i coulda been a contender
This post has nothing to do with On The Waterfront.
Many recent posts have mentioned my OTPs and also how I use that term loosely when it's obvious it stands for one true pair. It's probably no surprise as to who "The Big Three" are. (No, not Denmark, Botswana & The Moon...) I've been him-hawing about whether or not I want to officially change my "Number-One-Everything-Sunny-All-The-Time-Always-Puking-Up-Rainbows-And-Prancing-Unicorns-One-True-Pair." So let's take a look at the Contenders...
Alex/Olivia has been Number One for me since 2004, which is 7 years of dedicated shipping. I have written fanfic for them. I have made 3 full fanmixes and have about a bajillion other ones started (I seriously have between 3-6 songs for practically every genre of music on lists for A/O fanmixes, such is my level of dedication.) I've made fanvideos for them. I still get in moods where all I want to do is go back through ralst's site and read my favorite A/O fics. They just have a really great love story. It's so dramatic and also romantic, all without actually being canon. Ostensibly, Alex had the same level of relationship with Elliot as she did with Olivia. Nothing more than friends, sometimes as cool as friendly colleagues. Alex has definitely shared heated arguments with both of them, but it always appeared that more was simmering just below the surface when she and Olivia butted heads. With Elliot, it just seemed they were annoyed with each other, whereas I get the feeling that both Alex and Olivia would not be above kissing each other just to get the other one to shut up. When Alex had to go into WPP, you could just see that it affected Olivia so much more than Elliot; that Alex was affected so much more by having to leave Olivia. And when she came back, the writers even played into the subtext. It's a constant game of having to leave each other and then being reunited, and it makes for good storytelling, in terms of shipping them. I think that's why they've held the Number One spot for so long. With every episode Cabot is in this season, I still try to wring out the tiniest bit of subtext, but let's face it... time has worn on and other fandoms and pairings have popped up. Which brings us to...
Leslie/Ben has been consuming my life since the beginning of the year. Out of the three ships in this post, I think I've talked about this one the most recently, so I'm not going to go into it extensively. One of the things that makes this ship so delightful for me, though, is the writing behind it. Mike Schur is about as big of a shipper as the fans, and in turn, we all trust him to deliver. He cares so much for his characters, as individuals and in relationships, that it just makes the viewing experience so enjoyable. And then you throw in the brilliant faceparts acting of Amy Poehler and Adam Scott, and it just takes it to an entirely new level of awesome. I can't get over how cute Leslie and Ben are together. And how much they love each other. And how much they respect each other. They're allowed to be dorks, and they're allowed to be confident, and to be vulnerable, and to roleplay as political heroes. Mike Schur lets them have real moments amid the goofy City Hall antics and I love that so much. ...that wasn't extensive, but it was still a lot lol. And finally...
Rizzoli/Isles. I would say this is my guilty-pleasure ship, just based on the cheese factor in several of the episodes, but I truly love them. The writing could be better, sure, but Janet Tamaro embraces the crazy "Rizzles" fangirls and even indulges them, so I can't complain too much. What I find funny is that Tamaro admits to indulging us with scenes like the one where they pretend to be girlfriends to get an unwanted male suitor to go away, but what she probably doesn't realize is that she unintentionally indulges us several times in every single episode. There is no way she doesn't see that. With the amount of times those girls touch each other, flirt with each other, gaze longingly into each other's eyes... Hell, Tess Gerritsen tweeted this last night: "You ladies have convinced me that there really is such a thing as eye sex. Because I'm seeing it!" Hello! They're totally girlfriends. Lesbian Lover/Life Long Best Friends Forever. And Maura may like Tommy, a lot. But she loves Jane. That is canon.
Sooo... who wins? Alex/Olivia has longevity. Leslie/Ben has canon-credibility. Rizzoli/Isles has... the thought of Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander together has short-circuited my brain and made it impossible for me to assign a one word advantage to them. Unfortunately for A/O, they're just not doing it for me like they used to, so I think it's between L/B and R/I. As I've mentioned before, L/B has my longest-sustained celebrity crush. And R/I has lesbians (well, in my head lol.) Right now, I think I'm going to declare a tie. Each show is currently playing new episodes, and I squee just as hard for each of them.
I think the true test will be in the hiatus. In Rizzoli & Isles' hiatus last year, I became consumed with Leslie/Ben to the point where I wasn't even interested in Rizzoli/Isles. The same did not happen when Parks & Rec went on hiatus and Rizzoli & Isles came back on. I think a lot of that has to do with LJ communities. The Leslie/Ben group is much more active/welcoming/filled with amazing fan fiction. Not that there isn't good fiction to be found on the Rizzoli/Isles group, it's just I don't think I've encountered one bad fic at leslie_ben yet. Statistically, you'd think there would be at least one bad fic. I've yet to find it. And I think that's amazing.
Anyway... I should really get to sleep. I would blame it on being on 3rd shift, but really, my sleeping schedule has always been fucked up. I slept 11 hours yesterday. And today I unintentionally stayed up until 2:30 and I have to be at work at 10:30. But what was I going to do, not read Rizzoli/Isles fan fiction about last night's episode? Notwatch Friends with Kids, which somehow is downloadable from links on tumblr? Right. That is one of the best movies ever. Jennifer Westfeldt's writing continues to be phenomenal. I still think Kissing Jessica Stein is one of the most smartly-written movies, and Friends with Kids did not disappoint, either. Also, I want to marry Adam Scott. The End.