Letters to Kripke: But...Wait...

Dear Eric,

I feel that I need to make myself completely clear.  I understand I have developed a certain bias for keeping a certain actor employed.  Over the course of the first ten episodes of the season, I went from being mildly perturbed that Bass was so likeable, to  flat out in love with him.  Much of it I blame on David Lyons.  Not only does  everything I have read about him make him seem like a great guy, but clearly he is as talented as he is beautiful.  I am not a shy gal, I can admit that Dave could put on a burlap bag, sport a ZZ Top beard and film himself reading from the phone book, either with his native Australian accent or his close to perfect Middle America accent, and I would purchase it in blu ray.  He could even wait a bit, put out an extended edition with special features including self commentary and gag reel, and I would then purchase that as well.

My point is, I myself question if I would be as in love with Sebastian Monroe if it weren’t for Dave.  Truthfully, I saw Bass pawning off killing Jeremy on subordinates as cowardly.  I felt that way when he did it earlier in this second half of the season, too.  But here is the thing...Miles has been just as cowardly.  He had a “firing squad” take out that militia officer.  He didn’t shoot him.  Miles is also the man who shot two unarmed highwaymen, essentially starting this whole militia thing.  Truthfully, I don’t think that the fact that they had killed those campers and were trying to kill Jeremy meant that Miles had the right to decide if they lived or died.  They didn’t have a fighting chance.  Yes, I agree the tent owners didn’t have a fighting chance against these thugs, but I have always believed that it has to stop somewhere. How does killing people show people that killing people is wrong?  How else can we lead but by example?  By making the bigger decision.  By being the person not to fall back on “well he/she isn’t backing down”, “well he/she won’t show mercy”, etc.  It has to start with someone.  Neither man has shown that he is the “bigger” man.

In other words, I don’t feel that Miles is any better than Monroe.  The only thing that gives Miles an edge is that he has family left that won’t give up on him.  Monroe had no one.  You tried to throw in that little somethin’ somethin’ with Jeremy telling Monroe he drove Neville and Miles away, but Neville chose his actual family over Bass, plain and simple.  Miles left him high and dry when he started it all.  The fact that Bass’s family is dead isn’t his fault.  I can’t shake this feeling that you are saying that because orphans don’t have anyone that unconditionally loves them, they aren’t worthy of redemption.  That can’t possibly be your message, but that is how this is playing out.  As for Jeremy’s death, I still hold a glimmer of hope that it will help Bass see just how paranoid he has become.  I will admit that in his shoes, I too would have been incredibly suspicious.

If I could point to something--say that Miles is the better man, than maybe I could be with you on this...But I just can’t.  In “The Love Boat” Miles proved that he is pretty much instantaneously corrupted by power.  He isn’t worthy of this chance that you as the “god of this show” have bestowed upon him.

I have to level with you.  I am not a Loki fan, or the Crowley fan...I don’t like Theon Greyjoy.  Morally ambiguous people are just not my bag.  I love the cowboys with heart, but I can’t say you’ve gotten that part right yet.  Take Joss’s Malcolm Reynolds for instance--Mal was a smuggler.  Mal was a murderer.  But I fell in love with him after one line.  It was when Mal agrees to let Simon and River stay on the ship.  Simon asks how did he know that Mal didn’t plan on killing him in his sleep and collecting the prize money.  Mal replies: “You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once:  If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake.  You’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.”

In that line I knew everything I needed to know about that man.  No matter what he was, he had a sense of honor.  Another great character like that was Ned Stark...provided, his honor was his downfall because he just had too much of it, but I loved when he takes Bran aside and makes sure he understands why Ned had to be the one to take the head of the deserter.  If you can pass judgment on a man, you should be able to carry out that judgment.  Some might see that as a check positive for how Miles handled those highwaymen, but I don’t.  There was no law at the time saying that death was the punishment for what they did (unlike deserting the Wall and the Rangers), and no one had put Miles in charge.

My other problem, Eric, and this is a problem I have had since the fifth season of Supernatural, is that for someone who talks a lot about free will, you don’t seem to believe in it.  You have mentioned through characters in the Supernatural verse, and your successors have kept this view, that writers are the gods of the worlds they create.  You have mentioned that you always knew where you wanted Sam and Dean to end up and "Swan Song" was that culmination.  If that is the case, Sam and Dean did NOT choose free will.  They did exactly what you intended them to do.  They made the revelations that you wanted them to make, experienced the growth of character that you wanted them to experience.  To believe in free will means allowing your characters to become more than what you envisioned. It means not seeing yourself as a god, but as a parent.  You may want certain things for your children, but they may take a totally different turn.  

I bring this up because I feel you have an excellent opportunity to show true free will with the character of Monroe, and I fear you will not take it, or more accurately, that you didn’t take it, and that I am just waiting for the boom to be lowered.  By yours and other producers’ own admission you were moved by how Dave played Monroe and loved the depth he gave to the character.  Even though the character became more than what you initially saw, you have continued to write him the way you intended him to be.  You don’t seem to be allowing the character to expand beyond your initial vision of him, therefore showing once again that you do not believe in free will.

I hope that that “bad feeling” I have is unwarranted.  Even Joss, whose work you indicated you have used as inspiration, admitted that he killed off Darla too soon on Buffy and brought her back on Angel...

Your devoted fan,

Nicole