Questionable Content XIX: Give Jeph Just A *Little* Credit, Here

[Ionathus]

I feel like Jeph keeps her here because of the sunk cost fallacy. Like "I have all the elements of a charming gremlin, why aren't the working? Maybe I need to give it more time?"

I agree with your assessment about what's not working with Liz, but I also think it's entirely possible Jeph thinks it is working. He obviously thinks her characterization is successful, given all of the "Liz is terrible AND I LOVE HER" captions on comics where she does socially inexcusable things. At the risk of putting words in his mouth, all of his Word Of God statements about her read to me like "you guys just don't appreciate how successful she is as a character" - which is extremely classic Author's Pet mentality in my book.

An artist I follow on tumblr has an OC that is a literal gremlin, and the lore behind them is that gremlins are supernaturally lucky and cannot be physically harmed except by their own actions or those of other gremlins. this leads them to be incredibly selfish creatures that cause ruin in their wake. But it's funny and charming because they're also really dumb projections of the worst qualities of people. Part of the charm is the complete lack of any charm whatsoever and you aren't meant to feel bad when bad things happen to them because it's only the result of their own actions.

Can you link this artist? Or DM me their blog? It sounds like a fun character!

I could write an essay.

I, too, would read this essay.

Other type of gremlin, they are super important for some reason so cant be gotten rid of. Take House for example. Dude is an absolute dumpster fire of a human being. Just... just the worst. Even his own friends hate him from time to time. But you cant get rid of him because he is basically THE doctor in his field and putting up with his personality is the price you have to pay for getting the stephen hawking of diagnosticians on your staff. He does at least get a comeuppance every once in awhile, but even then its rare and not often a total loss.

House MD is Insufferable Genius, which is a very common trope. The thing about House, and similar insufferable geniuses in medical shows, detective shows, and any show in which 'hacking' plays a prominent role, is that they have skills that are essential to meeting the objectives plots in such stories demand, and if those objective are not met Bad Stuff happens and said bad stuff is always something worse than a few hurt feelings, most often patient death, murderers getting away with it, or in some cases the universe itself coming to an end...

You said it better than I could - I agree completely. House is a giant awful jerk but at the end of the day, he saves people's lives constantly. That makes him worth keeping (and, as a bonus, balancing that tradeoff makes him compelling as a character for a lot of audience members).

Liz does need help. However, she does not need Claire and Marten's help.

Excellent point. I don't know why Jeph thinks Marten and Claire having an "adoptive parents/mentors" arc is interesting or well-advised, but it isn't and hasn't been from the start. Liz is just a jerk, just a garden-variety jerk, and I have no idea what endears them to her and makes them see her as worth rehabilitating. And even if she were, they're not remotely equipped for it in temperament or skillset.

Unless "allow the jerk to insult friends and loved ones, then mildly snark at them" is a hot new rehabilitation strategy I haven't heard of.