What may be my first Meta - death and advancing the narrative (not a TW rant - I promise)
I’ve spent a great deal of time recently thinking about the role death plays or can play in a drama - in terms of advancing a storyline, etc. The Torchwood fandom has argued a great deal about whether the deaths of Tosh, Owen, and especially Ianto were necessary or did anything to advance the narrative. It reminds me a great deal of the conversations about the deaths of Richie in Highlander and Schanke in Forever Knight
No, I’m not morbidly obsessed - either with death or with TW killing characters (including Ianto and Owen - TWICE!). I was actually having a thoughtful discussion with
bookwrm89 about The West Wing (she’s never watched it and I am enabling like a madwoman) that started off with us laughing about how Two and a Half Men plans to handle the ‘exit’ of Charlie Sheen. Could anything be further afield from TW?
Now, I may be a bit biased about The West Wing, (Best American Drama ever, ER is a close second, and MASH is the best comedy) so I did consider other shows in my thought process about the different reasons for character death - and whether or not those deaths actually end up being effective in terms of advancing the narrative.
I deliberately left out the Torchwood deaths for ‘control’ purposes. I also left out the wholesale slaughter of characters on Highlander (if you count from the end of season six to the end of The Source) and Forever Knight (Season 3) because they were essentially driven by attempts to create a spin-off with none of the original characters/premises in one case and network interference that resulted in a peeved creator in another. Torchwood may or may not fit into those categories, but for the sake of rationale argument let’s assume it doesn’t and look at reasons why characters are killed off in certain shows and if those deaths actually did advance the narrative. I broke the deaths into three categories
First, shock value intended to advance the drama.
1. Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing - her character was absolutely beloved and died off screen - hit by a drunk driver while first driving the only new car she’d ever bought. The death itself - right at the end of the episode - was pure shock value (The scene was originally written for the Moira Kelly character Mandy from the first season - the writers decided no one would actually care and just wrote her out). The fallout from Mrs. Landingham, including an epic scene with Martin Sheen in the National Cathedral where his character - a devout Catholic- rails at God really advance the plot. It was a reason for him to decide to run for a second term. Honorable mention here has to go to Admiral Fitzwallis (John Amos) - whose character was a close friend of the President and former Chairman of the JCOS killed by terrorists. Yes, there was shock value here, but the show was setting up a post 9/11 debate on whether we had the right to hunt down terrorists on the sovereign soil of other nations. For a notoriously liberal show, they came down firmly on the side of yes (We Killed Yamamoto) but there were serious repercussions. In this case, this president had to care personally for the debate to be multifaceted. It worked!
2. Andrea on The Ghost Whisperer - Outside of Melinda’s husband, Andrea was the only ‘normal’ person who knew Melinda’s secret. On the surface her death - her character was driving and was killed when a plane crashed nearby - had a Sixth Sense/House of the Dead quality. The audience and Andrea did not know she was dead for most of the episode, as Melinda dealt with the other plane crash victims. Again, her death seemed just an element of shock value, but it opened up two new facets for Melinda - dealing with someone she loved as a ghost and helping them cross over - and bringing in a new character played by Camryn Manheim that Melinda had to eventually build a relationship with and confess to. That process was great to watch because - unlike the people she interacts with who’ve lost someone - when is the right time to tell someone you work with/is becoming your best friend that you see dead people?
3. Andy on Charmed - Before you had Piper and Leo and Phoebe and Cole, you had Andy and Prue. Prue being a witch - and not being truthful - got Andy killed. In a way, his final episode has epic similarities to Day 4 of COE and House of the Dead. Since Prue kept replaying the day, she was finally able - at the last replay - to tell Andy that she loved him. The character of Prue started to change and to look for a life outside being a witch after Andy. Because Shannen Dougherty left, we’ll never know where that might have gone, but more on that later. I did like that the writers - especially Constance Burge - came back to this story in a way with Paige much later in the series where she lost someone she loved, didn’t grieve because of the Avatars, then had a chance to, and how that changed her.
4. Rocket Romano on ER. This is the closest of the shock value deaths to what we’ve seen in TW. First, Romano, a surgeon, has his arm chopped off by a helicopter blade. The story line with him coming to grips with that the reattached arm could not be saved and what that meant for his career would have been compelling - had the audience had one bit of sympathy for the character, but he was such a caricature, that the plot did not work. So, they dropped a helicopter on him (now that was just rude) and no one noticed he was missing/dead for hours. There was at least an attempt at a memorial service - organized by Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston - River Song) but … the characters didn’t care anymore than the audience. Ultimately, the death was not necessary. Let the character decide to go do something else somewhere else as an adjustment. ER killed a great many characters in its epic run - but they always made the death mean something in terms of the development of others. Killing Romano was just to get a reaction.
Second, deaths driven by actors deciding to leave used to advance drama
1. Prue on Charmed Sadly, Shannen Dougherty deciding to once again bolt a series cut short a great exploration of post-Andy Prue. Since her decision to leave came after the season ended, her ‘death’ was somewhat off camera - all three sisters are in peril at the end of the previous season. There can certainly be argument here that the writers killed Prue out of anger at the actress - I might have - but what they did with it, including dealing with initial grief, learning to create a functional family again, having the sisters settle into new roles, and making constant mentions of Prue throughout the remainder of the series - redeemed that. Prue’s death framed the journey the sisters took in the last four seasons. They might have taken it anyway, but not in the same fashion.
2. Henry Blake on MASH - This very well might have been one of the most controversial deaths ever on American TV. MacLean Stevenson decided to leave early enough in the season that a storyline was written that his character, Col. Henry Blake, had earned enough points to go home. The parting episode was nicely done and bittersweet, but there was a behind the scenes issue. Stevenson was in negotiations to take the beloved character to another network in his own show (the way actor’s contracts were at the time he could have). After the season had wrapped and the party was held, they called the actors - minus Stevenson - in for one final scene. No one knew what it was about until just before. Gary Burghoff’s Radar reads a dispatch that Col. Blake’s chopper was hit by enemy fire and spun into the sea of Japan - there were no survivors. It’s hard in a non- sci fi world to bring back a dead man (unless you’re Dallas - but not going there). Henry got his mentions here and there - and arguably his replacement Harry Morgan was even more beloved by cast, crew and audience. The producers also learned a lesson from the fan backlash and Wayne Rogers bolting between seasons to avoid Blake’s fate - other characters who left over the years left in more ‘in character’ ways (I will always love Frank Burns finally going completely off his rocker).
3. Tasha Yar on ST:TNG. When Denise Crosby decided to leave the ensemble cast because there was simply not enough for her to do, the writers killed her rather pointlessly. This survival-driven security chief who survived a colony with rape gangs and the worst of humanity just walks towards a shuttle covered by an unknown alien because her friend is inside? Out of character much? The writers did seem to hear the fan backlash on the senseless way Tasha died - and the lack of overt grieving by the crew other than in that one episode - and brought the character back in an alternate timeline. She got to go out a hero and even reappear as her own daughter as a result of those events. They also learned with other characters. When Gates McFadden and Will Wheaton left their characters moved on to other things - and ultimately came back.
4. Speed on CSI Miami - When Rory Cochrane decided the day-to-day grind of a series was too much for him and decided to leave, it seemed pretty natural to kill Speed. He was a police officer - having the actors deal with his death in the line of duty could have made for great drama. However, the producers went the route of character assassination. Speed died because his gun jammed due to shoddy maintenance on his part - an issue the character had dealt with in an earlier episode. He was killed not rescuing the small child whose kidnapping was the main plot of the episode, but rather by stumbling onto a gem counterfeiting scheme that was peripherally related. The episode showed some reaction to Speed’s death but his closest friend - Adam Rodriquez’s Delko - didn’t even get a scene where he finds out. He got one brief exchange with a co-worker. Within an episode, they’d replaced the character with a newbie learning the ropes - there was little to no mention of Speed after that except for an episode Rory Cochrane was contractually obligated to appear in. Delko finally had some chance to react to his friend’s death - but it was well after the fact. For the most part, the show did learn its lesson as other characters have been able to leave more gracefully - even Delko (well except for Eddie Cibrian, but he was just a bed warmer for Delko anyway).
5. Mark Green on ER. Anthony Edwards gave the writers enough warning - two years - that he was leaving that they were able to craft a wonderful storyline for him. A brain tumor, a pregnant wife (again the wonderful Alex Kingston), and an experimental treatment that seems to work, thereby giving him a happy ending. Then, it comes crashing down. His teenage daughter shows up, causing conflict with his wife before nearly killing the baby by allowing her to get hold of ecstasy. His marriage breaks up and he’s alone when he discovers that the cancer is back and incurable. Ultimately, his character gets to say goodbye to those around him then gets time to put his family right - all while very realistically experiencing the deterioration that goes with this type of illness. Having already lost two big stars - George Clooney and Julianne Marguiles - and letting them ride off into the sunset, ER made a good choice here. Mark Green was a presence throughout the rest of the run - Noah Wylie echoed his last line when he left (delivered to Mekhi Pfifer - Rex on MD)- Edwards himself got a flashback episode in the final season- and the whole story line (as gut-wrenching as it was) befitted the character.
Third, the deaths of actual actors forcing the producers to make decisions - where they hoped they could advance the drama. There were several cases I thought about here. Dan Blocker of Bonaza and Jerry Orbach of Law and Order died late in the run of their particular shows and their deaths were not dealt with. There is a list here of these types of situations http://triviafrog.com/?p=159 , but I’ve decided to focus on situations where the actual death impacted the series.
1. I had to break my own rule here and mention Highlander because the death of Werner Stocker (Darius) changed the whole immortal/Watcher story line and opened the door for the creation of the character of Methos (Peter Wingfield). In essence, Highlander as we know it would not exist without that unfortunate circumstance. Neither Darius, Fitzcairin (Roger Daltrey), or Tessa (Alexandra Vanderhoot) were part of that wholesale slaughter at the end of the show. Moreover, the writers mentioned all three often during the run, and they continued to influence MacLeod’s life.
2. John Ritter on 8 Simple Rules. When Ritter died at the start of the second season of a dissected aorta, the producers decided to go on. The character was killed off screen (in a similar way) and the actors went through the grieving process. While the show only lasted a couple of seasons after Ritter died, the whole team - actors, writers, etc - did the best they could with what they had been dealt.
3. Jim Davis on Dallas and Will Geer on The Waltons . I’ve put these two together because the way the shows dealt with the deaths were similar. Both actors died of heart attacks during the off season. In both cases, the characters were dead when the next season started and the shows began with arcs about saying goodbye. Jock Ewing’s sons -legitimate and not - go to try to find him and ultimately have to admit that he is gone. The Walton family gathers for a picnic near Grandpa’s grave - and each says a goodbye. In both cases, the characters remained a part of the shows for the remainder of their long runs - pictures, conversations, characters talking to the person - in a very real, constant way as if they were simply in another room.
4. John Spencer on The West Wing . I will admit this is the death that started me thinking about the whole concept. The West Wing was in its final season and Spencer’s Leo McGarry was poised to final come out of the shadows of Jed Bartlett that he’d toiled in most of his life as the VP to Jimmy Smits’ Matt Santos. In one of the strangest set of events ever on a TV series, the season started with a five-year flash-forward to the opening of the Bartlett Presidential Library. McGarry wasn’t in that scene despite the fact that his character had served as Chief of Staff and a special advisor and was Bartlett’s best friend. It was explained away at the time that it would have given away who won the election - Santos or Alan Alda’s Arnie Vinick because as VP Leo would have had Secret Service agents. Well, so would Bartlett. There were ways around that in the scene - the writers just did not take them and it ended up being so prophetic it hurt. In December 2005, Spencer died of a heart attack. With all but five of the episodes of the least season filmed, the producers made a choice. They couldn’t give Leo the glory they’d wanted to, but they’d give him a send-off he deserved. His character -who’d had a massive heart attack two seasons before - died off screen at the very end of part one of a two part episode about the election. The second part juxtaposed the very real work that still needed to be done to decide who would be the next president with characters (and actors) grieving for a friend. Once the election was settled, the episode after was devoted to Leo’s funeral and his absence was keenly felt throughout the little that was left of the series - especially in the final episode.
I could have come up with dozens of other examples (Coach on Cheers) where death was poorly handled and dozens of others where it was well-handled (such as decided not to handle it in the case of young Heather O’Rourke on Happy Days. It was the wrong venue to cope with the sudden death of a child.
So, the conclusion I came to is that death on TV - even when done for shock value - is necessary at times for a variety of reasons. It can advance the narrative assuming it becomes part of the story telling beyond just the death and the immediate aftermath. The remaining characters have to grieve, change, and move on but not forget - and it has to be overt. The audience can’t be left guessing why a character is doing something and immediately assume it’s because her friends died. Off the cuff references don’t really cut it either. When death is written effectively, dead characters are still part of the landscape of the show, just like the dead in real life are still part of the landscape for the living.
I know the question then becomes what about the deaths in Torchwood? With the exception of Suzie, who got her own follow up episode, are Tosh, Owen, and Ianto truly part of the TW canon landscape? We’ve had comments and a picture (COE), but there have also been many missed, natural moments for conversations, fond references, etc. Yes, the characters of Gwen and Jack have changed - but there’s not the acknowledgement that the change connects to these people that were part of their lives. Based on the criteria I set in looking at whether a death worked to advance a narrative Tosh, Owen, and Ianto fall closer to the spectrum of Speed and Tasha Yar than to Mark Green and even Prue Halliwell.
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