I love the Ds9 writers for making Leeta and Rom happen. Obviously there’s some sexism behind how they wrote daboo girls. But instead of keeping Leeta as eye candy at the side of the seemingly suave station doctor (I mean he’s not but i think they tried to write him that way at least initially), she got to marry for love. She became an important part of a family, had a clear personality and agency and was a great influence on Rom, propelling his character development too.
A few times we see Leeta as being smarter than she appears, for example, in Facets, we find out she learns about other cultures, and embraces their differences. Like, she’s helping Jadzia explain Trill culture!
And there’s a point I think everyone misses.
She likes intelligent people.
She dates Mr My Brain Has Been Made Super Smart, she nearly agrees to go to Jupiter station with Doctor Zimmerman, and thinks Rom is sexy.
All those are very smart people.
I think her finding Rom sexy isn’t physical. She finds smart people sexy. And every time Rom does something smart, you can tell she finds it hot.
Leeta should have been developed more. She’s much more than she appears.
Nothing warms my heart like watching Captain Christopher Pike run around all over the bridge of his ship in the middle of a crisis to support his officers personally with his presence and kind words. Now that’s a captain.
pike’s time on the bridge 20% - captain’s chair 80% - running around high-fiving people into doing their best job while death itself ingests the enterprise’s starboard nacelle
Pro tip: Whenever you’re feeling down and lacking motivation, imagine Captain Pike giving you a high five and telling you that you’re doing amazing.
One thing I love about the most recent SNW was that there was a very clear common thread in all three plots– the Spock/T'Pring plot, the Una/La'an plot, and the diplomacy plot– they all centered around empathy. And not empathy as a moral value or as an Essential Ingredient that makes someone a Good Person, but empathy as a skill that can be practiced and exercised. Each of those three plotlines show people at first struggling to empathize, then actively making the choice to try and gaining a new understanding of the one they were struggling to empathize with before in the process.
As someone with a highly fluctuating level of innate empathy, I really enjoyed that.
