I Miss Pilots

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

We've talked in the past about why we love them, why we ship them, how we grieve for their canonical ending. My question today is:

Why Do You Miss Them?

What did they do for you that makes you ache for them? Why do you keep writing fic or making icons or vids or mixes for them? How is it that you still squeeeee over the bits of dialogue and screencaps of scenes you might have watched a thousand times? Why do you check your flist and hope "OMG NEW FIC?????" Why do you still follow Katee or Jamie and keep the squee running hot?

What keeps you coming back for more?

Scenes that make me miss them.

Comments

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

I answered a bit of my own questions by posting pics that give me the achy squeee. But in words?

I guess the short answer is that I fell in love. Indescribable, inebriating, enthralling and passionate love for this frakked up couple who kept missing each other, hurting each other and enduring all kinds of suffering without losing their essential love and attraction.

THAT makes me NEED new fic. I need to see how they might have lived in another environment. I need to know how they might have made it work. I love seeing a little bit of Lee or Kara on a 100x100 icon. I love living inside my memories and hope for them.

But why am I driven so hard: I NEED TO FIX IT. Maybe if I write or read enough fic, it will all make sense. I can rid myself of the poof or the table or that stupid metaphorical flying rat. Or maybe I can work it in to my own version of that craziness.

It's the hope and the pain, all intermingled together that keep me coming back for more. Maybe this time, I think, everything will work out the way I want it to.

*sighs for wish fulfillment*

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

I will do everything I can to give you new fic.

:)

cheers.
--Lex

[kag523.livejournal.com]

It's the hope and the pain, all intermingled together that keep me coming back for more. Maybe this time, I think, everything will work out the way I want it to.

This is so perfectly "it" for me. *sighs*

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Agreed completely with "I fell in love" and the need to fix it. (Also, you are doing a lovely job of fixing it while maintaining the essence of K/L, bb. I will cheerlead and/or talk Kara with you anytime...although you write damn good Kara already...you just talk to us Kara girls b/c you love us. No takebacks.) ;) *hugs*

[aurora-0811.livejournal.com]

OMG I'm here early for once! *waves to all the shippers I miss at the DPP*

So...Why do I miss them? It's almost hard to explain because there are times I say to myself "Self...why do you still care so much about 2 fictional characters on a show that is long gone and also broke your heart on its way out?"

So I suppose the reason I miss them is the reason I fell in love with them. Two really emotionally screwed up people who found strength, friendship, comraderie and love in world that had gone to hell. The odds were against them from the start but they always came back to each other, they always found themselves in each others orbit. I am nothing if not a sucker for a story about soulmates. I laughed with them, I cried for them and at times I wanted to shout my love to the skies for them. How could I not ship a couple that could make me do all that?

Katee and Jamie brought every emotion to life for me. Their joy, pain and sorrow could be conveyed with a look or gesture. You got the sense that they knew Kara and Lee didn't always need words to say what they were feeling. I haven't witnessed that kind of on screen chemistry before BSG or after. They just consistently nailed their characters for me. For that, I will follow them to any show or movie they move on to (while constantly hoping they end up in something again together, however unlikely)

I love the passion pilots brought out in our tiny little corner of the world. The creativity of all of the talented artists, writers and thinky thought bringers can often brighten my day. I can find pretty icons and graphics or fic with canon!pilots, AU!Pilots, and most importantly finale fix it fic all at the click of my mouse. So I guess in a way I don't miss pilots as much as I would without fandom because on any random day I can find someone keeping them alive and relevant in this post-BSG world and be more excited, squeeful and happy than I was waiting for new episodes to air.

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

I could answer, but I'd just be saying this, so I'm going to say, "Yeah, this" instead.

**hugs aurora08_11**

**hugs Pilots**

**hugs All The Shippers**

[ddt73.livejournal.com]

Couldn't agree more or say it better Susan.

SSWA!

[kag523.livejournal.com]

I love the passion pilots brought out in our tiny little corner of the world.

Oh, me too! It's amazing what continues to be created!

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

S,

I'm glad you are driving the DPP train in a few...you really should stop by here more often, my dear. You completely nailed it with this:

there are times I say to myself "Self...why do you still care so much about 2 fictional characters on a show that is long gone and also broke your heart on its way out?"

So I suppose the reason I miss them is the reason I fell in love with them. Two really emotionally screwed up people who found strength, friendship, comraderie and love in world that had gone to hell. The odds were against them from the start but they always came back to each other

Really, even classics like Romeo and Juliet have nothing on our pilots. It's the same star-crossed lovers theme that gets me.

Agreed, I will follow Katee and Jamie anywhere. Someone in a CSI thread suggested we need "CSI: Sackhoff"...hee, I would approve of that...although what I'd rather see is KS/JB doing live theatre. Can you imagine the sparks? I'm no longer 17 doing the RENT line, but I'd still drag my old ass back out onto the streets of NY or London for tix to see those two acting live. They gave us so much more than what was written with their eye-frakking and banter and heartfelt investment in our pilots.

Also, completely agree...the friendships and fandom are the best things to have come out of the angst that was bsg. We have some brilliant people in K/L land. &heart:

[ninjamonkey73.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I've ever been able to figure it out in coherent terms. From their first scene in the mini, there are these sparks, even when they aren't necessarily flirting with each other. They were a bright spot in a dark show.

sci_fi_shipper has a point about the hope, too. Their world was mostly destroyed, civilization is eeking by on the run, not sure they'll ever set foot on terra firma again, most of the survivors were simply travelers who happened to not be on a planet during the attacks, and so weren't really cut out for survival on a ship, forever. As a culture, they need to immediately start a new generation so they have time to train their replacements if they still have to fly ships and defend themselves in space. In order for humanity to survive, people need to find a mate in a very small population, and I can't help but be drawn to the ones that obviously have strong feelings for each other.

This is not my first "military" 'ship, either. I spent a lot of time on the Star Trek: Voyager message boards back in the 90s, fixating on how Janeway could have a personal life when there was nothing left but the military organization, and what the fraternization regulations even meant in a world with no shore leave or home. Huh. Switched genders, lower ranks, younger, better looking, but I'll be damned if I'm not 'shipping the same basic storyline all these years later... And the only 2 'ships I've ever really actively participated in online were Janeway and Chakotay and now K/L.

Maybe I have issues with somewhat-arbitrary "rules" that disregard human emotion. I get frat regs in a normal military environment where the US has about 1.5 million people actively serving in some branch or another, at around 820 bases. There are places to transfer to, other people to serve under. Voyager and Galactica alike, though, were part of a locally tiny contingent, with no other ship to transfer to, no other Captain/Commander to server under.

The hopeless romantic in me just can't believe the "right" thing to do when you fall in love with someone an organization says you shouldn't is to transfer far away and forget them. How many people even find real love? I get that judgement is compromised by feelings for people, and man-oh-man did I write tomes on that in the Voyager setting back in the day. Ignoring your feelings for someone you command does not prevent you from making bad decisions about them and their safety (I'm looking at both of you, Adamas. How much tillium went into looking for just little ol' Kara on that planet when she crashed?). So if ignoring those feelings doesn't help, why can't we all just be... friendly?

The chemistry between Jamie and Katee could melt my TV, too, which doesn't hurt. :) They make me want to write very wrong real-person fic about "rehearsing".

[kag523.livejournal.com]

These are so lovely - you have captured so much of what I really loved about them. *hugs* I just want to say "me too! me too!"

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Ignoring your feelings for someone you command does not prevent you from making bad decisions about them and their safety (I'm looking at both of you, Adamas. How much tillium went into looking for just little ol' Kara on that planet when she crashed?). So if ignoring those feelings doesn't help, why can't we all just be... friendly?

This is one of the fundamental things that frustrated me about BSG. How and when personal relationships were ok seemed to be completely random (and always slighting Lee and Kara). I wonder how the story arcs would have changed if instead of trying to play by impossible rules, established for logical reasons under different circumstances, but applied mostly to create tension on the show, had been abolished from the beginning.

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

SSWA, bb. Especially this: They were a bright spot in a dark show.

After having Star Trek forced on me by my mother as a child, I swore off sci-fi. (Although I have to admit in hindsight, there are worse ways I could've spent elementary/middle school than watching original ST epis and ST:TNG during its run.) Anyhow, I had sworn it off, I say!!

And then my friends drag me into this space drama and they're all in love with the politics of the NC arc compared to Iraq and blah blah and I'm like "OMFrakkingG, do you two NOT SEE that K/L is THE single most important aspect of this show??" ;)

And here we are...

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

"I miss us."

Kara lifted an eyebrow at this non-sequitur from Lee.

"You miss 'us'?" Kara asked slowly, trying to gauge where he was going with this. The subject of 'them' was an open field...green, lush and inviting...and chalked full of landmines ready to below anyone who came near to kingdom come.

Lee had stuck his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground for a second as he smiled. "Yeah. I do." He looked up at her then, shrugging a bit. "We never see each other anymore. I feel like we haven't even really talked in..." he shrugged, trying to find the words.

She saved him the trouble. "You're the president of the Colonies, Lee. I'm Galactica's CAG. We're on the way to Earth. There's not exactly a lot of time to hang out at Joe's and play a hand of triad anymore."

He gave her a withering look that said that's not what he had meant, and she knew it. "There's always something," he said, and that was inching a little close to their usual landmines. He stopped just short of it, though, shaking his head and softening his gaze. "I just miss working together, going out on CAPs, you ignoring my speeches in the ready room, me beating the crap out of you in triad."

Kara laughed at this. "What universe were you living in, Apollo? You could never beat me at triad."

Lee joined her and it hit her all at once that he was right. She missed hearing him laugh, missed the teasing, the constant company.
After everything that they'd been through, all they'd hurt each other and loved and lost...she missed her friend.

She didn't have many of those.

"Tell you, what," she said, "I'll make you a deal. When we get down to Earth, I'm going to pick a direction and we're going to walk as far and as long as I say we will."

Lee looked at her in mock alarm. "Are you saying you're going to take me out to a deserted field and lose me, Starbuck?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "I think I'd be doing too many people a favor." They both laughed again.

"Really, a camping trip. Just the two of us," Kara told him, feeling herself get excited about really being down on Earth, exploring it with her friend, starting a new life.

Lee genuinely smiled, the excitement that registered in his eyes making him look impossibly young. "Just you and me."

She made her way to the door, and he followed, leaving the somberness of his father's empty office and into the busy hallways of Galactica.

"And hey, if it makes you feel any better, no one listens to my speeches in the ready room either."

***END***

[kag523.livejournal.com]

OMG - I absolutely ADORE this. Oh god. This. THIS! would have been the perfect way to end the series. I could have fallen in love with the ending (non-technology and all) if only given this closure. Thanks for this! K :>)

[aurora-0811.livejournal.com]

So lovely! I wish they had the chance to go on that camping trip. That would have been a lovely ending to the series. Watching them find a clearing, pitch a tent, sit by a fire and stare at the stars without a care or worry in the world is a beautiful thought. *sigh* They deserved all of that and more.

*hugs this comment!fic tight* Great job Lex!

[zenzero42.livejournal.com]

in a few words: because it was a tragic love and it ended badly.

this is the real reason I still want read about them, to make them happy to explore all the possibilities.

I shipped A/R too during the show, but they ended happily (in a bsg way), they had justice. so, if it's true that I love A/R history, I usually find incredibly boring to read fics about them. while Kara and Lee were frakked over and over by destiny and I feel the need to look at them, to give them the chances that they haven't had in their lives.

and this is why at the end of the day I love Kara and Lee tragic ending, it keeps the fire lighted (I know it's an unpopular position between K/L shippers)

Great, immortal, love are tragic, and their love was the greatest.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

This is going to sound contradictory. Maybe it is, but I imagine that I would still be completely invested in them even if they'd gotten a happy ending complete with sunset-walking, hand-holding et. al. Mostly because I can't imagine NOT having them on my mind all the time.

Still, I think what I miss the most about pilots? Is their POTENTIAL. All of that anticipation, all of that UST, all of that excitement, the way the air just crackled when they were in a scene together (whether onscreen or in fic!)

I would've loved for them to get their happy ending and it will always gall me that the "official public record" (i.e. canon) states unequivocally that they couldn't make it work and furthermore hints that they didn't deserve to, or some such bullshit. But...I think my most preferred ending for them, truly would have been open-ended. The two of them dancing together but not together forever. Sigh.

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

THIS.

Tara, you are so right. I have a hard time imagining them with a happy ending...because it's not who they are. Even if they were together, and they were on Earth and happy, they would have ISSUES and fights. There's too much emotional scarring for sunshine and puppies. But I like to think that they'd push and pull and struggle to MAKE IT WORK. Because they EARNED each other. They really did.

It makes my heart ache.

*holds you*

cheers.
--Lex

[kag523.livejournal.com]

Why do I miss them? Goodness, I wish I had a good answer for this one, because to be honest, I’ve never had trouble “giving up” a character story before. Everything that people have posted before this is certainly part of it, but for me, it’s that the story that I believed was the overarching theme of BSG – that it didn’t matter what had happened in your past... that you always had a choice about your future – somehow fizzled out in their last scene together.

My husband has asked me numerous times (usually when I first say “I have a long fic started... you ready to beta again?”) why I can’t move on from it. Writing takes time... I have a job, and kids, and grad school and a husband. And though I try to balance them all, I still feel driven to give voice to those characters, especially Lee and Kara. It bothers me, in some ways that I have this driving need to fix that story. To finish where it is going. To give myself the joy of them in the way I believed – even right up to the second Lee turned away in the field and said “I want to explore” – that it would end for them. Together.

One day, I think I’ll get to a point where I’ve written enough, vidded enough, done enough manips to fill the gaping emptiness that the finale left me with. One day, I’ll embrace my “real” characters enough to begin devoting 5,000 words a day to writing them. (Because yes, I have a doc started for the real novel too.) One day I’ll discover that I haven’t checked LJ for a week – and never even noticed that I hadn’t. The thought of it is both peaceful and a little sad for me. Because this has been an amazing journey. And... at least for the moment... I’m not quite ready for it to end.

(http://s931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/kag523/No%20Takebacks/?action=view&current=Together.jpg)

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

One day, I think I’ll get to a point where I’ve written enough, vidded enough, done enough manips to fill the gaping emptiness that the finale left me with.

I want that for you. But selfishly, I don't want it. I want to continue sharing in the journeys that we make for our pilots, getting them to their end, in whatever form that may be.

I'm not ready for it to end either. Long live shipper love.

[amaliak.livejournal.com]

You don't even understand...I ACHE for these two.
It's been what...almost 2 years? (OMG)

I ACHE FOR THEM.

And I think I've been crying over their situation even since TABFAYW.

*cries*
*thinks about new fanfic*
cheers.
--Lex

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Yes, THIS. So much. How can I ACHE for fictional characters?? I do though. And yeah, the crying started around TAB. :(

(Well, actually, before TAB, but those cries were more cathartic and less despairing.)

I hear ya.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Why?

Because they were wronged and I was wronged.

Because if it hadn't been for Lee and Kara, their beautiful screwed up broken characters, I wouldn't have been watching in the first place.

Because their tragic ending was a cheap cop out to cover the decision to disregard character development for over-arching mythos.

Because it's my escape. Sad and tragic, but escapist none-the-less.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

And sometimes I just need a good cry. :'(

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

Okay, scenes that make me want more of them? Everything around the table scene in Scar. The drinking, the near frak, the fight. It's so completely encompassing of everything that was wrong/problematic with their relationship. They were both there! If Lee had kept his mouth shut, or if Kara had just stayed through the panic or, or, or... GAH! But Lee started thinking too much about it, and Kara let her guilt get the best of her and just... Oh, kids, you kill me.

**sigh**

So yes. Scar. Especially that kiss just before Kara walks out of the hatch, leaving Lee alone and half-dressed. Guh.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Scar is such a tipping point for them. I'm not sure it's the moment of no return as their story progresses, but I do think that if things had gone differently in the bunk room, things could have been different. *sigh*

Pilots Love: Part 1

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Wow, why do I miss pilots? That is the question, isn't it? There are plenty of days when I wish I didn't miss them and those are often the days I miss them the most. There's honestly not a moment when I don't have WWSD (what would Starbuck/Kara do) thoughts...which are then often tempered by WWLT (what would Lee think)...when I'm making my own choices at work and in my personal life.

These two crazy kids gave us all something to live for. At the end of the worlds, they are still able to fingerpaint, spit alcohol at each other, and fight for their lives. Their intensity and passion drew me to them immediately. They also helped me realize that life is indeed worth fighting for, despite the odds and the crappy history and the crazy. Kara and Lee are epic in a way that I've never seen before on television. Yeah, occasionally in literature or theater, but never on television. They captured my attention because they caught me off guard. I didn't expect to fall madly in love with a couple from a television series. I never dreamed I'd be able to compare the depth of their relationship to that of great literary classics like Masha/Vershinin (Three Sisters), Hamlet/Ophelia, or Roger/Mimi (from RENT, but previously from Puccini's La Boheme). I give Katee and Jamie (and likely Thompson and Weddle) the credit for creating such depth for their characters.

Furthermore, I can't give up on Kara Thrace. I've never identified with a character as strongly as I do with her. I fell for her brilliance and perfectionism in the cockpit along with her overall amazingly, intensively high work ethic. Her inability to accept anything less than the highest of standards in her own work, her CAG's work (heh, 33), and the work of her fellow pilots and officers resonates with me.

Why such love for Kara's determination to be perfect at work? THIS: the fact that her determined quest to consistently achieve (and her cocky, arrogant, kick-you-in-the-ass attitude towards anyone with a lower work ethic) is, in large part, a way to avoid personal demons.

As long as she's working, she's Starbuck, scourge of the Cylon Raiders, intimidating and demanding nothing but the best...and woe to anyone failing to live up to her expectations.

Outside of work, she's Kara. She believes in the gods partially because she's been left with little else to rely on. Her father left and her mother never acknowledged any pride she felt toward Kara until it was too late. Kara grew up learning she would never be good enough but she'd be damned if she didn't keep trying because perfection was seen as the key to approval from others. Maybe if she gained that approval from others, she'd be able to offer herself slight moments of pride, fulfillment, happiness, and self-approval.

Kara also learned to be wary of relationships because she was a "cancer". She felt bad enough that she was infected, but even worse when she believed she was spreading that to others. Thus she kept herself isolated with at least as many walls protecting her innermost being as there were protecting the Galactica. Anyone that wanted to get close to Kara had better get used to the "one step forward, three steps back" rule because if they weren't patient enough to do that, then (in her mind) they certainly wouldn't stick by her when she revealed more intimate parts of herself that she saw as broken and unworthy of love.

Kara didn't tolerate fools lightly. In professional settings, she voiced her (generally accurate) opinions and either ended up in hack or promoted depending on the competence of the officer she was addressing. Those that had the insight to see her brilliance (Adama/Roslin at least at the beginning, Cain, Kendra, Lee) were rewarded with a staunch ally. Those too ignorant or incompetent to be comfortable with Kara's honest critique (Tigh at the beginning, Garner), often made fatal mistakes because they failed to listen. Fellow pilots that showed the same desire to do their jobs to the best of their ability (Hot Dog in AoC, Kat in Scar, Lee, Helo, Athena) won a tentative trust and respect.

Re: Pilots Love: Part 2

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Lee provided Kara with friendship and unconditional love while still maintaining his high standards and expectations. I love Lee and have become more engaged in his own character arc recently, but his own journey aside, I loved him immediately for the support he offered Kara.

Kara really needed someone like Lee in her life. She needed that unconditional love in the form of "you may anger and frustrate me, but you won't get rid of me no matter how hard you push...b/c we both know you need this bond and your pushing is just a test to see if I'll stick around."

Lee was perfect for Kara b/c his love was unconditional and always so obviously present even during the worst of times. However, unlike the unconditional love Kara had from Zak and Sam, which was always patient and supportive...sometimes to a fault, Lee maintained his high expectations of Kara and called her on her behavior when she failed to live up to her own standards.

Lee remained supportive but he acknowledged that part of loving Kara Thrace, part of being a best friend/soulmate to Kara Thrace, included being strong enough to kick her ass back into line when she became overly self-destructive or spitefully loathing toward herself or others.

Lee gained Kara's respect because he saw them as equals, he saw when she was acting out because she needed something, and he was often the only one willing and able to provide a balance of "come back to your senses, Kara" ass kicking combined with the love and patience to wait until she was willing to lower her layers of protection and let down her guard enough to honestly talk about the real issues.

In short, I love their dynamic. I love that they can usually tell exactly what the other is thinking. I love that they fly and act as buddy cops in a perfectly synchronized intuitive way. I love that they both are amazingly brilliant, passionate, and opinionated individuals that always push each other to be their best and/or make improvements while remaining supportive and loving. I love that they each fill a place in the other's heart that no other being in the universe could hope to fit.

I learn to be better and work through my own demons through my identification with Kara, which is why I just don't agree with the Maelstrom action. She was making progress even though it was an incredibly rocky time for her. It wasn't a time where she would have committed suicide. I feel that as strongly as I feel my own fluctuations in mood and desires to live and die. Furthermore, S4/4.5 Kara was so OOC that really the only scenes I can appreciate are the ones with Lee where he reiterates that "he doesn't care" and that "he loves her" regardless...b/c those scenes are so perfectly Lee and the heart of K/L, that they still resonate despite my feeling that the writing of the Starbuck/Kara character was irrevokably damaged by the "angel/special destiny" plotline (supported by Katee in her "I don't know who I am supposed to be now" comments).

Anyhow, I'm starting to ramble but the bottom line is as follows:
--I love Kara Thrace. (Maybe that's self-centered as it's kinda like saying I love myself...except not. I love Kara even when I'm not sure what I feel about myself.)
--I love Lee Adama, for many reasons I didn't get to list here, but also for being the perfect soulmate for my girl.
--I love Kara/Lee. There are no takebacks. And in my world they find a way to be together because that's what soulmates do.
--At some point, K/L may become less of a daily pondering and more of an integrated part of me the way other works of art with similar influences have become underlying tenets directing how I look at life (Bridge to Terabithia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Angels in America, RENT...just to name a few in somewhat chronologic order of my life). I don't see that happening anytime soon though so I suppose K/L shipperdom is stuck with me and my ramblings for awhile longer. (Hee, I still have so much to do...write better quality fanfic, learn how to make icons, finish several WIP vids, kick some Basestar ass at 12C, etc.)
--Finally, star-crossed love never ends. (See The Princess Bride...or The Pilot Bride) So I declare it okay that we are all still here two years after the "end".

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

Why do I miss them?

That's so difficult to answer. But the bottom line is I miss them because I love them and you always miss the ones you love when they're not around. And I know this feeling of longing won't last forever because other characters, people, things, interests will replace them someday but they'll never be forgotten and I'll always remember them with fondness because they brought me moments of joy. It's part of human nature to be interested in telling and listening to stories about other people's lives because it helps us to try to make sense of our own lives somehow. That's why we have literature and cinema and theater and newspapers and gossip magazines. Some stories just touch you more than others. To me, Kara and Lee's are among the ones that will last longer.

Granted, this has become a little obsessive lately with this need to read fics all the time and to discuss every minute detail of their relationship and individual journeys. But, so what? As far as addictions go, this is not the unhealthiest one by a long shot. I know enough to separate the truly amazing writers from the ones who are not worth reading. And this has given me some great stuff to read. Besides, there are so many truly articulate ,insightful, smart,funny, creative people around these parts I have no doubt my free time has been well-spent.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

It is a wonderful obsession. I adore it. *hugs*

Odi et amo...

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Catullus's famous lines - "I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why, but I know not" - could have been written about our love affair with the pilots and their love affair with each other. I think happy endings, by their nature of providing closure, mitigate against the constant need to 'make it better', whereas tragic endings provide a viewer/reader with endless stream of "what ifs" and "if onlys." The greatest epics are either tragic (Hector dies and his name echoes down through the centuries, but he cannot save his city, or his son who is murdered, or his wife who becomes a slave) or else they are bittersweet (Odysseus returns from his wanderings, but all his companions are dead; Aeneas founds his city, but at the cost of Dido's life; Frodo returns physically to the Shire, but he cannot live there). And most great love poetry is not about love fulfilled and satisfied, but about longing and loss, the cruelty of fate and/or the beloved. Kara/Lee has all those qualities, and I think that's part of what makes BSG - OK, Kara and Lee - so compelling for me. (But I really cannot abide that pigeon!!)

The other thing is that they're so human - noble and brave and self-sacrificing and also petty and selfish and bone-headed, all at the same time. There's something so touching to me about the fact that in the end, they are each other's lodestones; Kara comes back home, always, and Lee is waiting, always. I feel like their story didn't end in "Daybreak" so much as just having a "to be continued" sign at the end. In a weird way, as zenzero said, as furious as the *poof* made me at the time, I think it's also what kept me coming back to the show and to this relationship, because I wanted to MAKE it work for me, to make it come out right, somehow. (Sometimes this obsession feels like a coyote gnawing on its own leg to get out of a trap, but hey, sometimes love isn't pretty :P)

(Also - they're really, really astonishingly beautiful together. /shallow)

Re: Odi et amo...

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

And most great love poetry is not about love fulfilled and satisfied, but about longing and loss, the cruelty of fate and/or the beloved. Kara/Lee has all those qualities, and I think that's part of what makes BSG - OK, Kara and Lee - so compelling for me.

This. It is so very true. *sigh*