The State of TV Triangles

[tattiff]

Note: Originally posted on Jater Couch #9, on October 21, 2006. I apologize for the repost for those who have already read it. I'm probably going to be reposting some even older posts of mine here on my LJ, mostly so I can archive some of the analysis I've done on Jack/Kate. I'd like to have it in one place, but don't feel obligated to re-read,

Comments

[mysticxf]

I honestly think that a lot of the reason I've been upset with the path they've taken with Jack and Kate this season IS Luke and Lorelai. I remember getting to the end of the S6 finale and just sitting there in shock as Amy-Sherman Palladino's name came up. No excitement for next season; no want for discussion of the episode. I just stood up, turned off the television and went to bed.

I promised myself I'd give the show a few episodes, to see if there was an inkling that they were going to attempt to fix it. I listened to the new exec prod talk about Luke and Lorelai as the "destined" couple and I swallowed it, painfully, because I had to hope it was true. A handful of episodes in, I looked at my mother and said, "I'm not watching anymore." She nodded in agreement. We were depressed because this was, to us, the best show on television and, like you said, the first one that seemed to be getting a relationship right.

Then Lost started the third season and as soon as people shot out the theories that they'd make Kate/Sawyer have sex, somehow, to get Jack to agree to do this surgery I started to cry. I refused to buy into it. And everytime Kate talked about Jack I sat up and thought, "See, you're wrong, it's STILL Jate."

And then the Skex happened and at the end, despite the glass scene and the walkie talkie scene, I kind of sat there numb. Only now, I haven't stopped talking about it because it enrages me because yeah, I'm far more invested in Jack and Kate than I've been in Luke/Lorelai for a while. And, like Gilmore Girls, I've kind of told myself that I'll give them some episodes -- I'll give Lost the rest of the season.

I suspect Gilmore Girls will hurridly throw Luke/Lorelai back together for one last hurrah before the series finale this year (I'm sure it is the final year), but I hope Lost puts more heart into it. I hope they do have a plan that involves Kate's 'redemption' and Jack's 'forgiveness', and I hope that they don't diminish it further with "Jacket" retaliation sex.

My faith in television couples though has diminished. I've become bitter. My response to any couple now is, "Don't get involved, she'll end up fucking some guy in a cage." It's hard now to watch The Office, or Bones, or anything and truly fall in love with a couple because it's inevitable that somewhere, when things are looking good, some writer will throw "cage sex" into the deal. And they'll think it's a great idea.

And if this whole thing ends up being some 'ploy' by the Others through Kate, using her, I might understand, but I won't be any happier. And Good God, if they drop the fact that Kate was 'listed' and let her go back to the beach with Sawyer, I will scream.

So, I guess we hope for the best and ride out the next 11 weeks... and try not to listen to spoilers. ;)

[tattiff]

I'm with you all the way. Exactly how I feel. The main problem I have with Luke and Lorelai - obviously besides the very poor plot devices of "long lost daughter" and out-of-character neglectful Luke and childish Lorelai (in running off to have self-destructive sex when she's highly emotional) - is the tone of this season. If, and it's a big if, I could get past the horror of last season culminating in the break-up and Lorelai's sleeping with Christopher, then what I would have expected to see this season, given that it is fairly obvious to everyone that Luke and Lorelai are THE couple, is a longing or pining of sorts for each other. We have seen really none of that. Outside of the S7 premiere, they really haven't interacted at all, meanwhile we've seen this ridiculous Christopher/Lorelai haste into the silliest "courtship" and subsequent elopement that I've ever seen.

One of my friends from the JC who is still positive about everything says that she's fine with the way GG has gone because she believes that Lorelai always needed to get Christopher out of her system, and this is her doing that. I couldn't disagree more. When have they ever indicated that Lorelai held some sort of "what if" question regarding her and Christopher? He wasn't kept a mystery on the show; he wasn't this "force" out there hanging like a black cloud waiting to come in and disrupt Lorelai's attempts to find love. They've always been very upfront about the kind of person Rory's dad is. When he and Lorelai are together, furthermore, they tend to resort to the derelicts they were as teenagers: having sex on the balcony of Lorelai's parents' home? Could there be anything more symbolic of their relationship than that? They're immature together, not healthy (hmmm... much like a certain couple of criminals on that LUST show). But most importantly, Lorelai had the opportunity presented to her of marriage and a future with Christopher when she was 16 and pregnant. She didn't choose it then, and I don't think it was entirely about the situation and their being too young. She's just never loved or wanted Christopher like that.

So I find myself in a similar dilemma with GG that I do with LOST. Out-of-character. This Lorelai who is pursuing a relationship with Chris after I heard her give the most brilliant monologue ever on the show (in the finale when she goes on and on about being ready for a marriage and a family and settling down - this from committment-phobic Lorelai - and it was all with Luke) that really illustrated her growth and how after 20 years or so of failed relationships and running from committment, she wanted it. She proposed; she wanted to move forward with the wedding and marriage; and because Lorelai is definitely one of my absolute favorite characters on TV (up there with Kate, for sure), to see her growth here was phenomenal. And it made me proud as a fan. It's supposed to be about progression (and/or redemption).

Cont'd...

[tattiff]

Hence the reason for my complete confusion now. Because we know that characters like Lorelai and Kate are self-destructive.... Sleeping with Christopher just because she'd had a blow-out with Luke? Well, I certainly don't like it. I don't agree with it. I personally don't think that the Lorelai I'd just heard give that amazing speech in the car to the shrink would've regressed so far backward as to do something like that (S1 or S2 on the balcony, yes, but S6 after she's grown so much and found the love she'd always been looking for, no). BUT even if I could get past that, coming back to what we've seen this season absolutely baffles me. That she would carry on this farce with Christopher, while they have given very little indication that she has been thinking of or really longing for or even mourning what she had with Luke. And for Luke's part - they had him go on that date with April's swim coach a couple of weeks ago, and although it was very obvious that that wasn't going to work out, they didn't really indicate why. He just comes home from his date and that's that. Why not hit us over the head with some anvils if you're going to play it like that? Something like Luke working in the diner late at night, closing up, and Lorelai walks by, and she doesn't even see him, but he sees her, and the look on his face explains everything. Or something pointedly clear where Lorelai's faced with something Chris does and she sadly remembers and thinks of Luke instead. Something. It's like they've just put them in two completely different storylines this season. And I know we've got some things coming up where they'll be in each other's paths again. But my point is that if you're going to write such a ridiculous, asisine story as this, at least have Luke and Lorelai intersecting in such a way that it couldn't be more obvious who the intended couple is, and not only that, but how miserable they are without each other.

This relationship business with Chris on GG reminds me a lot of the sex with Sawyer on LOST as far as making sense or actually being out-of-character for the two women on the respective shows. Yes, they're self-destructive. So even if you have Lorelai sleep with Chris, it jumps the shark to see her in an actual relationship with him, again after she's been with Luke and come to the revelation that she did as far as what she wanted with him and especially when there was no resolution to her feelings for him (remember in S5 when she and Luke had a falling out at Richard and Emily's wedding involving Chris and Rory, and how completely devastated Lorelai was???). In much the same way, actual sex with Sawyer jumped the shark a bit for me with Kate (and just as a disclaimer, this is assuming there is no con or something going on, but at this point, that is giving the writers of LOST far too much credit than they're deserving of at the moment). She felt a pull toward him, and it's been confirmed through WKD in addition to direct quotes from Damon about Kate/Sawyer that there is a connection there and Kate feels something for him. But they never indicated that she wanted to actually be with him in any way. All of his insinuations and innuendos were laughed away or ignored with annoyance. And suddenly she has sex with him? It's too much.

The moral of the story should be this (which is great by the way...): My response to any couple now is, "Don't get involved, she'll end up fucking some guy in a cage." That says it all.