Fannish5: Top Five Fictional Marriages
Name your 5 favorite fictional marriages.
A meme after my own heart. Fiction that dares to tackle marriages (well, in ways other than killing one partner of in the first ten minutes to start the drama) is sadly still in the minority.
1.) Jed and Abbey Bartlett, The West Wing. It's not that they don't occasionally argue (from anything going from the interpretation of Bible quotes to whether he's being a jackass about having broken a promise); they do. But you're never left in doubt they're crazy about each other. She has his number and he has hers. The only thing I regret about the Jed/Abbey marriage as depicted on WW throughout seven seasons is that Abbey didn't show up more often than she already did.
2.) Zoe and Wash, Firefly. He was the cheerful babbler to her stoic warrior; they adored each other, and he even put up with her annoying Captain. (Well, there was the ship to fly as a bonus as well...) Seriously, I just loved Zoe and Wash together.
3.) Arvin and Emily Sloane, Alias. All the way back in season 1 when Sloane was the unquestioned blackhat antagonist, the first thing the show did to indicate his life wasn't all about plotting evilly was to show him worried about his cancer-ridden wife. Who later turned out to be Emily, played by Amy Irving, and a great example that being a kind female character doesn't equal being a doormat. I've cared about other couples on this show, though mostly I'm into the characters rather than the 'ships, but I can say none of them moved me as much as Arvin and Emily did in the s2 episode Truth Takes Time, at a point where Emily knows the truth about him, they've both betrayed each other in different ways, and yet what they feel for each other overcomes that. The scene between them in the kitchen makes me cry each time I watch it. And in the s4 episode In Dreams when we go into Sloane's mind and see Emily again, I cry as well. There there was an Alias 'ship who struck a stronger chord/ for me than that of Emily and our evil overlord. (Well, not a het one anyway.)
4.) Saul and Ellen Tigh, Battlestar Galactica. I always call them my Edward Albee couple because the resemblance is undeniable, but it's worth observing that their marriage gains in functional dimension and loses in -dys dimension whenever Bill Adama isn't around. (Proof: New Caprica and Adama-less flashbacks, show finale.) Leaving observations based on my Bill grudge aside: Ellen and Saul are the type of couple who can bring out the worst but also the best in each other. They can't do without each other, and I still get a kick out of the fact that of all the BSG couples, they are the one who gets the Theirlovelastsmillenia epicness. And that they along with Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six - and Sharon & Helo, yes, admittedly - are the ones still together and happy by the time the show ends.
5.) Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, Torchwood. If there is one thing that drives me more crazy than others about Gwen-related arguments, it's that many people behave as if her relationship with Rhys begins and ends in the season 1 episode Combat. Which is like drawing your Londo Mollari characterisation exclusively from When the rocks fall, no hiding place in s3 of Babylon 5, or your Buffy and Faith characterisation exclusively from the AtS episode Sanctuary (hang on, actually a lot of people do that...). Because the Gwen and Rhys relationship as it's played out throughout three seasons is so much more. Their arguments and reconciliations always strike me as immensely real. Neither of them is perfect (no, Rhys isn't, either, watch Adrift if you think he always is). But guess what, Gwen is a character who learns from her mistakes. (I'll see your Combat and raise you a Meat and Something Borrowed.) By the time we arrive at Children of Earth, she and Rhys give a great illustration of why I like them as a couple so much; they make each other laugh and have each other's back even when arguing. They adore ach other just as they are; Gwen and Rhys are quite aware of each other's faults, they don't put the other on pedestals. And they are the cutest stowaways on trucks ever. Gwen/Rhys OTP!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/672177.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
A meme after my own heart. Fiction that dares to tackle marriages (well, in ways other than killing one partner of in the first ten minutes to start the drama) is sadly still in the minority.
1.) Jed and Abbey Bartlett, The West Wing. It's not that they don't occasionally argue (from anything going from the interpretation of Bible quotes to whether he's being a jackass about having broken a promise); they do. But you're never left in doubt they're crazy about each other. She has his number and he has hers. The only thing I regret about the Jed/Abbey marriage as depicted on WW throughout seven seasons is that Abbey didn't show up more often than she already did.
2.) Zoe and Wash, Firefly. He was the cheerful babbler to her stoic warrior; they adored each other, and he even put up with her annoying Captain. (Well, there was the ship to fly as a bonus as well...) Seriously, I just loved Zoe and Wash together.
3.) Arvin and Emily Sloane, Alias. All the way back in season 1 when Sloane was the unquestioned blackhat antagonist, the first thing the show did to indicate his life wasn't all about plotting evilly was to show him worried about his cancer-ridden wife. Who later turned out to be Emily, played by Amy Irving, and a great example that being a kind female character doesn't equal being a doormat. I've cared about other couples on this show, though mostly I'm into the characters rather than the 'ships, but I can say none of them moved me as much as Arvin and Emily did in the s2 episode Truth Takes Time, at a point where Emily knows the truth about him, they've both betrayed each other in different ways, and yet what they feel for each other overcomes that. The scene between them in the kitchen makes me cry each time I watch it. And in the s4 episode In Dreams when we go into Sloane's mind and see Emily again, I cry as well. There there was an Alias 'ship who struck a stronger chord/ for me than that of Emily and our evil overlord. (Well, not a het one anyway.)
4.) Saul and Ellen Tigh, Battlestar Galactica. I always call them my Edward Albee couple because the resemblance is undeniable, but it's worth observing that their marriage gains in functional dimension and loses in -dys dimension whenever Bill Adama isn't around. (Proof: New Caprica and Adama-less flashbacks, show finale.) Leaving observations based on my Bill grudge aside: Ellen and Saul are the type of couple who can bring out the worst but also the best in each other. They can't do without each other, and I still get a kick out of the fact that of all the BSG couples, they are the one who gets the Theirlovelastsmillenia epicness. And that they along with Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six - and Sharon & Helo, yes, admittedly - are the ones still together and happy by the time the show ends.
5.) Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams, Torchwood. If there is one thing that drives me more crazy than others about Gwen-related arguments, it's that many people behave as if her relationship with Rhys begins and ends in the season 1 episode Combat. Which is like drawing your Londo Mollari characterisation exclusively from When the rocks fall, no hiding place in s3 of Babylon 5, or your Buffy and Faith characterisation exclusively from the AtS episode Sanctuary (hang on, actually a lot of people do that...). Because the Gwen and Rhys relationship as it's played out throughout three seasons is so much more. Their arguments and reconciliations always strike me as immensely real. Neither of them is perfect (no, Rhys isn't, either, watch Adrift if you think he always is). But guess what, Gwen is a character who learns from her mistakes. (I'll see your Combat and raise you a Meat and Something Borrowed.) By the time we arrive at Children of Earth, she and Rhys give a great illustration of why I like them as a couple so much; they make each other laugh and have each other's back even when arguing. They adore ach other just as they are; Gwen and Rhys are quite aware of each other's faults, they don't put the other on pedestals. And they are the cutest stowaways on trucks ever. Gwen/Rhys OTP!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/672177.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.