grav_ity | Character Musing: Kate Freelander

Let me open by admitting this might not make sense. My perceptions of Kate Freelander are a little complicated, and even though the breakthrough I made today seems totally rational to me, I know my own brain well enough to realize that it might not be the same for everyone else. So the short version of my post is that I love Kate Freelander.

Today, while poking around in the Sanctuary Countdown post, I realized why I love Kate Freelander so much, and also why I have trouble incorporating her into my hierarchy of favourite characters. Because in theory, I like her more than I like Nikola, John or James, but when it comes down to it, I will always squee myself to death over scenes they're in, and be significantly more level-headed even when Kate is at her most awesome.

The difference, it turns out, is Helen Magnus.

I love Helen. This has been very well documented. And my interpretation of every other character on the show, with one exception, is based on their interactions with her. I'm no huge fan of Will Zimmerman, for example, but I adore both Kush and Requiem because of the snapshots we get of the way his relationship with Helen is progressing. So far, Sanctuary has mostly been a show about the men Helen Magnus manipulates, and every single one of them is in her world because she put them there.

Not so much with Kate.

Kate walked into the Sanctuary knowing more or less exactly what it was (which cannot be said of Will, I think, nor of Henry, if only because he was too young at the time). She didn't need Helen to show her the monsters any more than she needed Helen to protect her from them (she did need protection of course, but in a far more conventional way). No one has to tell her what the Creature of the Week is, nor how to deal with it. Kate Freelander already knows.

Helen Magnus, without question, is at the top of my list of favourite characters. And then there's Ashley. And then it gets a bit messy. But Kate is not a part of that. She's at the top of her own separate list, and I'm just not sure how to reconcile that with them being on the same show.

It would be easier, I think, if Kate ever had scenes with Helen. I mean, she's had a few. Okay, I can think of one off the top of my head (that wasn't about another character, anyway, I mean just the two of them, growing as people); the one from the end of "Hero". (There were also, I know, a couple of great scenes in End of Nights, but that was back when we weren't sure if Kate was sticking around, and also they weren't equals during them, so I am reluctant to count them.) (Oh, and the "I invented it!" scene is too short and there's no payoff.)

This, I think, is the Problem With Kate: the writers have put themselves in the position of having this really competent woman, who happens to be replacing ANOTHER really competent woman, who is also the only character on the show who cannot be directly tied to a THIRD really competent woman. Faced with this, they just don't know what to do.

It's an interesting problem, in a way, and one I kind of don't mind having because a) we can solve it ourselves if/when they fail us, and b) did you see how many times I typed "competent" and "woman" in that last paragraph? But at the same time, I'm selfish. I want it all. I want my Kate and Helen bottle episode, and then I want them to be awesome for the rest of the season.

(It's worth mentioning, I think, that Kate doesn't have a file in the opening credits. In season two, I handwaved this by saying that Kate hadn't been there long enough to have a file, but...SURELY Helen did some kind of background check? I mean, the only reason she'd've had a file on Will is because of his mother's attack, or because she stalked him afterwards so...she must have something on Kate somewhere.)

It's also worth pointing out, I think, that on a show with an unconventional lead and a terribly predictable protege (not necessarily in the bad way, I'll admit. It works for a reason), we have another unconventional female character who seems to be following in her path:

1. Daddy-issues (but not in the annoying way).
2. Willingness to go against the norms of her society.
3. Ability to think on her feet.
4. Ability to use said feet to kick serious ass.
5. Creative problem solving.
6. Drive to Finish The Job.
and, IMO, the coolest, 7. The first and deepest bond we see between her and another resident of the Sanctuary is with Bigfoot (which is important because both Helen and Kate had different views of abnormals before they met him (or at least in Helen's case it's a safe assumption), and yet...surgery and movie nights).

I'm starting to get side-tracked.

What it comes down to is this very strange and unique scenario. When you think of other female characters on TV, they always have connections to one another. They're professionally antagonistic like CSI's Catherine and Sara. They're teacher/student like Caprica's Clarice and Lacy. They're mother and daughter like Helen and Ashley. They're friends, they're rivals (or worse, they're romantic rivals), they're something. Something that lets you pick sides. Something that allows you to say "I like a more than b because c." Sanctuary hasn't done this.

Instead we have Kate, who goes on off-screen solo missions requiring significant logistical organization, who has contacts that her co-workers don't know about, who knows where all the money is, who doesn't need to be babysat...and TPTB don't know how to deal with the amazing character they've created apparently by accident.

And we have Helen, who hasn't restricted her in any of the ways she has restricted the guys (or Ashley, for that matter), and what we need now is for them to connect.

Does anyone know how to enter a question for Tapping Tuesday?

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More thoughts and a few fic recs can be found here.