Hi Friends,
How are you doing?Hope all's well at your end.In this month's post I shall share my musings when I discuss some recent developments in television today and echo my thoughts on the same.
As the two female protagonists of both Downton Abbey and Grey's Anatomy- Lady Mary and Meredith who are married to Matthew and Derek respectively and the Salvatore brothers of Vampire Diaries who are in love with the same girl,Elena Gilbert come to terms with this loss,these twists in the story line as far as the viewers are concerned are definitely upsetting, sudden, unexpected and too hard to digest - these are some of the reactions that I imagine of audiences around the world today who are in the same predicament as I am.
It has somehow become a routine on television today with uneventful events showing up at regular junctures when an actor portraying a major character in the series decides to leave the show for greener pastures or personal reasons.
Here are some general questions that's lingering on my mind at this moment on the dramas I mentioned above...
a. In this unexpected situation that's arisen in Grey's Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries,where does it leave Dr. Meredith Shepherd and the Salvatore brothers sans Dr. Derek 'McDreamy' Shepherd and Elena Gilbert,people whom we over the years came to believe were indispensable and an integral part of their lives?
b. What could now possibly be the character arch and progression in the series when someone who was once a vital link to their existence,doesn't really exist anymore? Would it be so easy for the creators to wipe away their memories too as the story progresses along?Like a Control + Alt + Delete command? I can imagine a Sci-Fi series running a delete program to wipe away memories...but in this case how and what would it be?
c. Do you think that these series would be the same as before sans the lead characters?And with newer characters thrown in to the ring,will 'that' chemistry stand out as before?Or just as the characters,the show too would die a natural death when viewers begin to lose interest in the future plot line no matter how interesting it may shape up to be?
d. And for us as viewers,what's left for us to watch out for?While we're left grappling with intermittent blows,where do our loyalties towards these characters lie when one fine day they suddenly cease to exist?Come on let's admit it,we all have our favorites right...then should we switch loyalties once our favorite characters cease to exist?
e. Does that mean we quit watching the show and move on to another?Or do we keep our hopes alive and believe that despite the unusual twist, there is something more eventful waiting to happen when we once again repose our faith in the makers/creators/writers of the show who have taken us on a roller coaster ride of emotions in the past?What do you think?Do they deserve another chance?
If I were helming the affairs of these shows,I'd have handled things rather differently.I would rather have shut shop if one of the lead protagonists of the show on whose shoulders the show rests on were to exit mid-way than to have carried on indefinitely with the series. It is because if there has to be a closure then it has to be on a high note! I'd rather give the viewers a happy-ending with fond memories to live by rather than see them in a state of perpetual shock and trauma!
Alternate to shutting down shop,if I had an inkling that one of the actors who portrays a key character in the series didn't wish to continue,I'd would have well in advance introduced some eligible prospects or created a blast in the past like situation as a part of a contingency plan to prepare the viewers for the worst.
For example-How about a Euthanasia angle for MacDreamy? Imagine MacDreamy contracting a terminal illness which he would have overlooked at first during his visit overseas?Or he could have been left invalid after the crash as well?And the viewers would witness the symptoms of his illness grow each passing day during the last few series of Grey's Anatomy?Certainly,no viewer would want to see the lead character languish in pain,right?They would rather wish that he die peacefully than to see the condition of their much loved character deteriorate by the day.And with Meredith fighting a life and death battle each day by the side of a man she loves so dearly,she could make the biggest decision of her life when she finally lets him go.Yes,that's right i.e. when she seeks a legal recourse for consent on Euthanasia,which is to pull the plug on Derek's life support than to see him die each day as he suffers silently in pain and agony?And this treatment in the story line would have have in turn solved the creative team's dilemma as well while introducing the concept of Euthanasia to the viewers in a novel way which would be a landmark move on television and subsequently have spared the producer from the eventual emotional outburst and backlash.What do you think?Am I on the right track?But a premature or a half-baked ending like phasing out characters in an accident certainly doesn't do justice to the sensibilities and wisdom of the audience.Any lay person by now would have guessed that so-and-so actor didn't want to continue with his/her portrayal in the series,thus the makers had to pull the plug on their characters.But the whole idea here is that the situation should be couched so carefully and handled so deftly that it doesn't give the viewer's a chance to believe that it was jarring or contrived.It should serve as a natural progression to the story line,as though it was waiting to happen and then it did. And that's what I truly think.
Paragraphs earlier,I said that the show rests on the shoulders of actors and that is not entirely possible without a strong story line or it would just fall flat. Let's understand on what I meant when I said on whose "shoulders" a show runs on.
I quite know and believe that content is the driver,it is the template on which the whole structure rests.It is the strongest arm of the series i.e. the job of the Creator/ Maker/ Writer of the show to set in motion his/ her vision and conviction about a given subject and story line.But characters are the backbone of the series especially those with whom the audiences begin to connect and gradually begin to relate to over the years.It is like a circuit,if a connection is missing,it triggers a short-circuit.These characters are pivotal points that complete the circuit.
Besides a strong story line,a show is also built on chemistry because it all begins with two or more unique characters with their own set of strengths and weaknesses,they meet,sparks fly and then there's a 'chemistry' that gets you drawn towards them as they begin to grow on you.And in both dramas,it is their outstanding chemistry with one another that had us hooked on to them.We begin to connect with them because we begin to see them through the prism of our lives.We try to apply our reasoning and knowledge to their wisdom and justify their decisions be it good or bad.We rebuke them for the brash decisions they make and we then learn to forgive them as well.We empathize and sympathize with them when they hit the rock bottom.We cry for them at their heart-breaks and triumph in their love.So,you understand what I meant by an emotional connect,a chemistry that not just two actors share with one another through their characters but also a deep bond they share with us as viewers.They tug the heart strings and thus to see them go in an untoward manner definitely invites the ire of the viewers.
In fact,I quite lost interest after Season 3 of Downton Abbey when they pulled the plug on Matthew Crawley and I fear that something similar might happen with Grey's Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries too.In fact,I would be very happy if Julian Fellowes,Shonda Rhimes and Julie Plec prove me wrong and reignite my interest back into the series when their beloved (and heart-broken) characters - Lady Mary, Meredith Grey and Salvatore brothers who were once romantically attached to Matthew Crawley, Dr. Derek Shepherd and Elena Gilbert respectively are able to convince us when they find closure to their sufferings and open to the idea of love when it comes knocking at their doorsteps the second time around with a passionate and scintillating chemistry as before that would make us sit up and believe and fall in love with them all over again!
Writers are magicians.If they can create a Mary-Matthew, Mer-Der,Stelena-Dalena and make us fall in love with them... then let's not underestimate them this time around as we keep our thoughts open to see what the future holds for them.However the flip side of the argument is that even if they try to salvage the story line after abruptly sending lead characters to their graves,the show is not just quite the same afterwards...we all know that! After all,we can infer from some of the recent developments on television today that many of our much adored characters who have been an enormous part of our lives are not meant to ride off into the sunset eventually....and that's one bitter pill which is hard for us as viewers to swallow! Now all we have to do is wait and watch to see what unfolds next...
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Hope you enjoyed reading this month's post? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Love,
Sonyaa
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