Ah, character introductions, yeah they can be super awful or totally fantastic.
I didn't mind how they introduced Alex. What I minded was her spouting off cliches like, "Ah, Alan, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive" or silly things like that while she cruised the ballroom. Alan's reveal at the other masked ball was dumb because a) it had been done, and b) we had already seen him for weeks in Andora with India and her father.
The best intros either kick off a storyline or land in the middle of one to shake it up. I don't think Alan Michael parachuting into the Bauer bbq was that effective. Phillip's first return as an adult, OTOH, was perfect. He comes home (I can't remember if it was Justin's or Alan's house, it doesn't matter much which one) and it's empty. He throws his backpack down and flops in a chair, with the attitude, "Of course, no one is here"--showing immediately how the adults in his life are always failing him. You didn't need some big scene--that was saved for much later when he confronts Alan and Justin about his paternity.
Harley's introduction, IMO, is one of the best intros of a teen character the show did ever. A young girl getting in an accident while she's giving birth, quickly followed by her blythely giving her baby up for adoption. I wanted to know what the deal was with this girl and why she was like that. And what happened there impacted her character in many ways for years to come.
Same with Reva's intro--she was landing in the middle of an ongoing storyline and you knew right away she was going to shake things up. No reason for her to bust in immediately into Billy and Vanessa's life--this scene set her up so you cared when that eventually happened.
I actually liked Buzz's introduction. I thought it was pretty neat when he found Nadine, looked through her window and watched as she took her phony pregnant belly off. The look on his face was priceless. KInd of made you forget for a minute he was a deadbeat dad and you knew he was going to give Nadine some much-needed grief.
(There's a big lack of love for Buzz/Deas here, but they REALLY watered down his character. He had a way different vibe when he was introduced).
By
DeeVee ·
