Lee "Apollo" Adama (Battlestar Galactica)

[inlovewithnight]

Title: Not The Hero You're Looking For
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Character: Lee Adama
Author: inlovewithnight
Spoilers: All episodes to date; miniseries through the end of season 2
Notes: Thanks to karabair and romanticalgirl for AIM discussions that really helped clarify a lot.

Comments

[asta77]

He's delightfully flawed, and in terms of comparative airtime, he has a hell of a lot more issues to pack into each scene. Sure, I like Lee because Jamie Bamber is a lovely specimen of man-flesh, but I also like that he can say more with a single reaction shot than a speech, and that he brings his A-game to whatever the writers hand him (hi, "Black Market!").

Amen! :)

He's a complicated character if viewed as a whole; when broken down into episodic chunks, that complexity may read as inconsistency. Lee's more than the sum of his parts, or his scenes.

Not that there haven't been some missteps in regards to the writing of Lee Adama ('Black Market' and the Lee/Dee romance jump to mind), but, overall, I think the character has been written consistantly. Whether or not you agree with some of the reveals about his character (the Dead Pregnanct Girlfriend, the hooker, the depression...) they do tell us something about him that we didn't know before. I think the show has done a pretty good job of letting us get to know these charaters as we would real people - slowly and, sometimes, in surprising ways.

Zak is a Big Issue for Lee (well...in season 1, he is; in season 2, Zak is pretty much forgotten, much to some of our dismay, but who knows? There are seasons to come and old plot threads might become new again)

If the writers have forgotten about Zak (and I don't think they have, they just opted to focus on things they felt were more urgent), Jamie certainly has not. Almost every time he discusses the Lee/Kara he brings up Zak and how that effects their relationship. It makes me hopeful that if he keeps talking about it that the writers will address it again...soon.

And then in the next scene he was all sweaty and bloody and had removed his jacket to flaunt his arms. And THEN he sulked and pouted and made speeches about democracy. And I knew that yes, in fact, it was love.

I think that was the moment I fell HARD too. And then a short time later I became a Lee/Laura shipper with the scene in her quarters. Her confiding in him about her cancer and him looking all shy and embarrassed seeing her in her robe and then cracking the joke about her taking a vacation and the smile and...sigh.

The Admiral Cain arc seems to put the final nail in the coffin of his idealism, as he is forced to confront both the dark side of the military and realize that Roslin isn't quite what he thought her to be when he learns she's ordered Kara to execute Cain. None of this is explicitly stated, though, just possible interpretations of various reaction shots and Lee's subsequent downward spiral and attempt at passive suicide.

I just rewatched RS Pt1 and Pt 2 and replayed about six times the scene where Adama refuses to debate the decision with Lee and then makes the comment about it being the President's decision and the look on Lee's face...something in him just dies right there. Two people who he trusts and has so much faith in he discovers have made this decision that is abhorrent to him personally and unfathomable in the society they say they are trying to create. (Of course, it may have helped had Adama mentioned the bit about Cain murdering civilians.) The depression that Lee falls into for most of the rest of the season is better explained by this moment then Dead Pregnant Girlfriend.

it shows a fairly hollow and broken-down Lee, who has lost his idealism and is willing to pull the trigger as he wasn't in "Bastille Day."

True, but there is a difference between Zarek whose ideals were for the better of society, but his means did not justify his ends and a guy who murdered people to protect his bottom line and is selling kids into slavery.

Great analysis!

[inlovewithnight]

Thanks. Wow, such a thoughtful comment, I have no idea what to say. ::flails::

"Inconsistent" is one of the complains I've seen around and about regarding Lee; I think that it's the same situation as the show as a whole, though. Broken down week by week, you can't see the larger patterns. If you view it as a whole, though, it becomes clearer.

the look on Lee's face...something in him just dies right there. Two people who he trusts and has so much faith in he discovers have made this decision that is abhorrent to him personally and unfathomable in the society they say they are trying to create.
Yes. Oh, that scene.

there is a difference between Zarek whose ideals were for the better of society, but his means did not justify his ends and a guy who murdered people to protect his bottom line and is selling kids into slavery.
Good point. I may have been excessively harsh on Black Market here. :)

Thanks again for taking the time to comment!