I love shows about a cop and their quirky partner with (almost) supernatural skills. It’s the OP anime protagonist trope I guess. House, Mentalist, Lucifer, Dexter, iZombie, Blacklist, arguably Mr Robot, so on and so forth.
Tropes are fun. They can be a safe haven or used for comedic effects, or they might just fit the story. I’d say tropes are part of what makes narrative so great. After all, the hero is a trope as well. Even the infuriating ones can be at least palatable, but when they repeat over and over without adding any actual substance to the story it’s just the writers taking a big dump on my chest.
Dee Dee and girlbosses
In Dexter’s Laboratory as a kid I hated Dee Dee and her love of doing the exact thing she should not do, resulting in horrible consequences Dexter had to deal with. If little Titor lived in today’s world, he’d call it incredibly cringe, not at all gang gang.
When I began writing this article, I was watching Preacher the “other” day. I haven’t read the comic yet, but the TV leans too much into repeating these tropes making some moments just…you know how something just screams that it’s a TV show and you recognize the elements that make it a TV show killing all immersion?
Jesse: Listen to me, Tulip, grandma is super dangerous, she’s basically a boss anime villain who can snap you out of existence. Do NOT fuck with her, she just brought you back to life after you died, she can easily kill you again. Do you understand me? She is basically Satan on steroids, DANGEROUS!
Tulip: I’m dangerous too 
Jesse: No listen to me do NOT fuck with her I literally gave up my soul to save you, she will just erase your entire bloodline, she’s an evil lady
Tulip: Well I’m pretty bad myself
She’s such a girlboss, she don’t need no man protecting her, she can do anything she sets her mind to even when facing impossible odds. Tulip proceeds to obviously almost get her bloodline erased were it not for our protagonist. Oopsie poopsie, teehee.
WHY? Why not have her come up with a smart idea, have them work together, have her do something USEFUL, instead her entire purpose most of the show is to just be annoying? They try to “explain it” away that it was God’s plan for her to consistently fuck up or whatever, but it doesn’t really make any sense to make her this annoying and stupid. Have her come up with great plans, but have them fail in even greater ways sort of how time paradox correction happens in some stories, where whatever you do, something eventually happens stopping you from changing the past: maybe you think you broke up your grandparents, but they still get together, or they were look alikes, or it turns out they had another special moment and that wasn’t when they actually got together, you can’t actually shoot at your grandpa no matter how much you try because something gets in the way or stops you, etc.
This sort of thing frustrates the hell out of me. Why are you wasting my time with characters making the most retarded decisions? I have no idea what this trope is called, but why do women in shows like these have to be stupid? Aren’t we in the era of anti mysoginism, respect, acceptance and love and all that hippie stuff? There’s so many shows with amazing female characters: iZombie, Black Orphan, Sandman, heck even Lucifer(Aimee Garcia is such an amazing actress) just to name a few. Mentalist’s Lisbon is also incredibly cool, and for most of the series the will they won’t they let’s say kinda makes sense given Jane’s sole reason for wanting to catch Red John is to avenge his wife.
Thinking back on shows for the examples above I remembered CW’s Flash and their similar moments…Let’s not even talk about the CW.
Magnum stop peeing in my eye
And how about Magnum PI and the incredibly annoying Higgins? Confession time, I didn’t watch the original Magnum PI. I find shows from that era to be filmed incredibly slow and the stories to be boring outside of funny cool moments like this famous gem, but I do really like the reboot outside of some issues.
Everything is so respectful to the military, suicidal people and general mental health issues, disabled people, homeless people, and so much more. It’s a really heartwarming show, and I’d say more or less a family show. I’d watch many of these episodes with my future kids.
However, why does Higgins have to be SO DAMN ANNOYING? She has this girlboss attitude, which would be cool against villains and if she’d be right, I respect someone who can actually walk the walk, but Higgins can’t even talk as she speaks Bri’ish, and her legs were clearly broken several times as a child as she can’t seem to take a single step.
She has to insult and belittle Magnum every single moment of the day. She does fall in love with him and starts showing him more respect, but they both act like neither is aware of what the other feels(see below lmao) and she continues this “teasing”. If they were in elementary school it would make sense, but this show is definitely not 6+, so why is Higgins acting like a child? Consistently punishing Magnum just to show him how inferior, useless and stupid he is. I’m almost glad it got cancelled, no wonder.
Will they, won’t they?
Or all of these will-they-won’t-they moments, which as tvtropes.org politely points out leads to the work losing most of its audience as people stop caring or get exhausted by the back and forth.
Look at Mentalist, the conclusion was that Jane and Lisbon got together, and that right at the end. After they were done with Red John, the writers just gave up and figured nothing interesting could be happening anymore. It wasn’t really that Red John was what kept the series together, but after Red John they completely changed the dynamic of the team. Sure, it made sense for a long time for them not to be together, as aforementioned, but after that it was just tropes all over.
In Magnum PI, Higgins and Magnum clearly are supposed to start a relationship, but oh the stars don’t align and Higgins gets shot and falls in love with the doctor who saved her who happens to be the hottest doctor in the state of Hawaii for whatever reason, and when she finally realizes she loves Magnum, he dates a random detective whose sole reason for being added to the show was to be why Magnum and Higgins can’t be together.
Give me a break, this isn’t a telenovela. Trying to reach out to a wider audience is great and all, but I’ve seen plenty of men cry alongside women watching great romance movies that didn’t have to be this dumb. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching that spanish or indian show clip where a mom sees her daughter kiss a boy or something and she murders everyone in the hospital out of…shock?
Whatever, Magnum PI is pretty cool, watch it. Just skip any part that has Higgins, or 4x speed, and you’ll be good!
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