I may have shipper-colored glasses, but this is really kinda beyond that, I think...
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So, here's what's gobsmacked me so much about this. I don't think I've ever seen Becker behave this tenderly with anyone. He's been a lot more emotional in general in the last couple of series than he was in s3, but even so, the way he's behaved with Abby and Connor is miles beyond how he's been with anyone else.
Compare, for instance, the body language here with what he's done with the others: Jess, for instance, he's had some affectionate moments with, but it's a more... chaste?... vibe to it. It's little-sister stuff. It's not the deeper, more loving emotion shown here.
Likewise with Matt, that's much more of a "bro" thing. It's the man-smacks, "yeah, buddy!" sort of thing. Not the much-more raw body language he has with Abby and Connor. Hell, even when he's giving Connor shit, there's a lot more of an affectionate tease to it than the banter he has with Matt. Putting it bluntly: He's come close to crying around Abby and Connor. I can't see him ever doing that with Matt or Jess. He lets his bravado slip with A and C. He trusts them enough, in other words, to let them see a more gentle and vulnerable side than he's ever shown with anyone else.
Now, of course this could just be RL-friendship bleedthrough. Mansfield is much closer friends with Handrew than with any of the other castmembers (though he and Ciaran did hit it off) so his automatic body language with them is necessarily going to be more intimate.
But if Ben's a more-self-aware actor than that, that means he's making deliberate choices to express deeper emotions with these two. This isn't stuff that's scripted/directed, btw. It's either deliberate acting choices or natural intimacy. In one way or another, Ben's showing that the emotional bond Becker has with Abby and Connor is stronger than it is with anyone else. There's capital-L Love with these three.
Not, of course, that Ben would've run with this the way I have. ;) But still. It's really nice to see that there's quite a bit of canon support for this bond, platonic or otherwise, and I'm chuffed that Ben's going there.
So, here's what's gobsmacked me so much about this. I don't think I've ever seen Becker behave this tenderly with anyone. He's been a lot more emotional in general in the last couple of series than he was in s3, but even so, the way he's behaved with Abby and Connor is miles beyond how he's been with anyone else.
Compare, for instance, the body language here with what he's done with the others: Jess, for instance, he's had some affectionate moments with, but it's a more... chaste?... vibe to it. It's little-sister stuff. It's not the deeper, more loving emotion shown here.
Likewise with Matt, that's much more of a "bro" thing. It's the man-smacks, "yeah, buddy!" sort of thing. Not the much-more raw body language he has with Abby and Connor. Hell, even when he's giving Connor shit, there's a lot more of an affectionate tease to it than the banter he has with Matt. Putting it bluntly: He's come close to crying around Abby and Connor. I can't see him ever doing that with Matt or Jess. He lets his bravado slip with A and C. He trusts them enough, in other words, to let them see a more gentle and vulnerable side than he's ever shown with anyone else.
Now, of course this could just be RL-friendship bleedthrough. Mansfield is much closer friends with Handrew than with any of the other castmembers (though he and Ciaran did hit it off) so his automatic body language with them is necessarily going to be more intimate.
But if Ben's a more-self-aware actor than that, that means he's making deliberate choices to express deeper emotions with these two. This isn't stuff that's scripted/directed, btw. It's either deliberate acting choices or natural intimacy. In one way or another, Ben's showing that the emotional bond Becker has with Abby and Connor is stronger than it is with anyone else. There's capital-L Love with these three.
Not, of course, that Ben would've run with this the way I have. ;) But still. It's really nice to see that there's quite a bit of canon support for this bond, platonic or otherwise, and I'm chuffed that Ben's going there.