Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

On the way here I was thinking about what to say and the answer was character inconsistencies. I've been watching Almost Paradise mostly because a) I want to see some of the Philippines (which it might not even be that but I think it is) b) I like Christian Kane. I'll be honest, this isn't his best role. He's playing this character one note, angry all the time. But I hadn't see the first eppy until I came home and ironically found that I must have set the DVR to record ALL episodes regardless of which run it was. But it isn't Christian's character, ALex that's inconsistent (well he is but I didn't know that until today), it's the lady cop, Kai Mendoza who flip flops between liking Alex and hating him. But now that I see the first episode so does the semi-corrupt chief of police.

I was wondering was there a reason for this but there is none and that's what bugs me. It's one thing to waiver for reasons but when there seems to be none it makes your viewer/reader wonder what is going on. I've now seen about the first 6 episodes and a few of the later ones and there is no reason given for how these characters are portrayed.

Alex, as I found out today, has high blood pressure (secondary to stress) and was kicked out of the DEA because of a mental break down (no pension, and barely any disability checks which already seems fishy) but after the first few episodes we don't see the blood pressure issue and what I think is meant to be PTSD and anxiety is presented purely as anger and lashing out. (As good as Prodigal Son does mental health issues, that's how badly this show is doing it) but even that isn't done consistently.

More annoyingly Kai's character is in his face belittling him and yelling at him and telling him how much they don't need him and in a different episode, she's more buddy buddy and concerned but there seems to be no trigger for any of this. These inconsistencies feel like bad writing.

So I guess what I'm saying is if you're going to do this, give your audience a reason for the character's wild swings in temperament or it just feels bad.

I did (obviously) make it home. It's so hot. Nearly three hours later and I still can't get this apartment under 80 degrees and it was nearly 100 when I hit the parking lot. (and let's not forget humid AF).

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Comments

[aaronlisa]

And that's why I had issues with Joyce in Season Two of BTVS. When you don't watch five episodes back to back, I don't think you notice the inconsistencies as much but back to back they are glaring. One episode, she's out of town due to work with the gallery and she trusts Buffy at 16/17 to be on her own with no adult supervision. The next episode she's irrationally angry and grounding Buffy because she's irresponsible. (Don't get me started on the whole issue with the Bad Eggs episode and Joyce.)

I think at the end of the day, it's just sloppy and lazy especially with episodic TV shows. I tend to be more forgiving of it with sitcoms than with dramas. I also tend to be more forgiving of it with secondary characters but main characters, it really bothers me. I don't expect everything to work as it does in real life or to have an explanation. But sometimes even a throwaway line works as some sort of explanation, even if it doesn't work in the real world.

That said, I get tired of shows that have been made in the last 5 years to now that don't try to handle mental illness and trauma better. It doesn't need to be perfect but it should be a bit more nuanced than it often is shown.

[cornerofmadness]

Ugh Joyce, no kidding. That's the trouble with YA stories. Parents have to be criminally negligent, criminally stupid or just plain gone to make the storylines work half the time.

But like you I can forgive it more in comedy than I can in drama.

representation is known to be so important these days so yeah it's disappointing to see it be bad. Almost Paradise, if this wasn't Christian I probably wouldn't bother because it's bad rep. Prodigal Son is fantastic and Tom Payne hits it out of the park.

[aaronlisa]

I'd like to see more YA stories where parents are written in a more realistic fashion. And with Joyce, again a throw away line for her actions would have gone a long way. I mean in "TED" you can blame her actions on the tranquilizers in the food he was serving her.

I know that feeling of watching a bad show because of a good actor. Far too well. I really need to get on Prodigal Son. Maybe this weekend. From what I've seen Payne is one of the main reasons to watch that show.

[cornerofmadness]

I would like to see that too (I tried to do that in my YA novel but gah, there are other issues I need to fix in it, sobs)

Joyce was definitely problematic.

Payne is amazing (the whole cast is really) and I would never have guessed it from some of his earlier work. He has become a fine actor

[havocthecat]

I've been considering checking out to see if they have a different filming order than the order in which they aired things, because the character reactions are so inconsistent. The high blood pressure reactions are very plot-dependent and that's frustrating.

I mostly watch it for the stuff on the Philippines, because I prefer Kai and Ernesto to Christian Kane's character (I even forget his name, tbh), and I think Dean Devlin used the series and Christian Kane as a vehicle to do a series set in his mother's homeland, as his mother is Filipino. I mean, I don't think Christian Kane is going to turn down work with a director/producer he likes, and I think he has full awareness that he really is meant to play the boorish white dude who helps out. That's who he's playing the whole time.

I started watching because of Christian Kane. I kept watching it for all the Filipino stuff. The episode on Kai's mom was really, really good for her character development and does a lot to explain why she's the angry one.

But I have seen each and every one of your criticisms and they all make sense to me. It's not a great series. I do consider it an enjoyable one, at least.

[cornerofmadness]

Now that's a thought, being shown out of order. I'm also glad I'm not the only one seeing the terrible inconsistencies (I'm on ep 5 where Kai is pro-Alex again but wasn't in ep 4)

I like Ernesto a lot. Kai less so because she's the one who is so very inconsistent. Thanks for the info on Devlin. I had no idea. I've been curious about the Philippines for decades thanks to a friendship I made back in college so I'm glad to see some of it

Yes the one with Kai's mom did give some explanation to why she is so angry (and she had been before Mom died) but that episode was one of the ones that bothered me in how horrible she was to Alex above and beyond him embarrassing her idol.

But yeah you and I started this for the same reason and are continuing for the same reason. it's not a great show but it's entertaining enough for me to keep going. And hey Kane got to sing again. I like his voice.

[spikedluv]

I also find Kai's hot and cold reactions to be annoying. There's one ep in particular where she's so nasty it made me angry. It's like, they ask for his help in one ep, then claim he's he's a pain in the butt in another.

[cornerofmadness]

Same here, right down to the anger at Kai. Havoc cat suggested the possibility these are out of order and I have to wonder if they're right because damn there's no character arc otherwise. I can see them slowly warming to him but this back and forth is giving me whiplash and really decreasing my enjoyment of the show.