[SPOILERS for Shield of Tomorrow S02.E02 “Time Waits for No One – Part 1” & S02.E03 “Time Waits for No One – Part 2”]
This was such an incredibly beautiful scene I had to
transcribe it. On a day that was garbage for me, this particularly filled me
with life (genuinely reduced a lot of physical pain and miraculously gave me
energy). I cracked two jokes on Twitter, that are honestly undergirded with
serious respect:
Network TV: “Bury your gays.”
Geek & Sundry: “Marry your gays.”
Star-crossed lovers:
Strait plot: Romeo & Juliet –
everyone dies.
Gay plot: Tristan & K’ven – everyone lives.
This plot was beautiful, but it also reinforced something
that deserves attention: Geek & Sundry has created a space where people can
tell stories like this, and they are more than respected: They are adored by
the cast, crew, and fans. They are normalized: many forms and examples, allowed
to be messy, allowed to be transcendently perfect. The very idea that the love
of two gay men could stand as a beacon of hope to reunite two fractured peoples
is quite frankly not something teenage me seriously thought she’d ever see.
That was something I was bitter about long before I realized I was queer. What
a time to be alive.
Many of the plots on G&S’s shows are risky, and they do
put queer characters in danger, some even fatally. But always because the queer
character was selflessly putting themselves in danger. Hurt or killed despite
being queer, not because they are queer. It’s a space where I don’t have to
worry about the gross “Bury your gays” trope. Where the happy endings
always vastly exceeding the tragic. The harm actually serves to humanize queer
characters rather than dehumanize them in this context because it shows they
are neither excessively targeted nor placed on a pedestal; they are merely real
and equal. That is profoundly special in media today, and it can ONLY read that
way if that equality is well established and reinforced. That’s the media I’ve
always wanted.
I’ve broken this transcript into two versions: text only and
with screenshots. It’s easier to read and quote straight text. But the acting
was so wonderfully expressive that I didn’t want to lose that for people who can’t
view the broadcast, and I wanted to highlight some of the entirely-too-adorable
frames of all the cast. The one thing the screenshots don’t necessarily capture well is sometimes the rest of the cast were listening so attentively they look zoned out in the stills because you can’t see the subtle nods and other indicators.
On Project
Alpha. This right here is exactly why Alpha is worth my $5 a month. Easily
more life-sustaining than one meal a month or two bottles of kombucha. You
don’t get the art you want if you don’t support it.
Setup
The Khitomer Accords have been broken. The Federation is on
the brink of war with the Dominion. The USS Sally Ride, a Federation science vessel,
has been granted passage by the Klingon Empire to use the Corridor to reach.
Deep into Klingon space, they receive a Klingon and Federation distress call
from a colony on Klingon world. A small group of Federation engineers and scientists
were deployed there in a mission of friendship, then forgotten. The Sally Ride responds
and finds a colony collapsing from technical problems and a strange disease.
They meet an old Klingon representative named Anek, and a desperate Federation Lt. Tristan Peylore, now the de facto
commanding officer, trying to hold the place together. One problem is they’ve
lost touch with the environmental control facility, and have been unable to
reach it for about a month due to the harsh weather. Lt. Peylore is
particularly worried because the man he loves, K’ven, is over there. Lots of
batshit crazy stuff happens, but eventually K’ven is among those rescued. The
colony is evacuated to the Sally Ride, before being transferred to the
Klingons.
Text Only
Times: Alpha, Time Waits for No One – Part 2 (unedited)
Start: 3:45:00
Eric (GM): “K’ven
stops, too, and turns as he’s also walking off. He stops in the corridor and
looks back at you. He’s looking a lot better. He’s still… His body weight is
still significantly decreased from the last time you had seen him, but he’s up
walking, moving around, he’s energetic, he’s obviously regenerating. Klingons
have redundant organs all over their bodies; they are hardy folk. He probably
lived through something that would have killed three other humans. He stops and
looks back at you and says,”
K’ven, uncertainly:
“What happens now?”
Lt. Peylore sighs
and anxiously touches his temple.
Lt. Peylore,
regretfully: “We knew this day would come. I…” He sighs. “I know
that it would be asking a lot, and… it’s not with a light heart that I ask this
of you, but… I want you to stay.” Quietly impassioned: “I want you to come with me. I’ve shared in your world and in your culture. I wanna show you
mine.”
Eric: “He
looks kind of over his shoulder at you, and you see standing a few feet away is
Anek, who has stopped, and is just watching. And he turns back and says,”
K’ven, uncertainly:
“I don’t know. I want that, too. But, we’re all so scattered now. With the
colony failed, we won’t have any other place to go. Most of our engineers died.
I… I don’t know what to do. I… I don’t know if I should leave them, but I don’t
want to leave you.”
The statement hangs in the air until Peylore suddenly snaps
his attention back from his thoughts.
Lt. Peylore,
strongly: “Listen—”
K’ven: “Why
can’t you stay?”
Lt. Peylore: He
sighs. “I think that we can do
good together. For the Federation, and for the Empire. We can show that this works. We
need the environment to be able to do that. If we’re taking care of another colony,
we’re just going back to our lives; it’s busy work. They are fine. They’re farmers. They’re agriculturalists. They can
take care of themselves wherever they’re placed. But we are a symbol now. And we can make real change. And I love you.”
Eric: “You
see, that catches him, a little surprised.”
K’ven: “I
did not know.” For the first time starting to sound more confident, “I
should have known.” Laughing, “I am stupid for not knowing that. I…”
Eric: “He
looks back over his shoulder again, and Anek just goes,”
Anek slowly nods,
and softly chuckles.
Eric: “And
he turns and leans heavy against the cane and starts to walk away. K’ven looks
back at you and says,”
K’ven:
“Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Lt. Peylore, with
many small, reassuring nods: “We’re gonna be amazing.”
K’ven: “I am
frightened, but I am brave.” Haltingly:
“I love you as well, Tristan.”
Lt. Peylore:
“I know.”
K’ven:
“Good. I’m so terrible at saying things like that. You’ll have to help
me.”
Lt. Peylore:
“I’m here every step of the way.”
Xander (Peylore):
“And I’ll take his hand, bring him back.”
Eric: “He
takes yours.”
Lt. Peylore:
“Captain?”
Hector (Martinez):
“Oh! I was here the whole time?”
Bonnie (Lark):
“Were we all there?”
Capt. Martinez: “Oh
I didn’t see—” he sniffs and wipe a tear out of his eye, “all that.
Um…” He grins
sheepishly, then recomposes himself. “Yeah, Lieutenant?”
Lt. Peylore:
“Permission to come aboard?”
Capt. Martinez:
“Granted as fuck.”
Eric: As those
two move back down the corridor towards the entry way to the Sally Ride…”
Capt. Martinez:
“Get out of here you scamps.”
Xander (Peylore):
“I start skipping.”
03:49:38
With Screenshots
Times: Alpha, Time Waits for No One – Part 2 (unedited)
Start: 3:45:00
Eric (GM): “K’ven stops, too, and turns as he’s also walking off. He stops in the corridor and looks back at you. He’s looking a lot better. He’s still… His body weight is still significantly decreased from the last time you had seen him, but he’s up walking, moving around, he’s energetic, he’s obviously regenerating. Klingons have redundant organs all over their bodies; they are hardy folk. He probably lived through something that would have killed three other humans. He stops and looks back at you and says,”
K’ven, uncertainly: “What happens now?”
Lt. Peylore sighs and anxiously touches his temple.
Lt. Peylore, regretfully: “We knew this day would come. I…” He sighs. “I know that it would be asking a lot, and… it’s not with a light heart that I ask this of you, but… I want you to stay.
Lt. Peylore, quietly impassioned: “I want you to come with me. I’ve shared in your world and in your culture. I wanna show you mine.”
Eric: “He looks kind of over his shoulder at you, and you see standing a few feet away is Anek, who has stopped, and is just watching. And he turns back and says,”
K’ven, uncertainly: “I don’t know. I want that, too. But, we’re all so scattered now. With the colony failed, we won’t have any other place to go. Most of our engineers died. I… I don’t know what to do. I… I don’t know if I should leave them, but I don’t want to leave you.”
The statement hangs in the air until Peylore suddenly snaps his attention back from his thoughts.
Lt. Peylore, strongly: “Listen—”
K’ven: “Why can’t you stay?”
Lt. Peylore: He sighs. “I think that we can do good together. For the Federation, and for the Empire. We can show that this works.”
Lt. Peylore: “We need the environment to be able to do that. If we’re taking care of another colony, we’re just going back to our lives; it’s busy work. They are fine. They’re farmers. They’re agriculturalists. They can take care of themselves wherever they’re placed. But we are a symbol now. And we can make real change. And I love you.”
Eric: “You see, that catches him, a little surprised.”
K’ven: “I did not know.” For the first time starting to sound more confident, “I should have known.” Laughing, “I am stupid for not knowing that. I…”
Eric: “He looks back over his shoulder again, and Anek just goes,”
Anek slowly nods, and softly chuckles.
Eric: “And he turns and leans heavy against the cane and starts to walk away. K’ven looks back at you and says,”
K’ven: “Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Lt. Peylore, with many small, reassuring nods: “We’re gonna be amazing.”
K’ven: “I am frightened, but I am brave.
K’ven, haltingly: “I love you as well, Tristan.”
Lt. Peylore: “I know.”
K’ven: “Good. I’m so terrible at saying things like that. You’ll have to help me.”
Lt. Peylore: “I’m here every step of the way.”
Xander (Peylore): “And I’ll take his hand, bring him back.”
Eric: “He takes yours.”
Lt. Peylore: “Captain?”
Hector (Martinez): “Oh! I was here the whole time?”
Bonnie (Lark): “Were we all there?”
Capt. Martinez: “Oh I didn’t see—” he sniffs and wipe a tear out of his eye, “all that. Um…”
Martinez grins sheepishly, then recomposes himself. “Yeah, Lieutenant?”
Lt. Peylore: “Permission to come aboard?”
Capt. Martinez: “Granted as fuck.”
Eric: As those two move back down the corridor towards the entry way to the Sally Ride…”
Capt. Martinez:
“Get out of here you scamps.”
Xander (Peylore): “I start skipping.”
03:49:38
