Deep Thoughts: Family Edition

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone.  Hope your week's going well!  Thanks very much for your entertaining contributions to our drinking game! (though if anyone actually tries to play it, I suggest cheating and/or having a spare liver on hand).

So, yesterday I was looking through some of my old rough drafts of stories that were never finished, and I came across this line:

Lee knew from the beginning that Kara was the child his father had always wanted.

I'm curious as to whether you think that is true.  Lee and Kara obviously don't have a sibling relationship, in that 1) they didn't grow up together and 2) they are in love.  But it's very clear that Bill is a father to both of them, and that they are both aware of this.  Are Kara and Lee equally his children?  How do you think their relationships with Bill affect their relationship with each other?  Does the tangential "family" dynamic there strengthen their bond, interfere with it, or exist entirely separately?  Do you think they compete over Bill in any sense?  Do they understand each other better by knowing Bill?

Let's analyze the family triangle.  In my book, it's way more fun than romantic triangles.



Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina)

Comments

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

he forgets that they are still his children in need of more than just military guidance

This reminds me of the end of Black Market, when Adama says something to Lee about "You should have told me about the girl" and Lee just looks at him, like they've never had a conversation about someone Lee's dated (I use the word 'dated' loosely!) before in his life. Even Kara said in the mini that they only discussed Zak a couple times a year. After all that, it doesn't really surprise me that Adama doesn't try to talk to her in Torn, though I agree that he should have. But to think about it from his side, he's never really spent enough time with Lee to know how to talk to him. At least they eventually make some progress.

[lizziec]

like they've never had a conversation about someone Lee's dated (I use the word 'dated' loosely!) before in his life

I'm kind of inclined to think that this is exactly the problem. From what's established in ADitL, Bill was very much an absent parent and he and Lee clearly had issues even before Zak's death. Also, Bill, as he's established in the series, never seems like the kind of person who would be approachable over such things. He certainly seems clueless of how his son feels on NC about Kara (seen in his interactions with him the morning after in UB).

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

Well, I think he gets a bit of a pass there for being TOTALLY stoned. Which may be my favorite color on Bill Adama :)