What are some especially memorable instances of fictional characters telling one another “I love you” without ever uttering the words in question?
My own nomination is a second-season episode of Angel. Our favorite vampire is watching his remarkably hot platonic life partner, Cordelia, at a commercial shoot in which she (a) is dressed in a revealing bikini which the very-old-fashioned Angel has to think is degrading, and (b) gets publicly insulted by the director. Incensed, Angel goes to Cordy and says, “You want me to rip that guy’s head off for you? 'Cause I can do it. Rip his head clean off. Just say the word.”
That’s love, baby. It’s debatable whether it’s big-brother love or I-wanna-hump-your-bod love, but it’s love either way.
Sally Albright: You see, that is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you, Harry… I really hate you. I hate you…
The Empire Strikes Back. Right before Han is lowered into the carbonite pit, Leia tells him, “I love you!” He replies, “I know.”
In a more light-hearted vein, at the end of Some Like It Hot, Jack Lemmon, in the course of trying to explain why he and Joe E. Brown can’t get married (and to each objection Lemmon comes up with, Brown has a refutation), finally reveals that he’s actually a man. Brown’s character, Osgood, optimistic about their future to the last, has the final line of the film: “Nobody’s perfect!”
One of my favorite scenes in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (spoilered for those who have inexplicably denied themselves the joy of this film):
[spoiler]Butch, Sundance, and Etta are lying in their bedrolls, around a campfire in Bolivia. Etta tells Sundance that she’s thinking about going back to the US.
Sundance, to Etta: “Whatever you want.” Then, calling over his shoulder to Butch, “Hey…Etta’s thinking about maybe going back.”
Butch: “Whatever she wants.”
The delivery of the two lines is very different, and you get a glimpse of Butch’s pained face. I think Sundance’s answer indicates that he doesn’t really love Etta or care much if she stays or goes, while Butch’s answer indicates that he really does love her and wants her to give up the life of sleeping on the ground and being chased by armed men.[/spoiler]
In a similar vein, when Wesley kidnaps Connor. It seems a bit weird to say a kidnapping was motivated by a very strong love, but of course, he would never want Angel to experience the torment of killing his own son–which he believed was definitely going to happen. I don’t think he was so much saving Connor from death as he was saving Angel from a new sort of hell.
Then there was later in the series, after Angel tried to kill him and abandoned him. He caught Justine and um…forced her to reveal what she did to Angel, then spent all summer trolling the harbor to find Angel, then fished him out, then slit his own arm to give Angel the blood he needed, and safely returned Angel home.
Of course, there’s also the fact he literally died for Angel.
I think you’re right about the first instance, wrong in the second. I’d go further to say that Wesley’s explanation to Justine as to why he saved Angel–“Because he’s necessary” – is one of the few Whedonverse instances of someone answering a question in a completely unironic away.
Oh, I don’t think he was being ironic with his explanation, but I think it’s still a little ambiguous . Plus, he didn’t have to feed Angel himself. Clearly, when he said “your blood is too thin” to Justine, he was speaking metaphorically. Her blood was just fine, and God knows he wasn’t overly concerned about whether or not Justine was comfortable and happy.
I’m going to be the third to quote a line from the Buffyverse. I guess Joss Whedon just portrays love well.
Spike and Buffy, of course.
*Spike follows Buffy into the living room. She sits on the sofa and he sits on the coffee-table facing her. He takes her hands in his and looks at them. Then he looks up at her face and their eyes meet. *
BUFFY: How long was I gone?
SPIKE: Hundred forty-seven days yesterday. Uh … hundred forty-eight today. (smiles a little) 'Cept today doesn’t count, does it?
Or this one:
Spike, after being rejected by Buffy, flies into a murderous rage and plans to kill her. He finds her sitting on the stairs at her home’s back door, crying over something unrelated. Spike, all ready to fire his gun, sees her tears, and all of a sudden, all his rage is forgotten. His arm holding the gun drops limply to his side. He looks at her, worrying, then sits down next to her, asks: “is there anything I can do?”. He even gives Buffy an awkward, tender pat on her back, and she lets him.
Doctor Who, the episode “The Satan Pit”. The Doctor is rappelling into the pit, runs out of cable and decides to detach and fall the rest of the way down, which could be miles or a few feet. Communications have been cut off from the surface, and he tells Ida Scott before he unhooks the last latch:
“If you talk to Rose, just tell her…tell her I…oh, she’d know.”
And then of course, there’s the original Mr. Darcy, with his original awful proposal, and then his actions regarding Lydia, which spoke of much nobler sentiments.