Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Finally, a writing related post!  I had a great writing day yesterday, so here goes....

I've been thinking a lot about characterization.  One such show that I've been watching that's pretty darn good at it is Human Target.  One of the secondary characters is a man named Guerrero.  He's short, wiry, has long, scraggly hair, wears wire-rimmed glasses, and is pockmarked.  This guy is extremely dangerous (he's one of the good guys though) and the way the writers show this is awesome.  For example, in the season finale, the crew goes up against a rogue CIA agent.  There's a scene where he's going through all the files of the cast.  A man brings in a dolly with five big boxes stacked on it, all labeled Guerrero. 

The other bit of amazing characterization is the hero, Chance.  He is so plainly in love with his boss, the beautiful and brave Mrs. Pucci.  There's a scene where another character is trying to get Chance to talk about it and says something to the effect of "just because we're men, doesn't mean we can't talk about our feelings."  Chance gives him a sardonic look and says "Yes it does.  Oprah."   And then, when he's just let the woman he loves walk away and get on a plain to go live in London, he realized he can't let her go and races in his supercharged Corvette (naturally) to her private jet and grabs her.  She asks him what he wants, waiting expectantly.  All he can manage is to struggle to say something - anything - and finally he pushes out a garbled (and tortured) "Don't go."

And I just melted.

Of course, a lot of this is due to the acting.  True.  But the writing has to take a lot of the credit.  Speaking of which, I'd better get back to it.