A vs C: a character battle
So, I'm having a sick day, and with not much else I am in the mood for, I decided to take a crack at the season opener of Hawaii 5-0. Not whatever was going on with Danny (I don't have the mental fortitude at the moment), but why Cath isn't staying. More like "You brought back a character for no apparent reason that you have no intention of keeping. Crap on a stick WHY???"
Ground rules:
* I can't un-know spoilers, staff interviews etc., but as much as possible this is a conclusion based only on what was on screen.
* As much as possible, this isn't how I FEEL charaters on screen meant when they delivered their lines.
* See previous posts for author bias.
* Most of this conclusion comes from comparing 2 similary ranked characters. If you don't agree with my ranking system, this whole hypothesis may carry no weight with you.
My on-screen foreshadowing that Catherine will be leaving comes from how the show decided to juxtapose the Steve/Cath, Kono/Adam relationships.
To start, I think there are about 5 groups on this show. I think characters move from group to group.
A: Main characters
B: Independent characters who interact with main characters
C: Characters whose sole purpose it is to interact with main characters
D: Guest stars
E: MIA
There is some gray area between group B and C. But I think B group (regardless of on-screen minutes) is out there in the 5-0 universe doing their own thing. We just see them from time to time when they interact with the main characters. C characters, however, don't seem to exist without their main character interactions.
Season 5 on average:
A: Steve, Danny, Chin, Kono, Lou
B: Max, Jerry, Adam, Cath, Grace, Wo Fat
C: Duke*, Rachel, Ellie, Kamekona, Flippa, Charlie, Gabriel, Dr. Shaw
D: varies...maybe Mrs. Grover and daughter, Amber/Melissa
E: The Govenor, Mary, Joe, Doris, Toast, Charlie Fong, Stan
On to the analysis.
This episode pits our A characters Steve and Kono against their C counterparts Cath and Adam. (I know it's not 100% equal footing, but the show's a bit uneven.) What is the theme here? Let's give our characters a happy ending. I'm not even sure the show know's HOW, but that's a point for another time. In trying to do that, they demote 2 characters to C status, and give us some foreshadowing that 1 is doomed to fail.
A: Steve, Kono, Grover, Danny, Chin
B: Max, Jerry, Gabriel, Duke*
C: Adam, Catherine
D: Grace, Kamekona, Flippa
E: Mrs. Grover (I know he shouted for her at one point, but we didn't actually see her), Amber/Melissa
The obvious failure is Kono/Adam right? I mean, look what happens. How can this not be the end?
Nope.
All this drama just gives us plot. Adam brings in recently promoted Gabriel. That gives Kono and Chin a Wo Fat of their own to deal with. What if he dies? That gives Kono a vendetta. What of the yakuza money? Will they go after Adam or make him go back into the life? See, plot! Episodes and episodes of plot. Also, an excuse to expand their ranks of C and D group players.
The obvious winner is Steve/Cath right? I mean, he's going to propose! They have just begun a beautiful new plot line.
Nope.
And the reason being is they never answered any questions from season 5. Namely, why is she here? How long is she staying?
This is the point when you have to pretend nothing exists but what was on the screen. And that gets tricky. On screen, we get her staying overseas. (We don't get the breakup email.) On screen, we get radio silence on the character until the last 2 episodes of the season. (One can conclude that without the breakup email scene, Steve and Cath could be doing a long distance thing, and not making a big fuss. But speaking of deleted scenes STOP PICKING AND CHOOSING!!!!!!!! In the car, Steve says Danny's all alone. On screen, he's still dating Amber. Deleted scenes, she pretty much broke up with him via voicemail. STOP. You're using facts not in evidence. Just stop.)
On screen, we do, I admit, get plenty of "yeah Steve's going to pop the question!!" but it's all kind of false because WE DON'T KNOW WHY SHE'S HERE and none of the screentime we do get indicates she's getting out of C status anytime soon. Think about it. She is in 2 scenes, the wedding and Steve's bed the next morning. Without taking into considration the proposal plot that puts her in solid D status. (That's not me being mean, that's 2 venues and 15 lines.)
Take this through to the next step. Say they do get married. If that's the case, she's never getting out of D group. What would she do? She retired from the Navy. There's no room for her in the 5 person 5-0. Any other job she gets is just going to draw away from the case of the week and the A&B characters.
C borderline B Adam vs C borderline D Catherine.
Unless something interesting happens next episode, I'm not impressed.
Why'd you go through all the trouble of bringing her back if she's not going to stay.
*Duke, Duke, Duke. I'm honestly not sure what to make on this character. Sometimes I think he's a D other times a B. He obviously has a job and does his own thing in the 5-0 universe. But he's only a presence when 5-0 shows up.
Ground rules:
* I can't un-know spoilers, staff interviews etc., but as much as possible this is a conclusion based only on what was on screen.
* As much as possible, this isn't how I FEEL charaters on screen meant when they delivered their lines.
* See previous posts for author bias.
* Most of this conclusion comes from comparing 2 similary ranked characters. If you don't agree with my ranking system, this whole hypothesis may carry no weight with you.
My on-screen foreshadowing that Catherine will be leaving comes from how the show decided to juxtapose the Steve/Cath, Kono/Adam relationships.
To start, I think there are about 5 groups on this show. I think characters move from group to group.
A: Main characters
B: Independent characters who interact with main characters
C: Characters whose sole purpose it is to interact with main characters
D: Guest stars
E: MIA
There is some gray area between group B and C. But I think B group (regardless of on-screen minutes) is out there in the 5-0 universe doing their own thing. We just see them from time to time when they interact with the main characters. C characters, however, don't seem to exist without their main character interactions.
Season 5 on average:
A: Steve, Danny, Chin, Kono, Lou
B: Max, Jerry, Adam, Cath, Grace, Wo Fat
C: Duke*, Rachel, Ellie, Kamekona, Flippa, Charlie, Gabriel, Dr. Shaw
D: varies...maybe Mrs. Grover and daughter, Amber/Melissa
E: The Govenor, Mary, Joe, Doris, Toast, Charlie Fong, Stan
On to the analysis.
This episode pits our A characters Steve and Kono against their C counterparts Cath and Adam. (I know it's not 100% equal footing, but the show's a bit uneven.) What is the theme here? Let's give our characters a happy ending. I'm not even sure the show know's HOW, but that's a point for another time. In trying to do that, they demote 2 characters to C status, and give us some foreshadowing that 1 is doomed to fail.
A: Steve, Kono, Grover, Danny, Chin
B: Max, Jerry, Gabriel, Duke*
C: Adam, Catherine
D: Grace, Kamekona, Flippa
E: Mrs. Grover (I know he shouted for her at one point, but we didn't actually see her), Amber/Melissa
The obvious failure is Kono/Adam right? I mean, look what happens. How can this not be the end?
Nope.
All this drama just gives us plot. Adam brings in recently promoted Gabriel. That gives Kono and Chin a Wo Fat of their own to deal with. What if he dies? That gives Kono a vendetta. What of the yakuza money? Will they go after Adam or make him go back into the life? See, plot! Episodes and episodes of plot. Also, an excuse to expand their ranks of C and D group players.
The obvious winner is Steve/Cath right? I mean, he's going to propose! They have just begun a beautiful new plot line.
Nope.
And the reason being is they never answered any questions from season 5. Namely, why is she here? How long is she staying?
This is the point when you have to pretend nothing exists but what was on the screen. And that gets tricky. On screen, we get her staying overseas. (We don't get the breakup email.) On screen, we get radio silence on the character until the last 2 episodes of the season. (One can conclude that without the breakup email scene, Steve and Cath could be doing a long distance thing, and not making a big fuss. But speaking of deleted scenes STOP PICKING AND CHOOSING!!!!!!!! In the car, Steve says Danny's all alone. On screen, he's still dating Amber. Deleted scenes, she pretty much broke up with him via voicemail. STOP. You're using facts not in evidence. Just stop.)
On screen, we do, I admit, get plenty of "yeah Steve's going to pop the question!!" but it's all kind of false because WE DON'T KNOW WHY SHE'S HERE and none of the screentime we do get indicates she's getting out of C status anytime soon. Think about it. She is in 2 scenes, the wedding and Steve's bed the next morning. Without taking into considration the proposal plot that puts her in solid D status. (That's not me being mean, that's 2 venues and 15 lines.)
Take this through to the next step. Say they do get married. If that's the case, she's never getting out of D group. What would she do? She retired from the Navy. There's no room for her in the 5 person 5-0. Any other job she gets is just going to draw away from the case of the week and the A&B characters.
C borderline B Adam vs C borderline D Catherine.
Unless something interesting happens next episode, I'm not impressed.
Why'd you go through all the trouble of bringing her back if she's not going to stay.
*Duke, Duke, Duke. I'm honestly not sure what to make on this character. Sometimes I think he's a D other times a B. He obviously has a job and does his own thing in the 5-0 universe. But he's only a presence when 5-0 shows up.