The near-death experience has prompted a tailspin for Lee and it's revived his emotional experience of failure with unknown-blonde-woman. His final words before losing consciousness were an apology to Kara, the one person who he would never have expected to let down. I hadn't thought about this connection before. After seeing 'Black Market' I didn't feel that the girlfriends death on Caprica had anything to do with his letting go and wanting to die in RS Pt2. I tied it to his discovery that Adama and Laura, two people he trusted, respected, and he thought he knew, had plotted to do something that was unconscionable to him. And if these people could be turned into, essentially, murderers, what was there to live for? But now you make an interesting point about letting people down. He's been carrying this burden of running away from his responsibilities before the attack (though, as shown, technically the girl did the running) and then he's confronted with failing to be there for another person he loves (Kara) when she needed him
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Ha! You have enlightened me as to the spelling of their names. *g* I totally should have checked that out before posting, huh?! I was so sure that Shevon had Celtic spelling (having nearly been burdened with that name myself). And Paya. Who knew! Apparently not me
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it is a reminder that Lee's self-involved anxiety about letting people down ignores the person's (woman's) own agency. For example, Kara really was ok. Sure, she'd have liked Lee there, but she coped. That was of absolutely no comfort to Lee, though, when they talked about it. Presumably because he's so used to carrying the blame from the past tragedy, which he has emotionally processed as being *entirely* his own doing, when in fact the woman's own emotional responses and actions played some part too.
Lee, for some reason I don't think we are yet clear on, shoulders a lot of responsibility even when it's not entirely his responsibility to bare. He's been carrying a lot of guilt for abandoning his girlfriend. However, from the little we were privy to, it seems that while he may have reacted badly at that moment, she ran off before he could finish what he had to say. And then the world ended before he could try and make things right.
*nods* I agree on all of that. It's very Lee-like to obsess over a momentary slip. And the fact that it became so tragically momentous due to the timing (world ending) is really bad for him psychologically, because he *is* prone to 'over'-shouldering responsibility.
Is this the post you were concerned about, in retrospect? Because I really don't think that Lee's depression was telegraphed in season 1, so I doubt that's why you identified with him. I see the depression mainly as a response to everything that has happened since the Cylons attacked.(Of course, my reading of this is colored by the fact that Starbuck has her own meltdown in the next episode, and I watched them back to back without a break
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The fan reaction is interesting to read about, but it makes me realize I'm kind of glad to have a fandom that is all about the source text rather than the fandom itself. I mean, I love SV fandom, but sometimes navigating the currents between the Lana haters and the Chloe haters and the Clark haters and the Lois haters can seem like a lot of work, you know? And it's kind of interesting to just engage with the text without any presuppositions.
Huaha! So true! I have deliberately only shied around the edges of the BSG fandom. I do find the fan reactions interesting (largely because they're unpredictable) but I agree it's good to have a text-based fandom. SV can be an emotional rollercoaster that way--everyone is so emotionally invested. I think BSG *is* a bit different because it is *cough* a more intelligent show textually.
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there should be more time....
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I know, hon! There should be more time. Definitely! *nods*
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Lee, for some reason I don't think we are yet clear on, shoulders a lot of responsibility even when it's not entirely his responsibility to bare. He's been carrying a lot of guilt for abandoning his girlfriend. However, from the little we were privy to, it seems that while he may have reacted badly at that moment, she ran off before he could finish what he had to say. And then the world ended before he could try and make things right.
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