Another one bites the dust

[ellestra]

There has been a lot of deaths on TV recently. It seems to be the latest fad among the shows - killing one of the main characters. There seems to be many reasons behind it - from actors wanting to leave the show to just going for pure shock value. Here are some recent ones that, for me, fell on the opposite spectrum in term of execution.

I think I was the most shocked by The Good Wife - I did not expect that at all although, in retrospect, it was foreshadowed (all those flashback scenes). It was also very well done. The whole thing is sudden and shocking and devastating but what really sells the impact it has on everyone. When Alison died on Teen Wolf I was annoyed because they didn't have to kill her to let her leave - see Rebecca's exit from The Originals or even Isaac's and lots of others form the Teen Wolf. But Wills death seemed organic and the impact on the other characters feels visceral and real. You feel the same disorientation, anger and sadness - the whole 'what? why? how could this happen?' set. The death feels like an integral part of the story. The shit that happens in life. The last time I felt like that about character death was when Derek died on T:TSCC. It makes you angry and sad but never takes you out of the story. Instead it pulls you even more in and makes it feel even more real. That's some good storytelling.

Once Upon a Time on the other hand was eyeroll worthy. The whole thing seemed rushed and pointless. Part of it comes from the fact that Neal never really became a character on the show. Balefire was a McGuffin on the show for so long that they never new what to do with him when he was there. He was an object that was the cause for all the main events in the show and a driving motive for other's behaviour but never really his own person. Even when he came back his only purpose was to be Emma's love interest - usually in some weird love triangle that felt forced and had no chemistry. And since writers seem convinced that Emma cannot be in relationship the moment she seems to have connection to anyone who seems even a little romantically inclined something horrible happens. Old sheriff died, Pinokio got turned into wood and then a kid, Neal died (twice - or at least that was everyone thought) and now Hook is cursed. But at least Hook has his own story. Neal was only ever prop for other people's stories. Even Hook's story was entwined with Neal's and he was changed by him (which kind of creeps me out of the whole Emma/Hook as Killian was sort of Neal's stepfather and bonds with Henry over that and it's weird). So this sudden death doesn't feel like a loss of a person but just a reason to give angst to Gold, Emma, Henry and Hook. Once again Neal is a plot device to further their stories. The easiest person to kill because he was barely one at all. Which is why I hated that they killed him off. The whole thing felt rushed and ridiculous. This was lazy writing and instead of being sad I feel cheated. It highlighted all the worst problems of the OUaT storytelling and I'm irrationally upset about it.I didn't even care about Neal this much but this was so awful that I just want to rewrite the history just to have something less awful.