Sexual tension
Sunday, June 04, 2006, 4:36 PM

I finally figured it out. I am a sexual tension junkie who grew up thinking she was a romantic. Happily ever after never left me panting in my sleep, dreaming of what might have been, or obsessively stewing over a love/hate relationship.

Give me at least one angsty character, one not-so-angsty character (because two will be overkill) with believable attraction chemistry, and a MAJOR roadblock to keep them apart. In most of my favorite love-type stories, the romance becomes secondary and the plot becomes the focus ... which drives me perfectly crazy and keeps me hankering for more.

Examples:

* The cable TV series La Femme Nikita, which is based on the French movie Nikita, which spawned the American film Point Of No Return. (So you know it's gotta be good.) At the center of the series were Michael and Nikita. I first saw them late one night during the Sydney Summer Olympics when I was channel-surfing. I came across what is commonly known by LFN fans as the hand dance. It was the episode called ESCAPE and this particular scene showed a wary Nikita and an impassive Michael slow-dancing that began by Michael trying to seduce Nikita with the touch of his hands. And ... it looked as if they were afraid to touch. Which I learned had more than a grain of truth as I began watching the series. Michael and Nikita were allowed to have sex only under orders.

Excuse me while I fan myself.

* The TV show, Alias', which came after La Femme Nikita's run (and ripped the holy hell off of LFN). In any case, the show's most interesting romantic couple wasn't the main lead, Sydney and her guy of choice, but her parents: CIA agent Jack Bristow and KGB assassin Irina Derevko. The Jack/Irina relationship began with treachery, since Irina originally married Jack under orders so that she could spy on him. Their strong emotional bond was just fascinating, especially when they were trying to kill each other. Talk about a major roadblock in the way of love. And I love it.

* My So Called Life, a TV show hailed by critics and for reasons that continue to stump me today, largely ignored by viewers. The smartest, shyest boy in Angela's class (Brian) has had a crush on her since they were kids. They live next door to each other and used to be best friends. That is, until they begin high school and Angela decides to cultivate new friendships because she's young and still has much to learn, part of which is learning who your true friends are. Also, she's developed a crush on the high school's hottie--I did, too because Jared Leto as Jordan was fine. (I also think it's interesting to note how much Jared Leto resembles Roy Dupuis, who played Michael in La Femme Nikita.)

Anyway, Angela couldn't see what was right in front of her nose (Brain, yell! make her hear you!) because she was broadsided by puberty and pretty boy endorphins. Along the way, magic happened in the show. I hate that it was cancelled after only one season.

* And ... like two characters living two years apart. Even better, Keanu Reeves. Another sexually-taut dream come to life as of this June 16th. When I first saw the previews for The Lake House, it made me think of The New Twilight Zone's episdode A Message From Charity where the love interests were living hundreds of years apart. It was one of my favorites because it posed the question of how much I'd ache inside being able to talk to someone I felt was my soulmate, someone I had to meet but couldn't because more than a hundred years separated us.

This is the kind of stuff that does it for me. It's what leads up to the point of sexual consummation that interests me, and the longer they make me wait for it, the bigger the obstacles that lie in the way, the better.
2 Did the Unhingey Jiggy Engage in Unhingenosity
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