dangermousie: (Max & Liz B&W)
[personal profile] dangermousie
I am going to get to my BSG write-up later today. 2.4 was soooo good. And also need to go through flist. Go away for a weekend and everything explodes :)

OK, the Roswell thing is becoming an addiction, as I am already on Ep 11. I guess if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

But how can I resist? It’s like Bollywood only with teenagers and no songs. I am a sucker for all the angst.

I have to say, seeing that serious and very responsible guys are a thing of mine, Max is really developing into a big TV crush of mine. Especially when he not only thinks the burden of the world is on his shoulders but also has a mad pash-angst thing going on. He was written just for me! Plus, if he isn't mad at you when your actions can potentially result in his death, he is a keeper. And that whole tendency to blame self for everything? (the inverse side of control issues). Great because he will spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to you.

Well, actually, I prefer my SO’s not being wanted by the government for dissection, and my idea of a date is a bit more fun then trying to check out ancient runes, but hey, he looks like a good kisser so there are compensations I suppose.



It’s funny, because you know how a lot of girls go through the stage where they find bad boys attractive? Well, Liz is too goody-two-shoes to take up with a biker (or even someone like Michael), but this way she has solved this dilemma because she gets both a really upright and upstanding solid citizen (the only kind of boy she really could fall for), and the “wanted by the F.B.I. guy” for the bad boy part. Heee.

The funny thing is, if it wasn’t for the alien thing, Liz and Max would totally be the couple who’d date through high school and college, get married and have 2.5 kids and a nice house, be volunteers in the community and send their kids to Sunday school. And he’d take her away somewhere nice on their anniversary. But of course, there is the little problem of his coming from “up there somewhere” which puts the kibosh on the white picket fence. And ergo their pain, and ergo my entertainment. But as it is, I love all the melodrama: the whole “he says he has to stay away from her” thing which gets broken when he rushes to the hospital because her grandmother is sick and he is worried about her (awwww, and he comes up with an utterly lame excuse and there is staring and he gets beaten up), and the whole “he knows they will get hurt and he doesn’t care for himself because it would be worth it, but he doesn’t want to see her hurt” (uber awww, but my husband who was in the room was telling him to get more testosterone. This is NOT a show for guys). And their lovely first kiss on the terrace with all the lights and how he says if he stays one moment more he won’t be able to help himself and then there is kissing (and I squee) and he stops after a really short kiss to see if she is OK with it….Le sigh. I also liked (on the angsty level, duh) when he gets mad at her because he wants to see her and can’t and wrecks the school bathroom (I like it when he loses his temper which happened all of once, so far), and when he tells her their brief relationship is over (sigh). And their first date was completely adorable, what with the billiards, and the dinner and the dancing (I also love his not telling his sis and Michael it’s a date. Heee). Made me want to ruffle their hair and give them lumps of sugar. Basically, considering he can also heal you from bullet wounds and help you communicate with your dying grandmother, the ideal boyfriend. Except for the “wanted dead or alive” thing. :D

I do like Liz, too. She seems pretty persistent and straightforward about what she wants, and she is quiet and rather sure of herself (love that after their breakup, she asks him to pause and gives him a kiss “to remember”). But I guess it’s easy to be secure when someone allowed you inside literally and you can see what they feel about you. I don’t think Max would be up for the verbal sparring and the tug of war. He is pretty reserved, and he’d just withdraw. Basically, they are totally Harry/Ginny.

But I like that the more the show goes on, the less perfect Max is. Because Liz is right, he is controlling. That’s the corollary of being the responsible one, and I think because he is so scared of discovery, and because so much of his background is a mystery, he tries to keep control of what he has/knows as much as he can.

Well, if Max/Liz are the “soulmates” types, I have to say that Michael/Maria amuses me even more. They don’t have an ideal kiss on a candlelit terrace. It’s more of a spur of the moment smooch in the kitchen. They don’t have lovely speeches about “not being able to bear to hurt you,” as Michael is not much into verbal communication, is he?

Now I see why [livejournal.com profile] crumpeteer loves Michael. Because I do too. I started liking him when he came and returned Liz’s journal to her. And I LOLed when he tried to pick up that nurse in the hospital with great aplomb to cover up the theft of Max's blood. He is snarky and funny and has a complete Ron/Hermione snark at each other/make out dynamic with Maria. Kinda vulnerable, deep down, too, and more intelligent than he lets on (as his conversation with Maria in the motel shows). He’s also pretty emotionally unavailable unless you are Max or Isabel, but since I am not his girlfriend and he is a fictional character, I don’t mind.

I love the whole “he highjacks Maria’s car and they go to Texas” bit. And they actually have a conversation (!!!). But word to the wise: Maria is extraordinarily low maintenance. She doesn’t require “love me forever” type of commitment Liz would (probably because she comes from a screwed-up family. I love her Mom saying that Maria doesn’t tell her anything any more. I guess “making out in closets with aliens” is a hard to explain thing), she doesn’t even seem to require pretty speeches or being taken out on dates. She just wants a little something more than just necking in closets. And any girl that put up with getting her car (with her inside) taken, and ending up in a motel she labels “the porn version of Aladdin” and still likes you, is kinda a keeper. I think if you can’t keep Maria, you can’t keep anybody. So yeah, seems so far Michael is going to remain extraordinarily single :D

The funny thing is, and I think I like this ship because, when (e.g.) Maria says that she knows what they have isn’t true love, there is an undertone there that she would love to be convinced wrong. She is a hard-headed cynic by necessity and would like to believe is soulmates, star-crossed lovers, all that Liz/Max stuff for herself, but she doesn’t want to get her hopes up. And I think Michael has that same guarded thing going on. Sort of like you don’t expect good things to happen to you because then you won’t be disappointed. Because he clearly likes her but couldn’t express it if his life depended on it. (And you do see a hint of it when he talks to Max and says that he’s been worrying all week that what if he will hurt her just by being who he is, which is a very Max thing to think, but Michael being Michael would never even say that to Maria, but just draw back. Awwwww).

Favorite scene actually involves Michael and Maria because it’s so darn funny. They are necking in a closet, and it goes like this:
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: You know, you just drag me into the closet…
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: So?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: shouldn’t we at least exchange pleasantries?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Michael: All right, how are you?
*smooch, smooch, smooch*
Maria: Fine
*smooch, smooch, smooch*

ROFL.

But yeah, I love Maria, even to the extent of girl-crushing on her, because she is funny, and in a dramatic way unflappable, and very straightforward (also, her drama queen side has a lot of fun fighting with Michael who kinda likes being pushed).

I also like Isabel by now, she has been very humanized (e.g. in her desire to tell their adopted Mom), and Alex is cool, but I don’t have much interest in them, as there is no romantic angst or hotness factor there.

And the guidance councellor? Duh she is evil. She is played by Angel's Darla after all.

Date: 2005-08-08 08:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
That's true. Max had to stay away from Muggl...errr, humans, on principle, but he did have human loving parents so he let someone in by definition. Even if he never healed Liz, he'd still have someone he loved he'd have to leave behind (and of course, even prior to talking to Liz he was in love with her). Ditto for Isabel.

Michael's only people he cared about were the fellow freaks. He had no loving parents or hidden love for a human girl or any of that baggage.

he pulls a Harry Potter by trying to keep her safe by cutting her out

If anyone did that to me, I'd be torn between "awwww" of "he loves me so much and is so caring" and the strong desire to hit him with something exceedingly hard because it's not his choice.

Date: 2005-08-08 08:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crumpeteer.livejournal.com
Yeah, that type is infuriating because you know they mean well, but it's not their decision to make. But at the same time they have a point. Michael's in a lose lose situation. He'd never forgive himself if he hurt her, but then he wants her too.

And Michael can be startlingly if awkwardly romantic at times. I always liked he and Maria's more realistic relationship to Liz and Max's idealized one.

Date: 2005-08-08 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Michael's in a lose lose situation

Exactly. Because no matter the kind of disclaimer she gives, if she is hurt, she is hurt and the fact that she took the risk earlier won't make it OK.

I always liked he and Maria's more realistic relationship to Liz and Max's idealized one.

I think when you are 16, a lot of girls dream of the Max/Liz thing, not Michael/Maria. I like them both (and husband is certainly more of a Max than Michael), but realistically, at that age, even if you truly love each other, you are going to end up in a Michael/Maria one, with the awkwardness, and the necking rather than the speeches.

Date: 2005-08-08 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crumpeteer.livejournal.com
And Michael is the Anakin type where if someone they care about is hurt, they don't grieve quietly, they implode on themselves, rip things to shreds and get even. It's because he (at that point) has no leash on his emotions when it comes down to it. Yes, he can suppress them, but he can't control them. Same as Anakin. They suppress and they suppress and then they just blow and take everything with them. Michael recognizes that that's what he is (his personality and his powers probably coordinate) and he starts doing damage control ahead of time by pushing Maria out.

Date: 2005-08-08 08:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
he can suppress them, but he can't control them. Same as Anakin

Guuh, you always put it so well. Of course, Michael is smarter and/or more self-aware than Anakin if he is trying to do damage control ahead of time. Much better than just assuming everything will be hunky dory and ending up having hell to pay.

But it sucks to be the woman involved in either case.

Date: 2005-08-08 09:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crumpeteer.livejournal.com
That ended up being Anakin's issue. He didn't have enough foresight to realize how he was acting was not acceptable. I think Michael KNOWS how he's acting isn't acceptable, he just relies on Max to make the decisions. He KNOWS he's being a jerk or he wouldn't tell Maria to be patient with him. Yes, he's destructive and he's selfish and he's emotionally stunted, but he loves Maria and would die before he let anything happen to her. He proves that over and over later on.

Date: 2005-08-08 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
I think Michael KNOWS how he's acting isn't acceptable, he just relies on Max to make the decisions

And I think that's the crucial difference. Anakin has no one to hold the leash on him. He won't allow anyone. Michael, however annoyed he might get at Max's caution, or level-headedness, or better life, knows that it's better to leave decision making of crucial nature to Max.

Michael, unlike Anakin, doesn't seem to be arrogant. Maybe because Anakin has known he is the "Chosen One," the only one, from childhood, while Michael isn't the prophesied messiah, but one of three aliens, with a miserable home life to boot.

he's destructive and he's selfish and he's emotionally stunted

To be fair, to be emotionally stunted at 16 isn't a horrible crime (or even all that unusual). And allowing your selfishness to fade enough to try to take care of the few people you do love is quite a good thing.

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