I love how Season 3 of âStation 19â is just showing us all the main characterâs backstories. This is what Iâm talking about when it comes to character representation and development. Show us who these people are as well as who theyâre not anymore. How theyâve grew, how theyâve evolved, transitioned through their adolescence to the wonderfully complex and dynamic people that they are today. How theyâve been influenced by their past and their youth. All their mistakes, all their conditions, all their flaws, and all their traumas. Thatâs what I want to see in TV shows. A proper exploration of characterization in everything. The positive and the negative so I can see that theyâre well-rounded individuals that deserve my attention.
This is how it should be done every time, all the time. Forget about plot because the plot should be wrapped around the characters. Never the other way around.
If you do it the other way around you force things to happen that donât have any logical reason to happen. Focus on characterization helps you use themes and narrative plot points with substance behind them.
For example, because we know Travis Montgomery is gay and has been married and has lost his husband while on duty, he has a resistance to the system and his bitterness fuels his need to help people who are going through the same or similar emotions he does.
They make the narrative relate to him and his story so the narrative itself for that specific episode resonates even more than it would if that was not ever explored. You feel something from the main narrative because of Travisâ ties to it through his character backstory.
Characterization writing is crucial to any lasting story. Not enough TV show creators/runners are utilizing the characterization to tell the story of the show itself. Theyâre moving on from it too quickly because they believe getting to the plot beats is more important.
But what is the point of the plot if thereâs nothing there that relates to or resonates with the audience? Youâre missing the bigger picture of the whole show because you want to hurry up with telling the story. But you canât tell a truly compelling story without proper characterization exploration. It doesnât work.
Exploring main character backstories and relationships or even just one-off character interactions are very important to storytelling and I honestly believe that the TV art/entertainment industry has lost the plot because they focus too much on the plot and not enough on characterization.
Everything becomes a mess and nothing gets a successful and satisfying endgame because of it.
Donât put the plot first. Donât make it the focus.
Put characterization central to everything else and I promise you that the plot will practically write itself.
Tie themes to characters. Tie narratives to characters. Show us who the characters are and who theyâre not.
Let the characterization drive the whole show.
