Friendships That Helped Redeem or Add Layers to a Character

[Faulkner]

In the DAYS discussion thread, @j swift wrote, “I feel as if Kristen lost a lot of the charm gained through her friendship with Lani.” That sparked a thread idea on friendships that helped to redeem or at the very least softened or complicated a tricky or villainous character. I’m thinking Roger’s friendship with Maureen on GL or even Todd’s friendship with little Sarah and C.J. (perhaps creepy in hindsight) on OLTL.

Sometimes these friendships work well if the writing is there and the bad character isn’t completely exonerated. The more moral character sees the good in them but still holds them accountable. At other times, these friendships end up as shameless propping that ends up destroying the “good” character. (Phyllis/Hilary on Y&R was a friendship between two “bad” characters that helped both of them.) What are some examples?

[I Am A Swede]

Emmerdale's bitch queen Kim Tate had a friendly relationship with longtime veteran Seth Armstrong. It sometimes even felt a little like a father/daughter relationship and it definitely helped humanize Kim. Amazingly the showrunners even remembered this friendship when Seth passed away in 2005, more than 6 years after Kim's departure, and had her send flowers to his funeral. A wonderful touch that, sadly, would never happen now with the current showrunners.

[Soaplovers]

When Eileen's Kristen came back in 2011, her friendship with Jennifer and her bond with young Ciara helped make her more human.

I think on AW, you had a former 'bad girl' befriend the current 'bad girl'.  Paulina/Cindy were a good example in the late 90s.. where you saw scenes of Cindy being conflicted helping Grant with a scheme he had against Joe/Paulina because of her friendship with Paulina.

But the weirdest friendship duo I ever saw was Nicole/Chloe on Days.  Both of them were sworn enemies that became unlikely friends... and there were moments where one was the voice of reason for the other.  It was such a bizarre friendship that actually worked.

And during the Sunset Beach era, when persumed dead Maria came back.. she was often the voice of reason/sounding board for Annie.

[NothinButAttitude]

I always felt that Sheila gained layers on B&B when they made her friends with Brooke. I think it added layers to both women honestly. Both women (for the longest) were isolated from their other female counterparts. It was refreshing to see them finally have genuine female friendships. I also liked how Sheila came to Brooke's aid numerous times. Once by trying to expose Connor to Brooke that he was seeing Karen and the next for trying to keep Stephanie from getting custody of Rick and Bridget (despite poisoning her).  

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Until the show brought him back and ruined him anew in the early 00s, the character of Craig Montgomery was definitely put on the road to redemption in his friendship with his ex-wife Betsy Androupolos during mid 1980s ATWT. There were other factors that also helped redeem his character, like his tortured, at times star-crossed romance with Sierra Esteban but his friendship with Betsy (over the vehement objections of Betsy’s husband Steve) and the reaction to it exemplified Craig’s struggles to shed his reputation. Betsy’s insistence that her ex-husband is indeed a changed man and her steadfast loyalty to their friendship got almost everyone who held a harsh judgment against him to reconsider their judgments about Craig.

[j swift]

I would nominate Erica Kane's friendship with Opal for helping her redeem the character during the kidnapping of Maria's baby.  Erica could have come off very poorly, in fact, most of the soap press condemned the story as making her unlikable.  However, Opal really grounded Erica and served as an audience surrogate to understand her motivations during a story which could have made her a pariah beyond redemption.

Edited May 30, 2023 by j swift

[dc11786]

Chloe and Nicole became friends because they had a common enemy: Sami. This was during the period that Chloe was involved with Lucas and Nicole was with EJ in the fall of 2008. I remember a very fun sequence where Lucas took Chloe and Allie up to the Horton cabin on Smith Island. Sami, who had been under house arrest for some crime, ran off to interfere in the coupling and Nicole immediately called the cops so that Sami would be arrested. I will say Chloe/Nicole's friendship may have been why they didn't play much with Chloe/Brady during the early years of Eric Martsolf's Brady. Given the grander scope of their history, it probably made no sense, but I enjoyed it immensely. 

[P.J.]

Cricket/Nina Y&R  I don't even really recall the why, but Cricket definitely smoothed Nina's rougher edges.

Barbara/Lisa ATWT---they held each other in check, even if they neither was more upstanding. 

[dragonflies]

Myrtle/Zach on  AMC, I think she brought out another side to him that we didn't see even with Kendall, she was like his surrogate mom and Myrtle, already was awesome, just made her even more likeable befriending someone everyone else saw as a pariah

[applcin]

Lucy & Dominique on GH. They were romantic rivals for Scott, moreso on Lucy's part than Dominique's, who was a genuinely kind person. Lucy was definitely jealous of Dom, and she was still mostly considered by the town as a "bad girl" or, at least, a selfish manipulator. But Dom showed Lucy compassion and friendship, which touched Lucy's heart, and when Dom was diagnosed as terminal, Lucy stepped up and then some. She came to love Dom like a sister, and became the surrogate to carry Scott & Dom's baby. She did it out of friendship and not with machinations to get Scott. I think Dom was the first real friend Lucy had ever had, and the fact that Dom was especially kind and gentle made an impression on Lucy.

[dolphziggler]

DOOL's Alex Marshall was morally unscrupulous, but his relationship with Marie Horton and their daughter Jessica Blake definitely highlighted his soft side.

[edgeofnik]

Y&R - Phyllis + Malcolm. I always liked this friendship because they never tried to pair them, Malcolm always grounded Phyllis and there wasn't some sort of hidden agenda. Plus their scenes were always fun -  even when serious stuff was happening. 

 

[AMCOLTLLover]

Anna DiMera and Alex Marshall on Days gave both of them so much change in their personalities and character development.

They were both good digging and scheming people. But their friendship helped them to be a bit more comedy and loyal. I always loved their scenes.

[Pine Charles]

I suppose, on AMC, Natalie's friendship with Donna helped to "soften" her - even before she was "redeemed" after the rape by Ross.