wow, you completely missed the point. Why is this so hard to understand? It's not about a type, the character si definitely not typical. it's about character logic. In scifi fantasy it's called a system of magic, the rules of that universe. You break it you destroy the reality in the story. In tv shows it's called jumping the shark - where the character does something outrageous or illogic to character inherent personality and history. Here they did it with a character. Its a difficult thing for a writer to pull of a character over a long time. Sometimes they make a big mistake by not remembering how they molded the character before. Many books, movies, tv shows fail because of this. As an example, look at the show MASH, there were several times they wrote a character out of their space and the episode fell flat and fake. that's the kind of change I'm talking about. it's not about as you say "of-a-type".   See 16 other replies

Bear has been demoralized numerous times down there.   See 46 other replies

You are right, it isn't until after he has taken the pills that he hears Wilfred.   See 46 other replies

haha   See 46 other replies

Characters are not just supposed to be of-a-type. They can be, but those are often called stock characters. These of-a-type, or stock, characters are often used for the background characters. The unimportant characters that form the social backdrop against which the main characters' drama plays out. They are sometimes used for more prominent characters in a story, such as a antagonist. It may not matter all that much what a villain's motives are, he is a bad guy. The main character(s) can be identified, or defined, as the characters with understandable, human motivations, and those characters that develop as a result of the events of the story. The ones that have some detail work done on them, and are not just taken stock from the box.   See 16 other replies

I don't think Ryan changed in the last couple of episodes this season. I think that in these episodes we saw aspects and sides of Ryan that we had not seen before, or had not realized we were seeing before. I think that the writers intended to be heading right here all along. They didn't give out many, or any, tell-tail signs, they just left open this possibility and maybe dropped some hints. So while it was a surprise, I don't think your characterization of it as unfair surprise or bad writing is either accurate or fair. What I hear you saying is that you were watching one show with a central character you thought you knew and then all of the sudden they pull the rug out from under you. They tell you that the guy you knew is not who you thought he was, and that casts everything that has happened in a different light. Now the guy isn't the same, the show isn't the same, and you're not even sure what you have been watching. I had much the same experience, but my reaction was different. At that same point I was thinking this show may have just moved from being fun viewing, to being great! I was thinking that I need, need, to re-watch this season, and I may want to get it on DVD. So I disagree with your conclusions, but I think I understand where you are coming from.   See 16 other replies