Character Studies: The Whipping Boy

In this series on character, I haven't mentioned the most important part of the equation: you, the audience. Without the people watching, all the writing, acting, producing is all for naught. And when the magic happens, you get people to fall in love with a fictional construct and watch that creation's adventures from week to week, year to year. But this is not without some dangers.

Good drama is all about conflict. We watch people in their worst moments, on their worst days. Sometimes they rise to the occasions, sometimes they fall. And we curse the fates their lives should be so terrible, and bless them that we get to watch the struggle. But in all this, we must believe that it is the universe causing these situations to occur. When the veil parts, when we get a peek behind the curtain, this can be the beginning of the end of the character love affair. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

I loved ER from its first episode. This was a medical show, dime a dozen even today, but it really focused on the individuals. And through its history, it has created many memorable characters. I can only talk about the ones from the start of the show for reasons that will become apparent. It would be easy to talk about Dr. Doug Ross here. It's the birthplace of the phenomenon know as Clooney. Much could be written here about character, how this handsome young actor had tried and tried to catch a break, but just couldn't catch one. But here in this show, with these writers, these directors, these costars, the settings were right for him to create a fantastic, memorable man that audience have loved for over a decade. But that's not my focus. My guy was Dr. Mark Greene.

While Clooney got the spotlight, Anthony Edwards (the BMOC when the show launched) was creating just as memorable and fascinating a creation. His Doc was smart, savvy, passionate and wore his heart on his sleeve. He was the one I was always waiting to show back up on screen. But as the years went by, things changed. While Dr. Ross got his hero moment, his self sabotage times, his loves and his fights, Dr. Greene seemed to be on God's S*** List. He was unlucky in love, savagely beaten and eventually had that long staple of lazy "what do we do now?" writing: cancer. After a time I had to stop watching the show. Not because it had gotten bad, but because I couldn't stand to see what the writers were doing to this character I adored.

I'm not naive, I know how the system works. I've watched Buffy die twice. But in all the shows I watch, with characters I care about, it felt to me like the universe was acting on them, that the story was in control. The more the writers heaped abuse on Dr. Greene, the more aware I became of the almost sadistic joy they seemed to be taking in knocking him down again and again. Joss referred to Alyson Hannigan as The Queen Of Pain because he knew whenever he did something to Willow, she was golden, that she could convey anguish and hurt and make the audience feel it. But it was always in the service of the story, not just a series of punishments just to fill airtime. None of this is factual, to my knowledge. I'm speaking here of how I felt about the situation. But as time passed, I couldn't stand to watch the beatings they put this noble soul through week after week. I had to walk away.

It's a fine line. You have to put characters in conflict. It's the heart of drama and comedy. But in shows like ER, which became more of a machine to feed characters into as it ran on (and on and on), all things serve the franchise and it becomes more grist for the mill rather than putting beloved characters under the knife to carve them into better, more realistic people. And with a character I cared about, it just hurt too much to watch him beaten for their amusement.