The saddest thing for me about this scene is how perfectly in character it is. How Kara pushes and Lee hestitates. How Kara gets hurt and leaves and Lee doesn't know hwo to follow anymore.
But the thing that lingers is how much it feels like the jumping off point for a resolution, like it was written for a different ending. Anymore I find that more frustrating than any real emotional conection to the scene. It feels so hanging I feel cheated.
it feels like the jumping off point for a resolution
Exactly! I remember watching this the first time, seeing Sam and then Dee give them permission to break up - and then being TOTALLY BEWILDERED that they ended up back with their spouses by the end of the episode. I see your point about this being in character, but it still feels to me like the writers forcing them into this choice.
but it still feels to me like the writers forcing them into this choice.
Exactly!
I have this TV writing pet peeve that I refer to as the 'reset'. It's the episode or action that resets an arc a character development. Kara and Lee in TaB fall into this reset category. They made huge strides in their relationships over the episodes since UB, only to undone. It's not out of character but it feels artificial in terms of trajectory.
Not only do I really dislike the forced feeling of resets they almost always preceded a 'jump the shark' moment for me, in this case, Kara's death. (Occasionally the reset precedes a big step forward in character development but TV is pretty afraid of characters changing so much during the run of show so it's usually a big forced plot point that ends up not working so well for me, personally.)
See, I love this scene. I love that their marriages are not an easy way out of their issues. Lee doesn't trust Kara, and Kara won't give Lee a reason to trust her, and that is the biggest factor in how they got where they did in S3.
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**cries all the tears**
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But the thing that lingers is how much it feels like the jumping off point for a resolution, like it was written for a different ending. Anymore I find that more frustrating than any real emotional conection to the scene. It feels so hanging I feel cheated.
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Exactly! I remember watching this the first time, seeing Sam and then Dee give them permission to break up - and then being TOTALLY BEWILDERED that they ended up back with their spouses by the end of the episode. I see your point about this being in character, but it still feels to me like the writers forcing them into this choice.
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Exactly!
I have this TV writing pet peeve that I refer to as the 'reset'. It's the episode or action that resets an arc a character development. Kara and Lee in TaB fall into this reset category. They made huge strides in their relationships over the episodes since UB, only to undone. It's not out of character but it feels artificial in terms of trajectory.
Not only do I really dislike the forced feeling of resets they almost always preceded a 'jump the shark' moment for me, in this case, Kara's death. (Occasionally the reset precedes a big step forward in character development but TV is pretty afraid of characters changing so much during the run of show so it's usually a big forced plot point that ends up not working so well for me, personally.)
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