Tragic

      Why do we love the tragic characters? Not the nice ones, not the perfect ones, not the pure ones, we love the mean ones, the sinners, the hopeless ones. Those are the characters we yell at, cry with, secretly root for, and laugh with. Those are our favorite characters. Why though?

     Is it because they are gorgeous, because they are brilliant, because they scare us, because they impress us, because they intrigue us? Why? Why do we love these crazy, sometimes psychotic, frustrating, demising characters? Why? We see ourselves and the ones we love in them. We relate to them. We aren’t giving up on ourselves or that annoying older sister or lazy, troubled little brother, so why should we give up on them?

     Friday Night Lights had plenty of dynamic, troubled characters. They had underdogs like Tyra and Mindy, perfects like Julie and Landry, beauties like Lyla, fighters like Tami and Becky, and many more who we adored and rooted for. But who was that one character we loved despite every time he ran away, every time he screwed someone over, or how many times an episode he got plastered? Tim Riggins. That boy could never do anything to make us hate him. Maybe it was his shirtless scenes, or his protectiveness of Julie and Becky, or his friendship with Jason that made us keep him around, we don’t know. But we do know we always saw how hard he fought for a better life for himself and his friends, how much and deeply he really did care for everyone, and his selflessness when he went to prisoner for his brother. He was a drunk, a cheater, and an escapee, but he was Tim Riggins, the heart and soul and embodiment of a Southern boy who just loved his football, his women, his country, his family, and his land. He was a Southern boy with heart, that’s why we loved him.

     LOST had the kindest millionaire you could ever meet, the hottest and kindest doctor imaginable, the most lovable and little boyish rock star, and a beautiful sweet mother-to-be. But who did we always come back to see? Sawyer. He was the mean, rude, difficult, cheating, gun-slinging, dirty mouth con-artist. Did we love him for his shirtless scenes, his fabulous nicknames, and unforgettable one-liners? Probably. But we rooted for him because we saw the hurt little boy inside of him that just wanted justice for his mom and dad. We saw a little, hurt boy who wanted closure and love. We saw a man still struggling for those things. And we saw that boy try to show and receive love a little with Kate, but she was just another little girl looking for love and justice in a criminal’s grown-up body. We saw him changing and we kept hoping and praying it would stick, and then, then he got left behind on the island while his friends when off to happy, happy land. The good people got off, and we were upset our favorite criminal was left behind. There is something so poetic about all that. And we thought he was lost forever. But Juliette happened. She became the beauty, and stability, and happiness he needed in his life. This hardened hot criminal became this gorgeous, loyal, kind, responsible, amazing sheriff we all knew he could be, and we loved him. We loved him because he showed us a person could really change, all they needed was just someone to love and believe in them the right way.

     The Vampire Diaries has compassionate victims, lost teenagers, bubbly cheerleaders, and concerned best friends, and stone-cold killers. And we love the killers, case in point, Damon and Klaus. We watch in horror as they kill anyone and everyone, pray they don’t kill off our favorite people, cry and yell when they do, and swear to hate them forever. Then, when the girls they love, Elena and Caroline, walk in the room we pray and plead that the girls will forgive them and love them. Why? They don’t deserve love. They are brutally honest, hurt those closest to them, and kill off anyone who gets on their nerves. But then you realize why. Damon does it because he loves Elena, and kills to protect her from anyone who tries to or he thinks will hurt her. And Klaus, well Klaus was rejected and doesn’t think anyone could ever love him, so he lives in bitterness and tries as hard as he can, not to feel. They are both hurt and alone and struggling, that’s why we love them. We just want someone to love us too. We don’t kill people to achieve that though, we just starve ourselves, pay way too much for new clothes, and fake nice.

     We love these tragic characters because we are all tragic in our own way. Whether you are lonely, or broken, or a screw-up, or whatever you are, there is definitely a character out there for you to relate to and root for.

     Find your villain and cheer away!

Twisted

     I’m not talking about your sister or your mother-in-law or even your life, but the lives of your favorite characters. Some of them have brilliantly twisted lives, and then some of them make no sense.

     Arrow has great twists. His beloved mom is just as bad as his hated dad, and his best friend is dating his ex, who doesn’t like him because he cheated on her with her sister who died, but might actually be alive, all because his best friend’s dad has anger issues and is also one of his arch archery enemies and one of Arrow’s mom’s colleagues of evil. Plus, on top of all that, he is dating one of the cops who is hunting his alter-ego along with his ex’s dad who is hunting him. Got all that? And you thought your life was tough because your mom calls every day and your ex is dating someone you don’t know.

     

      Nashville has lots of sleeping partner twists. This was interesting and er, twisted until I realized that apparently everyone sleeps with everyone at some point. So now it’s not a matter of who is sleeping with whom, but when who will sleep with whom. So I guess the big twist could be who was slept with first, I don’t know. They need to have another virgin on the show who calls them out about it again; now that was a show stopper. Like what? You mean people say no to Juliette Barnes? What? Good stuff.

     Grey’s Anatomy used to be twisted, but now I think they’re just tired. They still have some twists like Jackson owning the hospital along with the plane crash survivors and that’s an awesome twist, but a very predictable one. And at this point they can’t kill someone off or have someone cheat on someone for a twist because we’ve seen it too much. I think if they let some of the characters be truly happy for more than two episodes, it would be an awesome and rare twist. You never know what happiness could do to Seattle; it may even keep a plane or two in the sky!

     Then there’s The Vampire Diaries or as I like to call it, The Big Twist. You have five different supernatural creatures in one town plus at least like three to four different love triangles at any given moment. That is enough for like a thousand twists, and then you throw in a new crazy killer and Elena’s newest Salvatore choice about every four episodes. That show keeps you on your toes and a Kleenex in your hand. The only twist that I think could really throw them is if there was no murder or attempted murder at the next school dance. What? Peace and happiness in Mystic Falls? Couldn’t be!

    So if you want evil parents, deadly plane crashes, cheating spouses, or murderous vampires, then just keep watching tv and be thankful for your paranoid co-worker and five cats. 

The One-Liner

     Want attention? Want to make people laugh? Want to get the girl? Then grab a one-liner!! That’s what the cool kids do, works every time! Or at least on tv. There’s a great trend on tv now-a-days, the one-liner. Usually the bad guys are the best at using it, and no matter who they are or what they do, if they have great one-liners, they’re suddenly the Dalai Lama, all loved and wanted and great for the audience’s peace of mind.

     LOST had polar bears, and time-travel, and guns, and submarines, and pretty faces, but the ones who scored the most attention and followers were Sawyer, Ben, and John Locke. Why? Their one-liners! Sawyer was the best with his nicknames for everyone: “Doctor playing golf! Wooo! Boy Howdy! I’ve heard everything. What’s next? A cop eating a doughnut?” to Kate or “Little Red Riding Hood gonna follow Big Bad Wolf back to his stash o’ guns?” to Ana Lucia or “Yo yourself, Pillsbury!” to Hurley or “Great plan, Moonbeam. After that we can sing 'Kumbaya' and do trust falls.” No matter whom he was shooting, or sleeping with, or double-crossing, you loved him.

     The Walking Dead has zombies, guns, dirt, and more zombies, but the most exciting part is listening to whatever comes out of Daryl Dixon’s mouth next. Some of his best include: “Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road - figured he had to be Asian, driving like that.” or “Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees.” or “Shoot me again? You best pray I’m dead.”

     The Vampire Diaries has almost every supernatural creature your little heart could ever desire, but the best one is Damon. He’s always biting someone, or killing someone, or sleeping with someone, or rescuing someone, or stealing someone’s girl. And through it all, you love him anyway because he is so darn funny. His best one-liners include: “Do I look like I know anything about tattoos? Look at my skin. It's flawless.” & “Life sucks. Get a helmet.” & “Everything changes tomorrow. It'll be all unicorns and rainbows.” & “Dear Diary, a chipmunk asked me my name today. I told him it was Joe. That lie, will haunt me, forever.” & “You know Stefan. Journaling. Reading. Shaping his hair.”

     

     So whether you are a con-artist, or a redneck zombie killer, or a dark vampire, if you have one-liners galore, you will be the fan favorite, the Tina Fey & Amy Poehler to well, everyone. They’ll love you and talk about you and ask you back to host everything.

Twilight, Our Hero

     We down Twilight all the time, their actors, actresses, plots, couple choices, point, all of it, we don’t like it. But instead, we should thank them.

     They have entertained us more than anything else has, just not in the way they wanted to. They have entertained us by being the brunt of most of our jokes.

     We create whole Pinterest boards bashing them. We now know how not to write a love story, or be in a love story, or be near a love story. We know what wannabe vampires and werewolves look like now. We know all of the faces or none of the faces of Kristen Stewart now. We know Robert Pattinson had better face time in one Harry Potter movie than the four Twilight movies. And we know Taylor Lautner more for his abs then his acting now.

     But most of all we learned:

     Vampires are just plain nice. They even sparkle!

     It’s romantic, not creepy when grown men sneak into your bedroom and watch you sleep.

     It’s okay to drown yourself so your boyfriend will finally want to spend more than five minutes with you.

     If you don’t get the girl, just wait for her daughter.

     Babies can kill you, not with sleep depravity, but good ole beating you up from the inside out.

     Bad guys will leave you alone, if you tell them what could happen if they don’t.

     And finally, showing no emotion while your life goes crazy, ends, and comes back is always the proper       emotion.

     

     So, as you see, we should thank them for the endless entertaining material they have provided us for years to come, and if you don’t want to thank them for that, thank them for the great advice their story provides. (P.s. I just lost all faith in humanity.)

To Be Or Not To Be: Celebrity Chemistry

     Chemistry is so vital in tv. Not the add this and that, go boom, chemistry. But the oh my goodness, my toes are curling, my heart’s racing, I have chills, chemistry. Whoever the chemistry is between: friends, relatives, co-workers, or lovers, it is what makes or breaks each relationship on the show, especially the one between the lovers. The couple can look so epically fantastic on paper and in theory, but if those co-stars don’t have that special chemistry, that relationship and possibly that show are going belly-up.

     Sometimes you can tell the couple has chemistry long before they even kiss, for instance, Jo and Karev on Grey’s Anatomy. The show has been flirting with this idea this whole season. They have progressed from acquaintances, to virtually enemies, to best friends, to almost something more. Every category they have been in has been spot-on and very convincing. No matter how they treat each other, you love it, because it is so real, the chemistry so palpable. Now, they are sending each other love looks, and the audience is just as excited as they are because they know when this couple finally gets together, it’s going to be epic and perfect, because they click. Their chemistry is so genuine and good, like most of the couples on this show.

     Sometimes the couple sounds perfect, maybe even looks good, but once they kiss, you realize it’s all doomed. A prime example is Laurel and Tommy on Arrow, Arrow’s ex that he hurt and his best friend who was there for his ex. It made sense, almost poetic, and then the inevitable happened…….they kissed. There’s little, if any chemistry there, and they look more like awkward neighbors trying to spark things up than the triumphant, from the ashes, couple they are supposed to be. It just leaves you confused, a little grossed out, and very, very unfulfilled. At this point, you just want anyone else to be with Laurel, even the man who almost destroyed her.

     Then sometimes, you have a couple who you know shouldn’t be together, but their chemistry is so rich and vivid, that you almost root for them anyway. Case in point is Sawyer and Kate in Lost. That cage scene between them made everyone, even the show’s deepest, darkest critics vote for that couple. It was real, and raw, and memorable. That’s what every show wants, one couple that has everyone in the world rooting for them and tuning in just because of them and that one scene. Whether Sawyer and Kate were fighting, running, kissing, or just talking, you could feel the chemistry 1,000 miles away on your couch, you could touch it. And you wanted to see more of it.

     

     And then sometimes, you have those perfect couples who have great chemistry, until one of them just has to run off and have even better chemistry with someone else. How dare them! They leave you sitting there, breathless and confused, not knowing who to root for. There are a couple examples here. First, you have Kate and Jack from Lost. There was definite chemistry between them and everyone loved them, but then Kate kept running back into Sawyer’s arms (puts a whole new spin on “we have to go back!”), where the chemistry was overwhelming. You knew she should be with Jack, it was her destiny; but there was nothing like her and Sawyer and that passion. And then came along example two, Juliette and Sawyer. When Juliette and Sawyer finally got together, it was like hold up, we just found epicness number three on this show. They found each other in a time of desperation, but their relationship was anything but desperate. It wasn’t the overwhelming passionate love between Sawyer and Kate or the strong, defying love between Kate and Jack. It was a passionate, yet secure, moving, yet firm, real, yet raw love that only the bad boy and the good girl could pull off. Their scene in the finale where they finally remember who they are and what they had, it was so real that it made you want to leave your couch right that minute, find your soul mate, and kiss them like the world was ending. Now, that right there is chemistry.

     Another show with great chemistry changers is The Vampire Diaries. The first couple affected was Tyler and Caroline. Their biggest chemistry moment was when she helped him through his changing into a werewolf. The scenes where she is holding him as he lies helplessly on the ground whimpering and moaning in pain, make you so sad for him, but so happy for them because you can see their bond forming and growing so much in those scenes. That is chemistry at its best, when two people can make one scene between them give you so many conflicting emotions, you feel helpless. Then, just when you thought Caroline had found her life partner, Klaus showed up. They haven’t kissed, they’ve barely had a civil conversation, but you want them together so bad. Why? Well, the emotion in every scene between them is downright touchable. You can feel Klaus’s love for her, even when he is being a total jerk. And their chemistry is about the only thing keeping you from begging Klaus to be killed off already, and they aren’t even close to being together. That chemistry is epic and raw and unbelievable. The second couple affected is Stefan and Elena. You see their chemistry from episode one and you believe it and root for it. Their talks, their arguments, their journal entries, their kisses, all leave you wanting more. They are perfect. Well until, Damon shows up, or more like crashes the party. Throughout the seasons, there is always this undercurrent of what if she doesn’t choose the expected, what if she can save him, what if he is her epic love. Then they kissed. If Stefan and Elena together left you wanting more, Damon and Elena left you praying for more. They did more in one kiss to upset the whole dynamic than Stefan did in his multi-episode killing spree. If one kiss can send a three season relationship spiraling, then the actors must be doing something right. Then in the fourth season, they officially sealed the deal, and you knew right there that no matter what Stefan did, he would never truly compare or erase Damon and his mark forever. Chemistry that can change a three season epic love story is epic chemistry.

     And then finally, sometimes, the right chemistry is actually between the right people. Beauty and the Beast has this so far. Vince and Catherine have been doing the whole maybe we will, maybe we won’t thing all season. And anytime they are within ten, you know what, any amount of feet of each other, you can feel them getting closer, feel them kissing, and then…..they don’t. They make some excuse and walk away. It is so frustrating, but so well orchestrated. Finally, they professed their love for each other this past episode and kissed! Hallelujah! And honestly, for their first kiss, I was thoroughly impressed. They looked like they were truly meant for each other and that everything was going to work out and nothing would separate them, even though he’s a fugitive and she’s a liar. Their kiss put you at ease and made you super excited and satisfied all in ten seconds. That’s true chemistry right there, folks.

     Now, there are many, many more examples of amazing and awful chemistry combinations on tv, but these are just a few of the ones I have noticed lately. I’m sure I’ll rant about a few more later, but for now, check out these and keep praying and wishing that they keep being great or get better, depending on where they are now. The chemistry between the characters, especially the lovers, is what convinces you a show is worth it, makes you want more of it, keeps you coming back, and causes you to create Pinterest boards about it!

     Let me know what you think about the chemistry on these shows and any other shows that I have left out! I’m always interested in more shows!