BSG meta: Recursion

[lyssie]

Season three spoilers through Eye of Jupiter.

A long time ago... Sometimes in September, I saw promo pics of Sam with his gun finding Kara. And I set out to write a fic based on that, on what I'd heard, and on the assumption that Kara was a bit fucked in the head and Kacey was hers (or a reasonable facsimile). Surprisingly, except for Kacey not being Kara's, quite a bit of it ended up canon:

1. Sam and Kara's marriage fell apart, because she wouldn't fucking talk to him.
2. Sam still loved her, and was trying to fix things.
3. Kara and Sam are her father and mother, and Kacey is Kara.
4. They eventually work it out, thanks to Kacey being like cold water on Kara's stupidness.

It's the third bit that I'm interested in, because it's the reason the spec fic never got finished.

According to hints dropped in canon, interviews and the BSG wiki, Kara's mother was a pilot who got pregnant and had to stop flying. She resented Kara, but she was also deeply religious. She married Kara's father, but wasn't, from what I gather, particularly faithful to him. In fact, she apparently pushed him away until the only thing he did was visit his daughter and send her things like music and her jacket (one assumes).

Kara's father was a piano player, apparently, a musician with the mercurial nature that comes with that and the glib ability to read people. (that last is extrapolation)

There was one scene I set up with Sam telling Kara she couldn't neglect her daughter, or something to that effect, and -- hang on, I'm just going to pull the lines, because they made me stop and rant at karma_aster.

"Kara, you have to watch what you say when she can hear."
She rolled her eyes, "C'mon, Anders, I don't think--"
"Do you want her to grow up thinking you hate her? Because that's what's going to happen."

And I said to karma_aster "Kara is her mother, Sam is her dad and Kacey is Kara. I don't like this fic anymore." In fact, some of you may remember me posting in all caps "I will not call this fic recursion!" Poor karma_aster was reduced to patting me, the ranting wacko, on the head and assuring me that Kara was not her mother and my extrapolations were simply that. Extrapolations.

And then, luckily, at the end of Exodus, Kacey wasn't Kara's and so, suddenly, yay. No possibility of "All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again".

Except that now, we have Kara refusing to divorce Sam, having an affair, and treating her husband like. Well, like I figure Kara's treated hers. Not to mention that Kara is still freaky-religious girl. (Sam is religious too, I think. I know he prayed when he found her, and thanked the Gods. Whether he does the candles and incense thing, I don't know).

As for Sam, he's not a piano player, but he was a celebrity as a pyramid player. And he has a good ability for reading people.

Yes, it's a huge leap to draw parallels between them and Kara's parents.

But given their fascination with "all of this has happened before..." (ie, recursion), I think it's very possible. The difference is that, just maybe, Kara will wise up and realize exactly what she's becoming.

I'm not holding my breath.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Well, if nothing else I'm very interested in the story you would tell about Kara's parents!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

It would... be almost Kara/Anders, except different. Because they were--I bet her mother was a bit more Lee-like, and her dad was probably a little more carefree, and... *sigh*

I don't want them to be her parents! Or the Tighs!

[zorb]

I don't think it's that huge a leap. Given what Kara's said about marriage, I had the same feeling that she got that model straight from her parents. The difference is that had Kacey really been hers, she wouldn't have treated her like her mother treated Kara.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I don't know that Kara would have been any better. I like to think she would have, but current canon is pretty much saying she wouldn't.

Although I do think Sam would have been better than her father at breaking the cycle of abuse.

[rosewildeirish.livejournal.com]

Dude, I think as long as Ron Moore is associated with the show, you're going to have the absolute crap ass writing coupled with the sheer brilliance. And sometimes, like with this last ep, in the same fucking episode. Gaaaaaaah.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

OH GOD. So true.

ROSE. Why can't David Kemper come take over? *sad*

[rosewildeirish.livejournal.com]

...because then we'd have to deal with his thinly veiled contempt for fandom?

...is he still trying to pitch the whole "Science fiction fans who are the scary type of fanatics" tv show (reality show?) somewhere?

Or am I thinking Rockne?

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that's Rockne. David struck me more as the, "And then we blew everything up and it was emotionally fucked and COOL" type. I honestly have no idea how either deal with fans, but I found Rockne's pomposity easier to deal with than RDM's (Rockne has REASON. Farscape is, in fact, fucking brilliant. BSG? Not so much.)

Also. Rockne? IS A DORK. I have an old interview with him in Starlog, and it makes me giggle. A lot.

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

I hope that the Kara's Mother Ep coming up is going to address some of this. Because at some point she's should realize that she's falling into that pattern (and that seems like a good opportunity from a writerly standpoint). What she'll DO with that knowledge is another question. Probably try to cut Sam loose again. :/

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

If we're lucky, Kara will realize that fixing the problem doesn't mean running from it. It means staying and fighting for her gods-damned marriage.

[samanthamarie88.livejournal.com]

A-frakking-men to that. They seem to have taken Kara so low right now that she has nowhere to go but up. Plus with the way they are building up Sam's character, it has me hoping that the marriage will get back on track because they are my OTP. Katee and Trucco have such great chemistry that I'd hate to see it wasted.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

That thirty seconds, with her hands on his waist and the body language and the anger? Far hotter and more chemistry-laden than the entire Kara/Lee kissing scene... I may be biased.

[samanthamarie88.livejournal.com]

No offense to the Kara/Lee shippers(because I used to be one back in Season 1), but I can't watch Kara and Lee kiss anymore. It just squicks me out. To me they work better as friends who have each others back, and pseudo siblings vying for Papa Adama's affection. I just never felt the hot, liquid sex factor with Kara/Lee that I feel with Kara/Sam. Even back when I was rooting for Kara/Lee, I never felt emotionally attached to them. But damn, with the dog tag and hand kiss in The Farm, Kara and Sam had me hooked, and I've never looked back.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

hee. Well, I'll be the first to admit I was never a shipper (I wanted to have sex with Kara, not Lee. And there were already enough of them to be irritating, and I've always been a contrary bitch--and, well, the idea of Kara Thrace and Sam Carter was, um, far too hot)... I did find the scene in Kobol hot--but some of that was the lighting.

erm, anyway, so I was already very predisposed to like someone else with her, and then, Sam... How can you NOT love him? He's such a dork!

*stops rambling* And I've probably said this before. Oops.

[daera23.livejournal.com]

I like the family parellels you have drawn with Kara/Sam/Kacey. I think the fic still begs writing. *g*

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I just.. have to get over canon doing scary things and I'll be better.