Characters We Love to Hate

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I do have time, I’d mostly rather read or write. So when I decide to devote myself to a series, it has to be well written, dramatic, suspenseful, and there should be kissing involved. And a love story. Because I’m a sucker for that.

Okay, so I guess shows like Prison Break and 24 didn’t have a lot of kissing, but even so, there was always an undercurrent of romantic suspense built in somewhere. And I live for those storylines.

Take, for example, the new CW show REIGN.

As the writers probably designed, we all love Mary, Queen of Scots. She is a well-developed character who is benevolent, kind, and as good as she is beautiful. It’s no wonder she has two brothers fighting for her hand. (BTW, I am Team Francis, all the way!)

But then we get an evil, cunning antagonist in Queen Catherine. She’s spiteful and devious, and just when you start to think she can stoop no lower or go no farther to get what she wants, she finds a way. In fact, she is so complex that no one can trust her. Not Mary, the French court, King Henry, or even her own son Francis. And yet, because she is so complex, as we learn the reasons for each new deception, as viewers we still somehow manage to find sympathy for her. In Catherine’s darkest hour, I found myself hoping she’d find a way to avoid losing her head. Literally.

Catherine is the epitome of the best kind of antagonist in a movie or show. She is the character we love to hate, and yet also the character we hate to love. And we do both.

Now I’m trying to think of another character who is quite so well written as Catherine, and I’m drawing a blank. So help me out, if you will. Who is a character you both love and hate?

(Please specify a series, book, or movie so I can look them up.) 

Love, not War (or Asteroids vs. Mrs. Pacman)

The other day I went to the launch for Heather Justesen’s newest book, Blank Slate, after which a few of us had dinner at an old-school pizzeria. Not only did we actually have to wait for our pizza after we ordered it (I know, crazy, right?) but as I walked into the dining room to have a seat, I found myself surrounded by upright arcade games (ala 1980’s) and a real-live jukebox.

In that moment, I was transported back in time to the childhood in which Asteroids was the ultimate in science fiction, and Ms. Pacman was the epitome of romance.

Am I right? I mean, come on. The Asteroids ship didn’t even move across the bottom of the screen (did it?). You had to have good aim and a quick trigger finger, or there was no way you were making it through space alive. And dying was the ultimate humiliation—no matter your age (just ask my parents and grandparents).

Many family wars have been credited to that game.

Alternately, when you finally made it through level two of Ms. Pacman, even hanging on with one measly life left, the whole effort was worth it when you got to see the uber-romantic chase/kiss scene.

Maybe it’s just me. But romance has always been my thing. And clearly it doesn’t take a lot to woo me. Sometimes, in writing, in life, as well as in arcade games, it’s the small and simple things that make all the difference. Like a silly two-dimensional kiss scene between pizza-head characters.

Oh! Oh. I know. It’s “making love, not war” in terms of Asteroids and Ms. Pacman.

*giggles*

What small and simple things really matter to you?