Authority Figures -- Romance and Rank

[butterfly]

So, why does the idea of canon Sam/Jack annoy the hell out of me, while I'm vastly interested in Lee Adama/Laura Roslin?

The reason lies in Lee's speech in Bastille Day, where he makes it clear that he follows the law over his commanding officer (and implicitly, over the President's wishes as well). When Lee follows an order, he's making an informed decision. When Sam follows an order, she's following an order. We've seen that Sam will follow orders that she disagrees with morally (Scorched Earth) while Lee will not (Kobol's Last Gleaming, part 2).

So, while Sam may be a better soldier than Lee, Lee seems like a stronger person. And I like good people a hell of a lot more than I like good soldiers.

Both of them have allowed their personal feelings for one person to overrule better judgment, but with Lee, we got to see him realise that he was wrong (That one, with Starbuck lost on the planet), whereas it seemed like Sam's only revelation was that losing Jack would completely suck, especially so soon after losing Daniel (Paradise Lost).

And, of course, one of the reasons that I love BSG is that there are several interesting (and very different) women, making the burden of 'representing sisterhood' weigh less heavily. Whereas on SG-1, Sam is pretty much it and even before Janet died, there were just two. On BSG, we have Starbuck, Six, Boomer, Roslin, Cally, and Duella.

Comments

[ilanabean42.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I can't see our Jack ever getting involved with a subordinate officer. He has too much respect for the Air Force

This is precisely why I don't ship anything in SG-1 (except things like Daniel/Sha're that don't really count). I can see members of SG-1 having romantic feelings for each other in various combinations, but I can't see anything actually happening without some major extenuating circumstances.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, I adore Daniel/Sha're! Beautifully tragic love gets to me. It's almost a shame that he didn't mention her at all in S8, yet at the same time, it's nice to think that he's finally getting a chance to move on. I'm torn.

[ilanabean42.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed that we didn't get more exploration of that relationship, if only because I love Daniel and I love angst, and that was a great tragic love story. (There's a reason Forever in a Day is my favorite episode.) I don't know that they should have dwelled on it, but I wish they'd dealt with Sha're a little more while she was still around, and then shortle after her death instead of just bringing her up once or twice when it was useful to the plot.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I really like what they did with the arc. I like that it didn't consume Daniel, because he really is the kind of guy who can be completely distracted by shiny new knowledge. Love him, but it's true. And I think that what we did get with Sha're was quality and contained all the elements of tragic romance without pushing it on us.

I love that her name is the first thing that Daniel remembered all on his own.

[ilanabean42.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it didn't get overwhleming, but I would have liked a bit more than what we got, since a lot of times they seemed to just forget her completely. The only time it really bothered me was when I watched Need for the first time and was yelling at the screen as Daniel completely failed to mention Sha're. That was only the first time, though, since they did mention her in the end, and it made sense the way they did it.

I love that too. That scene where he finds out again that she's dead absolutely kills me...