Elec
"Oh yeah!"
I'm trying to post some of my thoughts on the characters and story for the show, this one is dedicated to Tru. She is certainly the focus of the show, and worthy of some discussion as a result 🙂 Warning: This is long, but I'm trying to find a way to give the show some new life even though there won't be any new episodes for at least 5 or 6 months. Feel free to skip around if you must!
Ok, first, what I like about Tru (not to be confused with the song, or show with Jennie Garth and Amanda Bynes). I think the thing I find most striking about Tru is that, as a whole, the character is fairly "real". Like most people our age (I'm about 6 months older than Eliza and, by extension, Tru), Tru is a little bit lost. She has just finished college and understands what an accomplishment that is, but she's left with sort of a sense of "now what?" She has a pretty good idea of what she wants to do, but with the cancellation of her internship and taking the job at the morgue, she's left in limbo a little bit. She has a decent place to live, but she drives a crappy car (previously no car) - she's getting by, but that's about it. It's refreshing to see that on TV. Hollywood generally would have her living in a plush loft, driving a silver Benz, and carrying a Prada bag - somehow paid for by her morgue attendant salary. Tru is confused about what she wants and has for a career, a love life, a family life, and so on.
Tru sucks at relationships. This is another win in the "reality" column. Most shows of this type have relationship troubles written in, though they're usually over the top, stale, trite, etc. Tru dates her professor (a definite no-no) and it comes back to bite her when he cheats on her. She has blind dates with terrible guys. Luc seems promising, but she screws that up because she has trust and self-confidence issues. She says and does the wrong things. She wants guys she can't or shouldn't have. She ignores the guys she could or should have. That is the reality of a 23 year old girl, not a television character 😉
I also like that Tru is both strong and weak. She has no problems insinuating herself into people's lives or blowing off personal commitments to help others. She is something of a young idealist and believes, almost blindly, that the "right" thing must always be done. She is incredibly determined in the finale, almost to the point of seeming out of character. You don't mess with Tru. Sometimes. Other times, she is almost fragile, especially when it comes to her emotions, relationships, and friendships. She has a hard time seeing Lindsay unhappy, seeing Harrison fall victim to his own schemes, seeing Meredith self-destruct, and seeing lost potential when victims are brought into the morgue. When she is attacked, she regresses to the little girl she was when her mother died. She runs and hides, even though she has fought back fiercely in other situations. Her life is often not fair - even rewinds don't always treat her kindly - and she handles it with a nice mix of strength and tears. This is great stuff IMHO, and the reality in the character was either very careful planning or a lucky coincidence. I sometimes wonder how much of Eliza there is in Tru, since Tru is often just a normal 23 year old girl dealing with a weird situation (the rewinding).
I read somewhere that Tru is stuck and has to decide whether she wants to be normal or special, and that the series often shows the conflict between those two as she realizes she can't be both. I don't know if this was intended, but I think it's pretty cool anyway. The Luc situation is a perfect example. Tru wants to be a normal girl and go to work, have a boyfriend (Luc), live a boring regular life. She also feels that she has to help the people who ask because it is a calling, because of her mother, and because she can - it's what makes her special in the world. She can't do both though - being special interferes with being normal (and her relationship with Luc) and every episode is kind of a small internal struggle as she refuses to pick one over the other outright. She's convinced she can have it all, and she tries so hard, but maybe she can't. This is an important idea with Jack too, and he mentions it a couple times.
Ok, now some things I don't like about Tru. I don't like how she often seems to have no tact. She is incredibly clever and demonstrates this over and over, but she's not very careful or thoughtful, especially in her dealings with other people. It's weird to see how well she manipulates people while dealing with them so badly. I suspect this is a writing flaw more than a character flaw. It's amazing how many times Tru introduces herself to someone she's trying to help and convinces them to let her in the house, go with her for a drink and a talk, confide something secret in her, or gets them to give her important info while making them think she's not fishing for it. THEN after somehow earning these trusts, she decides to grab, assault, accuse, confront, etc. the person, preferably in a way or with info that is totally incorrect so that she alienates herself and wrecks her chances of helping. If she's good with people, she wouldn't be so blunt. If she's bad with people, she wouldn't be able to gain that trust in the first place. Perhaps she's not good with people but is good at manipulating (as in she can fake it but runs out of patience or screws it up once she has to take the direct approach and stop acting).
Another thing that bugs me about Tru is that she seems cold and uncaring sometimes. She is guilty of acting like the world is a game to be played and she doesn't always treat other people like...well, people. She oversteps her bounds countless times while doing things that she really has no right to do. This could go back to the lack of tact or the no people skills, but it may be a seperate issue, and it is often more apparent on rewind days. She borrows identities from time to time. She does police work without calling the police. She helps herself to other people's records and info. She doesn't answer important phone calls because she feels she doesn't have time or thinks she knows how it'll turn out. There are times she doesn't help Harrison or Meredith, even though she could, because she wants to teach them a lesson or thinks it isn't important. She blows off Luc or gives him the cold shoulder instead of apologizing (again) or trying to make it up to him somehow. It almost feels like she gets dragged down and, with a shrug and a sigh, says "I can only make this worse if I do something...". So she doesn't. She does and says things that hurt Davis' feelings almost constantly without thinking about it. She then dismisses it with a "That's not what I meant" or an "Oh right, I forgot I only talked to you about that yesterday before the rewind." She gloats, even when she only thinks she is right. Tru has a hard time saying sorry and meaning it. And that kinda sucks. If it's the character being a real and slightly dysfunctional 23 year old girl, then it's brilliant. I suspect that it's a result of the script having Tru play the world, rather than live in it, which is unfortunate but forgiveable for the first season of a new show. I'd like to see Tru lose a little more and live her life a little more next season. She needs to grow up a bit to understand her role in the world and how she fits in rather than trying to steamroll over the people and situations she meets. Jack may help with that.
Ok, I've said enough for now. I may add anything I missed later, but I'd love to hear what you guys and girls think about the character of Tru. I thought it would be cool to instigate an in-depth discussion where we can talk about the characters-as-people 🙂
edit: added the disclaimer at the top
Ok, first, what I like about Tru (not to be confused with the song, or show with Jennie Garth and Amanda Bynes). I think the thing I find most striking about Tru is that, as a whole, the character is fairly "real". Like most people our age (I'm about 6 months older than Eliza and, by extension, Tru), Tru is a little bit lost. She has just finished college and understands what an accomplishment that is, but she's left with sort of a sense of "now what?" She has a pretty good idea of what she wants to do, but with the cancellation of her internship and taking the job at the morgue, she's left in limbo a little bit. She has a decent place to live, but she drives a crappy car (previously no car) - she's getting by, but that's about it. It's refreshing to see that on TV. Hollywood generally would have her living in a plush loft, driving a silver Benz, and carrying a Prada bag - somehow paid for by her morgue attendant salary. Tru is confused about what she wants and has for a career, a love life, a family life, and so on.
Tru sucks at relationships. This is another win in the "reality" column. Most shows of this type have relationship troubles written in, though they're usually over the top, stale, trite, etc. Tru dates her professor (a definite no-no) and it comes back to bite her when he cheats on her. She has blind dates with terrible guys. Luc seems promising, but she screws that up because she has trust and self-confidence issues. She says and does the wrong things. She wants guys she can't or shouldn't have. She ignores the guys she could or should have. That is the reality of a 23 year old girl, not a television character 😉
I also like that Tru is both strong and weak. She has no problems insinuating herself into people's lives or blowing off personal commitments to help others. She is something of a young idealist and believes, almost blindly, that the "right" thing must always be done. She is incredibly determined in the finale, almost to the point of seeming out of character. You don't mess with Tru. Sometimes. Other times, she is almost fragile, especially when it comes to her emotions, relationships, and friendships. She has a hard time seeing Lindsay unhappy, seeing Harrison fall victim to his own schemes, seeing Meredith self-destruct, and seeing lost potential when victims are brought into the morgue. When she is attacked, she regresses to the little girl she was when her mother died. She runs and hides, even though she has fought back fiercely in other situations. Her life is often not fair - even rewinds don't always treat her kindly - and she handles it with a nice mix of strength and tears. This is great stuff IMHO, and the reality in the character was either very careful planning or a lucky coincidence. I sometimes wonder how much of Eliza there is in Tru, since Tru is often just a normal 23 year old girl dealing with a weird situation (the rewinding).
I read somewhere that Tru is stuck and has to decide whether she wants to be normal or special, and that the series often shows the conflict between those two as she realizes she can't be both. I don't know if this was intended, but I think it's pretty cool anyway. The Luc situation is a perfect example. Tru wants to be a normal girl and go to work, have a boyfriend (Luc), live a boring regular life. She also feels that she has to help the people who ask because it is a calling, because of her mother, and because she can - it's what makes her special in the world. She can't do both though - being special interferes with being normal (and her relationship with Luc) and every episode is kind of a small internal struggle as she refuses to pick one over the other outright. She's convinced she can have it all, and she tries so hard, but maybe she can't. This is an important idea with Jack too, and he mentions it a couple times.
Ok, now some things I don't like about Tru. I don't like how she often seems to have no tact. She is incredibly clever and demonstrates this over and over, but she's not very careful or thoughtful, especially in her dealings with other people. It's weird to see how well she manipulates people while dealing with them so badly. I suspect this is a writing flaw more than a character flaw. It's amazing how many times Tru introduces herself to someone she's trying to help and convinces them to let her in the house, go with her for a drink and a talk, confide something secret in her, or gets them to give her important info while making them think she's not fishing for it. THEN after somehow earning these trusts, she decides to grab, assault, accuse, confront, etc. the person, preferably in a way or with info that is totally incorrect so that she alienates herself and wrecks her chances of helping. If she's good with people, she wouldn't be so blunt. If she's bad with people, she wouldn't be able to gain that trust in the first place. Perhaps she's not good with people but is good at manipulating (as in she can fake it but runs out of patience or screws it up once she has to take the direct approach and stop acting).
Another thing that bugs me about Tru is that she seems cold and uncaring sometimes. She is guilty of acting like the world is a game to be played and she doesn't always treat other people like...well, people. She oversteps her bounds countless times while doing things that she really has no right to do. This could go back to the lack of tact or the no people skills, but it may be a seperate issue, and it is often more apparent on rewind days. She borrows identities from time to time. She does police work without calling the police. She helps herself to other people's records and info. She doesn't answer important phone calls because she feels she doesn't have time or thinks she knows how it'll turn out. There are times she doesn't help Harrison or Meredith, even though she could, because she wants to teach them a lesson or thinks it isn't important. She blows off Luc or gives him the cold shoulder instead of apologizing (again) or trying to make it up to him somehow. It almost feels like she gets dragged down and, with a shrug and a sigh, says "I can only make this worse if I do something...". So she doesn't. She does and says things that hurt Davis' feelings almost constantly without thinking about it. She then dismisses it with a "That's not what I meant" or an "Oh right, I forgot I only talked to you about that yesterday before the rewind." She gloats, even when she only thinks she is right. Tru has a hard time saying sorry and meaning it. And that kinda sucks. If it's the character being a real and slightly dysfunctional 23 year old girl, then it's brilliant. I suspect that it's a result of the script having Tru play the world, rather than live in it, which is unfortunate but forgiveable for the first season of a new show. I'd like to see Tru lose a little more and live her life a little more next season. She needs to grow up a bit to understand her role in the world and how she fits in rather than trying to steamroll over the people and situations she meets. Jack may help with that.
Ok, I've said enough for now. I may add anything I missed later, but I'd love to hear what you guys and girls think about the character of Tru. I thought it would be cool to instigate an in-depth discussion where we can talk about the characters-as-people 🙂
edit: added the disclaimer at the top