Fannish5: Signs of Affection
Five best signs of affection from one character to another.
Never mind "best", there are too many to choose a top five, but five I'm very fond of:
1) Delenn hugs Londo in All my dreams, torn asunder (season 5 of Babylon 5). I was originally going to give the B5 spot in these replies to Vir, but then it was too difficult to choose among the many, many Vir and Londo scenes. Whereas Delenn and Londo are one of the few relationships I wish canon had explored more, though what we got is intriguing. Both are responsible (not alone, but as a main contributor) for a horrendous war between two people. Both end up being crucial for peace as well, and for having their closest relationship with a person from the race they were fighting. However, they deal with their guilt in quite different ways, and of course their temperaments are very different as well. At this point, as the show is nearing its end, Delenn has just gotten information that she believes damns the Centauri (and thus also will end friendly relations with Londo). And then she sees Londo (who doesn't know any of this) and without a word hugs him fiercely. It's so startling not least because this is Delenn, who as opposed to Londo (one of the show's great shoulder-clappers) is not a physical person or into invading other people's personal space. I don't think we see her embrace anyone other than Sheridan and Lennier. (Her friends like Shayann, various teacher figures and Sinclair are greeted and left with Minbari-style hand gestures and bows.) And while Londo happens to be not involved into the disaster at hand, he's as far from an innocent as you can get, and she knows it, given his past track record. And yet, here is this silent hug. (Or maybe not "yet", but "because", for a similar reason why Delenn wanted Londo to participate in her season 3 ceremony where one person tells another a secret - as it happens, he doesn't participate, and we never her Delenn's secret, but my fanon is that despite the fact s3 Londo is at his personal rock bottom before climbing up again during the rest of the show, she wanted to confide her part of the Earth/Minbari war to him. It takes one to know one, so to speak, and he of all the people would and could never have judged her.) Which tells you such a lot about how Delenn feels about Londo, more than any of her words could, and Delenn is good at words (unless faced with the Earth media).
2) Emily Sloane in the second season of Alias silently shows her husband she's wired; in return, Arvin Sloane doesn't throw a fit but kisses her and asks her to come with him one more time, and she does. Emily found out the truth about her husband in the s1 finale, but the full implications didn't sink in until s2 when after they made their successful getaway and he promised to turn over a new leaf he's still following his Rambaldi obsession. At this point she has made a deal with the CIA via Sydney, whom she loves as a daughter. And then we get what is possibly the most heartrendering scene of the season to me (and there's a lot of competition). Sloane's love for and devotion to his cancer-ridden with has always been used by the show to three dimensionalize him, even back in s1 when he was the main antagonist, but of course the question was whether Emily, who was familiar with only this side of him, would still be able to love him once she knew the truth. Not in a blind "oh, whatever my darling does is justified" way but by acknowledging the reality of it and still maintain the emotion. I love the Jack/Irina as much as the next Alias watcher, but they never made me cry. Emily in this scene, realising that she can't live with herself if she betrays her husband and acknowledging it with this gesture, and his response do that every time.
3) Arthur Pendragon and the art of cheering up one's depressed servant in Merlin. I was tempted to go with the footplay from 1.8 or the pillow throwing from the s2 finally first, then was tempted by the various examples of Arthur asking and taking Melrin's advice in s3 because those show how the realtionship grew, but ultimately decided on Arthur - not a natural comforter he, or good at apologies - trying to do both (despite not really knowing what Merlin is upset about) in the tag scene of Lady in the Lake. It involves Arthur's idea of a pep talk (which, err, is very him) and a nookie, but trust me, it works. Both for Merlin and the audience.
4) Buffy kisses comatose Faith on the head in the s3 finale of BTVS. The Buffy/Faith relationship was complicated (which is why it always annoyed me when people were trying to make it black and white) and one sign of this is that Faith is in a coma in this situation because Buffy put her there, and another that Buffy isn't asking for or giving absolution (Faith at this point has proceeded to killing Vulcans whoever the Mayor tells her to kill and has harmed the Scoobies and Angel). And there are no witnesses to the gesture. She just does it, silently; Buffy, despite all her quips, usually was better expressing her feelings physically anyway.
5) "My Sarah Jane." The Doctor hugs Sarah Jane Smith goodbye at the end of School Reunion (season 2 of New Who). It's a scene that gained even more emotional power with the death of Lis Sladen, but it worked its magic on me long before that. School Reunion was the first New Who episode to reintroduce a former companion from Classic Who, and to this day, I love it to bits. There are a lot of reasons why, and this final scene, encompassing the affection between Sarah Jane and all the Doctors, is one of them.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/688455.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Never mind "best", there are too many to choose a top five, but five I'm very fond of:
1) Delenn hugs Londo in All my dreams, torn asunder (season 5 of Babylon 5). I was originally going to give the B5 spot in these replies to Vir, but then it was too difficult to choose among the many, many Vir and Londo scenes. Whereas Delenn and Londo are one of the few relationships I wish canon had explored more, though what we got is intriguing. Both are responsible (not alone, but as a main contributor) for a horrendous war between two people. Both end up being crucial for peace as well, and for having their closest relationship with a person from the race they were fighting. However, they deal with their guilt in quite different ways, and of course their temperaments are very different as well. At this point, as the show is nearing its end, Delenn has just gotten information that she believes damns the Centauri (and thus also will end friendly relations with Londo). And then she sees Londo (who doesn't know any of this) and without a word hugs him fiercely. It's so startling not least because this is Delenn, who as opposed to Londo (one of the show's great shoulder-clappers) is not a physical person or into invading other people's personal space. I don't think we see her embrace anyone other than Sheridan and Lennier. (Her friends like Shayann, various teacher figures and Sinclair are greeted and left with Minbari-style hand gestures and bows.) And while Londo happens to be not involved into the disaster at hand, he's as far from an innocent as you can get, and she knows it, given his past track record. And yet, here is this silent hug. (Or maybe not "yet", but "because", for a similar reason why Delenn wanted Londo to participate in her season 3 ceremony where one person tells another a secret - as it happens, he doesn't participate, and we never her Delenn's secret, but my fanon is that despite the fact s3 Londo is at his personal rock bottom before climbing up again during the rest of the show, she wanted to confide her part of the Earth/Minbari war to him. It takes one to know one, so to speak, and he of all the people would and could never have judged her.) Which tells you such a lot about how Delenn feels about Londo, more than any of her words could, and Delenn is good at words (unless faced with the Earth media).
2) Emily Sloane in the second season of Alias silently shows her husband she's wired; in return, Arvin Sloane doesn't throw a fit but kisses her and asks her to come with him one more time, and she does. Emily found out the truth about her husband in the s1 finale, but the full implications didn't sink in until s2 when after they made their successful getaway and he promised to turn over a new leaf he's still following his Rambaldi obsession. At this point she has made a deal with the CIA via Sydney, whom she loves as a daughter. And then we get what is possibly the most heartrendering scene of the season to me (and there's a lot of competition). Sloane's love for and devotion to his cancer-ridden with has always been used by the show to three dimensionalize him, even back in s1 when he was the main antagonist, but of course the question was whether Emily, who was familiar with only this side of him, would still be able to love him once she knew the truth. Not in a blind "oh, whatever my darling does is justified" way but by acknowledging the reality of it and still maintain the emotion. I love the Jack/Irina as much as the next Alias watcher, but they never made me cry. Emily in this scene, realising that she can't live with herself if she betrays her husband and acknowledging it with this gesture, and his response do that every time.
3) Arthur Pendragon and the art of cheering up one's depressed servant in Merlin. I was tempted to go with the footplay from 1.8 or the pillow throwing from the s2 finally first, then was tempted by the various examples of Arthur asking and taking Melrin's advice in s3 because those show how the realtionship grew, but ultimately decided on Arthur - not a natural comforter he, or good at apologies - trying to do both (despite not really knowing what Merlin is upset about) in the tag scene of Lady in the Lake. It involves Arthur's idea of a pep talk (which, err, is very him) and a nookie, but trust me, it works. Both for Merlin and the audience.
4) Buffy kisses comatose Faith on the head in the s3 finale of BTVS. The Buffy/Faith relationship was complicated (which is why it always annoyed me when people were trying to make it black and white) and one sign of this is that Faith is in a coma in this situation because Buffy put her there, and another that Buffy isn't asking for or giving absolution (Faith at this point has proceeded to killing Vulcans whoever the Mayor tells her to kill and has harmed the Scoobies and Angel). And there are no witnesses to the gesture. She just does it, silently; Buffy, despite all her quips, usually was better expressing her feelings physically anyway.
5) "My Sarah Jane." The Doctor hugs Sarah Jane Smith goodbye at the end of School Reunion (season 2 of New Who). It's a scene that gained even more emotional power with the death of Lis Sladen, but it worked its magic on me long before that. School Reunion was the first New Who episode to reintroduce a former companion from Classic Who, and to this day, I love it to bits. There are a lot of reasons why, and this final scene, encompassing the affection between Sarah Jane and all the Doctors, is one of them.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/688455.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.