Every now and again, you get a pair of characters in television where you enjoy watching them sit and talk. My Deep Space 9 essay isn’t far off – I’m in the second half of the final season – but I’m happy to talk about one little element I’ve enjoyed since the start: how good it is at pairing characters together and generating great individual scenes just out of them shootin’ the shit with each other. My favourite of all of them is Julian and Garek; I identify a bit with Julian’s mixture of philosophical interest and genuine desire to do good, and Garek is one of those wonderful people who mixes style and substance by virtue of being a gracious loser. Julian is genuinely invested in the Truth, no matter how it makes him look or feel; Garek is invested in being right and he’s willing to do all the work necessary to be it, and if he were ever wrong, he would straight up admit it. If he were more invested being tough than being right, he’d just be a smug prick; as it is, he’s simply a man with confidence.

It gives their conversations a real chemistry. Julian is genuinely searching through for the one true ‘solution’ to any question he brings to the table, and not only does Garek have answers for him, he’ll be able to defend even seemingly abhorrent positions. You might disagree with him on moral grounds, but you can’t argue that his ideas fit all the facts, that they fit his particular motivation, and that they have a flawless internal logic. Julian, in turn, is forced to recognise his own moral views; he mirrors Garek’s confidence and shapes his own position to suit the facts. Garek is pleased to watch Julian take him and his ideas seriously; Julian finds his curiosity drives him forward, both for Garek as a person and, much more so, for the abstract ideas they discuss.

Alongside this, and for similar reasons, is Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. I get why people think Liz is the worst character on the show, because she is, but her relationship with Jack is the most emotionally powerful aspect of it. Liz tries to convince herself she wants to be a good person; Jack knows he’s a bad person. It’s pretty hard to fuck up the pleasure of two people bouncing off each other like that, but it feels like there are a lot of nuances to their friendship that emerge from this. Jack will insult your tastes, politics, car, and lifestyle, but he won’t ever do anything to actually stop you. Liz, on the other hand, is an archetypal busybody which combines with her lack of self-awareness to create an unlikable main character.

(I am stronger than other people emotionally because unlikability doesn’t factor into my ability to enjoy fiction – in fact, I embrace it)

Their growths – to the extent that a situation comedy can have growth – are parallel. Liz grows to take on Jack’s assertiveness and self-drive that are byproducts of his elitism; he knows his own tastes so deeply that he can act without thought, and Liz takes that on, spending less time justifying why she should do a thing she wanted to do anyway (or wasting her time on ‘improving’ others) and more on chasing the thing she wants. It’s like exposure to Jack’s constant barrage of criticisms has made her immune to the concept – there’s that great line in the finale, “All this time you’ve been telling me how to run my life, you didn’t known what you’re talking about! You’re just an alcoholic with a great voice!”.

Meanwhile, Jack compromises himself more and more to get what he really wants. Jack is fun to watch because he believes fully in everything he does (one of the best bits of the pilot is him officially declaring himself Liz’s friend), and he’s sympathetic because he pays every single time. For him, it’s more a matter of opening himself up to new techniques and moves, and it’s his relationships – not just with Liz but especially with Kenneth – that makes him see actions he can take if he wants. You put these two people together in a scene and you have not just perfect Clown and Straight Man energy, but the sense of two people trying to find out the right solution to the problem in front of them.

Who are your favourite pairs of character that you could sit and watch talk together all damn day?