Also fair -- but honestly, I found it in-character. Her loneliness was a fairly fundamental character point from the beginning, and I empathized with that a lot. Mind, I'm someone who does *not* do well alone -- I've been happily married nearly my entire adult life -- so I really felt for her on this. I find the male-stoic "I don't need relationships" character type just plain weird, personally.
Sure -- and I'm also in the "has basically always been in a long-term relationship since I started dating" bucket. But I think there's a difference between "I don't need relationships" and "I don't need romantic relationships" (and also a difference between "I don't need romantic relationships ever" and "I don't need a romantic relationship right now, thanks" and "This story is about other things than my romantic relationships").
The canonical cop-buddy TV show with two male protagonists features a very strong *relationship* between the two cops (or cop-analogues); just not a romantic one. (And thus was slash fiction born...but seriously, I think having a genre that emphasizes intimate, non-romantic relationships is actually a good thing, culturally speaking.) I always rejoice when I come across a mixed-gender example of that setup -- and am always a little (or a lot) disappointed when it eventually gets turned into a romance after all. I did not actually watch enough X-files to reach that point, but just hearing about it made me mad. Another example is Fringe, which I did watch. Or, for that matter, BSG with Apollo & Starbuck. Not that the romance plots are necessarily objectionable in and of themselves. But is it too much to ask to have an on-screen male/female friendship that just stays a friendship?
Anyway, I agree that Kiera is isolated and exiled and lonely, and that that's a major theme of the story. But one of the things that happens over the course of the show is she makes friends and forms loyalties. On the other hand, one of the other things that happens is maybe that's never quite (or never yet) enough. On the other other hand, as a viewer I was pretty invested in the continuing evolution of her relationships with Alec and Carlos and various of the other characters she was starting to become friends with. The show did not convince me to be invested in Brad, because he came out of nowhere and didn't get the slow relationship development everyone else got.
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Date: 2017-11-20 01:03 am (UTC)Sure -- and I'm also in the "has basically always been in a long-term relationship since I started dating" bucket. But I think there's a difference between "I don't need relationships" and "I don't need romantic relationships" (and also a difference between "I don't need romantic relationships ever" and "I don't need a romantic relationship right now, thanks" and "This story is about other things than my romantic relationships").
The canonical cop-buddy TV show with two male protagonists features a very strong *relationship* between the two cops (or cop-analogues); just not a romantic one. (And thus was slash fiction born...but seriously, I think having a genre that emphasizes intimate, non-romantic relationships is actually a good thing, culturally speaking.) I always rejoice when I come across a mixed-gender example of that setup -- and am always a little (or a lot) disappointed when it eventually gets turned into a romance after all. I did not actually watch enough X-files to reach that point, but just hearing about it made me mad. Another example is Fringe, which I did watch. Or, for that matter, BSG with Apollo & Starbuck. Not that the romance plots are necessarily objectionable in and of themselves. But is it too much to ask to have an on-screen male/female friendship that just stays a friendship?
Anyway, I agree that Kiera is isolated and exiled and lonely, and that that's a major theme of the story. But one of the things that happens over the course of the show is she makes friends and forms loyalties. On the other hand, one of the other things that happens is maybe that's never quite (or never yet) enough. On the other other hand, as a viewer I was pretty invested in the continuing evolution of her relationships with Alec and Carlos and various of the other characters she was starting to become friends with. The show did not convince me to be invested in Brad, because he came out of nowhere and didn't get the slow relationship development everyone else got.