Lyssie's guide to accidentally epicing-up your OTP
...sort of. Spoilers for BSG, the entire run. (please keep in mind the ingrained OTP bias before proceeding)
They say subtext is all in the eye of the beholder. The people producing a show can put in explicit or non-explicit moments, and depending on someone's pairing or viewpoint, UST is had, lame attempts at it are had, and not at all is had.
Some show-runners/writers/directors will have an idea as to who the leads are. And usually, the goal is to make them have UST and keep them as far apart as possible. One of the biggest annoying myths ever is that RST is boring (but I'm not planning on smacking that one down, here).
The BSG crew settled on the star-crossed lovers as being Kara Thrace and Lee Adama. See the pairing or not, the narrative tends to structurally support them. They get all of the Angsty Glances, the arguments, the tension where they stand too close, the forbidden making out, and the obstacles in their past.
Now, I'll admit, Kara and Lee have a vague chemistry in the early seasons. In the later seasons, it's a bit more forced.
I don't know if that's because the actors were tired of the dragging it out, or if they truly thought the characters should move on.
Or if because the writers/etc. were forcing the scenes, trying to preserve that UST at all costs.
Amusingly enough, while that was going on, Kara/Sam was happening almost in the background, and most of their stuff was subtle and very RST-ey except for that liking lots of sex with each other thing. And it wasn't something the people in charge were really focusing on, trying to make be UST/interesting/the Star-Crossed Epic.
Let's be honest, the amount of Kara/Sam shippers they might have lost is nothing compared to the amount of Kara/Lee shippers they have lost over the years.
So, while they were constantly setting up Kara/Lee UST, the Kara/Sam RST slid on through and, to me (remember, beauty in the eye of the beholder, and all) was far more believable and interesting.
I think part of it can be laid at the doors of the actors. Katee and Trucco seem to actually be friends. Even more so, Katee and Tahmoh are friends (which lends well to all of the Kara and Helo scenes, since they're so comfortable with each other, even when Kara's trying to kill his toaster girlfriend).
Katee and Jamie don't seem to hang around each other a lot, off-set. Not like Trucco, Tricia, Grace, Katee, and Tahmoh do.
But for the most part, Kara/Sam slipped on through and ended up being the more Epic and Powerful (if you want to call it that) by accident, because it mostly grew organically, without predetermined and pointless hooks to keep people interested.
Think of it this way: Sam was never supposed to come back.
But he did.
Next, he was supposed to end his tenure in Collaborators. But for some reason (to keep the K/L tension, I think), they brought him back.
And then they made him a Cylon.
Whether by chance (most likely) or design (no one had a plan), Kara/Lee got bungled and left behind.
As much as I hate Sam's lack of choice in the matter, he became something more than human and passed into the twilight, a hero and more. Kara was already something more than human, by that point.
I find it almost fascinating that as soon as the focus went from Kara/Lee to Kara/Sam, they got the scenes and the angsty looks--even if it was the cliched comatose husband storyline.
Of course, we'd already gotten 'Scar', an entire episode devoted to Kara missing Sam and being convinced he was dead and then, um, deciding she could live for him. And then they gave us StWoM, which is all about her learning to come to terms with the fact that she might never get him back.
Both of those episodes do, of course, have other subplots. There's cylon politics and Kat being Kara, and Kara's family issues. And freaky hybrids.
So, what I was originally starting to say, was that I think the writers never concentrated on making Kara/Sam UST-y, because they were married, and their own goal was Kara/Lee. So concentrating on the RST couple was never something they were concerned with, until they realized they'd made a mistake.
Whereas, all the overt UST and Angst piled on Kara/Lee was very by-the-numbers and ultimately boring.
And that's how you accidentally end up with an Epic pairing that has an entwined Destiny of Doom.
Sigh. Stupid kids.
They say subtext is all in the eye of the beholder. The people producing a show can put in explicit or non-explicit moments, and depending on someone's pairing or viewpoint, UST is had, lame attempts at it are had, and not at all is had.
Some show-runners/writers/directors will have an idea as to who the leads are. And usually, the goal is to make them have UST and keep them as far apart as possible. One of the biggest annoying myths ever is that RST is boring (but I'm not planning on smacking that one down, here).
The BSG crew settled on the star-crossed lovers as being Kara Thrace and Lee Adama. See the pairing or not, the narrative tends to structurally support them. They get all of the Angsty Glances, the arguments, the tension where they stand too close, the forbidden making out, and the obstacles in their past.
Now, I'll admit, Kara and Lee have a vague chemistry in the early seasons. In the later seasons, it's a bit more forced.
I don't know if that's because the actors were tired of the dragging it out, or if they truly thought the characters should move on.
Or if because the writers/etc. were forcing the scenes, trying to preserve that UST at all costs.
Amusingly enough, while that was going on, Kara/Sam was happening almost in the background, and most of their stuff was subtle and very RST-ey except for that liking lots of sex with each other thing. And it wasn't something the people in charge were really focusing on, trying to make be UST/interesting/the Star-Crossed Epic.
Let's be honest, the amount of Kara/Sam shippers they might have lost is nothing compared to the amount of Kara/Lee shippers they have lost over the years.
So, while they were constantly setting up Kara/Lee UST, the Kara/Sam RST slid on through and, to me (remember, beauty in the eye of the beholder, and all) was far more believable and interesting.
I think part of it can be laid at the doors of the actors. Katee and Trucco seem to actually be friends. Even more so, Katee and Tahmoh are friends (which lends well to all of the Kara and Helo scenes, since they're so comfortable with each other, even when Kara's trying to kill his toaster girlfriend).
Katee and Jamie don't seem to hang around each other a lot, off-set. Not like Trucco, Tricia, Grace, Katee, and Tahmoh do.
But for the most part, Kara/Sam slipped on through and ended up being the more Epic and Powerful (if you want to call it that) by accident, because it mostly grew organically, without predetermined and pointless hooks to keep people interested.
Think of it this way: Sam was never supposed to come back.
But he did.
Next, he was supposed to end his tenure in Collaborators. But for some reason (to keep the K/L tension, I think), they brought him back.
And then they made him a Cylon.
Whether by chance (most likely) or design (no one had a plan), Kara/Lee got bungled and left behind.
As much as I hate Sam's lack of choice in the matter, he became something more than human and passed into the twilight, a hero and more. Kara was already something more than human, by that point.
I find it almost fascinating that as soon as the focus went from Kara/Lee to Kara/Sam, they got the scenes and the angsty looks--even if it was the cliched comatose husband storyline.
Of course, we'd already gotten 'Scar', an entire episode devoted to Kara missing Sam and being convinced he was dead and then, um, deciding she could live for him. And then they gave us StWoM, which is all about her learning to come to terms with the fact that she might never get him back.
Both of those episodes do, of course, have other subplots. There's cylon politics and Kat being Kara, and Kara's family issues. And freaky hybrids.
So, what I was originally starting to say, was that I think the writers never concentrated on making Kara/Sam UST-y, because they were married, and their own goal was Kara/Lee. So concentrating on the RST couple was never something they were concerned with, until they realized they'd made a mistake.
Whereas, all the overt UST and Angst piled on Kara/Lee was very by-the-numbers and ultimately boring.
And that's how you accidentally end up with an Epic pairing that has an entwined Destiny of Doom.
Sigh. Stupid kids.