I liked the way romantic relationships were handled on WaT until the Danny/Elena tedium of S5. It felt as if there was real progression with the Sam/Jack Malone and Sam/Martin relationships. I found the S1 WaT post-relationship snark and angst and Sam's bitter witty comments really enjoyableand intriguing, and the scene where Jack tells her it's over very moving. And I was thinking 'You'd better get in there and save her life after dumping her, you bastard!' for the excellent S1 season-ender too. I thought it was very realistic, as was them getting together in the first place and them breaking up and the impact it had on Jack's marriage that he'd had an affair, and then ditto with Sam and Martin with his conservative upbringing and white picket fence outlook and her baggage from her childhood and relationship with Jack Malone. (If you're going to show a woman dating a guy who is years too old for her at least acknowledge that she has serious Daddy Issues.) I also loved that where all those relationships have ended up at the moment is with them all really caring for one another and usually being there for one another. On the other hand Danny and Elena just bores me to distraction now and I wish they'd hurry up and have an angsty break up as Danny is so annoying when he's with her. (All TV couples should be as endearing as Willow/Oz or Willow/Tara or as entertaining as Xander/Cordelia by diktat, I think.)
I also wonder why, if TV writers are filled with little shippy yearnings that simply MUST be fulfiled or they will die from the lack of them, there aren't more relationships that are already established when the show begins, like Zoe's marriage to Wash in 'Firefly'. I loved that relationship and thought it was beautifully handled. (As was Simon and River's sibling relationship, which I thought was incredibly moving.) Unlike the Mal/Inara tedium which I thought was the bog standard TV standby 'we have to spin this relationship out for five seasons without it going anywhere interesting so we'll start boring you with it in the pilot and then have it move not a single inch in any direction thereafter' yawnathon. Okay, with the Zoe/Wash relationship, the sudden jealousy from Wash in 'War Stories' did seem a bit pulled out of nowhere but as it led to total awesomeness later from Zoe in the episode I forgive it completely.
I would admittedly also forgive the Mal/Inara thing for its dullness if spoilers could be produced that showed Joss Whedon's original intention was that post-Serenity, Inara would fatally stab Mal with a nailfile because of his total inability to STFU, before eloping with Kaylee (who had finally caught up with the rest of the world and realized that Simon is irretrievably gay) and that the apparent dull predictability of the Mal/Inara stuff was just to lull us into a false sense of complacency.
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I liked the way romantic relationships were handled on WaT until the Danny/Elena tedium of S5. It felt as if there was real progression with the Sam/Jack Malone and Sam/Martin relationships. I found the S1 WaT post-relationship snark and angst and Sam's bitter witty comments really enjoyableand intriguing, and the scene where Jack tells her it's over very moving. And I was thinking 'You'd better get in there and save her life after dumping her, you bastard!' for the excellent S1 season-ender too. I thought it was very realistic, as was them getting together in the first place and them breaking up and the impact it had on Jack's marriage that he'd had an affair, and then ditto with Sam and Martin with his conservative upbringing and white picket fence outlook and her baggage from her childhood and relationship with Jack Malone. (If you're going to show a woman dating a guy who is years too old for her at least acknowledge that she has serious Daddy Issues.) I also loved that where all those relationships have ended up at the moment is with them all really caring for one another and usually being there for one another. On the other hand Danny and Elena just bores me to distraction now and I wish they'd hurry up and have an angsty break up as Danny is so annoying when he's with her. (All TV couples should be as endearing as Willow/Oz or Willow/Tara or as entertaining as Xander/Cordelia by diktat, I think.)
I also wonder why, if TV writers are filled with little shippy yearnings that simply MUST be fulfiled or they will die from the lack of them, there aren't more relationships that are already established when the show begins, like Zoe's marriage to Wash in 'Firefly'. I loved that relationship and thought it was beautifully handled. (As was Simon and River's sibling relationship, which I thought was incredibly moving.) Unlike the Mal/Inara tedium which I thought was the bog standard TV standby 'we have to spin this relationship out for five seasons without it going anywhere interesting so we'll start boring you with it in the pilot and then have it move not a single inch in any direction thereafter' yawnathon. Okay, with the Zoe/Wash relationship, the sudden jealousy from Wash in 'War Stories' did seem a bit pulled out of nowhere but as it led to total awesomeness later from Zoe in the episode I forgive it completely.
I would admittedly also forgive the Mal/Inara thing for its dullness if spoilers could be produced that showed Joss Whedon's original intention was that post-Serenity, Inara would fatally stab Mal with a nailfile because of his total inability to STFU, before eloping with Kaylee (who had finally caught up with the rest of the world and realized that Simon is irretrievably gay) and that the apparent dull predictability of the Mal/Inara stuff was just to lull us into a false sense of complacency.