Is that strange that I take pride in the fact that Fatale has no main protagonists? Because really it doesn't. Go ahead, think about that for a second-- there is literally nobody in the story that is worthy of your respect, and nobody that wouldn't hessitate to match one wrong with another, continuing a vicious cycle that spins up and leaves red stains on more than just the white t-shirts.
Juliana Emerson: She kills people for money, gets away with it, drinks to drown her anger which emerges from her self-righteous viewpoint which creates frustration with her. So she kills more people and repeats... this one speaks for itself.
Juliet Turner: The femme fatale. Manipulates every character she interacts with at least once or constantly in the first season, and it works due to her stunning looks which she is well aware of. In fact, she's so good that she manipulates the reader as well-- after asking multiple people, I've found that she is the, quote un-quote: "most lovable character in the series". There's nothing wrong with that, because so far, aside from frightening bursts of anger that she keeps inside her head and only displays in the worst of of situations (that are rarely seen by any living person), she really hasn't done anything wrong. Hasn't killed anybody, hasn't mislead somebody to a deadly confrontation, hasn't betrayed anybody- nothing. Our little angel, right? Oh, being a master of intel for an corrupt media conglomerate, shit, forgot about that that.
David Karrington: This needs explanation? Taking after his dad, who is MIA (and still taking large shares of QU with him), little Dave found himself with a lot of shit on his plate and no dog to feed it to under the table. He couldn't be a better man than his dad; Quote UnQuote requires a certain lying sleaze that simply cannot be done away with or just about everything collapses. So when a pair of special girls come into his possession, he takes the opportunity with open arms and embraces what the family business is all about: death, money, and media. Only allowing the most high-up clients to interact with QU's secret service via trustworthy third-party sources, David seems to have things down to a science. Unfortunately, his favorite asset likes to drink and drive certain rivals into the ground just as much as he does, which shakes up business in the assassination game... which leads to leaks in what is a tightly a secured service.
Sergeant Alyssa Jansen: So the good cop isn't the good guy? No. A frightening breed of opportunist where the subject believes their actions are for the greater good of more than just him/herself. Really, at Jansen's heart, that's all she wants... but that's not what the poor girl is doing. Beyond her knowledge, it really is just for her own distorted sense of justice, which becomes a self-indulgent job in the end. The hunger for truth and, as she sees it, justice, leads her to Nucleus- the corporation she should be bringing down in the first place for harboring and fully aiding the killer everybody has been after: Doctor Luke Tarhn AKA Pool Hand Luke or The Xeno Hacker.
Of course, her title as a police officer is abused by both her and Nucleus in the operation that shifts the story for ever: the assault on the Celestial Mast, in which she kills an apparently innocent unarmed man. You can say she is the "good" cop, but for the most part, I'd say otherwise. She's one of the sharpest people in Manifest City, but could her leaving her personal Quote UnQuote case alone be for the best? This intervention can't end well for anyone. Her father, who left a long time ago for the war on suppression on the Ramnent planet of Trovial was the only thing keeping this girl on the rails, leaving her only with the family friend Lieutenant Matthews, who tries hard, but knows that he can't be a father to Alyssa. At this point, redemption is no where in sight.
I would give these people the statuses of anti-heroes at best. It isn't as if they have no redeeming qualities; that'd be ridiculous. Whether they want to (Alyssa) or didn't have the initial intention (Juliana), they will always end up doing something for the greater good of the people around them. The thing is, they can get so much sympathy for the things they've been through, or the moments in which they shine a ray of light to the reader's satisfaction, causing them to become hopelessly... lovable. It's not like they're going to be like this on the surface forever, but as it is, never mistake these people for the "good guys". I know who the good guys are. I'm just not telling yet.
There are no truly good people in the best stories - just peoples. Here's to the losers, lunatics and sons of bitches, because they're the ones who matter.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whoever said Juliet was the best character. ;P
ReplyDeleteI always liked the fact that this series had a 'The Betrothed' kind of approach on the characters - there's a main course of the events, and you focus moment for moment on a different character.
Looking forward to more posts like this.