What I like about you
Nov. 22nd, 2003 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynWe were watching some old (well, of course, they're old, it's not like there are new episodes) Miami Vice eps last night, one of my favorite story arcs, where Sonny lost his memory and thought he was his drug-dealing alter ego Sonny Burnett ("that's B-U-R-N-E double T"). I always thought the Burnett arc was one of the best things ever on TV, partly because it started with Sonny shooting, in cold blood, an unarmed man who had murdered his wife (who later we see was armed, but at that time, and from Sonny's POV, he and we didn't know that). It was totally groundbreaking, no hero had ever done that on TV before, and then later, after being caught in an explosion, he loses his memory and thinks he is that drug dealing killer, so he murders people left and right, as easily and coldly as if he were picking his teeth after a meal. It's a chilling reversal of character, and as the arc continues and his friends find out he's alive but seems to have gone bad, everyone struggles with their love and belief in him. It culminates in one of the coolest scenes I've ever watched, with Sonny finally regaining enough memory to walk back into his unit's offices, and when everyone sees him they train their guns on him, the camera pans around him with his hands in the air, the entire squad pointing their weapons or staring in shock. It's so compelling and heartbreaking, and for a while, resurrected a show that had really gone downhill by the time the arc began at the end of the previous season.
Watching it again last night got me remembering that meme or whatever that was going around quite some time ago, where people were recounting their favorite fannish moments or things they love in fandom, or something -- I'm sure I'm getting it wrong, but I though it might be fun to try to put some down. The problem is, I probably have thousands of the things. As I remember, I'll probably put some more down later.
1. My first glimpse of Bodie and Doyle. I had developed a kind of second family in high school, and I used to spend all my Friday and Sat. nights at their house. In the summer between my high school graduation and starting college, my second mom, Mrs. O, kept telling me about this incredible British cop show they were watching late at night on Canadian TV. I balked over and over because Brit cop shows = dull, flat, videotape, lots of yakking, nothing interesting. Finally, as I was leaving one night, she dragged me into her daughter's room, where the end of Female Factor was showing. I saw Doyle on crutches, and Bodie looking slightly haunted, and that was it. Zing went the strings of my heart. All it took was that quick glimpse, and after that I raced to their house every Friday night, waiting for more.
2. The intricate, super cool, constantly mutating storyline of the Miami Vice eps Score and Golden Triangle, which gave us arguably the ultimate macho moment on TV -- Castillo strangling his old enemy, a huge guy, with one hand, the other hand still in his pants pocket, and it takes both Crockett and Tubbs to pull him off. And then Crockett who has to whisper soothing words to calm Marty down, the first time we've heard him call his boss Marty. Whee!
3. Buffy running Angel through with a sword in Becoming, because you never really love someone until you have to kill them, in my book. Truly one of the most operatically beautiful moments ever, and it still makes me cry, even after seeing it at least 50 times, if not more.
4. Spike standing with a shotgun in Buffy's back yard at the end of Fool for Love, planning to kill her, and then the looks that cross his face as he realizes he can't do it, that he cares more for her than he does for himself at that moment, and that he is looking at the face of his doom. Truly one of the best acting moments ever on the tube.
5. Fraser of Due South telling an old lady whose purse has just been stolen that he can't help her, in Victoria's Secret. For a man whose entire life has been about being kind and helpful, this is the nadir of his existence, and his shame and pain are palpable. The entire VS story was incredible, but that moment encapsulated everything about his character that was so often glossed over by fans, I thought.
6. The pilot episode of Now and Again, which didn't air their opening credits until 20 minutes into the episode, and had killed off John Goodman and introduced us to Dennis Haysbert's faustian Dr. Morris, and set up a mass murder by poison gas on a Japanese subway. Unusual, groundbreaking, and visually stunning, which pretty much described the rest of the series. Die, CBS, die.
7. Skinner's second regular appearance in season 2 of X-Files, when I realized that he was in love with both Mulder and Scully, and tormented by what he was doing. There's just nothing better than self-loathing and angst in a stoic character, and it was just a ton of fun watching his distance and control unravel over the season, just because he cared so much. Once I understood how much he cared, I found him strangely attractive, despite the mocking of so many other people.
8. Seeing Discovered in a Graveyard about 16 years after I'd become a Professionals fan. Canadian TV had stopped showing it midway through its third series, and for years I wandered the desert alone, never finding other fans, giving up on it because no one in the US had seen it. This was all back before the net, in the infancy of e-mail, etc., so there was no way to make easy connections with other fans. One night, after seeing some fan art at a science fiction con and realizing there might be hope, I had a dream that felt like an episode. After a few more years of trying, I finally hooked up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alvafan, and she showed me vids and eps, one of them being Graveyard. Not only was it an incredible, incredible episode, it was almost exactly like my dream. It was destiny, I tell you!
9. The Firefly moment in Out of Gas when Mal falls to the floor, shot, and the light from the door changes into the light from a door in his memory of the first time he was in Serenity; then the light changes again to he and Zoe moving out of the door in his memory, and then it's back to his face as he lies there, bleeding. Incredible visuals, incredibe camera work, and emotionally haunting story.
10. When Chris pushes a whiskey toward Vin in the Magnificent 7's first regular episode. These two guys have known each other but a couple days, and already Chris is talking about going back with Vin to the town where he's wanted for murder (possibly to get himself hanged), and making suggestive talk about "whiskey, a bed, more whiskey" as they sit and grin slashily at each other. It couldn't be more slashy unless they actually took their clothes off and screwed right there.
11. My first real glimpse of Clive Owen (I'd seen him before, but not paid attention), as I was flipping channels and caught Second Sight. He was driving a car, talking on a cell phone, and then his vision seemed to go wonky and he hit another car. The look on his face, of bafflement and rage, was just incredible, and I was in luuuurve.
12. The moment in Brimstone when Stone has saved his wife's life, but has to watch her from afar, still so in love, and then disappears as she stands on the porch, thinking she's seen her dead husband. Yummy, painful angst.
13. The pilot of Miracles, when the train hits Paul's car. The idea that a major show would kill off their protagonist in the first episode left me gobsmacked, and then that they showed him dying, the words "God is now here" forming in blood on the shattered rear window, and being brought back from death by the little boy was just.... gahhhhh! I'd never seen anything like it.
14. Lindsey's evil hand tirade at the end of Angel's Dead End episode (hence my icon). Still one of the funniest, most twisted moments in a funny and twisted universe, even if it was the end of his regular appearances on the show (my broken heart!).
15. Michael beating Nikita to within an inch of her life on Hard Landing, the first episode of the second season of LFN. They've set up that this guy could kill anyone with his pinky finger, and that he has to hurt the woman he loves so he can bring her back to Section, and that she would let him -- and only him -- do this to her... yum. She crawls back up his body after every blow, saying "more" because it has to look believable that she's been tortured, and he stares off in the middle distance, agonized. Sigh.
16. The entire LFN ep Into the Looking Glass. Every time I thought it couldn't get more incredible, it did, and then at the end they finally, after all that time apart and Nikita's brainwashing, make love, and the little sigh Michael gives as he holds her was worth more than a thousand I love yous from any other character on any other show.
Now I'm wondering just how much more this will jog in my memory.
Watching it again last night got me remembering that meme or whatever that was going around quite some time ago, where people were recounting their favorite fannish moments or things they love in fandom, or something -- I'm sure I'm getting it wrong, but I though it might be fun to try to put some down. The problem is, I probably have thousands of the things. As I remember, I'll probably put some more down later.
1. My first glimpse of Bodie and Doyle. I had developed a kind of second family in high school, and I used to spend all my Friday and Sat. nights at their house. In the summer between my high school graduation and starting college, my second mom, Mrs. O, kept telling me about this incredible British cop show they were watching late at night on Canadian TV. I balked over and over because Brit cop shows = dull, flat, videotape, lots of yakking, nothing interesting. Finally, as I was leaving one night, she dragged me into her daughter's room, where the end of Female Factor was showing. I saw Doyle on crutches, and Bodie looking slightly haunted, and that was it. Zing went the strings of my heart. All it took was that quick glimpse, and after that I raced to their house every Friday night, waiting for more.
2. The intricate, super cool, constantly mutating storyline of the Miami Vice eps Score and Golden Triangle, which gave us arguably the ultimate macho moment on TV -- Castillo strangling his old enemy, a huge guy, with one hand, the other hand still in his pants pocket, and it takes both Crockett and Tubbs to pull him off. And then Crockett who has to whisper soothing words to calm Marty down, the first time we've heard him call his boss Marty. Whee!
3. Buffy running Angel through with a sword in Becoming, because you never really love someone until you have to kill them, in my book. Truly one of the most operatically beautiful moments ever, and it still makes me cry, even after seeing it at least 50 times, if not more.
4. Spike standing with a shotgun in Buffy's back yard at the end of Fool for Love, planning to kill her, and then the looks that cross his face as he realizes he can't do it, that he cares more for her than he does for himself at that moment, and that he is looking at the face of his doom. Truly one of the best acting moments ever on the tube.
5. Fraser of Due South telling an old lady whose purse has just been stolen that he can't help her, in Victoria's Secret. For a man whose entire life has been about being kind and helpful, this is the nadir of his existence, and his shame and pain are palpable. The entire VS story was incredible, but that moment encapsulated everything about his character that was so often glossed over by fans, I thought.
6. The pilot episode of Now and Again, which didn't air their opening credits until 20 minutes into the episode, and had killed off John Goodman and introduced us to Dennis Haysbert's faustian Dr. Morris, and set up a mass murder by poison gas on a Japanese subway. Unusual, groundbreaking, and visually stunning, which pretty much described the rest of the series. Die, CBS, die.
7. Skinner's second regular appearance in season 2 of X-Files, when I realized that he was in love with both Mulder and Scully, and tormented by what he was doing. There's just nothing better than self-loathing and angst in a stoic character, and it was just a ton of fun watching his distance and control unravel over the season, just because he cared so much. Once I understood how much he cared, I found him strangely attractive, despite the mocking of so many other people.
8. Seeing Discovered in a Graveyard about 16 years after I'd become a Professionals fan. Canadian TV had stopped showing it midway through its third series, and for years I wandered the desert alone, never finding other fans, giving up on it because no one in the US had seen it. This was all back before the net, in the infancy of e-mail, etc., so there was no way to make easy connections with other fans. One night, after seeing some fan art at a science fiction con and realizing there might be hope, I had a dream that felt like an episode. After a few more years of trying, I finally hooked up with
alvafan, and she showed me vids and eps, one of them being Graveyard. Not only was it an incredible, incredible episode, it was almost exactly like my dream. It was destiny, I tell you!9. The Firefly moment in Out of Gas when Mal falls to the floor, shot, and the light from the door changes into the light from a door in his memory of the first time he was in Serenity; then the light changes again to he and Zoe moving out of the door in his memory, and then it's back to his face as he lies there, bleeding. Incredible visuals, incredibe camera work, and emotionally haunting story.
10. When Chris pushes a whiskey toward Vin in the Magnificent 7's first regular episode. These two guys have known each other but a couple days, and already Chris is talking about going back with Vin to the town where he's wanted for murder (possibly to get himself hanged), and making suggestive talk about "whiskey, a bed, more whiskey" as they sit and grin slashily at each other. It couldn't be more slashy unless they actually took their clothes off and screwed right there.
11. My first real glimpse of Clive Owen (I'd seen him before, but not paid attention), as I was flipping channels and caught Second Sight. He was driving a car, talking on a cell phone, and then his vision seemed to go wonky and he hit another car. The look on his face, of bafflement and rage, was just incredible, and I was in luuuurve.
12. The moment in Brimstone when Stone has saved his wife's life, but has to watch her from afar, still so in love, and then disappears as she stands on the porch, thinking she's seen her dead husband. Yummy, painful angst.
13. The pilot of Miracles, when the train hits Paul's car. The idea that a major show would kill off their protagonist in the first episode left me gobsmacked, and then that they showed him dying, the words "God is now here" forming in blood on the shattered rear window, and being brought back from death by the little boy was just.... gahhhhh! I'd never seen anything like it.
14. Lindsey's evil hand tirade at the end of Angel's Dead End episode (hence my icon). Still one of the funniest, most twisted moments in a funny and twisted universe, even if it was the end of his regular appearances on the show (my broken heart!).
15. Michael beating Nikita to within an inch of her life on Hard Landing, the first episode of the second season of LFN. They've set up that this guy could kill anyone with his pinky finger, and that he has to hurt the woman he loves so he can bring her back to Section, and that she would let him -- and only him -- do this to her... yum. She crawls back up his body after every blow, saying "more" because it has to look believable that she's been tortured, and he stares off in the middle distance, agonized. Sigh.
16. The entire LFN ep Into the Looking Glass. Every time I thought it couldn't get more incredible, it did, and then at the end they finally, after all that time apart and Nikita's brainwashing, make love, and the little sigh Michael gives as he holds her was worth more than a thousand I love yous from any other character on any other show.
Now I'm wondering just how much more this will jog in my memory.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 01:22 pm (UTC)i'm totally with you on points:
1 - Bodie & Doyle, when I was 14, unmissable appointment in the evenings. And for years I remembered DiaG from start to finish, it was such unusual telly for the times. And the jolt of emotion when I first saw the tapes in a Virgin store in Manchester.
6 - The pilot episode of Now and Again, yes! Die, CBS, die, I totally agree.
14 - Lindsey. 'nough said :)
For Spike, I think (can't remember title, sorry) when Buffy tells him "You're beneath me". The expressions on JM's face...oh my.
I'd add, for myself:
OZ - Keller and Beecher's New Year's Eve kiss.
Young Riders - Ike dying, for love, for nothing.
Highlander the series - Richie facing Duncan after Duncan ran away with the circus. An all grown-up Richie.
It's not telly, but...Boromir dying? Breaks my heart, my soul, since I read the books, and again on the big screen.
The first time I typed a TV series title in a net search engine :)
Thanks for this :)
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Date: 2003-11-22 01:30 pm (UTC)The end of FFL is one of the ultimate BTVS moments, especially because it was (I think..) the only time in the musical score they played the "Love Theme" for Buffy and Spike.
LFN. Sigh. LFN is the reason I can't watch Alias. Nikita could just beat the crap out of that skinny little spy-pretender. But the episode I remember most is when she follows Michael, and the door opens to the family scene with Michael holding his son.
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Date: 2003-11-22 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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