04-09-2017, 07:12 AM
For me, Adalind and Juliette are the two characters who have experienced the most change and come full circle, not because of their experiences, but in spite of them. The problem with their evolution is that within the context of the show, it wasn’t so much about the two female characters but about the leading man they both love. And because their drama was always ultimately Nick’s drama, their evolution had unnecessary gaps and inconsistencies.
I’ve never read anything about the Juliette character being revamped because of her unpopularity other than viewer comments. If G & K determined the character/actor wasn’t connecting with audiences, it’s not likely they’d make a public statement. But if G & K were attempting to reinvent Juliette to make her more interesting and likeable, the Eve character sorely derailed that attempt. Not only was the Eve personality as manufactured as the Hexenbiest, it was equally forced, further victimizing an already beaten-down character. The Eve personality blocked any opportunity for growth, and in effect, held the character in limbo until the show was ready for her to regress into a Juliette-like state because she was returning to on-going interaction with the leading man. Nick and Juliette didn’t end because the characters acknowledged and mourned the death of their relationship, it ended because an artificial personality refused to acknowledge ‘they’ ever had a relationship and a past. Essentially, the creative team swept the Nick/Juliette relationship under a rug and kept it there long enough for time to resolve it for them.
Welcoming the role of motherhood and partner shouldn’t suck the life out of a character, but Adalind became as dull as a rock. I don’t think that was G & K’s intention, but rather, they didn’t have a firm handle on what to do with a character who wasn’t originally planned beyond the first season. So they kept coming up with Adalind-schemes that ran off to the side of the main storylines/characters. But once they brought the character into the fold - something hit the fan - because they couldn’t make her fit without becoming an uncharacteristically docile defeatist. The character presented through the end of S4 would have reached out to Meisner in S5, determined to rescue her daughter from the Royals. But the S5 character was too beaten down and frightened to risk rocking the boat and upsetting her life with Nick and the one child she still had in her possession.
If Adalind is lying in wait for an opportunity to come along she would have jumped on the BC ship with Renard. Because if a lavish lifestyle was her goal, she would have seen Renard as a springboard and Nick as dead weight. With BC, Adalind lived in a mansion, had servants, expensive clothes and jewelry, was the wife of a rising politician, and most of all - she had both her children. But Adalind never wanted anything other than returning to Nick and a one-bedroom loft over a paint factory with both her children.
Adalind had two moments of clarity. The first when Diana was born and she experienced unconditional love for the first time through the mother/child bond. The second when experiencing a calm, uninterrupted existence with Nick and nurturing Kelly. Adalind realized - better late than never - that she had become the sum of her chaotic and violent lifestyle, but she had to ability to change and make a better life for her children. And nothing on the show has ever hinted that she backtracked from her commitment to her children and a better life.
I’ve never read anything about the Juliette character being revamped because of her unpopularity other than viewer comments. If G & K determined the character/actor wasn’t connecting with audiences, it’s not likely they’d make a public statement. But if G & K were attempting to reinvent Juliette to make her more interesting and likeable, the Eve character sorely derailed that attempt. Not only was the Eve personality as manufactured as the Hexenbiest, it was equally forced, further victimizing an already beaten-down character. The Eve personality blocked any opportunity for growth, and in effect, held the character in limbo until the show was ready for her to regress into a Juliette-like state because she was returning to on-going interaction with the leading man. Nick and Juliette didn’t end because the characters acknowledged and mourned the death of their relationship, it ended because an artificial personality refused to acknowledge ‘they’ ever had a relationship and a past. Essentially, the creative team swept the Nick/Juliette relationship under a rug and kept it there long enough for time to resolve it for them.
Welcoming the role of motherhood and partner shouldn’t suck the life out of a character, but Adalind became as dull as a rock. I don’t think that was G & K’s intention, but rather, they didn’t have a firm handle on what to do with a character who wasn’t originally planned beyond the first season. So they kept coming up with Adalind-schemes that ran off to the side of the main storylines/characters. But once they brought the character into the fold - something hit the fan - because they couldn’t make her fit without becoming an uncharacteristically docile defeatist. The character presented through the end of S4 would have reached out to Meisner in S5, determined to rescue her daughter from the Royals. But the S5 character was too beaten down and frightened to risk rocking the boat and upsetting her life with Nick and the one child she still had in her possession.
If Adalind is lying in wait for an opportunity to come along she would have jumped on the BC ship with Renard. Because if a lavish lifestyle was her goal, she would have seen Renard as a springboard and Nick as dead weight. With BC, Adalind lived in a mansion, had servants, expensive clothes and jewelry, was the wife of a rising politician, and most of all - she had both her children. But Adalind never wanted anything other than returning to Nick and a one-bedroom loft over a paint factory with both her children.
Adalind had two moments of clarity. The first when Diana was born and she experienced unconditional love for the first time through the mother/child bond. The second when experiencing a calm, uninterrupted existence with Nick and nurturing Kelly. Adalind realized - better late than never - that she had become the sum of her chaotic and violent lifestyle, but she had to ability to change and make a better life for her children. And nothing on the show has ever hinted that she backtracked from her commitment to her children and a better life.
"If my devils are to leave me, I am afraid my angels will take flight as well." Rainer Maria Rilke