23 June 2010

TV Meme: Day 23 - Most Annoying Character

With today's topic, most annoying character, I'm going to break my rule of only picking one character. Truth be told, there hasn't been a lot of characters that I can't stand, that are akin to nails on a chalkboard, that I just want to die immediately and be gone forever. But, anyway, here's a few words about some particular folks I'm not too fond of, or have definitely overstayed their welcome:

Name: Chloe Sullivan
Show: Smallville
Years Present: Season 1 - Present
Analysis: Chloe was a character that never existed in the Superman mythology, a teenage classmate of Clark Kent's at Smallville High who took a liking to the Man of Steel and also became obsessed with writing stories about strange phenomena for the school paper, The Torch. In the earlier years, I didn't much mind Chloe, being as she wasn't a totally big part of the storyline. In fact, she was put on the sidelines plenty of times. The most annoying aspect of the character was her smart-ass personality that ticked me off plenty of times. But then she found out about Clark's secret in season 4, and for a few years her character evolved and became - gasp! - interesting. And then Chloe Sullivan got to a point where the writers just didn't seem to have a clue where to take her, and still don't. It was around season 6 or 7, I believe. She took on the mantle of Watchtower, helping fight bad guys with the up-and-coming Justice League, which, admittedly, is pretty cool. Downside? Her personality and character really, really sucks, and every line of dialogue out of her mouth is utterly annoying. Perhaps Allison Mack is just losing patience with her character, but whenever she speaks, it immediately comes off as annoying. By this point, I'm desperately looking forward to whatever ill-fate awaits Chloe that she never gets mentioned in canon (which I hope the Smallville writers freakin' remember that they've hyped up this fact a lot).


Name: Claudette Wyms
Show: The Shield
Years Present: Season 1 - Season 7
Analysis: Ah, Claudette. Not only is her hairdo, which changes season to season, annoying, but her very character and personality will forever haunt me as a character that could have been great but just ended up irritating. The first few seasons, she was bull-headed, ready to handle any case, but also had a rather good sense of humor. By the later seasons, though, Claudette just became one sanctimonious preachy bitch. If things don't roll right with her, there is no second choice, no second chance, no second option. It's her views of right and wrong, and if they aren't followed by someone, she hates their guts. May not be how most folks view her, but that's just my impression of the Bitch from Hell. CCH Pounder, though, did a marvelous job with her performance no matter the material - I'll give her that.



Name: Claire Bennet
Show: Heroes
Years Present: Season 1 - Season 4
Analysis: The cheerleader from Texas who can't die, and also has a affinity for saying "because I'm special" at least once every episode in all four seasons. Actress Hayden Paniettiere isn't actually all that bad, and given good material she can be one hell of a performer - I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER notwithstanding. The Heroes writers were lazy and unimaginative right off the bat, and plenty of the characters suffered as a result of that. Claire was perhaps the biggest collateral damage. Annoying with every line she speaks, there was never more glee taken from her character than when a bad guy shushed her up. This seemingly immortal character could have been truly fantastic and a fascinating ingredient of the show, but by the end of its third season, Claire was truly a one-dimensional dumbass and annoying ditz. Oh, and let's not forget to add self-centered to the list. Really bad events can be happening all around her, but yet she somehow finds a way to connect everything back to her and her self-importance. Ugh, let's not even talk about this whole "I think I'm the Catalyst" business from Volume 3 "Villains."

So, there's my choices for annoying character(s). Questions? Comments?

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