rain down, jazz night

[ink_splotch]

Stolen off myhappyface.

The rules:

1) 13 characters. (We set a limit of 10, then I said "Well, we could do a dozen," then Betty said "We could do a baker's dozen." So.)
2) We stuck with FP characters.
3) There's a built-in cheat: SOs. They get to come along for the ride without being included in the actual list, sort of like in-laws. (Because I made up the rules, and I've always thought that if I get Ray Kowalski, that automatically means I get Ray Vecchio, too.)
4) SOs must truly be SOs - those people you feel OTPish about, or at least see as life-partners/soulmates - what they call someone's "lobster" on Friends. Not just a date or an attempt on your part to get extra characters. This does not mean it has to be a canon pairing or even a fandom-favorite pairing, as long as some circumstance has made them a lobster in your fantasy headspace.

I copied myhappyface's idea of talking more about why I ship the characters than why each is my favourite.



1. Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce (S.O. "Trapper" John McIntyre)
I love Hawkeye; I think he may be my favourite TV character ever. As to why I love them, I do believe I once wrote an entire essay on the subject.

2. Dr. John Watson (S.O. Sherlock Holmes)
Married. So incredibly married. There's something so intimate, so close about them, because at the end of the day, they have each other and that's it - and that's all they need. A year and half ago I wrote this: I slash them, because I can't bear the thought of someone breaking them up. I don't like the thought that *someone else* might be more important that them. The most important person in Sherlock Holmes' life, should in my opinion be John Watson and vice-versa.

Yeah, that still holds up.

3. Leo McGarry (S.O. Jed Bartlet)
Leo's such a great, great character, and John Spencer was an amazing actor; Jed can be my president anytime, and manages a great balance between humour, sincerity and just plain amazingness. Here goes the second definition: at least see as life-partners/soulmates. Leo and Jed have changed each other's lives - Jed saved Leo's life, dammit. They need each other politically, because Leo keeps Jed's eye on the point; at the same time, he also tries to shield Jed from the uglier sides of foreign policy, in particular. And yeah, sometimes it doesn't work out and it blows up in Leo's face, but he always tries to do what's best. Leo's basically the only person Jed lets get really close to him. Also, have you *seen* the way they look at each other? Bartlet for America, In Excelsis Deo, He Shall, From Time to Time, and then there's the moment in In The Shadow of Two Gunmen.

Also I manage to love these two, and think that Abby Bartlet is amazing and that the Bartlet marriage is the best marriage on TV.

4. Elizabeth Friis (S.O. Kristen Andersen-Skjern)
During their courtship (which, might I mention, takes place over 13 years. 13 years), Kristen gets married, Elizabeth manages to cause a scandal in the small town they live in three times, each time by being a "radical", the Second World War starts and ends, and they sleep together once, kiss twice, and get married. And yet, I love them. I love them so much. Elizabeth is the coolest woman on the show, strong, opinionated and yet incredibly vunerable. Kristen is such a sweet man, quite old-fashioned and yet very liberal. They have honest-to-god chemistry; they have banter and jazz-playing-sessions; again, the way they look at each other is amazing as well. And Elizabeth is damn cute.

5. Ruth Jamison (S.O. Idgie Threadgoode)
I love Fried Green Tomatoes. It's such a fun, small town, Southern book and the characters are wonderful, alive and personable. The relationship between Rith and Idgie carries the book. Ruth is wonderful; she's sympathetic, loving, selfless and giving; she's the good one, which usually doesn't appeal to me, but she manages to be the good one and still, still manages to be strong enough to tame Idgie, who is a wild thing, a tomboy and a leetle self-destructive before she meets Ruth. And yeah, they have their troubles and their screw-ups, and there's Ruth's marriage to Frank Bennet, but in the end, they're just too much a couple to let it break them. Also, Mary-Louise Parker is amazing in the film, and she and Mary Masterson have excellent chemistry.

6. Spock (S.O. James T Kirk)
I love Spock; he manages a balance between being a woobie, snarky and plain neat. As for Spock/Kirk, it's all about the movies. The series is slashy enough in and off itself, but I defy anyone to watch the first three movies and not conclude that Spock and Kirk love each other more than anything else. There's the conversation in The Motion Picture where they re-establish their connection ('This simple feeling', hands clasped, staring into each other's eyes); there's everything in Wrath of Khan, particularly Spock's death and Kirk's reaction to it; the entirety of Search for Spock, Kirk throws everything away for Spock and it's obviously worth it, so worth it, for the way Spock says Kirk's name - the first thing he remembers.

7. Benton Fraser (S.O. Ray Kowalski)
Aw, yeah. If you've been anywhere near my journal lately, you'll know I'm head-over-heels for the troubled, too-perfect, disturbed, sweet and courteous Mountie with an overblown sense of justice and intimacy issues. And I love his street-smart, constantly-talking, hurt, open cop partner as well. And they, they definitely love each other. From the first moment they meet in Burning Down the House there's chemistry. And then they develop this friendship, this relationship that's just amazing. They just work. Work very well. Just yesterday I was reading this girl's comment about how Fraser and Ray, they got this whole soulmates thing going for them - love at first sight (Fraser on love at first sight: I do believe it happens. He was willing to give his life for her), needing each other, supposed to be together. I'M A BIG SOPPY ROMANTIC OMG. (I also think this is one of the few pairings where I love both characters near equally; Fraser comes first only because he was what dragged me in).

8. Ali (S.O. Lawrence)
You know, before I saw Lawrence of Arabia, if anyone'd told me I'd be head-over-heels for a character who, in his first scene, kills someone in cold blood, I'd have called them mad. But Ali is an amazing character, acting for much of the film as the moral centerpiece. Beyond that, the acting done with Omar Sharif's *eyes* blows me away. Ali is almost the only person who sees Lawrence as a man, first and foremost, and he is in turn suspicious, adoring, fearing and loving. Ali sees Lawrence, and that hurts him. The angst, the angst.

Off the top of my head, I can't come up with more OTPs. I mean, I love Abby, but I can see her with lots of characters. I've got a new-found craving for Izzie/Addison (from Gray's Anatomy), but OTP is going a bit far there. And then there's Dan/Duck, which I did kind of want to write up as well, because I love Dan. And Duck. But I haven't been in fandom that long, I don't feel comfortable talking about it ;)

Comments

[lattara.livejournal.com]

I second 3, 5, 7 and 8, and want to know where I can find 4.

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

Hee! 4 is from Matador. Because I AM THAT COOL OMG.