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.