Top Ten Gift Giving Moments in TV

10. Veronica Mars – A pony????!!!!

Sophy says: Veronica and Keith. Cutest dad/daughter duo ever. Who’s with me???

This is one of those Veronica Mars moments in which Kristen Bell rivals Emily Fitch for cutest human ever, in her own special, hilarious fashion. Just the way she sniffs and shakes the envelope, then her eyes light up with ‘A pony???!!!’ And then she opens it and it’s so much better than a damn pony, because it’s Rophy’s dream-gift for the love of God – two tickets to New York City! Except I wouldn’t go with my dad. Because he’s dead. But also because I’d go with Rin.

“Broadway, Soho, the MOMA?”

“Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Madison Square Gardens!”

Rophy would have no such differences of opinion.

Rin says: I’d go with you too. Alive father and all!

The way she screams ‘A PONY?!!’ is the best thing ever. Veronica and Keith were one of the driving forces of the show, you can’t honestly look me in the eye and tell me you don’t find me attractive ADORE these two. And without spoiling those who haven’t watched this brilliant show quite yet (I KNOW YOU EXIST, STOP HIDING), I just want to say, the season 1 finale you guys.

I think the plot for the Veronica Mars movie should involve Veronica and Rophy frolicking around New York. Man, you can set a new box office record with an idea like that.


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09. Friends – Frankie say RELAX

“You are so just doing this out of spite.”
“Nah uh, no no no. I’m gonna wear this all the time, I LOVE THIS SHIRT!!!”
“You have not worn that tshirt since you were 15, it doesn’t even fit you any more!”

Rin says: This was one of my huge ships growing up, but Friends just isn’t the type of show that you get behind full force. It’d be too exhausting. Having said that, this is one of the stand out little moments between Ross/Rachel that I just adore. After breaking up in S3, Rachel returns a box of his stuff which causes Ross to retaliate by demanding she return everything that he owns. Including her favourite tshirt. After he puts it on to show just how much he loves the tshirt, he leaves in a huffy.

And then the OMFGADORBS! moment comes at the end of the episode when Monica tells Rachel that Ross stopped by to drop off a box of her stuff. Rachel expects it to be useless stuff like shampoo (NOT USELESS TO NAOMILY!) etc. but as she opens the box she pulls out the tiny tshirt. I JUST. AWWWWWWW. Oh Ross. You stupid fool. Even if you were on a break, you shouldn’t have slept with that ugly whore.

Sophy says: I just watched this clip on youtube to refresh my memory and awwwwwwwwwww. I find it completely adorable that Rachel just smiles to herself and says “nothing” and then just kind of wanders off to her room to be alone with the shirt.

Also my favourite thing is that the teeshirt is grammatically incorrect. It’s also my least favourite thing. A COMMA OR AN S. ONE OR THE OTHER, SHIRT.

Yes, I know it’s some pop culture reference I don’t get, but you can put lipstick on poor grammar and it’s still POOR GRAMMAR.

(So many of you probably just have this urge to go through the rophycaps with red pen now don’t you? Fair enough.)


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08. Buffy – It means you belong to somebody

“My people — before I was changed — they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It’s a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty… and the heart… Well, you know… Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.”

Sophy says: Omg. So undeniably cheesy and yet so undeniably perfect. Joss walked a fine line with Buffy/Angel, and he walked it well. I love how Angel’s all nervous and sweaty-palmed, like a schoolboy on a first date. Because he may have a couple of centuries on Buffy, but really, at the end of the day, he’s not that much more experienced in love than she is. As Angelus he learned all about sex (and murder and mind-games, all the ways to tear things apart), but what did he ever learn about love?

It’s moments like these that remind us that this is Angel’s first time around the track as a boyfriend, whether he’s had a bicentennial or not.

And come on, let’s be real. Raise your hand if you didn’t ask for a Claddagh ring for Christmas after you watched this scene.

Rin says: I OWNED A CLADDAGH RING. I totally bought one off eBay when I was 15. And yes, I USED TO WEAR IT. Okay. OKAY. Oh to be young and lame.

I just love this sfm. And how it continued to plague her long after this episode. Remember when Scott tried to give her one? Oh man, Scott. You were cute and all, but please don’t even try. Just go away. Go be with your stupid dead friends

ANYWAY. I love this whole end of the world business as a result of Angel having to leave for maybe 6 months. Isn’t that exactly how it feels when you’re 17?

Don’t even try to tell me that shiny silver matching rings aren’t a sign of eternal love.


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07. Rizzoli & Isles – Baby Tortoise.

“Awww, they are kind of cute when they’re small.”
“I told you.”

Rin says: I CAN’T. OH THESE TWO. Like, Maura saw how Jane reacted to Bass and she still got her a tortoise? Move over cats, we’ve got a new mascot for lesbians.

Jane and Maura need to just be together forever. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Sophy says: A BABY TORTOISE. A. BABY. TORTOISE. I think what I love most about this scene is the idea that the baby tortoise will not be a baby tortoise forever. It will grow into a fucking behemoth like Bass and Jane thinks Bass is creepy and ridiculous but you just know she will grow to love her little guy somewhere along the way… I mean look at her face.

And see a gift like this is intensely intimate. You don’t give someone a pet unless a) you know them so well that you can be sure it’s something they want in their lives or b) you know they love you so much that they’ll want it because you gave it to them, no matter how shell-having it is or how enormous it may grow to be. So right off the bat, we know how these two girls work. We know they’re not just close – they’re that kind of close.


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06. Angel – I got her clothes.

Sophy says: Oh my god this moment! I giggle and sigh just thinking about it. Because Wesley has just given this big, mildly pompous speech about the healing process and how it will take time for Angel to earn Cordelia’s friendship back and then BAM. Clothes. It’s all over. And then Angel’s face. And Wesley’s face. And Cordy’s face. I can’t even.

“You have like, a gay man’s taste!”

HAHAHHAHA OH CORDY. YOU’RE SO EASY. AND I LOVE YOU FOR IT.

Rin says: From what I’ve seen, I’m going to love these two a ridiculous amount. I mean, before they ruin Cordelia. I’ve always loved her and thought it was so clever of Joss to bring her over to Angel to form the unlikely duo of Angel/Cordy. Look at his face when they’re hugging, like..GOD. Angel. You should be brooding, shouldn’t you?

Sophy says: I can’t tell you how excited I am that Rin is finally going to watch Angel properly. Excited and profoundly jealous.


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05. Skins – Forever

Rin says: On Skins, good things come in padded envelopes. I loved the whole back and forth of the watch, Tony giving the watch to Michelle for her birthday, only for her to return it to him immediately – and broken. And then Effy works her magic by getting the watch fixed and sending it to Michelle. Which leads her to call Tony and tell him she loves him.

IT WAS BROKEN BUT NOW IT’S FIXED. FFFF Oh Michelle, so underrated.

Sophy says: I love this. I love it on so many levels – the level where it’s about Michelle and Tony, and the level where it’s about Effy and Tony too. Because Effy knows her brother – she knows exactly what he would do if he was quite able to quite integrate the new Tony and the old Tony and it would be this – he would insist. He wouldn’t leave it at ‘You can’t have her’, he would make damn sure Sid didn’t have her. And he’s not quite sure how to do that anymore, he’s not quite sure he can do that – but Effy is. And so she gets the watch fixed, and so she gets it engraved with the word Forever. It’s sweet, and it’s a little bit bossy. It’s old Tony and it’s new Tony too and it’s what Michelle needs and what Tony needs to give her.

And Oh God. My heart breaks for the first time he gives it to her – the time that doesn’t go down so well. And I also sort of feel like giggling. That’s the wonderful thing about the writing for Skins – we’re always on the edge of the humour/heartbreak knife.

“You said you needed time.”

Oh Tony.

PS. YOU SAID YOU NEEDED TIME WELL YOU HAD TIME (((((((((((((


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04. House – Christmas exchange.

Sophy says: Rin suffered greatly to bring this part of the picspam to you. I hope you all appreciate it. If you don’t because ~Cameron sucks and/or ~Huddy is your OTP please shut up about it. I’m serious. It’s Christmas, okay? And Rin’s not the only one with shears.

What I adore about these scenes is how understated and subtle they are, and hey, guess what, that’s what I enjoyed about House/Cameron in general. I like the fact that we never know what the gifts are. They’re probably trivial things… but you have the sense that they’ll be furtively treasured anyway for years to come. That’s basically how House and Cameron work; they treasure each other furtively. Or at least they did.

AND THEY STILL DO IN MY HEAD WHERE THE SHOW IS STILL WELL-WRITTEN AND CONSISTENT AND MAKING OF THE SENSE THEMATICALLY. Because seriously, how do you throw this kind of magic away just like that with no real explanation and no good reason? Really, let’s take a second to process this. This woman, Allison Cameron, made that man, Gregory House, who was probably voted Most likely to be a scrooge in high school, buy a Christmas gift. But he was actually in love with Cuddy all along?

lol okay then. One day I’m going to back Shore and Jacobs into the naughty corner and demand that they explain themselves.

They’ll probably say he gave her a scarf with ‘Huddy Forever’ embroidered on it.

Rin says: “I don’t need verification from you to know that I’m doing my job well. That’s your problem, not mine.”
“I was just being nice.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t need to always do that.”
*Cameron holds out a Christmas present from behind her back* “Merry Christmas.”

Ya know. It’s hard to talk about House without coming across as really really really bitter, and hurt. Because I am, and probably always will be. I’ll try anyhow.

So they’re having their discussion about work and stuff and how Cameron doesn’t always need to be so nice. And this is House, he pushes people away. Push push push. And then we have Cameron, who is the absolute counter to House. She’s a puzzle that he’s never been able to understand, right from the day he hired her because she was like lobby art. So when he tells her not to be nice and she hands him a gift? He’s taken aback, almost embarrassed. It’d be so much easier if she was just like everyone else who takes him for his surface-self, a jerk, but she doesn’t.

And then at the end of the episode there’s a montage, and it’s only a few seconds, but we see Cameron finding a gift on her seat (THE SEAT AND NOT THE TABLE, BECAUSE IT’S JUST THEM), shaking it cutely. And her faaace.. HER LITTLE FACE. Like come on, House doesn’t just buy gifts left right and centre. Just by being herself she forces House to go outside of himself, that he doesn’t always have to be that guy.

And it’s moments like this that remind me why I hate this show.


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03. Dead Like Me – and I will never ever take it back.

Sophy says: One of the most achingly romantic moments in TV history. HE GOT HER AN ENGAGEMENT RING. JUST BECAUSE SHE WANTED ONE. TO PUT ON HER LITTLE FINGER ON HER LAST DAY. I CAN’T.

The dialogue is just… unfathomably perfect and so damn memorable that I know it by heart. And the delivery – the way the words just seem to throb out of them. The way she’s slumped on the couch with her tumbler like something out of one of those old movies she says she was in. The way he presses the box to his lips when he’s opened it like he’s trying not to speak.

“You are so beautiful to look at.”

“And unlucky to know.”

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch the DLM movie. Because no one, no matter how Aussie, could ever do Daisy Adair like Laura Harris.

Rin says: Just rewatching this to get the caps made me want to a DLM rewatch right there and then. Mason is so fucking precious you guys, I can’t deal with it. It’s not a proposal, it’s a token.

Sophy says: HE’S NOT TRYING TO HUMILIATE HER IT’S A TOKEN FROM HIM, FROM HIS HEART TO HER IT’S SOMETHING PERMANENT IN THIS BLOODY WORLD


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02. The Office – Never Give Up

Sophy says: S;KDFSD;LKJSLKDL;KSJDSLKF. Never, never in TV history have I felt the kind of elation I felt at this moment. I mean… this whole sequence is just… SHEER PERFECTION. Dawn opens her secret Santa gift in the back of the taxi on the way to the other side of the world from Tim, and there. There it is in the package – a box of paints, a message on the idle portrait she drew. There it is – her whole life, her whole heart, everything she holds dear. And that’s when she knows she can’t keep pretending that he isn’t the fucking WIND BENEATH HER FUCKING WINGS. Because she loves him. Because she’s happy with him. And how that show made being happy together epic on the same level as lives ruined, bloodshed, I will never quite know. But they did. They really, really did.

Because we cut to Tim’s video interview, and he gives us one of the most poignant little speeches about love and friendship in TV history, and hey I’m going to quote the whole thing because it deserves to be on billboards and written in the sky in puffs of smoke and spelled out with boulders for giants to read, and, and, and…

The people you work with are people you were just thrown together with. You know, you don’t know them, it wasn’t your choice, and yet you spend more time with them then you do your friends or your family. But probably all you’ve got in common is the fact that you walk around on the same bit of carpet for eight hours a day. And so, obviously, when someone comes in who you… you have a connection with… yeah. And Dawn was a ray of sunshine in my life and it meant a lot. But, if I’m really being honest I never really thought it would have a happy ending. I don’t know what a happy ending is. Life isn’t about endings, is it? It’s a series of moments. And umm… it’s not if, you know, if you turn the camera off it’s not an ending, is it. I’m still here, my life’s not over. Come back, come back here in 10 years, see how I’m doing then. Cause I could be married with kids, you don’t know. Life just goes on.

And it looks like we’re going for heartbreak again. It looks like we’re going to be all quintessentially British and cruelly real and Dawn is just going to shed a few tears and fly back to Florida with Leigh, and Tim is going to keep walking around on that bit of carpet and pissing off Gareth and missing her…

And then when Dawn shows up at the Christmas party again, when you see her tiny blurred self appear in the background. Oh man. I still remember the first time I watched this scene. I held my breath for so long I should probably have passed out.

Rin says: ‘Yazoo – Only You’ will never ever not make my heart soar/die because of what this scene achieved. What this whole STORYLINE achieved. Tim/Dawn is just one of those things that you feel like you’re the only one in the world who got to witness it because it was that special. I remember blubbering like a fool when I first watched this because it was just utterly beautiful. THE most perfect ending to a story that wasn’t always the main event, but certainly always present.

I agree a millionty with Sophy about how crazy it is that ‘being happy together’ was so so so epic. Right up there with the ships that had long years filled with anguish and heartache and death and destruction. There were no bells and there were no whistles, just moments that showed what love can look like. In a very real way.

And yeah, when Dawn showed up, I’m pretty sure I chucked a Tom Cruise and jumped up on the couch.


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01. Skins – Don’t forget it though.

Rin says: Um. Look. How much can you say, really. HOW MUCH? When Naomi is looking like that, and Emily is looking LIKE THAT. I’m pretty sure if I knew nothing about these two, but saw these 4 caps, I would ship it immediately. I would go to the store, buy the DVDS and not move for 4 series straight. (I’d have to start from the start ) It’s just another thing Naomily have that is special and unique, much in the way that catflap was. Naomily bought Emily goggles. GOGGLES. DO YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND? GOGGLES!!! She wanted to keep her safe, and maybe try and distract her a little with her whole sordid affair, but um. Yeah.

At first you see this scene and you’re wondering what the fuck is wrong with Naomi, has she really turned into mush after only a few months? CRYING ALREADY? And then you watch the episode, and you watch this again and. You die? YOU DIE. Because it’s written all over her freaking stupid face. The guilt. AND EMILY. EMILY IS SO FUCKING HAPPY AND YOU WONDER HOW A GIRL LIKE NAOMI, BRIGHT AS A STAR, CAN BE SO FUCKING STUPID. I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE SCARED. THERE’S A SMACKETLY GIRL IN YOUR BED, BOPPING AROUND WITH THE GOGGLES ON THAT YOU BOUGHT HER. AND SHE’S NAKED UNDER THAT COAT!!!!!!

OH WORLD. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!

Sophy says: hahahah OH RIN. Your all-caps angry love made my Christmas.

Okay, I don’t want to say too much about this, because then what will we say when we get to our recap? Suffice to scream from the rooftops ( that this is one of the most gorgeous and retrospectively heartbreaking moments in all of TV ever, because Naomi is so bleak inside, and Emily is on freaking cloud nine-and-a-half, and I am getting a bit weepy just looking at the caps. Are you getting a bit weepy Rophites?

WEEP! WEEP FOR US ROPHITES!

Here let me help you:

“I love you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Don’t forget it though…”

Oh Naomily More drip-inducing than a thousand onions.