DPP: You Can't Go Home Again

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

Greetings friends, Romans, and fellow shippers. For the DPP this week, we'll be doing something a bit laid-back (that's how I roll). Lately, I've been engaging in some serious nostalgia. Now that we've just finished the first official shipper rewatch on this, the shipper rewatch comm, I thought we might take the time to just reflect and appreciate some of the fine episodes in this very fine show.

We talk about fanon a lot around here (and many of us tend to live there these days) which is all well and good, but this week we're going CANON-COMPLIANT. For the most part, anyway. Slight deviations are allowed. So here's the sitrep: every day will be dedicated to a certain episode or arc. I have chosen seven (at least one from each season) that I like a lot. Hopefully, you all like them too! So each day I will post a bit about the episode--some pictures, a video, quote or two, you know--along with a fic rec and maybe even some other fun stuff if we get really crazy.

[I do have episodes planned for the rest of the week, but they're not set in stone so let me know if there's one you REALLY want to talk about.]

Today we begin with one of my all-time favorites, YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN. 

Lee: I need to know something: Why did you do this? Why did we do this? Is it for Kara? For Zak? For what?
Adama: Kara was family.  You do whatever you have to do.  Sometimes you break the rules.
Lee: And if it was me down there instead?
Adama: You don't have to ask that.
Lee: Are you sure?
Adama: If it were you, we'd never leave.

This episode has everything: action, awesome characters, dramatic conflict between said awesome characters, moral questions about the survival of the human race and what to do in certain post-apocalyptic events, and the gooey emotional stuff at the core of it too.  PLUS it is the episode that, upon rewatch, made me really appreciate Lee as a character and more than just Kara's romantic interest.  All thanks to this scene:

It also gave us pilots flying together, complete with adorable wing-waggle:

Many thanks to ddt73  and pilotography for the clips. :)

The episode also gave us the possibility of pilots engaging in BATH TIME SHENANIGANS.  (If anyone is moved to write some YCGHA comment-fic, consider this your invitation!)

Lee: My gods, you smell like a latrine.
Kara: Mmm.  You want to give me a bath?

Maybe Lee didn't give her a bath in canon (or maybe he did!), but the episode still left us the possibility for some awesome fic of the hurt/comfort variety.

My personal favorite: Bum Wheel by spoonishly.

You can also check out this episode-themed list of recs, courtesy of thrace_adama : Aoc/YCGHA.  What are your favorite fics/vids/scenes/quotes from the episode?

Comments

[lizziec]

Not from this episode, but from this arc is when Lee calls Kara on the reason why she failed the nuggets. It was what she needed at that point and it was lovely to see Lee step up and instead of being intimidated by Scary!Kara says what needs to be said. I think it shows growth for Lee's character as much as Kara's and made me see them as equals, more so than the previous episodes.

In this episode I really love when Lee essentially demands that all the possible resources be expended in the search - the scene I'm thinking of is when he demands more ships from the Chief as he wears out Viper after Viper. You know that he wouldn't do that for any other pilot. The obsession in finding Kara is at least as much Lee's as Bill's.

Also, appropriate icon is appropriate.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love season one. <3 This episode plus Act of Contrition were so powerful. And to me, the most powerful stuff was the parent/child part, actually. I love all of Bill and Kara's scenes together, from the amazing confession scene in AoC to the gentle moment where he brushes her hair and gives her a stogie to welcome her back (which she eventually gives to Lee in Hand of God -- symbolic Adama love, pass it on!)

And the scene you mentioned between Bill and Lee ("we'd never leave") has always touched me, mostly because Lee looks so surprised.

I've always taken it for granted, by the way, that what Bill says to Lee about never leaving is meant to convey an emotional truth ("You're my son, and I couldn't possibly love you more than I already do"), but is not actually true. We've already seen that Bill is capable of putting the fleet's needs first and doing his job even when he thinks Lee is missing or dead. We saw that in the miniseries, and we'll see it again in Resurrection Ship when the Blackbird is destroyed. Personally, I suspect Bill would have had the exact same reaction as he did in this episode, whether it was Lee or Kara missing.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Oddly, one of my favorite snippets from this ep (besides Lee's boundless joy when he sees her name int ape under the raider of course) is when Lee and Bill just look at each other because they know Roslin is right about them carrying the search on too far. And Lee just picks up the phone. It's just kind of a humorous beat amidst all the heavy because before she comes in they're both so determined that she won't talk them down, and of course she does. Heh.

Flying with serious attitude:

[rachelmack.livejournal.com]

ADORABLE WING WAGGLES ARE MY FAVOURITE! \o/

Thanks for the thrace_adama rec link - stumbled across a couple new ones! I love this fandom. <3

[embolalia.livejournal.com]

One of the things I like about YCGHA is how Kara inadvertently reunites Lee and Bill. The Adama solidarity about finding "our girl" brings them together in a way they clearly haven't been since Zak died and probably earlier. Even the fact that Lee can ask his father to confirm that he loves him is a huge step. (Though interestingly, in the podcast RDM talks about how Jamie Bamber REALLY didn't want Lee to ask the question and be so impossibly needy.)

The thing that still doesn't work for me when I see it, though, is that 48 hours are supposed to pass while Kara is on the moon. Somehow as much as they flash the big clock, it just never feels like two days are going by--no one sleeps, or noticeably changes clothes, it's never dark on the planet...I'm always surprised when I realize how long it's supposed to be.

[mserrada.livejournal.com]

Others have already mentioned my very favorite scenes, but Kara's whole working out how to fly the Raider and talking to herself was just gold. It could have come across as boring, silly or just completely unbelievable, yet Katee manages to convince us that, sure, Starbuck could actually do all this and crack jokes along the way.

I know people seem to view Wiki as gospel, but I'm inclined to question just how compressed the timing is as presented. Besides, I never let facts get in the way of my beliefs ;^)

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

I just rewatched YCGHA and I just adore Kara in the raider. She is style and grace and bravery all rolled into one. She is just so damned unflappable. My gods, she's about to die, almost does when she passes out from lack of oxygen, but she makes it work, talking to herself the entire time and cracking jokes. She is a marvel!

And her laughter right after she identifies the four components of flying...Gah! Probably my favorite Kara laughing moment of the entire series. She is triumphant and delightful. SO DAMN AMAZING.

[anastashial.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered what Kara was referring to when she babbles about "intercept protocol". Is Lee supposed to fly up to the raider and wait for it to fire on him before he fires? We've never heard anything about such rules of engagement before.