Kate Freelander: Not A Small Town Girl
I've had this bouncing around my head for some time. It was going to be a post for halfamoon, but didn't get done before the end of the challenge.
In the manner of my Seven Moments Of Awesome for Teyla and Ziva, what follows is Seven Reasons I Adore Kate Freelander.
1. She's the clever action girl: a female character who is both active and intelligent, capable and competent.
The first time Kate encounters Helen and the Sanctuary guys in 'End Of Days Pt 1', she gives them the slip - first by getting out of Martin Wood's house, then by getting her cargo away right out from under their noses.
When captured, she faces up to a furious Helen, even when the bullet smacks into the ground by her foot. After Helen and Will move away, she pinpoints Henry as a mark, deceives him, and makes good her escape. She thinks on her feet, too. Once the Cabal have shot her up for failing to stay off the radar, she goes back to the Sanctuary with information to trade in exchange for her treatment.
Kate's not the kind to stay home and keep house - when situations come up, she goes out to her contacts on the street, or picks a course of action and follows it. She takes initiative in the work Helen sets her, paying for information from contacts even when Helen hasn't explicitly asked for that information, and pushes the boundaries when asking what accounts she's allowed to access for payments.
She's got leadership skills and initiative, even if she's not always called upon to use them.
2. She's competent, but she also has a mischievous sense of humour.
Back in his earliest days, Will asked what people in the Sanctuary did when they weren't doing work. According to the Big Guy, the answer was, "More work." By the time Kate comes around, Will seems to have bought into this mindset. But Kate seems to have an attitude of 'work hard, play hard'.
Arguing with Henry over technology and music choices? Persuading the Big Guy to watch a guilty-pleasure TV show rather than clean the Sanctuary? Making fun of the amount of hair product Will uses? This is a girl who's got a keen sense of fun and laughter and playfulness beneath the seriousness of what she does for a living.
Even in tight situations, she still has time for a quip. When the Sanctuary crew first pull her over after she's made off with the package, she's glib and flippant as they confront her. "Have I got a tail-light out?" She's gotta know that she's already on the bad side of Helen Fricking Magnus; smart-mouthing would generally be considered a Bad Idea.
It's good to see a female character with a mischievous streak; the women are usually the serious ones while the men are the jokers. Kate's the Puck in the Sanctuary crew, as much as Henry (who gets the 'geek-coded' lines), if not more so.
3. She's a character of obviously Indian/subcontinental Asian descent but isn't explicitly coded 'other'.
One of Kate's more unusual traits is that she's a character from a non-Western background who isn't 'othered' in speech or habits, and who isn't 'traditionalised' in outlook and culture in order to provide a contrast with the rest of the (usually white and Western) cast.
Yes, she speaks fluent Hindi. Yes, she has a statue of Ganesh on her bedside table. Yes, she discusses gender roles and expectations with Ravi in Mumbai. But it's done about as naturally and unexceptionally as one could ever expect of a non-white character who's been largely brought up in a Western culture. It's a part of who she is, but it's not the whole of it. She's an American thief...who happens to be of Indian descent.
Kate's Indian roots are as much a part of who she is as the Five's Victorian roots are a part of them. And that's not forgotten, but it's not used to 'other' her either. And while viewers might be accustomed to accepting such things in real life, TV-land tends to make such characters the token 'other culture', trotting out their background to provide conscious contrast.
4. She's on the side of good, but she's done morally questionable things in her time.
Kate is not a girl with a nice history by any stretch of the imagination.
When we first meet Kate, she's kidnapping humans for the Cabal's purposes. Considering she's worked for them for a while, it's doubtful that her jobs have always been squeaky clean.
There are small insights into her background in earlier episodes - 'Eulogy' and 'Hero' both show her roots in legally questionable practises. 'Hero' links her with Constantin, a guy who trades in abnormals and abnormal parts, and through the series, her contacts remain on the questionable side of the law.
In 'Bank Job' her criminal past comes front and centre when she instigates a 'bank robbery' under the guise of giving Magnus more time to ID a dangerous abnormal that's taken refuge in the body of one of the people inside the bank. Her familiarity with police and FBI procedures speaks of experience in being on the wrong side of law enforcement more than a few times - and prompts Will to note, "It scares me that we're colleagues."
5. Even once she's joined the Sanctuary network, she's still cool, ruthless, and cunning.
This may seem an odd thing to like about a character, but I like that once Kate joins the good guys, she's not immediately sunshine, roses, and idealism.
In 'Hero', the first episode after she comes to stay at the Sanctuary, she feeds the black market kingpin who threatens her brother to an abnormal, then implies to his henchman that she'll kill again if the underworld threatens her family.
In 'Penance', she's ready to shoot Jimmy for revenge and only holds back because the Big Guy interrupts her, saying they need Jimmy to exchange for Will's life. Maybe there's some relief at her reprieve, but it's the practicalities of the situation that bring down her weapon.
In 'Bank Job', she threatens to shoot a hostage while posing as a bank robber. It may be all a pretense but the hostages don't know that, and she makes the point with enough steel that the guy believes her and doesn't try to engage again.
She's not cruel but she can be cold if she thinks the payoff is worth it - and there are times in-show when she does.
6. She doesn't apologise for her past.
Kate doesn't make apologies for what she's done where it's not going to be any good. What's done is done - does she regret her actions? Quite probably. But she gets up and makes reparation as best she can, or lives her life in the now.
As an example, Kate's expression and words during the confrontation with Helen at the end of 'Eulogy' suggests she regrets what she thinks the consequences of feeding Constantin to the abnormal are - namely, Helen's disapproval and her explusion from the Sanctuary. However, that scene also makes it quite clear she's going to shoulder the consequences without protest. She did what she had to; now she's got a price to pay and she won't whine about the cost.
As it turns out, she doesn't have to - Magnus invites her to stay long-term.
One thing to note is that Kate's actions aren't cued in as bad things - questionable, perhaps, but not bad-wrong-evil-twisted. There's no halo hanging on her bedpost, no halo hidden in her closet, but there doesn't need to be. Coming to the Sanctuary isn't billed as her redemption scenario, it's just a new phase of her life.
7. She may not follow the law, but she's still written with an internal compass.
Oftentimes when a character has a non-standard moral compass, they're written as being mercenary or self-interested. Kate isn't.
The thing that motivates Kate isn't self-preservation or even money - she's insouciant when the Sanctuary first captures her but sticks to her guns in the face of being threatened, and a season later, she walks away from a bank without even a stray stack of bills in her pocket, however much she might claim to regret it. Sure, she'll take the money if it's offered, if there's an opportunity for it, if she thinks it's worth scoring - as in the example of the steno tusks she bargains her services to Henry for.
Yet the key to Kate is reciprocal loyalty, from and for those she's working for.
Kate was loyal enough to the Cabal, doing their jobs for their pay - until they betrayed her. She bought out her brother's debt, showing loyalty to her family, and when Constantin tried to use Thad as leverage against her, she took him out. When Jimmy tells her her dad ratted on the mob, her reaction is denial rather than pleasure - loyalty to the memory of her father, and perhaps anger that he wasn’t loyal to those who hired him in the first place.
And, of course, she's loyal to Helen and the Sanctuary, who were good to her, even when they didn't have a reason to be. Kate, being Kate, would appreciate that.
Ultimately, Kate is one of those characters who lots of people like but very few love or are inspired by. When it comes to Sanctuary, though, she's my hook. I love Helen and Will and Henry and Bigfoot, Druitt, and Tesla and the rest of the Five (Six), but Kate's my heroine addiction.
Kate Freelander: Made Of Awesome (But Definitely Not Small-Town!)
--
cap credit goes to:
collswan's caps at Swanee's Sanctuary Screencaps
In the manner of my Seven Moments Of Awesome for Teyla and Ziva, what follows is Seven Reasons I Adore Kate Freelander.
1. She's the clever action girl: a female character who is both active and intelligent, capable and competent.
The first time Kate encounters Helen and the Sanctuary guys in 'End Of Days Pt 1', she gives them the slip - first by getting out of Martin Wood's house, then by getting her cargo away right out from under their noses.
When captured, she faces up to a furious Helen, even when the bullet smacks into the ground by her foot. After Helen and Will move away, she pinpoints Henry as a mark, deceives him, and makes good her escape. She thinks on her feet, too. Once the Cabal have shot her up for failing to stay off the radar, she goes back to the Sanctuary with information to trade in exchange for her treatment.
Kate's not the kind to stay home and keep house - when situations come up, she goes out to her contacts on the street, or picks a course of action and follows it. She takes initiative in the work Helen sets her, paying for information from contacts even when Helen hasn't explicitly asked for that information, and pushes the boundaries when asking what accounts she's allowed to access for payments.
She's got leadership skills and initiative, even if she's not always called upon to use them.
2. She's competent, but she also has a mischievous sense of humour.
Back in his earliest days, Will asked what people in the Sanctuary did when they weren't doing work. According to the Big Guy, the answer was, "More work." By the time Kate comes around, Will seems to have bought into this mindset. But Kate seems to have an attitude of 'work hard, play hard'.
Arguing with Henry over technology and music choices? Persuading the Big Guy to watch a guilty-pleasure TV show rather than clean the Sanctuary? Making fun of the amount of hair product Will uses? This is a girl who's got a keen sense of fun and laughter and playfulness beneath the seriousness of what she does for a living.
Even in tight situations, she still has time for a quip. When the Sanctuary crew first pull her over after she's made off with the package, she's glib and flippant as they confront her. "Have I got a tail-light out?" She's gotta know that she's already on the bad side of Helen Fricking Magnus; smart-mouthing would generally be considered a Bad Idea.
It's good to see a female character with a mischievous streak; the women are usually the serious ones while the men are the jokers. Kate's the Puck in the Sanctuary crew, as much as Henry (who gets the 'geek-coded' lines), if not more so.
3. She's a character of obviously Indian/subcontinental Asian descent but isn't explicitly coded 'other'.
One of Kate's more unusual traits is that she's a character from a non-Western background who isn't 'othered' in speech or habits, and who isn't 'traditionalised' in outlook and culture in order to provide a contrast with the rest of the (usually white and Western) cast.
Yes, she speaks fluent Hindi. Yes, she has a statue of Ganesh on her bedside table. Yes, she discusses gender roles and expectations with Ravi in Mumbai. But it's done about as naturally and unexceptionally as one could ever expect of a non-white character who's been largely brought up in a Western culture. It's a part of who she is, but it's not the whole of it. She's an American thief...who happens to be of Indian descent.
Kate's Indian roots are as much a part of who she is as the Five's Victorian roots are a part of them. And that's not forgotten, but it's not used to 'other' her either. And while viewers might be accustomed to accepting such things in real life, TV-land tends to make such characters the token 'other culture', trotting out their background to provide conscious contrast.
4. She's on the side of good, but she's done morally questionable things in her time.
Kate is not a girl with a nice history by any stretch of the imagination.
When we first meet Kate, she's kidnapping humans for the Cabal's purposes. Considering she's worked for them for a while, it's doubtful that her jobs have always been squeaky clean.
There are small insights into her background in earlier episodes - 'Eulogy' and 'Hero' both show her roots in legally questionable practises. 'Hero' links her with Constantin, a guy who trades in abnormals and abnormal parts, and through the series, her contacts remain on the questionable side of the law.
In 'Bank Job' her criminal past comes front and centre when she instigates a 'bank robbery' under the guise of giving Magnus more time to ID a dangerous abnormal that's taken refuge in the body of one of the people inside the bank. Her familiarity with police and FBI procedures speaks of experience in being on the wrong side of law enforcement more than a few times - and prompts Will to note, "It scares me that we're colleagues."
5. Even once she's joined the Sanctuary network, she's still cool, ruthless, and cunning.
This may seem an odd thing to like about a character, but I like that once Kate joins the good guys, she's not immediately sunshine, roses, and idealism.
In 'Hero', the first episode after she comes to stay at the Sanctuary, she feeds the black market kingpin who threatens her brother to an abnormal, then implies to his henchman that she'll kill again if the underworld threatens her family.
In 'Penance', she's ready to shoot Jimmy for revenge and only holds back because the Big Guy interrupts her, saying they need Jimmy to exchange for Will's life. Maybe there's some relief at her reprieve, but it's the practicalities of the situation that bring down her weapon.
In 'Bank Job', she threatens to shoot a hostage while posing as a bank robber. It may be all a pretense but the hostages don't know that, and she makes the point with enough steel that the guy believes her and doesn't try to engage again.
She's not cruel but she can be cold if she thinks the payoff is worth it - and there are times in-show when she does.
6. She doesn't apologise for her past.
Kate doesn't make apologies for what she's done where it's not going to be any good. What's done is done - does she regret her actions? Quite probably. But she gets up and makes reparation as best she can, or lives her life in the now.
As an example, Kate's expression and words during the confrontation with Helen at the end of 'Eulogy' suggests she regrets what she thinks the consequences of feeding Constantin to the abnormal are - namely, Helen's disapproval and her explusion from the Sanctuary. However, that scene also makes it quite clear she's going to shoulder the consequences without protest. She did what she had to; now she's got a price to pay and she won't whine about the cost.
As it turns out, she doesn't have to - Magnus invites her to stay long-term.
One thing to note is that Kate's actions aren't cued in as bad things - questionable, perhaps, but not bad-wrong-evil-twisted. There's no halo hanging on her bedpost, no halo hidden in her closet, but there doesn't need to be. Coming to the Sanctuary isn't billed as her redemption scenario, it's just a new phase of her life.
7. She may not follow the law, but she's still written with an internal compass.
Oftentimes when a character has a non-standard moral compass, they're written as being mercenary or self-interested. Kate isn't.
The thing that motivates Kate isn't self-preservation or even money - she's insouciant when the Sanctuary first captures her but sticks to her guns in the face of being threatened, and a season later, she walks away from a bank without even a stray stack of bills in her pocket, however much she might claim to regret it. Sure, she'll take the money if it's offered, if there's an opportunity for it, if she thinks it's worth scoring - as in the example of the steno tusks she bargains her services to Henry for.
Yet the key to Kate is reciprocal loyalty, from and for those she's working for.
Kate was loyal enough to the Cabal, doing their jobs for their pay - until they betrayed her. She bought out her brother's debt, showing loyalty to her family, and when Constantin tried to use Thad as leverage against her, she took him out. When Jimmy tells her her dad ratted on the mob, her reaction is denial rather than pleasure - loyalty to the memory of her father, and perhaps anger that he wasn’t loyal to those who hired him in the first place.
And, of course, she's loyal to Helen and the Sanctuary, who were good to her, even when they didn't have a reason to be. Kate, being Kate, would appreciate that.
Ultimately, Kate is one of those characters who lots of people like but very few love or are inspired by. When it comes to Sanctuary, though, she's my hook. I love Helen and Will and Henry and Bigfoot, Druitt, and Tesla and the rest of the Five (Six), but Kate's my heroine addiction.
Kate Freelander: Made Of Awesome (But Definitely Not Small-Town!)
--
cap credit goes to:
collswan's caps at Swanee's Sanctuary Screencaps