The film and television industries are finally coming back from Covid-19, and they are bringing with them fresh new shows like Ms. Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi. These shows are being lauded for their engaging plots and characters, but many older shows are struggling to keep their characters consistent after so many interruptions.
Audiences stick with shows because they want to see what happens next to their favorite characters. Because of that, a bad character arc can be the death of a show. TV fans came to Reddit to air their grievances about characters whose arcs were ruined by the writers, and current showrunners should be careful as they plan their next seasons.
Stranger Things: Lucas And Will
Stranger Things is one of the most popular shows currently running, in part because it has such interesting character dynamics. However, some fans claim that growth is limited to only a few central characters. Redditor raylan_givens6 specifically named Lucas and Will as disappointing characters, because “Compared to the others on the show, they’ve had little to no development.”
The two began the show as a shy, nerdy boy and a cynic, and four seasons later, their personalities are pretty much unchanged. While there have certainly been some important developments, it can be hard to watch a show where characters like Eleven and Steve grow so much, while others stay the same through all of their experiences.
Shameless: Everyone
Shameless consistently depicted the impacts of poverty and addiction in more depth than most other comedic representations, but its characters tended to do things that go against their personalities. As AKAkorm said, “Shameless was the master of resetting characters from any small measure of success they had instead of letting them move on naturally.”
This was especially true with the eldest Gallagher children, who kept repeating their mistakes, despite having repeatedly learned their lessons. For a show that had eleven seasons, it seems like they may have run out of ideas, forcing them to redo plots audiences have already seen before.
Lost: Sayid
Lost had a lot of great twists and turns early on, but the surprises eventually began to hurt the characterizations, specifically with Sayid, who lost all of his hard-won personality traits. According to one Redditor, “He was such a fantastic character up to Season 6. To have him ‘infected’ and become a zombie was disappointing, to put it mildly.”
His character was powerful and intriguing, capable of committing horrific crimes while also having profound emotional reactions to them. Sayid was not a stock character by any means, which made his loss of emotions so tragic. It took away everything that made the character so great and was a letdown for the fans who consistently stood by him.
The West Wing: Toby
Aaron Sorkin is often applauded for his impressive work on The West Wing, which explores the complexities of the White House through characters that fans can really relate to. Unfortunately, some fans (and actors) question some of his decisions. Namely, Redditor takequake76 says, “Toby would have never in a million years betrayed the president like that, the space shuttle controversy was against everything he stood for.”
Toby was an extremely moral character, which made it so surprising for him to have leaked classified information to the press. This character arc was so poorly done that even actor Richard Schiff spoke against it, saying “I hated my storyline … In the end, the only way I could make sense of my story was to come up with my own story – that Toby was covering for someone else “(via Express).
Arrow: Felicity
Felicity was intended to be a one-off role when Arrow began, but her chemistry on set and the way fans latched onto her turned her into one of the show’s main characters. Unfortunately, as SlightCarpet pointed out, Felicity’s character went downhill starting in season three, with the character being “Genuinely one of the most likable side characters in superhero shows until she became the creator’s pet.”
As she became more entrenched in the show as Oliver’s primary love interest, Felicity was given more complicated backstories and story arcs, many of which took away from what fans liked most about her from the start. She became increasingly annoying, and though she had a few great moments, her personality strayed farther from its roots with each passing season.
Friends: Rachel
Rachel was often seen as the main character in Friends, and while her on-again-off-again relationship with Ross was beloved by many, there has been an outcry against her character’s decision to give up her dream job to stay with Ross. As NoirPochette says, “she should have ditched Ross. F ** k that guy.”
Many felt Rachel’s arc went downhill the more it focused on Ross, with Redditor UsualFirefighter9 arguing that she would have done better with Joey: “her and Joey seemed sweet. He started growing up, so to speak, for her and that would’ve been a great thing. ” Whoever she ended up with romantically, it was definitely a step backward for a character who had grown so much to throw away her career for a man who did not treat her that well to begin with.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Country Mac
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia had a full cast of eccentric characters, and one that fans latched onto was Country Mac, Mac’s cousin who was consistently one-upping him. Unfortunately, Country Mac only showed up in one episode before his behavior led to his death. Though he was only a guest star, Redditors like WeDriftEternal take issue with his brief arc.
As WeDriftEternal says, “Country Mac was badass. But riding a motorcycle without a helmet is definitely not badass. The writers really screwed him.” Fellow Redditor waterc0uch agreed, wishing Country Mac had taken Mac’s place on the show. Fans wish the gang had succeeded in switching the two, and that Country Mac hadn’t died so quickly and uncharacteristically.
Fear The Walking Dead: Madison
The Walking Dead The franchise has some of the best characters out there, but even they have their disappointments. For Redditor Wh00ster, that disappointment was Madison from Fear The Walking Dead: “She was slowly becoming A ++ villain-level protagonist with a dark backstory, with a earned build up, and then did a complete 180 with very little reasoning.”
Madison was the show’s main character in the first few seasons, but as the show began to reinvent itself, much of her character arc was thrown away. After the turmoil of surviving the zombie outbreak, Madison was willing to do terrible things to protect her family – only for her to sacrifice herself and then come back years later, kidnapping children.
How I Met Your Mother: Barney
Barney was the ultimate womanizer at the start of How I Met Your Mother before he gradually began to settle down with a woman who liked all the same things he did. Then, in conjunction with a finale that ruined the series, his character development and marriage were blown up in one fell swoop.
As Redditor ImDeanIWatchTV explained, “Barney’s ending is just sad he gets married to robin & they’re happy then a time jump & they’re divorced he’s back to sleeping around again then I guess to try to make up for it they give him a child? ” The sudden reversal of character development was jarring and extremely disappointing for the many fans who supported Barney and Robin’s relationship.
Game Of Thrones: Jaime
It’s no secret that fans struggled with the end of Game of Thrones, but there seems to be no character more contentious than Jaime Lannister. As Miggzyy put it, “You watch him grow as a character over the course of 7.5 seasons and in 1 episode they just completely negate all of that growth and pretty much take him back to the person he was when you first meet him.”
While some fans argued that returning to toxic relationships is depressingly realistic, Faithless195 put it best: “The problem isn’t the loss of character development, so much as the disgustingly quick 180 he does. Season 8 isn’t hated because of HOW it ended, but how it was WRITTEN. “
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