Strong Women and Bad Men

[orichalcum]

So, first of all, I found this episode rather boring and badly written and most of the characters still don't feel right, _especially_, in this episode, Tyrol and Athena.

But that's not my big complaint. My big complaint is the whole Kara-Leoben thing. And yes, she's kinda messed up right now.

But Helo is totally right. Leoben is the guy who _locked her up for months_ and sexually harassed if not raped her and mentally abused her and is all messed up. You don't let a guy like that touch you.

Rapists don't get second chances with their victims.

And this is why, perhaps unfairly, I'm blaming this a bit on Espenson, because it reminded me so much of one of the Buffy arc plots I hated so much. Spike tried to rape Buffy. Plain and simple. Her then proceeding to reconcile with him? Not sexy. Icky.

Buffy and Kara Thrace are two of the strongest female characters ever on television. Please, please don't weaken them by having them go all soft and romantic in response to their abusers. It's not a good message.

Comments

[redhound.livejournal.com]

So I've erased several versions of the first thing I wanted to say, and I think the takeaway is that I just don't like BSG's approach to characterizing women, and I'm going to leave it be.

But the second thing I wanted to say still holds. Speaking of strong female characters, I can't believe Gunny went out like that. There are like three people left in the entire human race who can suck it up and do their damn job (and do it without making a big deal about sucking it up and doing their damn job, which counts out Tigh), and one gets killed in a random reactor accident. That shit is wrong.

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

What's WRONG is how little actually happens on this frickin' show.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Well, yes, that too.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Hmm..I'd be interested to hear more about that perspective at some point. But yeah, in my tiredness I totally forgot to mention Gunny. Poor Gunny.

Who else are you thinking of? Gaeta? He's gotten a bit whiny. I'll give you Dr. Cottle.

To be fair, a bunch of the Fleet people never planned on being career military, like Dee and Cally, and then got trapped into it by the Cylon attack. And, of course, the only person who actually gets to leave the Fleet is Daddy's Boy, despite the fact that he's the second most senior officer in the whole fleet, one of the best pilots, and has command experience.

But, of course, this is par with Adama's command decision to put remaining officers #3-6 (Starbuck, Helo, Athena, Gaeta) all together on the same small sewer ship, leaving...Racetrack and Tigh as the senior remaining officers on Galactica?

[redhound.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a list in mind, but on reflection I think Cottle and Racetrack are all we have left on the upsucking squad. Maybe Helo; his XO stint seems to have done him good. Maybe Zarek too, but he might be too much of a sociopath.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Helo has this perpetual air of being put-upon and "I'm the only sane person in this room." Which may be true, but doesn't get dealability points.

Racetrack I'll totally give you - and arguably Baltar's new bodyguard chick, whatever her name is. Although much of that cult is all about the whining and self-pity, appropriately enough for Baltar.

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

Heh. And here I was thinking that Helo was starting to grow on me this episode :) He just struck me as very practical and sane, and I wasn't getting a feeling of being put-upon from him at all. And yeah, poor Gunny. Lousy way to go.

And Baltar's Cult of Whine and Self-Congratulation is just not working for me at all...

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

Another friend of mine was appalled that, the fleet being as strapped for manpower as it is, the fate of the human race at stake, people had a party for Lee when he left to answer his true calling or whatever.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Dude, he's practically a deserter.

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

I have now seen the episode, and I am so with you!

I could barely watch the Kara and Leoben scenes - they bothered me that much. And I had the same kind of revulsion at the Spike and Buffy relationship, for exactly the same reasons. There are no second chances after rape.

I would argue in Starbuck's favor that she didn't get exclusively soft and romantic - she did get pretty violent towards Leoben in the end, and I read her reluctance to kill him as stemming from the fact that she thought she needed his info, rather than from any emotional connection with him. But still. I could hardly watch some of those scenes. *shudder*

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe...but the painting scene was just...ick. I wanted Anders to kill him, I really did.

[lastclearchance.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the painting scene is the one that bothers me. Generally I explain it away as the result of her abuse as a child, plus probably (hopefully?) something that happened in the missing months, but even still the painting scene was a little much.