This scene confuses me just a smidge. Lee asks Laura if they made a mistake and she never says No, and to me, seems to imply Yes, they did, as she shows him the paper that is supposed to help her remember the mistakes. I don't know if it was intended to be ambiguous bc Lee's response seems to be somewhat relieved? Or something?
I get the overall meaning, just curious if anyone else found it to be more symbolic than clear. ;)
I think it's meant to be kinda ambiguous as to whether or not they made a mistake. I think Laura's basically saying that she doesn't know whether they did or didn't. She's saying that she doesn't know, but that keeping the name in her pocket is her way of remembering, so that she can try to learn for next time. And I think she shows him the paper as a way of saying to him that she understands how he's feeling, but that the ultimate responsibility for whether they made a mistake or not lies with her, not him, and she's going to try to do whatever she can to learn from it and not put him in that position again.
And I think Lee's relief comes from the fact that Laura's basically ... taking responsibility for it? And not only that, but that he knows that he can trust her to learn from it. I don't think he felt that with his dad. I think what Bill said to him was more a case of "It's irrelevant whether it was a mistake or not. We did it and now we move on." Whereas Laura is saying "We'll never know if it was a mistake, but I need to
( ... )
I love this scene. And I agree with a lot of what astreamofstars said above, except that I don't think Laura is taking responsibility from Lee -- he pulled the trigger, he will always have responsibility for that and it's clear that he still feels that responsibility years later. I've just always seen it as the show's way of acknowledging that there was no good choice in that situation, nothing they could have done that could or should leave them free of regret. They did a terrible thing, and even if anything else would have been worse, Lee - and, to his relief, Laura - can't just forget about the guilt they feel. They won't let it paralyze them, but they will carry it with them as a way of honoring the tragedy of the people on that ship. They won't be forgotten.
Yes, that's true. I think Laura is trying to take responsibility for it, because that's what she does, but you're right that Lee probably wouldn't accept that.
I think, perhaps, this is one of the first inklings that Lee doesn't really respond to things the way most of the military does. His father just moves on. Kara just moves on. But Lee has more in common with Laura, with the civilian leade, and her way of thinking. Which ultimately, later on, leads to him leaving the military behind.
Good point about the seeds of his later development being visible here in hindsight. And I think you were really right in your opening comment when you mentioned Lee's relief that Laura seems to 'get it' rather than just asking him to bury his feelings and get over it.
One of the things I like about their relationship in these early seasons is that they are surprisingly open with each other and they seem to feel safe in talking to each other about things that make them feel vulnerable or afraid like this, which is important given how self-contained they both are normally and, in Lee's case especially, how hard it often is for him to emotionally communicate with the other people he loves (Bill and Kara).
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I get the overall meaning, just curious if anyone else found it to be more symbolic than clear. ;)
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And I think Lee's relief comes from the fact that Laura's basically ... taking responsibility for it? And not only that, but that he knows that he can trust her to learn from it. I don't think he felt that with his dad. I think what Bill said to him was more a case of "It's irrelevant whether it was a mistake or not. We did it and now we move on." Whereas Laura is saying "We'll never know if it was a mistake, but I need to ( ... )
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... I can't help it.
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I think, perhaps, this is one of the first inklings that Lee doesn't really respond to things the way most of the military does. His father just moves on. Kara just moves on. But Lee has more in common with Laura, with the civilian leade, and her way of thinking. Which ultimately, later on, leads to him leaving the military behind.
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One of the things I like about their relationship in these early seasons is that they are surprisingly open with each other and they seem to feel safe in talking to each other about things that make them feel vulnerable or afraid like this, which is important given how self-contained they both are normally and, in Lee's case especially, how hard it often is for him to emotionally communicate with the other people he loves (Bill and Kara).
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#grrr
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