[ SECRET POST #3883 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3883 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 44 secrets from Secret Submission Post #555.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Not as in their life ended badly, but because of bad writing.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Tonks in Harry Potter. Goes from interesting to having had a meltdown (which I actually found understandable) to just kinda being there.

What was the point? Really, what was it?

Which sucks because I actually loved her character in OoTP, and I still love reading/writing fics about her. But canon served her very poorly.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

Poor ol' Tonks.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Still so bitter about Tonks are her "I lost my shapechange magic because of a lack of werewolf dicking" story arc.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[ketita]

+2 for Tonks. She got completely thrown out by canon, it was a shame.

[(Anonymous)]

i'm so pissed off about her arc because it could have been so good and relevant?

considering that tonks and lupin are already married at the beginning of book 7, i always kind of assumed that they didn't just get together pre-anything-happening at bill's bedside. something that supports this theory is him being very immediately concerned about her health during the battle at the ministry in ootp (they might just be good friends, but since this is all jkr is giving us, i'm taking it as a hint) – and something that supports the fact that there was some yes-no-maybe involved is the way he runs when he finds out she's pregnant. he's obviously very scared and unsure, but he's also a human being with feelings who might do stuff that contradicts itself, like, say, some very happy boinking followed by some "actually, we shouldn't be doing this" – which would be enough to emotionally screw with anyone.

and we do see another minor character losing powers in the face of some deep emotional upheaval: merope gaunt, aka voldemum. except jkr doesn't... do much with any of that? harry gets told that it's a thing, but it's this weird bit of side-information that could be more relevant and yet somehow just kinda wallows around by itself in a corner.

anyway, back to the unsatisfying plot: we could have absolutely avoided that crappy "lupin ran away from his pregnant wife to briefly revive sirius's unhealthy james=harry delusion, something he absolutely rejected before" scene and instead moved that plot forward a book. not necessarily featuring the pregnancy, but definitely featuring harry noticing that remus isn't making nice and adult decisions here. it could have had the same side-effect of remus seeing harry as more of an adult – and since harry is having some teenage love turmoil of his own in his life, he could have gotten some friendly uncle-ish advice or support here, too. in a way, it could even involve some post-sirius healing.

and then finally, give tonks things to do. we know she's at hogwarts as an auror/order member for additional protection. if we can get pages dedicated to wilkie twycross teaching apparition, why can't we get tonks teaching some auror skills students in danger might need – something on disguises, secrecy, that kind of thing, because it's not all just dada.

book 7 as a whole just kind of struggles a little in ways that i think would best be resolved with multiple points of view? but. that would require even more unsolicited wordvomit from me.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[kaijinscendre]

Andrea on The Walking Dead. She is so much better in the comics but in the TV she was just so annoying and useless.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh god, THIS. I started to like her more towards the end of her story in TWD, and I did cry when she died. Probably more for the potential that was wasted. (If only she actually killed the Governor, that would have redeemed her for me.)

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[el_regrs]

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi from Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. The buildup was fine. I was waiting for some payoff after getting invested in his story, and then... it just fell flat.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Bones and to a lesser extent, Booth. Her characterization was so inconsistent it was annoying. She's sort of an Aspie? Unless she suddenly needs to be so amazing at relationships that she's got lots of boyfriends and a healthy sex life despite having major issues with basic human interactions.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't seen the show, but that doesn't seem inconsistent just from the way that you've described it? "Being good at relationships" isn't, like, a linear scale that improves in consistent ways across the board with predictable outcomes. Would you mind expanding on that a little more?

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[cbrachyrhynchos]

She's often written stupid to give Booth an "I told you so," which is pretty damn ridiculous because Booth is barely beyond box of rocks on a lot of topics.

EDIT: Big plot hole. She's a fucking anthropologist who's apparently never read anything based on Weber or Durkheim. So she charges into interviews with religious people with script beats from the worst of internet gnu atheists.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe cheating a bit, but Neal's girlfriend Kate, on White Collar. I say 'cheating', because she's barely even a person in the story - she's just... practically a sexy lamp, really. The only times she does anything are in flashbacks and surveillance footage. She exists to be motivation to the hero.
And then she gets fridged, and it's impossible to care, because the audience knows nothing about her as a person!

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh man, this.

I seriously spent most of S1 convinced that Kate was going to turn out to actually be Neal's sister (and that their love for each other was a sibling love). It just would have made so much more sense with the way the show dealt with her. Like, Neal was so devoted to her, and that was supposed to mean something to the audience, yet we knew almost nothing about her, and somehow their supposed passionate love for each other always felt so flat and hard to imagine. But if she'd been his sister - especially a slightly younger sister - we would have totally understood Neal's sense of commitment and partnership with her right away, without her even having to be in the show more than she was.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[ketita]

Anakin Skywalkder and Padme Amidala in the PT. I honestly didn't mind the bones of the story, but ye gads the writing.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[morieris]

+1

mainly because Padme is my favorite SW character (Anakin is a distant idk, fourth?), and the Clone Wars show does improve her but the first impression of the prequels just fucked up the majority's opinion of her :(

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Everyone on Big Bang Theory. It's the comedy trap (for bad writers) - character growth is good, but terrible people with dysfunctional interpersonal relationships are so much f u n n i e r. So people get character development, and then it goes backwards, and your show gets renewed for 10 seasons.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, I like the show, but the last few seasons haven't been fun for this reason. It's frustrating to see Raj turn into a douche and Howard had some growth that was pretty great, but then he kinda lost it too.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of female characters in shonen manga have this problem where they get some nifty powers and could do some serious damage in battle, but the writing doesn't allow them to. The ones that currently come to mind are Orihime from Bleach and Sakura from Naruto. They both have some sweet abilities, but the writing never really allows them to grow and just makes them cry and depend on the protagonist instead of working with him. I get why that is since shonen's aimed at boys and all, but it's still frustrating.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[feotakahari]

Look up "The Downfall of Bleach" by Y Ruler of Time. He gives a pretty good explanation of why Orihime's arc sucked so much.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[feotakahari]

Does Harley Quinn count as having a character arc? It occurs across multiple continuities and media. Basically, she develops a lot more as a character during times when she's not with the Joker, but someone always wants to bring back the Joker/Harley relationship, and they usually go over the same ground.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[syncing_feeling]

James in season 2 of Twin Peaks. Just completely pointless and inconsequential. Then again the whole season was a complete mess, so the same could be said for a lot of the characters. I just really hate James, lol.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Back when I was doing Marvel and DC, their women in refrigerator problem usually cut out an interesting character for the sake of yet another round of Batangst or X-Drama.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[fishnchips]

A lot of characters on Downton Abbey but especially Thomas. He had some character development along the way which always got completely recommend at the start of every new season (sometimes with the start of a new episode, even). It was very frustrating.

Re: What characters had the worst story arc?

[(Anonymous)]

Martha Jones. I loved her ending, but I hated how for most of Series 3, she was basically 'rebound girl' for the Doctor after Rose.