#rdlb

I think Kochanski and Lister do have some chemistry, like, the moment when he tries to draw her a bath and make her evening nicer was really sweet and completely caught me off guard since in most episodes she's the one taking care of him. I'm not a fan of the way their relationship is handled in Ouroboros so it was nice to get a Lister redemption moment in Duct Soup.

I also liked that Kochanski decided to mess with him by briefly lying about her reality, although I'm conflicted about the actual content of the conversation (idk, not the worst thing in the world, but as a gay person it does feel a bit uncomfortable to joke/lie about alternate Lister's sexuality). But there's potential for mischief here and I think that's really important, given that she's been presented in her debut as a relatively no-nonsense character/straight man to the boys' chaos. This interaction brings her from being a reactionary character to stirring things up herself and I really appreciated that.

I do like the witty insults and some of the interactions wrt Kochanski and Kryten's rivalry, but it feels like a way more annoying/sexist version of the Lister-Rimmer dynamic. Rimmer wouldn't (probably) have seriously sabotaged the ship in order to screw Lister over- not saying he wouldn't think really hard about it, but their relationship has kind of a weird affectionate feel that's just missing from Kryten and Kochanski's. Obviously this is me scrabbling to take off the shipping goggles I've welded to my face but you know. Their antagonizing does have some foundation of friendship, where K&K don't have that at all. It is strangely endearing how much value Kryten places on his relationship to Lister, but it plays as controlling and petty in a way I don't care for.

Interestingly, early on in Ouroboros, Kochanski desperately needs to know why Kryten doesn't like her, and seems distressed that he doesn't. I kind of wonder if they weren't close in her reality, which makes me even sadder that they hate each other here.

Kochanski and the Cat don't seem to interact much at all in these episodes, but I did find it cute that the Cat follows her orders enthusiastically and tries to impress her. Of course this is likely a sexual pursuit based on the way he talks about her to Lister, but I would actually kind of love if she was His Person like an actual cat. I really like when Cat displays feline behaviors so I think it would be sweet if they had that weird unconditional bond, and I think it would be funny to see Lister a little jealous of that and try to win back the Cat (unsuccessfully) with food or other bribes. Just my two cents

Obviously, we almost never get her interacting with Original Rimmer, but it would be an interesting match. She and Rimmer have a lot in common vis-a-vis wanting to put order to the chaos, and they have similar backgrounds, although Kochanski comes off a lot more posh and upper-class than Rimmer ever has. Still, I think they would have some of the same tastes and be able to empathize with one another to some degree. I'm divided, however, on if Kochanski's competence and rank would be a source of jealousy, or if he would be relieved to have her in charge and start kissing up to her the way he does in the brief flashback in Ouroboros. As the show goes on, Rimmer kind of blossoms into this guy who actually halfway knows what he's doing as long as he doesn't pause to doubt himself, so I think Kochanski would recognize that in him and try (and absolutely fail) to nurture that. They're also both characters prone to anger and rage, but where Rimmer's presents as passive aggression, Kochanski is willing and able to be straight-up aggressive, definitely more so than Lister ever was. I don't know, I think the comparisons are interesting.

Lili’s best tweet hahaha 

father & sons trying to have a wholesome diner breakfast? you ain’t safe.

nasty ass pedophile teachers across the river? you ain’t safe.