I feel like you’re way overthinking that scene. There were a few hint that Gaius wanted to hook up with Starbuck before that scene in the episodes preceding (if I recall) - remember, the fleet at this point think he’s weird and charming. They don’t know his backstory.
Then they hook up and that’s it. It’s over. They never hook up again. The purpose really wasn’t meant to shock the audience at all.
I like to think about stories, and not just assume they’re bland emotionless scenes that exist for no reason except to show that one character was fuckin’.
If that’s the only reason the scene exists, it was pointless and had no reason to exist anyways. Which makes it bad for other reasons.
I’m just telling you that it wasn’t designed to be some major shock scene, or plot point. You’ll forgive me if I don’t recall the overarching details to the wider plot that derive from that scene (I do think Gaius makes a snarky comment about what Kara said later on in public) but it’s hardly some unbelievable twist that Gaius would want to hook up with Starbuck (he is a literal sex addict) and he was charming and popular amongst the crew (at that point).
Yes, you can make excuses for why such a situation might exist… but why does the scene exist? What story elements does it provide? What character motivations does it provide? If, as you say, there is no follow up and no plot elements linked to it specifically being Gaius and Starbuck… then why was it Gaius and Starbuck? Either for no reason, and it’s bad storytelling, or it’s shock value, and it’s bad storytelling.
You could say that about a lot of scenes in general across so many different shows. It doesn’t need to exist except probably to show that Gaius and Kara (for different reasons) aren’t especially interested or capable of long-term relationships currently (and that Kara has deep feelings for Lee).
I don’t see why it shouldn’t be Gaius or Starbuck.
I feel like you’re way overthinking that scene. There were a few hint that Gaius wanted to hook up with Starbuck before that scene in the episodes preceding (if I recall) - remember, the fleet at this point think he’s weird and charming. They don’t know his backstory.
Then they hook up and that’s it. It’s over. They never hook up again. The purpose really wasn’t meant to shock the audience at all.
I like to think about stories, and not just assume they’re bland emotionless scenes that exist for no reason except to show that one character was fuckin’.
If that’s the only reason the scene exists, it was pointless and had no reason to exist anyways. Which makes it bad for other reasons.
I’m just telling you that it wasn’t designed to be some major shock scene, or plot point. You’ll forgive me if I don’t recall the overarching details to the wider plot that derive from that scene (I do think Gaius makes a snarky comment about what Kara said later on in public) but it’s hardly some unbelievable twist that Gaius would want to hook up with Starbuck (he is a literal sex addict) and he was charming and popular amongst the crew (at that point).
Yes, you can make excuses for why such a situation might exist… but why does the scene exist? What story elements does it provide? What character motivations does it provide? If, as you say, there is no follow up and no plot elements linked to it specifically being Gaius and Starbuck… then why was it Gaius and Starbuck? Either for no reason, and it’s bad storytelling, or it’s shock value, and it’s bad storytelling.
You could say that about a lot of scenes in general across so many different shows. It doesn’t need to exist except probably to show that Gaius and Kara (for different reasons) aren’t especially interested or capable of long-term relationships currently (and that Kara has deep feelings for Lee).
I don’t see why it shouldn’t be Gaius or Starbuck.