Thursday DPP: The Incomparables

[pennyante.livejournal.com]

We like to think of the pilots as unique. And of course they are; our gutsy but screwy Kara and noble but flawed Lee, simmering away in their tortuous stew of baggage and war and Hero Problems and temperamental differences—they’re in a class of their own.

But do we see other duos in pop culture who have something in common with their dynamic? Mulder and Scully’s way of perfectly complementing each other, professionally? Dharma and Greg’s exaggeratedly mismatched approaches to law and social conventions? From Casablanca, Rick and Ilsa’s situation of being separated by side effects of a culture of war?

Do we know other individual characters who are like either one of them? (Is it just me, or does Dawson Leary tell us something about a young Lee Adama? Tell me if you hate that idea, I can handle it.) Some of the characters who remind me most of Kara are strong female characters on nighttime soaps, like Sandra Oh’s Christina on Grey’s Anatomy and Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. ‘Cause ladies who are both powerful and  flawed ain’t the easiest to come by.

Though I haven’t read it yet, I know there’s an impressively scaled Hunger Games/BSG crossover fic out there. I wonder if Katniss, Peeta, and Gale tell us anything about Kara and Lee (and Sam).

So—to whom should we compare the pilots?

Who do we see in shades of Starbuck and Apollo? In what ways? Too many of my examples above are from American TV (sorry), but let's allow our brains to roam through whatever we want. TV, movies, books, graphic novels—nothing’s off the table. This would also be a great time to rec crossovers that tap into an AU dynamic.