A little experiment in vid form
The shippy poll over at about_time got me to thinking about why I think Six of One is so important to the A/R relationship, and in this vid I started to try to deal with it. (We'll see if it stays in that mode when I finish fleshing this out to a full length vid.)
We've seen Laura with two working/romantic partners. The first interaction we see with Adar (in the time line, not in the series run) is in Daybreak, where she leaves a message for him: that she's with him all the way to the end -- no matter what. And that matches the tone of what we saw in Epiphanies, the all-or-nothingness of "we're having a policy debate so both the job and the relationship are on the line." But with Bill, there are lines she never steps over. We see her flare with anger at Saul, at Baltar, but with Bill, the most we get is a snippy reply, a shake of the head, once a shoulder push. The wildcat is keeping her claws sheathed.
We've seen Bill with one romantic partner and with one female superior officer. With both he rolls over and works on perfecting his passive-aggressive repertoire. And he continues this with Laura, giving her the sad admiral eyes when she reprimands him, singing a perfect Sondheim chorus of Buddy's Blues ("Darling I'll do anything to keep you with me till you tell me that you love me oh you did now beat it will you?"). The tomcat tries to keep things working by pretending he's been neutered.
They both are keeping so much buttoned up inside, personally and professionally, and the one person they should most be able to share with, their equal number professionally, the person they've come to love, is the person each tries to keep away from the depth of the dark waters in their souls.
To me, that's a lot of what is keeping them from fully committing to each other. If you're dying of cancer, how can you trust a man to stick around if he's trying to keep things all sweetness and light? If you feel your control is slipping and you're seeking comfort at the bottom of a bottle, can you turn for support to a woman who's keeping everything between you on the level of conferences and shared laughs?
They're vicious in Six of One but, as bugsfic put it, they're "making love with hateful words." They finally trust each other enough to really let go, knowing that there is enough personal and professional respect that they don't need to tiptoe around, certain that the other will still be there in the morning. It's as domestic as sitting in the back seat of the car, listening to Mom and Dad argue, fearing they'll break up but knowing in your heart they won't. It's as over-the-top as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, mutually assured destruction as foreplay. It's Laura finally admitting she's in it with Bill all the way, to the end, no matter what, that this man wants all of it with her, wants the passion she can bring not only to her work, but also to her own feelings. It's Bill realizing that this is the woman he'll be with until the end, so it's time to grow a pair and stand up for himself -- because she expects nothing less of him, is not in this relationship to keep him down.
It's love, and it's about time.
Marry Me a Little [Excerpt]
By Stephen Sondheim, sung by John Barrowman
You can be my best friend
I can be your right arm.
We'll go through
A fight or two,
No harm, no harm.
We'll look not too deep,
We'll go not too far.
We won't have to give up a thing.
We'll stay who we are.
Right?
Okay, then.
I'm ready.
I'm ready now.
We've seen Laura with two working/romantic partners. The first interaction we see with Adar (in the time line, not in the series run) is in Daybreak, where she leaves a message for him: that she's with him all the way to the end -- no matter what. And that matches the tone of what we saw in Epiphanies, the all-or-nothingness of "we're having a policy debate so both the job and the relationship are on the line." But with Bill, there are lines she never steps over. We see her flare with anger at Saul, at Baltar, but with Bill, the most we get is a snippy reply, a shake of the head, once a shoulder push. The wildcat is keeping her claws sheathed.
We've seen Bill with one romantic partner and with one female superior officer. With both he rolls over and works on perfecting his passive-aggressive repertoire. And he continues this with Laura, giving her the sad admiral eyes when she reprimands him, singing a perfect Sondheim chorus of Buddy's Blues ("Darling I'll do anything to keep you with me till you tell me that you love me oh you did now beat it will you?"). The tomcat tries to keep things working by pretending he's been neutered.
They both are keeping so much buttoned up inside, personally and professionally, and the one person they should most be able to share with, their equal number professionally, the person they've come to love, is the person each tries to keep away from the depth of the dark waters in their souls.
To me, that's a lot of what is keeping them from fully committing to each other. If you're dying of cancer, how can you trust a man to stick around if he's trying to keep things all sweetness and light? If you feel your control is slipping and you're seeking comfort at the bottom of a bottle, can you turn for support to a woman who's keeping everything between you on the level of conferences and shared laughs?
They're vicious in Six of One but, as bugsfic put it, they're "making love with hateful words." They finally trust each other enough to really let go, knowing that there is enough personal and professional respect that they don't need to tiptoe around, certain that the other will still be there in the morning. It's as domestic as sitting in the back seat of the car, listening to Mom and Dad argue, fearing they'll break up but knowing in your heart they won't. It's as over-the-top as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, mutually assured destruction as foreplay. It's Laura finally admitting she's in it with Bill all the way, to the end, no matter what, that this man wants all of it with her, wants the passion she can bring not only to her work, but also to her own feelings. It's Bill realizing that this is the woman he'll be with until the end, so it's time to grow a pair and stand up for himself -- because she expects nothing less of him, is not in this relationship to keep him down.
It's love, and it's about time.
Click to viewMarry Me a Little [Excerpt]
By Stephen Sondheim, sung by John Barrowman
You can be my best friend
I can be your right arm.
We'll go through
A fight or two,
No harm, no harm.
We'll look not too deep,
We'll go not too far.
We won't have to give up a thing.
We'll stay who we are.
Right?
Okay, then.
I'm ready.
I'm ready now.