There’s been a lot of hoopla lately about the 10th anniversary of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” Many have noted how the show changed modern TV: scripts littered with pop culture references, combining of genres, and perhaps most importantly, killing off major characters without warning.
This last point is a salient one, as it seems that more than ever, character deaths on popular shows are the new vogue. Seemingly every show on television kills off characters to elicit shock these days, to the point where I feel that I’m able to rate my favorite shows on just how adept they are at not only killing off characters, but dealing with their deaths in a satisfying way. And by the way, if you aren’t caught up on the shows I’m going to discuss, you should probably tread carefully with this column.
“24” ““ I would argue that, more so than “Buffy,” “24” made killing characters the “it” thing. This began when Jack Bauer’s wife, Teri, got iced in the closing moments of the first season. Teri was a major, integral character (who was also pregnant!) who got killed off out of nowhere. It showed that anyone could die at any moment. Unfortunately, the show got carried away. Almost every member of the original cast has now been killed off, from David Palmer to Tony Almeida to Michelle Dessler. Moreover, characters introduced to replace old standbys, like Curtis and Edgar, also got killed off. In many ways, this has robbed the show of its suspense. How? Basically, anyone not named Jack (or Chloe, I guess) will die. Characters introduced during the season will get killed off. This could be changing, with Milo’s seemingly assured death foiled by Jack a few weeks ago … but we’ll see.
“Lost” ““ “Lost’s” character deaths probably get the most attention from the media. Yet until this year, the deaths were limited to throwaway characters that didn’t really have any effect on the overall plot (Boone and Shannon), were reviled (Ana Lucia), or were sort of just killed for the hell of it (Libby). True, Mr. Eko did die this year, but his death: 1) was a cheap way to get rid of his character; and 2) came at a point when he had essentially ceased being interesting. I’m not even sure if all the characters (even the ones who aren’t held captive by the Others) are even aware that Eko is dead. Basically, “Lost” gets a lot more praise and attention than it deserves for killing off characters whose deaths end up being fairly inconsequential. Of course, once Charlie dies (and hopefully this happens soon), this may all change.
“Battlestar Galactica” ““ For a show that is so dour and grim, “BSG” hadn’t killed off any major characters until last week’s episode. Deaths have included Billy, President Roslin’s chief of staff, and Kat, one of the fleet’s better pilots, neither of whom I had any huge attachment to. Of course, last week, the show appeared to kill off Starbuck, one of the show’s stars. I say “appeared” because death is an odd thing on “BSG;” characters can easily show up again and be revealed to have been Cylons, with numerous copies of them across the universe. This adds an interesting dimension ““ more than any other show, if someone dies, they might not truly be dead. My prediction: not only is Starbuck not really “dead,” but she also happens to be one of the “final five” Cylon models.
“The Wire” ““ Here’s a show that does it right. “The Wire” has killed off various characters over its first three seasons (I’m not caught up on season four yet), and each one has hit like a ton of bricks. I’m really not inclined to spoil anything about this show, because it’s far-and-away the best show on television, but I will say this: I’ve never seen a show where character deaths have been so poignant and sobering. On “The Wire,” death is a fact of life; when characters are killed, their deaths are surrounded by silence; no musical montages (a la “Lost”) or silent clock countdowns (“24″) ““ all that surrounds these fallen characters is the sound of the world around them, often silence or ambient noise. “The Wire” handles death in the most natural way ““ it happens, but it never feels phony or like a ratings ploy.
In all, killing characters off on our favorite shows does add an element of unpredictability, but in the end the show-runners would do well to remember that if they’re going to kill someone off, it needs to further the story, it needs to happen organically through the narrative, and it needs to have tangible repercussions for the show and the characters.
“24’s” high body-counts are entertaining, sure. But when the show starts following ancillary characters who we don’t care about (because all the Tonys and Michelles are dead), the show gets more boring than it should be.
And when character deaths end up making shows boring, maybe it’s time for the grim reaper to take a vacation.
For a while, anyway.
Humphrey hopes to start a “When Will Charlie Die on “˜Lost’?” pool to supplement his NCAA bracket. E-mail him at mhumphrey@media.ucla.edu.