two more lists
...as I work through them slowly.
For iscaris:
Top Five Flack/Danny Moments
1. The conversation in the diner in "On the Job." Flack tells Danny not to hang himself by playing into Internal Affairs' hands; Danny snaps back that it feels like he's already being hung, and storms out. It's a good spotlight on both Danny's increasing paranoia over the situation and Flack's need to protect his people, to help where he can. During the entire episode, he's the only person to reach out to Danny with any kind of reassurance or friendship, and Danny is too far gone for it to make a damn bit of difference. The saddest thing is that if he had listened to Flack, things might have turned out very differently.
2. The conversation by the pool table in "...Comes Around," when Danny asks Flack why they do what they do. Flack tells him that they do it because they're good at it. He also, interestingly, suggests that they do it because they're not good at anything else. On its surface, it's a joking remark, but there's more going on there, and it goes along nicely with the emotional ups and downs that both of them have gone through over the last few years. Finally, Flack offers a real answer: they do it because sometimes it makes a difference. The entire scene turns a great spotlight on the friendship between the two of them, and it also summarizes a lot of what the show is trying to do, and the ways in which it delineates relationships.
3. The final scene of "All in the Family." Flack tries to get Danny to confront his guilt over Ruben's death, and tells him that he has to let go of the blame, that he can't go on like this. Danny's response -- "How? How can I do that?" -- is a question that Flack has no answer for, and the episode ends, appropriately, on that uncertain note. There is no good answer for that, and Flack knows it, but he still can't stand idly by and watch Danny self-destruct. He never gives up trying for the people he cares about, even when they try to push him away, and even when he knows all too well that there's nothing he can do to fix the situation, or to help Danny heal.
4. Also from "All in the Family," Flack's response when Danny tells him to fuck off: "You're my friend. That makes it my business." That. Exactly. And, as I noted in my review for this episode, it would be very easy to substitute the words brother or family for friend in that sentence.
5. Danny and Flack teasing each other about their fashion choices in "Necrophilia Americana." (Danny: "I like that suit." Flack: "If I had your shoes, I'd be set.") Like I said in my list of top Danny/Mac moments, they can't all be deep.
For ionaonie:
Top Five Doctor Who Moments
1. Sally Sparrow telling DI Billy Shipton not to look at her after they flirt in the warehouse in "Blink," immediately followed by Sally's conversation with old Billy not ten minutes later, and the sorrow as he tells her about the life he lived without her. And how he tells her that he'll be gone by the time the rain stops -- and we can see, in the window behind Sally, that the sun is starting to come out. If Doctor Who is largely about loss and lost potential, these two scenes capture all of that perfectly.
2. The final scene in "Gridlock," when Martha and Ten sit in an alleyway in New New York, and Ten tells her all about the silver trees and the orange sky in his lost Gallifrey. Like the scenes between Billy Shipton and Sally Sparrow in "Blink," gorgeous and sad, and a perfect encapsulation of what the show's about.
3. "The tape ran out thirty seconds ago," in "The Doctor Dances." Jesus, talk about bad moments.
4. Martha figuring out that the hospital is still air-sealed in "Smith and Jones." And all of the other moments throughout S3 in which Martha is smart and stubborn and brave and gorgeous and generally made of win.
5. Nine's conversation over dinner with Margaret Blaine in "Boom Town," and how she correctly pegs him as a killer, just like her.
For iscaris:
Top Five Flack/Danny Moments
1. The conversation in the diner in "On the Job." Flack tells Danny not to hang himself by playing into Internal Affairs' hands; Danny snaps back that it feels like he's already being hung, and storms out. It's a good spotlight on both Danny's increasing paranoia over the situation and Flack's need to protect his people, to help where he can. During the entire episode, he's the only person to reach out to Danny with any kind of reassurance or friendship, and Danny is too far gone for it to make a damn bit of difference. The saddest thing is that if he had listened to Flack, things might have turned out very differently.
2. The conversation by the pool table in "...Comes Around," when Danny asks Flack why they do what they do. Flack tells him that they do it because they're good at it. He also, interestingly, suggests that they do it because they're not good at anything else. On its surface, it's a joking remark, but there's more going on there, and it goes along nicely with the emotional ups and downs that both of them have gone through over the last few years. Finally, Flack offers a real answer: they do it because sometimes it makes a difference. The entire scene turns a great spotlight on the friendship between the two of them, and it also summarizes a lot of what the show is trying to do, and the ways in which it delineates relationships.
3. The final scene of "All in the Family." Flack tries to get Danny to confront his guilt over Ruben's death, and tells him that he has to let go of the blame, that he can't go on like this. Danny's response -- "How? How can I do that?" -- is a question that Flack has no answer for, and the episode ends, appropriately, on that uncertain note. There is no good answer for that, and Flack knows it, but he still can't stand idly by and watch Danny self-destruct. He never gives up trying for the people he cares about, even when they try to push him away, and even when he knows all too well that there's nothing he can do to fix the situation, or to help Danny heal.
4. Also from "All in the Family," Flack's response when Danny tells him to fuck off: "You're my friend. That makes it my business." That. Exactly. And, as I noted in my review for this episode, it would be very easy to substitute the words brother or family for friend in that sentence.
5. Danny and Flack teasing each other about their fashion choices in "Necrophilia Americana." (Danny: "I like that suit." Flack: "If I had your shoes, I'd be set.") Like I said in my list of top Danny/Mac moments, they can't all be deep.
For ionaonie:
Top Five Doctor Who Moments
1. Sally Sparrow telling DI Billy Shipton not to look at her after they flirt in the warehouse in "Blink," immediately followed by Sally's conversation with old Billy not ten minutes later, and the sorrow as he tells her about the life he lived without her. And how he tells her that he'll be gone by the time the rain stops -- and we can see, in the window behind Sally, that the sun is starting to come out. If Doctor Who is largely about loss and lost potential, these two scenes capture all of that perfectly.
2. The final scene in "Gridlock," when Martha and Ten sit in an alleyway in New New York, and Ten tells her all about the silver trees and the orange sky in his lost Gallifrey. Like the scenes between Billy Shipton and Sally Sparrow in "Blink," gorgeous and sad, and a perfect encapsulation of what the show's about.
3. "The tape ran out thirty seconds ago," in "The Doctor Dances." Jesus, talk about bad moments.
4. Martha figuring out that the hospital is still air-sealed in "Smith and Jones." And all of the other moments throughout S3 in which Martha is smart and stubborn and brave and gorgeous and generally made of win.
5. Nine's conversation over dinner with Margaret Blaine in "Boom Town," and how she correctly pegs him as a killer, just like her.