Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4224349-20141023223233/@comment-24772331-20141024052207

HallowedArcher wrote: I can't be the only one that sees the underlying character problems with this episode right? I mean, Lars just never showed up, no development for him at all. He complained, he cried, than he got saved and didn't even try to help. Sadie's words especially at the end showed that she could very much just be done with him. (That look of pure apathy was chilling) The only thing left at the end was a deep sense of bitterness and detachment.

They gave us Lars as our redeemable jerk character, joining other redeemable jerks such as Nelson (TS), Helga (HA), Cindy (TAoJN:BG), Bufford (PnF) and most recently Patricia (GF). These characters fulfill the role of sometime antagonist who proves to dislike our main character but have enough good qualities that they could not fully be ear marked as another full blown Antagonist. These characters tend to be the most interesting for me because they have arcs to them, they start off as full on jerks but slowly, and through the unwavering nature of our protagonist, they begin to change to the "good" side.

And initially it seemed that Lars was on that path, being set up as a jerk up until he pushes it too far in "Lars and the Cool Kids" where he shows he has a limit and a good side. Joking Victim really opened him up and Sadie described a considerate and thoughtful Lars in her story. But this episode, this was such regression, a huge step back. They had a whole episode focused on their actions and all Lars does is complain, cry, cast blame and then do nothing as he gets his arse saved by his friend who is ALWAYS saving his arse. And Sadie's just done with it. "It's not an action to read into." Pretty much sums that up.

And also, (and I'll not swear as there are children that roam this site) I can NOT be the only one who was thinking "Dude, Lars, man the #$%@ up!" When he's sitting there crying, when he's pouting, when he sits there and does NOTHING while Sadie fights the monster that was coming after him. All he can be labeled as is pathetic, which is NOT what a good Redeemable jerk makes. We already know he's a jerk, show us his GOOD side, that he can be redeemed, this showed none of that, and is, to me, a huuuge disappointment. Which is a shame because the writers, Raven and Paul, have written some great episodes and this just feels like the ball was dropped big time. Yes, Lars is shown as someone who keeps to himself, hides his emotions, isn't strong, and who doesn't get along well with kids like a normal teenager. All the characters have tons of flaws and the writers of this episode tried really hard to show how imperfect Lars and Sadie really were. This show wouldn't have as much impact if all the characters suddenly got along with eachother and resolved all their problems in one episode. If you're uncomfortable with Lars displaying normal teenage behaviour and/or making a few bad choices like an actual human being who is stranded on a magical island, you might have an uncomfortable viewing experience.