Give them what they need, not what they want.
I remember when Buffy was still on, esp. during s6, that I was on a lot of lists and in between episodes there would be a lot of speculation on what things meant in the previous ep, what they might mean for future eps. How we hoped the characters would act. And then the disappointment with the next ep, when it turns out that Joss decided to throw one of his little 'twists' at us.
Like say Smashed, remember how after that ep, most of us spuffy fans were looking at the tearing down the vacant and derelict house as a sign of taking down the walls and building something new. And then instead we got spuffy as 'harmful sex with Buffy just using Spike to hurt herself", while of course we were still supposed to see Buffy as the good guy. Cause hey, god forbid that we find something wrong in a woman using a man's feelings against him to use him for whatever purpose she might need and then discard him without a second thought, afterwards.
Sorry, bad memories.
But as I was saying, there's shows like that, where plot twists come not from character development, or metaphors, but simply because the writers think they have to give the fans what they need, rather than what they want.
And then there's shows like Being Human.
Does this show have shocking plot twists, damn right it does.
But guess what, they come right out of the characters and the twists are in that the show doesn't shy away from admitting it when the main characters make mistakes. They allow characters to grow, to build on the past and so when the plot twist comes, it hurts, it shocks, but you can see where it comes from and why.
And most of all, they understand the most important lesson of all, that in order to create drama and tragedy, they need to make us care about the characters. They need to make us want to root for them. Not because they're victims, never that, but because of the moments when they aren't victims, when they stand up for themselves. When they apologize for being asses, or risk their life to save a friend
Some shows get that, some shows get that some times you have to give the fans what they want, so that when you give them what they need, they care enough about the characters to follow through with them.
That's all I wanted to say.
Like say Smashed, remember how after that ep, most of us spuffy fans were looking at the tearing down the vacant and derelict house as a sign of taking down the walls and building something new. And then instead we got spuffy as 'harmful sex with Buffy just using Spike to hurt herself", while of course we were still supposed to see Buffy as the good guy. Cause hey, god forbid that we find something wrong in a woman using a man's feelings against him to use him for whatever purpose she might need and then discard him without a second thought, afterwards.
Sorry, bad memories.
But as I was saying, there's shows like that, where plot twists come not from character development, or metaphors, but simply because the writers think they have to give the fans what they need, rather than what they want.
And then there's shows like Being Human.
Does this show have shocking plot twists, damn right it does.
But guess what, they come right out of the characters and the twists are in that the show doesn't shy away from admitting it when the main characters make mistakes. They allow characters to grow, to build on the past and so when the plot twist comes, it hurts, it shocks, but you can see where it comes from and why.
And most of all, they understand the most important lesson of all, that in order to create drama and tragedy, they need to make us care about the characters. They need to make us want to root for them. Not because they're victims, never that, but because of the moments when they aren't victims, when they stand up for themselves. When they apologize for being asses, or risk their life to save a friend
Some shows get that, some shows get that some times you have to give the fans what they want, so that when you give them what they need, they care enough about the characters to follow through with them.
That's all I wanted to say.