womenlovefest day 1: Vala Mal Doran

I could not NOT claim Vala for this, as strange as it may sound. Vala and I are probably very close to being polar opposites, name similarity notwithstanding. Even as I found myself grimacing at Daniel's treatment of her on screen, deep down I knew that I would have probably done the same thing in real life.

And yet, there is something oddly fascinating about what lies beyond that shallow façade of hers. I blame most of her inappropriateness and apparently reckless action on bad writing. They pushed the comedic aspect too far but they were dealing with a character that had very little comedy, or cheerfulness in her life. They turned it into a farce at every chance they got, and while I found Vala's antics entertaining, and Black's performance spot-on and thoroughly enjoyable, the character suffered in terms of consistency and depth.

There was so much more about Vala Mal Doran than the few snippets of bare humanity we saw in seasons 9-10. She was never a poster girl for honesty and ethics, but when she was first introduced, we saw a cunning con artist, smart, tech-savy, who could hack and take command of a huge ship based on unfamiliar technology. We learn that she's an ex-host, a survivor, and that she has to deal not only with the haunting memories of the atrocities that her Goa'uld committed materially through her body, but with the knowledge that she can never go back to her old life.

I will try to discuss different aspects of the character during this week, and try and bring to the fore what quite obviously simmered under the surface and yet - almost - never had the chance to emerge on screen. Tonight I'm leaving you with a song that I included in a Vala fanmix back in 2007 and that I feel strongly relates to her emotional story:

( Dido - Life for Rent )

womenlovefest day 1: Laura Roslin

I might have bitten off more than I can chew here. I admit I am intimidated by Laura Roslin, as a woman, and as a character in a more technical, narrative sense, because she's so three-dimensional and multi-layered. A contradicting tangle of raw emotions, cold-blooded rationality, subtle manipulation, stubborn resilience, instinctive nurturing and deep faith. The complexity with which all these traits interweave with one another, triggering actions that affect the entire fleet, goes beyond every other television character I've known before. She's eerily human.

I feel I have not cracked the Roslin code yet, so this is going to be quite a challenge.