DPP: Favorite Non-Shippy Episodes

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

At the moment, I'm having a hard time coming up with how to define "non-shippy episode." I'm one of the worst about finding the shippiest things even in episodes where Kara and Lee aren't even on screen together. So the question comes up for me "dude... everything is shippy. Why am I even asking this question?" Well, because there are episodes that just aren't shippy. Although even the ones I'm thinking of right now my brain has twisted into being ship-tastic.... The prescription on my shipper goggles is very strong.

Then again, some of my favorite "non-shippy" episodes are my favorites because they have to do with other characters that I like ("Wait... there are other characters?" "Yes, brain, shut up.")

So! Tell me your favorite episodes that aren't pure Kara/Lee lovefests. Which ones had the tiniest moments that made you squee? Which ones had no moments at all but still made you happy? What did you like about them? How strong is the prescription on your shipper goggles?

Comments

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I thought of one. The tiny moments in "Sine Qua Non" between pilots when Adama stays behind in the Raptor are some of the only things that kept stringing me along through Season 4. Their tiny little moments were just so very S4 pilots and I wish we could've had more of them. I loved them especially because they'd basically been apart and doing their own thing not very effectively and this episode was like a lovesong to Adama/Roslin. Yeah, the 1.5 minutes of Pilots was my favorite part of that.

[apodixis.livejournal.com]

Agreed! I love when Lee and Kara (hope I am remembering this right) are standing beside the Raptor watching Adama go.

[apodixis.livejournal.com]

A few of mine:
- Kicking ass and taking names together during the mutiny episodes. I guess it's sort of shippy since they kiss, but it's brief! After Lee being Jr politician all season and Kara losing her mind, it was nice to see them back to their oldselves and basically competing for who was the best shot. Plus? Lee's face when Kara saves him as he tries to board Galactica again. Priceless.
- the Mini, all their tiny little moments throughout, like when Lee's smug as hell walking to her Viper to tell her he's not dead.
- Captain's hand: When Lee agrees with Kara's theory about the missing raptors and lets Garner know
- Pegasus arc: Lee sending Kara out to take photos since he can't

Totally unrelated to pilots but pretty much ANY TIME Hoshi was on the show, I was extremely happy. Of the lesser characters that only made infrequent appearances, he was my favorite. He wasn't a big buff dude like everyone else but he was always there to do his job, stood by his superiors when it was needed, and apparently everyone else agreed, too, since they made him Admiral at the end briefly. I love in the mutiny arc when Gaeta takes over the CIC and Hoshi gets taken with the others and he's just got this WTF look on his face. Even though you might expect him to side with Felix, Hoshi goes with the Admiral. STAND UP GUY, THAT HOSHI.

[wicked-sassy.livejournal.com]

All of the above re: pilots! (I haven't thought about Hoshi much, if at all.)

picspam o'clock!

[wicked-sassy.livejournal.com]

Non-shippy episodes that still had great pilot moments:

- Fragged: Lee's WTF face & being all sexy in his battle gear.







-Epiphanies: they're really cute when they're both in BDUs. Also, Kara's WTF face and her dubious/ thinky face. And Lee's supersmirky face.









- Hero: Kara's got Papadama's back.


I love Lee's earnest face.


More later if I have time!

Re: picspam o'clock!

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

Fragged is such a good one for Lee-faces. I also reeeally love that episode because it's Chief at his absolute best. And I love Chief.

Epiphanies!!! That's the kind of thing I was thinking of when I thought up this post, lol. Because that's like the only time they're on screen together and I'm like "just look at them. standing there. next to each other. I'M GONNA DIE." But really, look at them!

Picspaaaam! This is gorgeous ♥

Re: picspam o'clock!

[imbitchpuddin.livejournal.com]

Lee's WTF face is probably one of my favorite parts about Fragged. Actually, no. My favorite thing about that episode is this woman's WTF face.
(http://tinypic.com?ref=xgiotx)

But d'aww, pilots make the best faces in general.

FRAGGED!FACE

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

(http://s784.photobucket.com/albums/yy126/scifishipper/BSG/BSG%20GIFS/?action=view&current=leebitchface.gif)

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite episodes ever is "Six Degrees of Separation." It's Kara and Lee being so adorable that it gives me pain PLUS Gaius being completely insane. Basically: it's all my favorite things about this show. It's more focused on Gaius, but my brain still counts this as one of the shippiest episodes on record.

[imbitchpuddin.livejournal.com]

"Wait... there are other characters?"

I have to remind myself of this all the time, especially since I've recently gotten one of my oldest friends into BSG. Rewatching the show with her has reminded me that it's not ALL about Kara and Lee no matter how much my brain sometimes like to make it.

As for non shippy moments... Um, I love Lee's whole story in Bastille Day. We see just how idealistic he is and foreshadowing of how much that could/will/does get him into trouble. Plus, I love his "dis bitch" face when he's talking to Zarek. "Apollo's just a stupid nickname."
(http://tinypic.com?ref=6hi2s6)

And then I love Kara's taking over flight briefings, being all playful, having Boxy as her little cigar lighting pet, giving Flat-Top the what for on his landings. It's priceless.
(http://tinypic.com?ref=imrrd2)

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

Oooh yes, Bastille Day is all Pilots all the time. It's like "I will just stare at your gorgeous idiot faces, ok?" The first time I saw this episode I was like ".....whut?" but it's so wonderful now. (Especially given how much I love Zarek.)

And I hear ya on the not remembering there are other characters. I've gotten one of my friends into it as well and I keep watching them and going "oh, I forgot there was stuff after that scene" or "I knew this happened somewhere but I didn't remember where" etc. They kind of took over the way I watch this show waaaay back at the beginning.

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

As for non shippy moments... Um, I love Lee's whole story in Bastille Day. We see just how idealistic he is and foreshadowing of how much that could/will/does get him into trouble. Plus, I love his "dis bitch" face when he's talking to Zarek. "Apollo's just a stupid nickname."

THIS. BDay is probably my all times favorite when dealing with Lee episodes. And we watch it again this week-end..... *dying of excitement*

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I especially love it when Kara's got her rifle trained on Zarek and is just urging Lee to get out of the way (even if he's 100 feet away and can't hear her). So much love :)

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

I can't say I have episodes that I enjoy without pilots. I like them, but I am always looking for SIGNS OF PILOTS. It would be better to say that I have themes or characters that I enjoy also.

I love most scenes with Bill. I am an unapologetic Bill fan. He can be the biggest jerk in the universe and has a lot of apologizing to do to Lee and Kara for some of his treatment, but I love him nonetheless. I love his struggles in S4 the most, when he his literally losing his shit in his quarters about Saul and the cylon alliance. I LOVE IT. I could watch that scenery chewing motherfrakker all day long. :P

And Kendra. I adore her. She is someone else that I would have been transfixed by had they shown her more often.

The other scene that I adore, even though it has pilots, is during the Mutiny when Bill and Laura kiss at the Raptor. *swoon* I don't ship them much, but that was a great moment. :)

The rest? Save a few I can't remember, GIVE ME MY GODSDAMNED PILOTS AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT!

<3<3<3

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

GIVE ME MY GODSDAMNED PILOTS AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT!
Amen to this! They don't even have to be doing romantic things, they just have to be around each other. My other favorite is Gaius, but even his plots got tedious to me if there weren't pilots to balance it out.

I could watch that scenery chewing motherfrakker all day long. :P
Lol! EJO is made of magic.

[imbitchpuddin.livejournal.com]

I am an unapologetic Bill fan.

This is exactly how I feel about Lee. If watching the show with friends who've never seen if before has taught me one thing, it's this. Most of the people I introduce to BSG think Lee's an asshole / insert colorful name calling here/ and I'm always like, I KNOW, OF COURSE HE IS. I DON'T EVEN CARE; I LOVE HIM ANYWAY. So I completely understand where you're coming from with Bill.

Also, I love Bill scenes too. I love the bromance between him an Saul. And I especially love the scenes between him and Lee... especially (how many times can I say especially? Especially.) the season one scenes where the two Adama's are all awkward and weird around each other. I love the hug between Lee and Bill in the miniseries... ugh tangent. ANYWAY....

GIVE ME MY GODSDAMNED PILOTS AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT!
(http://tinypic.com?ref=2hia3uq)

[requialexa.livejournal.com]

I could watch that scenery chewing motherfrakker all day long. :P

I agree. But now, Bill sorta = goat in my imagination and that needs to stop. Good thing I'm not awake yet :D

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Kind of a large percentage of my favorite episodes are not very piloty, actually. I love Kobol's Last Gleaming Part II, Crossroads Part II, Collaborators, Sometimes a Great Notion. They aren't very piloty, but I think they're some of the best episodes of the whole series.

I love the scene with Kara and Karl when they listen to her father's music in her old apartment. I love the moment in Someone to Watch Over Me where she finally finds the melody she's been searching for and smiles up at her father with such sweet sadness. I love the scene at the beginning of Maelstrom between Kara and the Pythia. I love Ellen's death scene. I love Kara and Felix threatening each other in the mess hall. I love Lee telling Kendra not to hold back just because he's got a pulse. I love the scene where Lee takes care of Bill when he breaks down in his bathroom. I love the way Tigh talks Bill down from suicide in SaGN, and the first big scene where he realizes along with Sam and Chief and Tory that he's a Cylon. I love the moment when Galen presses Nikki's hand to the glass for Cally to see as she recovers. I love the moment that Sam reaches out to the dying Eight to give her some comfort as she dies. I love when Felix lies to cover up Dee's part in helping Roslin escape. I love the way Roslin strokes Billy's hair after he's dead.

Let's face it, this was a great ensemble show. There's so much to love.

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

So may of these I agree with, particularly Ellen and Saul on New Caprica. So heartbreaking. Lee and Kendra are magical and I love their scenes together. Lee and Bill scenes are only second to Kara and Lee in my heart. So amazing and frustrating and wonderful. A great list!

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I feel this way about a lot of my favorite episodes as well--even the ones that are really shippy just have pilots as another piece of the puzzle. I've cloistered myself off into the Pilot shipper corners of the BSG fandom so much that sometimes I forget how much I love the other characters and stories.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of these. Pilots might have been the part of the story that affected me most and haunt me even years afterwards, but the other parts of the story were often pretty fantastic too.

And yeah, I love all the scenes between Kara and the piano player/Dad in Someone to Watch Over Me, even if I find the way it was shoehorned in to the plot at the last minute ridiculous (and crying at the Chief/Boomer parts too, even if I never shipped them they made me so sad).

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about EVERYTHING being shippy, lol! Even if pilots have two seconds of dialogue or eye contact and have put friendship/work over romance in an episode, it's such a delight to see them together at all that they kind of take over the show :)


I guess some of my "not-shippy" lovefests (firmly disqualifying episodes when they're actually talking to or even clearly shown to be thinking about each other) are


1. Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2 (Lee commits mutiny, Kara - after being lied to by Dad and rejected by her best friend/love - finds out yet another friend is a traitor/Cylon).

2. Valley of Darkness (Lee Adama fights Centurions like the BADASS that he is - "Let's go toaster-shopping."!!- we get to see Kara's home with evidence of post-Zak devastation and Kara and Helo hanging out. Plus bonus devastation on Kobol!)

3. The Farm (Kara Thrace's turn to be a total and complete badass this time - and how!! - while Lee refuses to sell out his dad on Zarek's urging).

4. Exodus, Part 2 (Lee uses a Battlestar to blow the crap out of multiple Cylon baseships, Kara finally, FINALLY gets the hell out of her prison and kills Leoben. They're BOTH so badass here, but so broken at the same time - don't even get me started on Kacey - it's not feel-good but it stays with me, so much) oh, and Ellen and Saul are heartbreaking.

I know this leaves out other episodes I love for their different shades of non-obvious pilotiness, like Bastille Day, where Lee is again a badass and Kara goes in to try and save him (I love it when they're each other's backup) or episodes where their moments together are more about their friendship/them being a support to each other, like Epiphanies (Kara asking Lee how he's been post-spacewalk :( ), the whole Pegasus/Res Ship arc, and The Passage, where they just seem to be back to themselves again and it is so comforting I can't even tell you.

Same goes for the moment in Sine Qua Non when they're standing beside each other as CAG and President to see PapAdama off, and the one in the Admiral's quarters where Lee tells Kara that no one wants to sit at the Admiral's desk. Also the tiny hug in Roslin's dream in The Hub (Laura is secret piloshipper, LOL) and the "we'll walk those halls together" line in Revelations, and (oh, my HEART) Kara coming straight to Lee in Sometimes A Great Notion to tell him about finding her corpse on Earth. That scene is what gives the hallway scene in Islanded even greater emotional heft, because that unconditional support and love is what Kara wanted all along.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I heartily concur with all of these. Basically the only non-shippy episodes for me are the ones where they're not even on screen together, and even those are shippy in my brain. "Look at how crazy they act without each other! Look at their angst without each other!" etc. Like I said, my shipper goggles are very thick.

And that little hug in The Hub had me nearly crying. That was like the sweetest they ever got to be to each other AND IT WAS IN ROSLIN'S HEAD. It makes me imagine her chillin' in Colonial One just dreaming of the melodrama that is Galactica. And then when she goes over there she's like all fangirly cuz she's in the melodrama.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Also, it's not really an "episode", but I have to say it - I LOVE RAZOR. Mainly because it's pilots' friendship at its best and I love seeing how much Lee relies on and needs Kara, but not just for them - it's also for this woman:



I find Kendra such a fascinating character, despite the relatively short amount of time she gets in the BSGverse compared to most others she's still one of my all-time favourites. I love her complications, and even her death felt like it was the natural end of her story and a choice that she made, instead of a cheap narrative trick that made no sense.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

I LOVE RAZOR TOO. I thought Kendra was fantastic. I really loved her and the whole story that they told in that movie. Although on my first watch I was going by a "watch BSG in this order" guide that told me to watch Razor after "The Captain's Hand" and I was REEEEALLY upset for all of Season Three, because that gives the screwed-up Kara narrative COMPLETELY out of order. So when people ask me now I'm like "DO NOT WATCH IT THAT WAY." But I was a hardcore Kara fan so maybe it only bothered me.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Also forgot to mention- I love Gaeta, and I love him a lot. Pretty much any episode where he got to speak, I was happy with that part (and my love is also what led to all my creys for him from the Demetrius onwards, when the Mutiny arc came along I was sincerely as focused on it for Gaeta as I was thrilled about pilots finally getting to kick ass and take names again).

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

GAETA IS MY BB!! Omg, I got real pissed like two weeks ago and wrote a 2000 word love-essay about him on Tumblr.