. Damnit. Did they talk? Or did she just say, "Hi. I wanna fuck."?
The implications I got from the post-sex scene are that this isn't the first time, and Sam is taking his chance and pushing for more than just sex. He wants all of Kara, not just her body. He wants to share in her life and not be some fling on the side.
And Kara isn't ready for that--if she ever will be.
Then of course, Sam finds Kara beating up on Adama, and it connects that his conjecture that he wasn't what she really wanted might be true.
And Sam walks away.
Somehow, I don't think Starbuck is getting regular sex anymore. Sucks to be anyone she doesn't like.
In my speculation for the future, I'm kind of leaning towards Kara and Sam actually getting back together. And this time, they know each other better.
But then, I'm a hopeless romantic.
Ok. Disclaimer, because this is long and a lot of it is the way I perceive stuff on the show. I poke at a lot of meta, I read episode comments, etc. And a lot of the time, I'm left going "...are we watching the same show?" when it comes to the Kara and Sam and Lee dynamic. So, for most of you, I'm pretty sure you're going to be doing the same thing while reading this.
This will contain spoilers up through Unfinished Business, with the last bit speculation on my part (mostly the latter is based on watching the trends Ron has--and sadly, not in a way I can articulate properly.)
This is also really long, surprisingly.
In the beginning, there was just sex. Sex and mockery and pretty fluffy crap. Then she got captured by the cylons and Simon told her Sam was dead. Kara already blames herself for Zak, blaming herself for Sam is probably easy--if she hadn't frakked him...
Of course, he's not dead.
And she's angry and freaked about the farms and wants to stay and smash them (because, hey, angry). But Sam has a better idea.
He believes in her, he believes that she needs to take the arrow back--if she stays, she's as good as dead. He already cares enough about her that he wants her off the planet and away from the cylons--and, yes, the fleet is just as dangerous, but out there she's got a hell of a lot more backup. He's not expecting her to come back for them--sure, she said it earlier in the episode, but he's not stupid enough to think it would be easy.
But she promises. She gives him a dog tag, and she promises to come back for him.
And here, Sam does something that it took me a while to puzzle out. Most guys would go and kiss her on the lips and try hugging her. Kara, in her just-been-in-the-farm state, would probably have decked him or ducked away. So instead, he kisses her hand. It's the most sappy and romantic gesture EVER, but it works. It shows that he understands the state she's in, and that he still wants her, and... it's just really cute.
Separated, Sam tries to keep his people together and his head up. He puts Kara's dog tag around his neck and... becomes a terrorist. Well, more so than he already was. I think he organizes a little more, at least. I kind of wish we'd gotten to see a little more of him -- did he wake up every morning and finger the dog tag? Did Jean mock him when he got drunk and tried to explain how hot Starbuck was? We don't know.
I mean, we can extrapolate from the New Caprica stuff that he probably put the lives of everyone else and their safety, first. That he probably tried very hard not to think about Kara. And probably succeeded once every couple hours.
Kara, on the other hand, is good for a while. She plots a return to Caprica, gets shot down. Cain dangles the idea in front of her, then Cain dies. There's a deleted scene where she pleads with Roslin and again gets shot down. It's enough to drive anyone mad and Kara spins wildly into a meltdown. Lots of alcohol, lots of laziness, lots of bitterness. She's frustrated and unable to do anything about it--she doesn't know if he's dead or alive. And she made him a promise. And I think Starbuck's promises are one of the few things she keeps.
I also tend to think the descent was also caused by the combat fatigue, but they didn't get into that, sadly.
Lee. Because I do want to deal with this. Kara wants sex, she wants to feel connected to something. And, oddly, Lee is the perfect choice. He's attractive, he seems to like her, and he's right there. She tries to have sex, tries to use Lee to forget Sam. Except the entire time, all she can think about is Sam, and their morning after, and Lee wants to slow things down. And you can't tell me she wasn't comparing them, that she didn't think "Sam wouldn't question, Sam would just sex me."
Does she love Lee? Maybe, but I don't think it's enough to break her obsession with Sam--in a way, Lee was just a catalyst, a means to an end.
So, Kara finally hits rock bottom, decides she's suicidal and tries to take out Scar. At the last minute, Sam interrupts, and she realizes that, even if he's dead, she can't just abandon him. She may not be able to go back for him, but she can live with the hope that he's still alive. And it's gonna have to be enough.
And Helo mocks her. As Helo should. (Jean serves this function with Sam. Er, in my head.)
Downloaded. Sam is a terrorist. He wants to make them bleed enough to leave the planet. And he's still wearing Kara's dog tag (after eight months or so).
(I like the dog tag, cheesy as it is. Although, RON. "Tangible proof of love"? MY ASS.)
LYDB. We have to assume Kara's been trying new ways to come up with a rescue plan to go back to Caprica (but apparently, nowhere else. Huh. Only the C-Bucs and their friends survived!). She finally hits on one that the Old Man finds feasible.
And they get there, and he's alive. She is so happy, it kills me. There is hugging, and he mocks her for taking so long and she tells him to shut up, at least she came to save his stupid ass. And there is wacky smiling and then they get shot at. Which leads to cowering in the bunker and the suicide pact. Kara refuses to go back to a farm, and makes Sam promise to kill her if it comes to that. And he, after a moment of looking very much "you are insane", agrees.
I don't know if Sam could have killed her. Actually that's wrong. Knowing the way the farms work, if it came down to there being no way out, I think he could have. I don't think he'd want any woman to suffer that sort of indignity.
Unfortunately for Sam, he'd have to live with killing the woman he cared for (loved, whatever). Unless they were really good and shot each other at the same time. 'Cause, I'm pretty sure Sam would make certain to shoot to kill. If he's going to do it, he's going to damned well do it right. Which leaves him alive and her dead and the cylons pissed off.
But luckily for the both of them, the cylons call a cease fire, and brother Cavil prays to the "gods". Without air quotes, even! That must have sucked for his atheistic little heart.
When they're back on the big G, they're both ecstatic to be alive.
And they get drunk together, they have sex--Sam calls her charity work, she calls him a slut. And a hot little thing, too.
So. Kara finally went back for her man. I'm not sure I'm seeing the part where she doesn't love him, 'cause, continuing to plan and plot to return for him never seemed to be about guilt. More about need. Maybe she'd made her way through everyone on Galactica, and the Pegasus crew just didn't interest her?
Despite being cynical about love, I do have to note the following: going back for him, being so happy to see him, and making him promise to kill her? To me, that does not say "random caring and he's hot and fucks well". That says a bit more, like, "emotionally-attached, possibly even loves."
Do I believe in love at first sight? Hell, no. Not even in John and Aeryn's case. I do believe in lust at first sight, and deciding--subconsciously or not--that this is the one person (or one of several) who you want to spend a lot of your time with. Possibly with lots of sex. So, do I think Sam and Kara love each other, at the time of LYDB? Maybe.
I don't, however, think they know each other that well.
Which brings me to....
Unfinished Business.... (because this is now canon, and it goes before the last bits of LYDB)
Sam - Because I want to deal with Sam, and I should.
Sam loves Kara. Maybe not from the first, but I'm fairly certain it's the "I would die for her" type of love. The kind where he'd lay down his life. Or plan a resistance to frak with the cylons and get everyone off the mudball. Including his wife.
(and anyone who says MT can't act needs to fuck off, 'cause he brought it in Exodus. During the scene where he finds Kara? The relief, the terror, the tears and the thanking the gods were beautifully realized in five seconds.)
So. Sam loves Kara. Loves her enough that he lets her walk away, but still has sex with her (I still want to see that conversation--and yes, this is jumping past LYDB). Loves her enough that he wants their marriage to work, but lets her go when she needs it.
Which brings me to the slightly lengthier bit: Kara choosing Sam.
A ton of meta and commentary has been written that generally indicates Sam as the safe choice, the replacement for Lee, the shield between Kara's intense Love For Lee, and everything in between.
None, so far as I have seen, have actually said it was because Kara went for the man who could make her happy.
I think, in some ways, Kara sees Sam as her redemption. If she can make it work with this man who looks at her and believes in her, if she can grab life by the horns and live it. Then maybe her past will make some sense. Maybe all of the pain will have been worth it.
Kara looks at Sam and sees hope and life and the unknown. She takes that step and she is floundering in a world she doesn't really know.
Kara looks at Lee and sees her past, sees his disdain for her drinking and frakking and partying, his disdain and disrespect for her ideas, his lack of interest in anything that doesn't pertain to him and being a Perfect Pilot.
I'm not sure I get how Sam is the safe choice. If Kara fucks it up with Sam, she's left with nothing--not to mention further proof that she's nothing more than a cancer upon the lives of the people around her (I suppose she could try again with Lee). If she fucks it up with Lee, she can always go back to Sam (which does make Sam oddly dependable, I suppose).
To me, it's far more frightening to take that step into the unknown--to reach for happiness. To let yourself be happy. Especially when you're Kara, who's had happiness yanked away so often.
And that's the choice Kara makes.
Lee looks at the situation and sees it as simple: he loves Kara, wham, she is his.
Kara looks at it and sees that it's complicated. That there's Sam and Dee, and they deserve better than to get dumped just because Lee got a happy.
...ok, that last bit might have been a little snarky.
Ahem. So. Kara finally has sex with Lee, because Sam's dead to the world and she's horny. And she's always wondered what sex would be like. And it turns out to be good (one assumes), and she's now got this complicated situation, and Lee just... assumes it's all ok now.
Lee starts shouting and being gleefully obnoxious, Kara mocks him. He won't shut up, demands she do the same, so... She jumps up, chokes on it and finally gets out (in third person, no less), "Kara Thrace loves Lee Adama." Which, maybe she does. I don't know. I've never really seen their friendship as Love Forever on either side. Lee seems to be in love with the idea that he's in love with her (and she'll magically change and be a better person). Kara... seems to think he's attractive, and have conflicting emotions on the subject. Lots of other people have done meta on this, I'm sure.
Waking up in the morning, she makes a choice and she leaves him behind.
She finds Sam, wakes him, proposes, and they get married. By all visual cues, I'd say they're happy. Possibly blissfully getting over their hangovers, but happy. They're grinning madly, walking hand in hand (omg). And then he slings an arm around her and she reaches up and tangles her fingers in his (again, omg. I have a hands clasped kink).
They run into Lee, who's upset, and Kara loses her cheer. But Sam still has his.
Blah, blah, a year passes, a year where we don't get to watch them being married. And then we get a minute of cranky old married couple, with Sam being sick and Kara being worried.
I have talked about the married part before, but to reiterate: they looked happy.
And then the cylons show up and Kara disappears. We don't get to see Sam searching for her, we barely see his worry for her (although I do think it's there--the "if it wasn't for my wife" line proves he still thinks she's alive). And he asks Sharon to look for her. But he spends his time planning the resistance and kicking the cylons' asses.
Then he finds her. And, as mentioned earlier, he's grateful, happy, worried she's dead, and then thanking the gods that she is alive and CRYING.
Whatever Kara feels for Sam, it's pretty clear that he loves her.
Oh, oh, I almost didn't talk about the kiss in the hall. I forgot. Anyway. Kara wakes, draped over Sam's shoulder and he puts her down. She... flails at him, and is about to hit him, but he's saying "Kara, it's me, it's ok." and then can't help but kiss her.
And when he pulls back, she asks if it's really him and she's grinning like a madwoman, and happy to see him. It makes me think Leoben told her he was dead, a lot. Enough to convince her, at least (in much the same way I'm sure Tigh occasionally told Sam to buck up, 'cause Starbuck was dead. Or, that Starbuck was the contrariest bitch he knew and would be alive).
Sam, btw, made certain he was the one leading the group into the detention center. If the marriage wasn't happy? I don't think he would have cared so much. I also wonder how often Sam tried Very Hard not to consider the things they could be doing to his wife--like impregnating her, beating her, ripping her eyes out... I'm kind of certain he had a list of nightmares towards the end and Chief's rotgut was the only thing that got him to sleep, sometimes.
ANYWAY. He rescues her, then she wants to go back. He doesn't ask, he just follows. And then, well, there's the problem, because, due to dramatic directing, Sam somehow, despite being right behind her takes an extra five minutes to follow her.
If you're mean like me, you figure a Leoben grabbed him and made him listen, then let him go and wandered off.
So, you have Sam happy to have her back and Kara being "I'll explain later" with a kid in tow. I imagine the trip up to Galactica was full of him trying to talk and her saying "Not now". So, he seems a little pissed, because, baby! and no explanation, and she says Kacey is her daughter. When they're exiting the raptor, he's clearly irritated about something. And when Chief asks, he replies really snarkily and tersely.
Apparently, getting information out of Kara is like pulling nails and requires lots of pestering.
Then Kara finds out that it was a lie. And all of it, everything Leoben pulled on her, her past, Sam, Lee, ALL of it, just crashes down around her. That bright shiny future that had seemed possible is gone completely. And all she wants to do is ignore the pain and hurt others, instead.
Letting Sam go was probably the one thing she could think of to stop herself hurting him worse. That he basically looked at her and said she wasn't the woman he married hurts. But then again, she isn't. And I'm not sure he's the same man she married--or maybe he's distilled. I don't know. And Sam still seems to want her.
Because, despite the whole scene, where he gave back her dog tag (OMG), a few episodes later, he's sleeping with her again.
Sam should know sex doesn't solve anything. *tsks*
And, damnit, I still want to see the first conversation they have after the dog tag scene. Because. Damnit. Did they talk? Or did she just say, "Hi. I wanna fuck."?
The implications I got from the post-sex scene are that this isn't the first time, and Sam is taking his chance and pushing for more than just sex. He wants all of Kara, not just her body. He wants to share in her life and not be some fling on the side.
And Kara isn't ready for that--if she ever will be.
Then of course, Sam finds Kara beating up on Adama, and it connects that his conjecture that he wasn't what she really wanted might be true.
And Sam walks away.
Somehow, I don't think Starbuck is getting regular sex anymore. Sucks to be anyone she doesn't like.
In my speculation for the future, I'm kind of leaning towards Kara and Sam actually getting back together. And this time, they know each other better.
But then, I'm a hopeless romantic.
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Sam was a professional athlete so he is a team player and a "bigger picture" type of guy. While his immediate concern is the current game, he is also looking down the road to the playoffs and winning the championship. And as a team player, he isn't going to put his own agenda above the greater good of the team. That's how I see his actions on Caprica, on New Caprica, and his marriage to Kara. On Caprica, he sent Kara off because he knew that returning the Arrow was more important and he believed she would come back. He also wasn't going to leave with her and abandon his team, leaving them to die while he goes off with his girlfriend. On New Caprica, he did what he could on his own to find her, but he wasn't going to pull an Ellen Tigh and risk the lives of everyone else just for his own happiness. I also believe that he has enough faith in Kara's ability to survive that she could hold on until he got there, just as he survived on Caprica until she came for him. As for the marriage, once again the down-the-road objective is to have his wife back and have a real, loving marriage again. He puts his own feelings aside because he knows she needs time to heal. So he goes away but not too far away that he can't be there for her when she needs him.
I have a whole diatribe on how I saw Unfinished Business that I'll post either today or tomorrow. For me it comes down to two things: 1)Kara's line,(paraphrasing) "The old man has chops. He knows when to make a move and when to back off. That's something his son needs to learn." and 2) the whole dog tag symbolism for that ep. I just finished a fic about the dog tag, that I'll be posting as well.
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Not to mention all the Sam adoration and Kara love. *gleeful*
I'm still wondering if Sam wore her dog tag the entire year of their marriage (I figure he wore it during the occupation--if there was a chance to get offplanet, it would be one of two things he'd refuse to leave behind. The first being Kara).
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I just don't think I realized how much I missed having the meta that made sense to me. I knew I missed the fic (there has been some, but not as much as I want to read--and I'm voracious, sometimes). Which sounds a little childish, but, damn is it sometimes lonely to not have lots of fic for a canon pairing.
Rar. I refuse to let myself get cranky tonight. For I have coffee. And there is a small child to torture people with.
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I prefer Kara/Anders to Kara/Lee. Sam and Kara have a lot in common, not just interests - like pyramid but also personality wise - he gets her from the beginning - they know each other a week and he already can get her back to bed and laughing. They good for one another. Kara/Lee is all hurt, pain and misunderstandings and relationships shouldn't make you worse - they should make you better.
I had the same thoughts about LDBY 2 - Kara would do exactly the same thing - and he'd have to carry her back to bed.
And I don't think it's hopeless for Kara and Sam. She still keeps his dogtag separately in her closet. She caries the one with Zack's ring the other one hangs there in safety.
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Sometimes, I'm perfectly happy with UST, sometimes not. And the thing is, you can do RST and not be boring with it (John/Aeryn in Farscape, for instance, immediately springs to mind). But you have to believe that people are going to be happy watching a married couple... And they won't be bored, I suppose.
What's interesting is that I've sometimes thought that Sam, in a way, is almost Kara, but male and with less, ah, issues. So he does get her and she gets him, and, well, suddenly I'm understanding why she knew she could show up at his door and he'd give her sex.
I'm totally amused at the idea, because Kara would stop speaking to him. For at least a day.
*nods* The tags, exactly. It got turned into such a symbol during Downloaded, and now he's given it back and she's not wearing it--and she could without a problem.