Still Nerdy After All These Years

St. Joseph’s newly renovated reception hall was full at 7:30 on Sharon Raydor’s wedding night. Sharon and her bridesmaids had spent the previous night stringing twinkle lights, drinking wine coolers, and creating the reception playlist to replace the DJ who had the audacity to cancel the week before the wedding. By the time the vows were sealed with a kiss, bunches of baby’s breath peeked out of the vases on every table, lights sparkled in rows across the room, and place cards assigned everyone to their proper place.

Andy Flynn and Sharon Raydor deserved nothing less than to celebrate their nuptials in style.

As tradition demanded, husband and wife graced the dance floor first. The cream colored pleated skirt of Sharon’s reception dress fluttered against her knees every time she took a step, and Andy’s eyes devoured the skin peeking beneath the lacy top. “Any regrets so far?” Sharon teased, inching one side of her v-neck to cover more of her tasteful cleavage. She giggled when Andy tugged her off balance only to catch her in time for the first step.

“None.” Andy’s breath warmed the skin behind Sharon’s ear, validating her decision to pin her hair up.

After nuzzling Andy’s neck, Sharon eased back far enough to show him how happy she was. An hour and half and counting, and she couldn’t stop smiling. Just when she thought she could give her cheeks a rest, he would kiss her hand, or feed her cake, or pick “Unchained Melody” for their first dance and let her lead.

“We did it,” Sharon said, draping her arm farther around his neck. Tearing her eyes away from Andy’s giddy smile, Sharon scanned the room full of family. “And everyone’s here.”

Andy spun her a few times, because he knew she loved to see her skirt twirl, but pulled her back before too long. “Yeah, we know how to throw a party, huh?”

Sharon scoffed. “I’ve only had one drink and not quite all of one dance. The party’s just getting started.”

Glancing at the bridal party’s long table, Andy rolled his eyes. “Tell that to Provenza. Three glasses of champagne, and he’s practically under the table.”

“Ah-ah,” Sharon said, fingers covering Andy’s lips. “No grumbling today, remember? This is our day to be blissfully and disgustingly happy.”

Andy kissed her fingertips. “You make me this happy every day,” he murmured.

Oh, this man. Sharon stopped smiling for long enough to hum and kiss him, in front of everyone, because she could. They could make out for the rest of the night, right here on the dance floor, and no one could say a word. Today gave them license to show their entire little world how much they looked forward to spending the rest of their lives together.

“You’re so hot when you multitask,” Andy breathed against her lips when he realized Sharon hadn’t missed a step. 

Sharon laughed wickedly as Andy lowered her into a deep dip, prompting claps and whistles from their guests. “Then you’ll love my plans for this evening.”

Growling, Andy pulled Sharon upright, their noses inches apart. Sharon’s smile softened his intent, and they only exchanged an Eskimo kiss. Sharon smoothed her hands up Andy’s lapels and around his neck, coaxing him closer as the dance ended[R1] . Their guests’ applause broke them apart, and as planned, their children swept them up next. Ricky and Nicole each grabbed a parent, leaving Rusty and Emily to open the dance floor for the rest of the party. Before long, most of the bridal party was dedicated to embarrassing themselves by dancing to songs that only the older half knew.

By the next dance, husband and wife were reunited on the dance floor. Looking around at a room packed with friends and family, Sharon was relieved to see her happiness reflected on so many faces. Even Sanchez bore a grin, but since he chose Chief Johnson as his dance partner, he couldn’t hide his amusement. Cathy Tao kept far away from her husband, whose dance moves were frightening even before alcohol. Andrea, whose inhibitions were too strong to be conquered by pesky emotions, enjoyed herself on the sidelines with Fritz and a hefty slice of cake. Amy and Wes huddled in a corner with Elliott, trying to avoid dance partners. Andy’s grandchildren—Sharon’s step grandchildren—chased each other around the reception hall.

“Hey.” Andy squeezed Sharon’s waist. “You okay?”

Sharon’s smile could have lit all of Los Angeles. “I’m perfect. Everything is perfect. I’ve never been so happy.” She shook her head incredulously. “How did we get so lucky?”

“Hey, we worked hard for this,” Andy said, only half teasing. “Everything we’ve endured, everything we’ve given up, everything we’ve suffered—and we ended up here.”

Here, swaying in the arms of the love of her life, surrounded by everyone they love. Leaning forward, Sharon rested her forehead against her husband’s. “I’d do it all again, to be here with you.”

Center Stage / The Last Jedi

“Indian staff from the Indian Space Research Organisation celebrate after the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft entered Mars’s orbit.

On November 5, 2013, a rocket launched toward Mars. It was India’s first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan, and a terrific gamble. Only 40 percent of missions sent to Mars by major space organizations—NASA, Russia’s, Japan’s, or China’s—had ever been a success. No space organization had succeeded on its first attempt. What’s more, India’s space organization, ISRO, had very little funding: while NASA’s Mars probe, Maven, cost $651 million, the budget for this mission was $74 million. 

This was not the only success of the mission. An image of the scientists celebrating in the mission control room went viral. Girls in India and beyond gained new heroes: the kind that wear sarees and tie flowers in their hair, and send rockets into space.”

FUCK YES. THIS IS THE TYPE OF REPRESENTATION I’VE BEEN HERE FOR!!

Laura Roslin

Happy, or something like it.

Laura Roslin: “And, uh, thank you, doctor.”

Sherman Cottle: “I’m just doing my job.”

Laura Roslin: ” No. You’ve done much more than that. You’ve taken a patient who should’ve died years ago, and you’ve given her a chance despite cancer, and the Cylons, and her own obstinate nature. And you’ve… You’ve given me the little time I have left, and for that you- you have my- my heartfelt gratitude and my thanks.”

Sherman Cottle: “Well, I-I…I don’t know what to say.”

Do you know how rare that felt in the mid-2000s, when every Kate-centric episode on Lost was met with a groan and everyone cheering Ana Lucia’s death, when Jenny Schecter became the most hated character in lesbian culture, when we had all these cable shows revolving around male antiheroes that were afforded so much ethical leniency and the equivalent behavior in women was cause for torches and pitchforks? 

To me, Roslin is the female character of the last decade that comes closest to being allowed, and valued for, the kind of complexity and ambiguity usually reserved for those male antihero stories. She wasn’t an antihero herself, per se, but she was placed in that same narrative position of doing bad things that somehow felt justified by the situation: executing helpless prisoners, attempting to rig a democratic election, ordering infanticide, claiming a divine right to rule. Alarming and terrible and sometimes misguided things that, somehow, the audience kept cheering for. Because the show never punished her for not being the soft caretaker that women are ~supposed~ to be.

And I think this is precisely the brilliance of Battlestar’s treatment of gender. It wasn’t just that we got a female version of cocky, cigar-smoking Starbuck: it was that the gendered filters of storytelling got swept off the table. 

Admiral Adama was the military commander but he wasn’t for power grabs and bravado; he was emotional, he let his heart guide him even when it wasn’t wise, his primarily imperative was was keeping people safe. Giving them hope. Protecting his kids. It was such a tender portrayal of masculinity.

Meanwhile, Roslin had an arc that’s more typical of male characters: taking up the burden of power, heeding the call as the prophet, approaching politics pragmatically and, at times, somewhat ruthlessly. (See also; Admiral Cain).

It was fucking magnificent, I’m getting so hyped just thinking about it. And it makes me wonder why other shows couldn’t do this; why they couldn’t allow their female protagonists to be morally or ethically ambiguous without apologizing for it.