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Gifted Post-Mortem

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Yeah, it’s been several weeks since I made a new WordPress post. I’ve had plenty of thoughts over that time. None of them fit or required WordPress. Some of it’s been over on my Twitter account.

But that’s not why I’m posting now. This is a post-mortem for the show Gifted.

The show started out with a lot of promise. In season 1, the show had all the foundation it really needed for potential success. It started off rocky. Most first seasons do, including incredibly successful shows. Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1 is much different from Buffy the Vampire Slayer at its height. It takes time for creatives to determine where they really want to go with characters and concepts.

Unfortunately, Gifted wasted what it had and from what I heard, got much worse in season 2.

The show put too much emphasis on the Struckers. I think that’s something a majority of people felt. As a lead-in to the show’s concept, the Struckers were bland (even with Amy Acker) but could’ve been tolerated til about halfway through season 1. At that point, they should’ve started slowly taking a back seat to the main focus of the show. The usage of the Struckers in the first place felt like someone involved thought white audiences needed a white family at the core demonstrating the show’s version of white guilt to get into it. That kind of concept works best sneakily working as a subplot. Making it the focus detracted from the potential of the show’s diverse cast, and for some came off preachy in the wrong way.

The show’s handling of character death was another big issue – which I was very loud and clear about when they killed off Dreamer. The problem wasn’t merely that characters were killed off. It’s how it was done. Other, better shows will have the episode focus on that character, or make that character’s death part of a HUGE event that people will talk about endlessly. Gifted killed characters for a mix of shock value and to push other characters’ stories along with no love or respect given to the departing character. Fans generally don’t like to get deeply attached to a character only to have them offed out of nowhere with no catharsis of any sort to deal with it. The show being based on comic books doesn’t mean it’s great to follow terrible comic book tropes that are part of the reason comic book sales are often so low.

This was especially a problem with Dreamer’s death. It became all the more apparent to me post-death that she was the secret heart of the show. Like most “secret heart” characters (e.g. Rosa in FF4), her importance was completely lost on most people who stuck with the show – especially the show’s writers and showrunner. In comedy terms, it’s like having an act that needs the “straight man” trope and you remove him cause you think he’s not adding any jokes. In reality, everything else loses its impact without him.

Resurrecting Dreamer or saying she wasn’t killed off would’ve been the best option. Second best would’ve been bringing in a new character to fill the role and keeping them. Gifted did neither.

Another obvious issue: the show wasted Polaris, Esme, the characters’ potential, and Emma Dumont and Skyler Samuels.

I didn’t watch season 2. In fact, I stopped watching Gifted with the episode that they killed Dreamer. But I did see some things. I heard Lorna was treated very poorly in season 2, in part to promote Reeva. I also saw Dumont talk about how she didn’t like what the show was doing with/to Lorna, but as a professional, she understood the need to have balancing among all the characters in an ensemble cast.

There were two huge problems here.

One, providing balance doesn’t mean “Let’s make this character look pathetic and stupid so the other characters can look great.” That’s another shitty comic book writing trope that needs to die in a fire. TV audiences hated that approach because TV audiences expect better writing. A lot of them likely abandoned ship when they saw the show was going to be terrible just cause comics like to be terrible.

Two, Polaris had rapidly become a huge fan favorite character in season 1. There was toooooons of enthusiasm for her. When you have a fan favorite character, you don’t tear them down to make another character – especially a newcomer – look good at their expense. You capitalize on that enthusiasm and raise the stakes. Gifted failed.

By comparison, when Negan arrived on Walking Dead, Rick and Daryl had low moments. But they weren’t written horribly out of character to make Negan look good. They were presented with terrible situations, they behaved as they normally would, they went through trials and emotions and eventually found their strength again in themselves.

In general, Emma Dumont and Skyler Samuels brought a lot more to the table than the show seemed willing to acknowledge and respect. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Doing things that made their enthusiasm suffer led to fans losing interest. Not doing things to spread that enthusiasm stifled momentum into getting new viewers. The show had a gold mine and blew it up looking for coal.

I even remember when Skyler Samuels joined the show, but before Dreamer’s death soured me to Gifted, I specifically told another fan in private that Skyler would be a much bigger boon than most people realized. She was amazing on Scream Queens. Apparently the showrunner and writers understood that only enough to add her as a regular, but not enough to make the most of her alongside Dumont.

Meanwhile, if the show had done things right, the other characters – Blink, Thunderbird, Eclipse, Dreamer, Sage – could’ve risen up to a much higher level of interest over time.

There’s still been some talk about the idea of the show landing on a streaming service like Hulu. If the show persisted in its current model, I think it would only last as long as one limited series, at absolute most one more season (though I’m really padding it when I say that). Probably just enough for the show to give a comfortable conclusion after the cliffhanger.

For a Gifted revival/continuation to actually be more than that, the showrunners and writers would need to make a LOT of changes to what they’ve been doing for the last season and a half. They’d have to basically reset to halfway through season 1. Or, the show would need an entirely different showrunner, and maybe different writers (depends on if the current showrunner steered the writers in the wrong direction from what they would’ve wanted).

What seems most likely to me right now is something more like what happened to the Batman Beyond cartoon. Where one episode of Justice League Unlimited acted as a backdoor conclusion to Batman Beyond.

That’s all I’ve got now. New thoughts could spring up in the future.

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Favorite character poll on spoilertv

I voted for Dreamer because I knew Polaris wouldn’t need my vote like Dreamer does.

It says a lot about the loss of Dreamer, and what the show loses with her loss, that enough people voted for her that she beat out Reed, Andy and Sage. If she was as insignificant and worthless as some people out there think, she’d be below all 3 of them.

Why Dreamer Mattered

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I’ve been complaining loudly about not just that Dreamer died, but the way her death was handled by the show, ever since it happened.

I’ve complained about how poorly it was done. How the show made her sacrifices leading up to her death worthless and entirely illogical. How the show rushed to move on from her death to play up the Cuckoos at the end of the episode as the “big takeaway.” How the show cared so little about her that they told us things like “she worked at a women’s shelter,” but didn’t bother to show us instead, which would’ve been so much better.

I’ve also talked about her potential. How her powers could’ve been used in ways that weren’t considered (e.g. “fog of war” obscuring vision, or as a defense against psychic attacks by the likes of the Cuckoos). How more could’ve been done of Polaris and Dreamer hanging out as best friends. How if for some reason that wasn’t possible, she could’ve been with “the good guys” next season as counterbalance to the Cuckoos on Lorna’s side.

I’ve even raised arguments for why she should be around for other characters. For example, I’ve privately said to one Polaris fan that she was a “safe support” for Lorna, for example.

I’ve done all of that. But I haven’t gone into what is perhaps the most important reason the death is a problem at all: why Dreamer mattered.

For this, I want to start by directing attention to the amazing art below.

This was a piece of art drawn by Peter Nguyen, requested/commissioned by Jamie Chung and Blair Redford as a continuation of pictures Nguyen drew for the show of all the other main characters.

In this art, I want emphasize a very important feature, the thing that shows precisely what made Dreamer matter so much: hearts.

Think about all the characters on the show. Think about what they’re like, what they represent.

Polaris is fire and fury. Thunderbird is the do-gooder boy scout, the moral compass. Eclipse is the troubled man who’s done wrong and wants to be better. Blink is to sarcastic runaway, the noncommittal type who’s reluctantly sticking around. The Strucker kids are the next generation finding their way in the world. The parents are the old guard protectors trying to help leave behind a good world for their kids, while learning what their generation did wrong. The Cuckoos are the manipulative head-screwers who can look innocent and sweet one second and then vicious and cruel the next. Sage is the smart techie brains of the operation.

None of these characters is the heart of the show. When Gifted killed off Dreamer, they ripped out and stomped on the heart of the show.

As the heart, Dreamer did things that were wrong for the people she loved. She gave Blink her memories and feelings for Thunderbird. She went through Turner’s mind – and felt horrible about the damage done to him, that she couldn’t prevent. When the choice came between herself or the kids not using their powers, she was willing to sacrifice herself for the good of them and all mutants.

She did all of these things out of love and didn’t mean to hurt anyone. She was fiercely against Lorna punching out the guy at the bar because, whereas Lorna felt like doing it, Dreamer felt it was unnecessary. She didn’t want a scene, yes, but under the surface, she also didn’t think the guy needed to be hurt.

She kept everyone around her good and loving, in ways no other character could ever possibly pull off.

A lot of people mistakenly think it’s cool and smart and edgy to spurn the heart of a show or franchise and any characters that represent that nature. They’re wrong. Without the heart, everything starts to get dull. Everything loses its color and life and becomes just an endless boring drudge.

The heart gives purpose and meaning and value. It provides a way back from the worst of the worst, and balances things out. You need a heart or you have decay.

When I said Gifted is screwed without Dreamer, way back when it happened, I didn’t have the words to say why the show is screwed. But now I do. This is why. Without Dreamer back as its heart, Gifted is going to sink. Probably not right away, but definitely as things progress. If everything starts to feel dull and repetitive and common. As there’s no color in the darkness.

That’s why she mattered. She represented more than people realize, and as much as many may scoff at the idea, that scoffing and conscious brain thinking isn’t going to change how they slowly react to the show on a subconscious level.

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lotsoffandomimagines:

Requested by anonymous

You stood by your sister’s grave, gripping followers tightly in your hands. Tears were flowing down your cheeks, despite your attempts to keep your emotions in check. No one could blame you for being so upset however. Sonya, the only family you had left was dead.

If John, Clarice, Marcos, and Lorna weren’t here by your side you weren’t sure if you would have been able to survive. Gently you placed the plants down on Sonya’s grave and John proceeded to give you a hug. Sonya meant a lot to him too so he came the closest to sharing your pain.

”[Y/N] i’m… I’m so sorry” said Clarice. You forced yourself to give her a weak smile as you wiped tears off your cheeks.

”Thanks Clarice. Thank all of you guys for being here for me and Sonya”.
All your friends nodded and with that you formed a giant group hug. You’d be hurting for a long time because if Sonya’s death but with these four around to support you, you may just get through this dark time.

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Thanks to lots for writing this and to the anon who requested it for requesting it.

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Some people have misunderstood my attitude regarding Dreamer’s death on Gifted, both how it happened and that it happened at all. It’s not surprising for some people to think of how I’ve taken it as an overreaction, but I’ve seen some who think I’m proclaiming Dreamer to be an incredibly important and popular character, as if she’s on par with Jean Grey or something.

I don’t have any delusions about Dreamer and how much or how little popularity she has. My remarks about how poorly the show handled it and the consequences aren’t from thinking she had popularity that could bring the show down, but from what it means in the overall scheme of things.

There are certain things that happen which are symbolic and serve as warning signs. People usually ignore them or don’t even notice they happened, but they exist all the same. They’re portents of things to come. Dreamer’s death is one such case.

Dreamer’s death was handled poorly. Okay, but “it was only one time” and “she was only a supporting character,” and “she wasn’t popular,” so brush it off. But then another character dies the same way. Maybe Shatter. Then another character dies the same way. Maybe Sage. Then another. And another. And another. Not just that they died, but that the script threw out all logic to force the characters into a situation where the death happens, and it only happens to advance the stories of all the other characters that remain.

These are all “unimportant” characters. They exist on the show solely to support the main cast, and they’re not popular. Right? If Dreamer’s death didn’t hurt the show much, surely they can just keep doing it and they’ll be fine.

Here’s the thing. A mistake doesn’t become better and accepted with repeats. It gets worse. The effect is magnified the more times it happens and the more it becomes a trend. There’s a reason people scoff at comic book deaths as generally cheap and empty even with Jean Grey dead for over a decade. It became a trend that people looked down on.

A lack of sufficient complaints and demands for the writers on Gifted to not do what they did to Dreamer again, or better yet to fix what they did, emboldens continuing to write character deaths – all of them – in the same manner. Let them keep at it and they become entrenched in that style. Then, when it comes to a head and people actually start complaining? It’s too late. The show’s reputation suffers, more and more people cut from the show because they feel no reason to get invested if characters are going to keep dying like that, and it’s hard to impossible to course correct by that point. Even if the writers want to.

Personal anecdote, and I haven’t looked around online so I don’t know the general perception of it: Heroes. My memory of the show, as seasons went on they started randomly killing off any interesting new characters they introduced. I don’t know about other people, but for me, I stopped watching the show somewhere around season 3 or 4 because of it. I especially remember the deaths of Daphne Millbrook and Adam Monroe as instigators in driving me from wanting to watch. I didn’t make a fuss online about it, I just simply stopped watching.

People deeply invested in the show are going to support it regardless of what it does, but that can change easily when something they’re personally invested in is thrown away in an insulting manner, and that’s not counting more casual viewers who are less beholden to sticking by the show.

I want Dreamer’s death undone on Gifted and for the show to never handle character death like that again. I want it for myself, of course. But what I want would also be good for the show. If the writers keep doing things the way they did, I am certain it will kill the show. It won’t be a matter of if, but when it reaches a breaking point.

Hi! I’m working on a post for my blog about romantic subplots and how love triangles tend to be resolved poorly, and one of the examples I was going to use was the terrible treatment of Sonya in the Gifted. Would you mind if I referred to your post about her? I’ll cite you, of course.

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Go ahead! The more people are aware of these problems, hopefully the quicker writers stop diving headfirst into doing them. Thanks for asking!