The Guardian
I have continued to watch The Guardian and my god, this show. Why does it not have a fandom? Nick, the main character, is the biggest woobie ever. He's like Logan from Veronica Mars without the problematic spontaneous bouts of violence. And fandom loves Logan.
Basically, Nick is an emotional child who doesn't know how to handle adversity at all and always ends up turning his rage and frustration inward onto himself. And he's surrounded by a cast of extremely selfish people who keep dumping their problems on him until he explodes, which they are then shocked (shocked!) by.
Because jethrien found it amusing and I doubt any of you are going to watch The Guardian if you haven't already, here's a run down of the first season:
The premise of the show is that, prior to the pilot, Nick got arrested for drug possession and his father, a big attorney, got him sentenced to community service. So Nick has to work providing legal counsel to those unable to pay (mostly children, but they moved past that pretty early on), while still holding a job at his dad's company.
The mid-season arc is that Nick is wooed away by another law firm who wants Burton Fallin's son working for them just for name recognition (and spite). Nick leaves his dad's firm cause he thinks his dad is holding him back (and spite), and his dad treats him like any other employee, which causes Nick to hunch in on himself and glare.
You see, Nick's dad divorced his mom, and his mom said during the divorce, "you're killing me." And then she had custody of Nick, and two years later died of cancer, leaving Nick to believe that his dad really did kill his mom and is a horrible person. Burton cheated on his wife and all. (And his name is Burton.) And after she died, he shipped Nick off to boarding schools where he stewed in his resentment.
Only it turns out that Nick's mom was unfaithful first and a drug addict and Burton snuck in to take care of her when she was dying and they loved each other in the end, but Burton won't let Nick find out any of this because Nick loved his mother and he doesn't want him to think ill of her. Because clearly no long-term psychological problems could come out of thinking that your mother was a perfect woman and your father persecuted her to death and no one will ever love you as much as your mother did.
So anyway. Nick defects. He gets to the new firm where they've made him a partner, only it's clearly for show and they poach his clients and won't let him do anything, so he very quietly and privately implodes, and runs around like a crazy person for a while solving other people's problems, then bumps into his old drug dealer, who drops some coke into his pocket. Nick then tries to call his father, who blows him off. Then he does all the coke, goes out to a bar, tries to pick up a coworker with the creepiest pick-up line in the whole of history ("My mother told me that I'd grow up to treat women better than my father did. *leers* Want to find out if she was right?"), and provokes a barfight which is not so much a fight as him falling to the ground and getting kicked repeatedly.
After this, his dad gets all overprotective and takes him home and calls up his new job and quits for him and gives him back his old job and then pretends that nothing happened. (Much to the consternation of another associate who thought he was getting a promotion with Nick gone, but whoops! Never mind!)
So that was just the first half of the season.
Second half of the season:
That girl that Nick creepily tried to pick up, Lulu, turns out she has an out-of-town boyfriend. Only she really likes the way Nick looks at her (LIKE A CREEPY STALKER). But she's totally marrying the boyfriend. Even though they've never lived together and have different life goals entirely. But she's marrying him, and wants Nick to leave her alone. Except for how she calls him all the time to ask him to solve her problems (which he does), then kisses him, then tells him to back off, then calls him again. The boyfriend is also calling him to solve his problems--in this case being arrested for picking up a hooker. Which Nick gets him out of (for Lulu--because I'm sure she'd appreciate the thought, here), and then doesn't tell her that her FIANCE IS BANGING HOOKERS. And then when he finally starts seeing someone else she gets really pissed that all his attention isn't on her anymore and generally acts like a jealous girlfriend. (She's also the most self-righteous character since Torchwood's Gwen, and keeps telling her clients, which are poor people being screwed over by government bureaucracy, that they are horrible human beings and deserve to have their kids taken away. Despite this she is quickly promoted to head of legal services, cause that's just the kind of assholery this line of work needs.)
MEANWHILE, Nick's dad has decided he wants to be a federal judge. Which means leaving the firm. He tells Nick he's going to leave it to him, because Nick is ready, making Nick all glowy with filial pride. Only Nick screws up his next deal because of information no one told him, so daddy gets all wishy-washy about it. Then Nick comes in to work one day to find that his dad is handing over the firm to a former state senator who has never worked there before and his extremely sketchy aide. Turns out daddy had to make a deal to get the appointment to judge. Not even a private heads-up to Nick. Just, sorry about your hopes and dreams! You will now be a junior associate to a moron!
MEANWHILE MEANWHILE, Nick's parole officer has threatened to revoke his parole unless Nick helps him buy a strip joint. Nick goes along ONLY because he doesn't want his fuck ups to ruin his dad's chances at the bench (this is before he finds out that dad is screwing him over). The deal goes south, as parole officer finds out his coke whore girlfriend is conspiring with the strip joint owner to steal his money (WHAT AN UNEXPECTED TURN. I'D NEVER HAVE EXPECTED THAT). So Nick goes with PO to strip joint to try to get the money back (WHICH CAN'T POSSIBLY GO WRONG), and club owner beats PO to death with a fire extinguisher, and coke whore shoots club owner to death, and Nick runs for his life.
He then goes to the police, gives a statement, and agrees to cooperate in any way. He doesn't tell anybody else this is going on, because of course not. Totally not relevant!
In the season one finale, the coke whore shows up at his apartment, and he lets her in, then calls the cops because he has actually been as conscientious as he could possibly have been in this set of circumstances. Unfortunately for him, the coke whore dies of an overdose on the living room floor ninety seconds later.
AS SHE IS LYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR, and Nick is calling 911, daddy shows up for a heart-to-heart about screwing Nick over. Nick panics and basically shoves him out the door and slams it in his face. Then he sits down and calls his dad's answering machine and leaves a crying message about how he's sorry, he's such a fuck up, and he loves him, and he tried to be better but he just did what he always did, and did he mention that he's sorry and he loves him.
END SEASON ONE.
SEASON TWO opens with daddy getting home and hearing the message and assuming that Nick has offed himself BECAUSE THAT IS AN ENTIRELY LOGICAL ASSUMPTION GIVEN THIS CHARACTER. He rushes over to Nick's house where an ambulance is pulling away and a cop tells him it was an overdose and daddy loses it before he figures out Nick's not actually dead.
I'm only a few episodes into season two, but already the senator that was handed the law firm has shot himself and the sleazy aide was arrested for corruption. Nick founded his own firm in the meantime, between defending himself against a murder charge, you know, but daddy resigned his judgeship and Nick asked him to come work for him, so ten minutes later they're back in the old offices and daddy is again boss and Nick is again his lackey and the partner who'd gone into business with Nick in the new firm is once again fucked over.
I can't decide if the writers are just terrified of changing the format of the show, and so spend a lot of effort creating storylines that could lead to change only to have things snap back to exactly the way they were, or if this is a really smart take on the relationship of two entirely codependent people who have no idea how to function as separate people. (And no real idea how to function together, either, so they're basically just screwed.)
I mean, I kind of love the way that Burton is all knight-in-shining-armor when Nick's in trouble, but then as soon as he's out of it, is completely self-involved and tone deaf to Nick's needs. Cause to have a character like Nick, who takes on too much so that he crumbles over and over again, this family framework actually explains why he's like that. It's the only time he can see that daddy loves him. But man it's fucked.
All this while there are subplots and subplots. The legal aide director gets arrested for sleeping with a hooker that he's had a five-year relationship with but never paid!...except in free legal advice. As I posted earlier, Nick sleeps with a girl that turns out to be a client and may or may not be sixteen. The associate at Nick's father's firm that keeps getting made a pawn in Nick's fight with his father hits and kills a man because he was talking on a cell phone while driving. One of the other lawyers takes custody for his nephew after the nephew shoots the lawyer's sister's abusive boyfriend. Then the lawyer and nephew take up boxing and legal aide director gets his custody revoked because boxing is child abuse...
And none of these people lose their license to practice. Not even Nick with his being thrown in jail. It's not even brought up.
So, I ask you--is that fundamentally different from a fanfiction.net story? Well, it's different in one key way--it stars a hot guy, so it's a lot easier to look at.
Basically, Nick is an emotional child who doesn't know how to handle adversity at all and always ends up turning his rage and frustration inward onto himself. And he's surrounded by a cast of extremely selfish people who keep dumping their problems on him until he explodes, which they are then shocked (shocked!) by.
Because jethrien found it amusing and I doubt any of you are going to watch The Guardian if you haven't already, here's a run down of the first season:
The premise of the show is that, prior to the pilot, Nick got arrested for drug possession and his father, a big attorney, got him sentenced to community service. So Nick has to work providing legal counsel to those unable to pay (mostly children, but they moved past that pretty early on), while still holding a job at his dad's company.
The mid-season arc is that Nick is wooed away by another law firm who wants Burton Fallin's son working for them just for name recognition (and spite). Nick leaves his dad's firm cause he thinks his dad is holding him back (and spite), and his dad treats him like any other employee, which causes Nick to hunch in on himself and glare.
You see, Nick's dad divorced his mom, and his mom said during the divorce, "you're killing me." And then she had custody of Nick, and two years later died of cancer, leaving Nick to believe that his dad really did kill his mom and is a horrible person. Burton cheated on his wife and all. (And his name is Burton.) And after she died, he shipped Nick off to boarding schools where he stewed in his resentment.
Only it turns out that Nick's mom was unfaithful first and a drug addict and Burton snuck in to take care of her when she was dying and they loved each other in the end, but Burton won't let Nick find out any of this because Nick loved his mother and he doesn't want him to think ill of her. Because clearly no long-term psychological problems could come out of thinking that your mother was a perfect woman and your father persecuted her to death and no one will ever love you as much as your mother did.
So anyway. Nick defects. He gets to the new firm where they've made him a partner, only it's clearly for show and they poach his clients and won't let him do anything, so he very quietly and privately implodes, and runs around like a crazy person for a while solving other people's problems, then bumps into his old drug dealer, who drops some coke into his pocket. Nick then tries to call his father, who blows him off. Then he does all the coke, goes out to a bar, tries to pick up a coworker with the creepiest pick-up line in the whole of history ("My mother told me that I'd grow up to treat women better than my father did. *leers* Want to find out if she was right?"), and provokes a barfight which is not so much a fight as him falling to the ground and getting kicked repeatedly.
After this, his dad gets all overprotective and takes him home and calls up his new job and quits for him and gives him back his old job and then pretends that nothing happened. (Much to the consternation of another associate who thought he was getting a promotion with Nick gone, but whoops! Never mind!)
So that was just the first half of the season.
Second half of the season:
That girl that Nick creepily tried to pick up, Lulu, turns out she has an out-of-town boyfriend. Only she really likes the way Nick looks at her (LIKE A CREEPY STALKER). But she's totally marrying the boyfriend. Even though they've never lived together and have different life goals entirely. But she's marrying him, and wants Nick to leave her alone. Except for how she calls him all the time to ask him to solve her problems (which he does), then kisses him, then tells him to back off, then calls him again. The boyfriend is also calling him to solve his problems--in this case being arrested for picking up a hooker. Which Nick gets him out of (for Lulu--because I'm sure she'd appreciate the thought, here), and then doesn't tell her that her FIANCE IS BANGING HOOKERS. And then when he finally starts seeing someone else she gets really pissed that all his attention isn't on her anymore and generally acts like a jealous girlfriend. (She's also the most self-righteous character since Torchwood's Gwen, and keeps telling her clients, which are poor people being screwed over by government bureaucracy, that they are horrible human beings and deserve to have their kids taken away. Despite this she is quickly promoted to head of legal services, cause that's just the kind of assholery this line of work needs.)
MEANWHILE, Nick's dad has decided he wants to be a federal judge. Which means leaving the firm. He tells Nick he's going to leave it to him, because Nick is ready, making Nick all glowy with filial pride. Only Nick screws up his next deal because of information no one told him, so daddy gets all wishy-washy about it. Then Nick comes in to work one day to find that his dad is handing over the firm to a former state senator who has never worked there before and his extremely sketchy aide. Turns out daddy had to make a deal to get the appointment to judge. Not even a private heads-up to Nick. Just, sorry about your hopes and dreams! You will now be a junior associate to a moron!
MEANWHILE MEANWHILE, Nick's parole officer has threatened to revoke his parole unless Nick helps him buy a strip joint. Nick goes along ONLY because he doesn't want his fuck ups to ruin his dad's chances at the bench (this is before he finds out that dad is screwing him over). The deal goes south, as parole officer finds out his coke whore girlfriend is conspiring with the strip joint owner to steal his money (WHAT AN UNEXPECTED TURN. I'D NEVER HAVE EXPECTED THAT). So Nick goes with PO to strip joint to try to get the money back (WHICH CAN'T POSSIBLY GO WRONG), and club owner beats PO to death with a fire extinguisher, and coke whore shoots club owner to death, and Nick runs for his life.
He then goes to the police, gives a statement, and agrees to cooperate in any way. He doesn't tell anybody else this is going on, because of course not. Totally not relevant!
In the season one finale, the coke whore shows up at his apartment, and he lets her in, then calls the cops because he has actually been as conscientious as he could possibly have been in this set of circumstances. Unfortunately for him, the coke whore dies of an overdose on the living room floor ninety seconds later.
AS SHE IS LYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR, and Nick is calling 911, daddy shows up for a heart-to-heart about screwing Nick over. Nick panics and basically shoves him out the door and slams it in his face. Then he sits down and calls his dad's answering machine and leaves a crying message about how he's sorry, he's such a fuck up, and he loves him, and he tried to be better but he just did what he always did, and did he mention that he's sorry and he loves him.
END SEASON ONE.
SEASON TWO opens with daddy getting home and hearing the message and assuming that Nick has offed himself BECAUSE THAT IS AN ENTIRELY LOGICAL ASSUMPTION GIVEN THIS CHARACTER. He rushes over to Nick's house where an ambulance is pulling away and a cop tells him it was an overdose and daddy loses it before he figures out Nick's not actually dead.
I'm only a few episodes into season two, but already the senator that was handed the law firm has shot himself and the sleazy aide was arrested for corruption. Nick founded his own firm in the meantime, between defending himself against a murder charge, you know, but daddy resigned his judgeship and Nick asked him to come work for him, so ten minutes later they're back in the old offices and daddy is again boss and Nick is again his lackey and the partner who'd gone into business with Nick in the new firm is once again fucked over.
I can't decide if the writers are just terrified of changing the format of the show, and so spend a lot of effort creating storylines that could lead to change only to have things snap back to exactly the way they were, or if this is a really smart take on the relationship of two entirely codependent people who have no idea how to function as separate people. (And no real idea how to function together, either, so they're basically just screwed.)
I mean, I kind of love the way that Burton is all knight-in-shining-armor when Nick's in trouble, but then as soon as he's out of it, is completely self-involved and tone deaf to Nick's needs. Cause to have a character like Nick, who takes on too much so that he crumbles over and over again, this family framework actually explains why he's like that. It's the only time he can see that daddy loves him. But man it's fucked.
All this while there are subplots and subplots. The legal aide director gets arrested for sleeping with a hooker that he's had a five-year relationship with but never paid!...except in free legal advice. As I posted earlier, Nick sleeps with a girl that turns out to be a client and may or may not be sixteen. The associate at Nick's father's firm that keeps getting made a pawn in Nick's fight with his father hits and kills a man because he was talking on a cell phone while driving. One of the other lawyers takes custody for his nephew after the nephew shoots the lawyer's sister's abusive boyfriend. Then the lawyer and nephew take up boxing and legal aide director gets his custody revoked because boxing is child abuse...
And none of these people lose their license to practice. Not even Nick with his being thrown in jail. It's not even brought up.
So, I ask you--is that fundamentally different from a fanfiction.net story? Well, it's different in one key way--it stars a hot guy, so it's a lot easier to look at.