Hiii!!! Do you thinkļæ¼that Rafe should have a āredemption arcā? I have a opinion that not all characters need a redemption arc and I donāt think morally gray or āstraight up evil ā characters are one dimensional, etc.. I feel like thatās a common trope in media where they take a character who has done many wrong things!! and they try to redeem them, but that being said I do think rafe has many layers to him in my opinion heās extremely sensitive, erratic, and when his father was alive, heās so desperate for his dadās love so much so he canāt even see through the mistreatment. Also, the way Drew plays him u can tell he has moments of empathy, shame etc!! Heās such a complex character soo messed up but so interesting! I also find it hard to believe that the Rafe that we seen throughout the seasons would not spiral even more . Even though this season Rafe is still erratic at times he generally seems more composed and also drug free??? Idk it seems like such a massive shift from littarly telling his dad thereās something very wrong with him , also literally everything that happen in s3 . Also it would have been nice to see how he was as a child, Rose had mentioned that she always knew something was wrong with him . I wonder what went wrong and also how is relationship was with his mom? Do you have any head canons ļæ¼ on that . Sorry for this long rant. Would love to know ur opinion on everything and if you agree?
in my unserious opinion, i donāt want rafe to have a redemption arc because i want him to spiral and crash out. but on a serious note, i can explain why.
the reason why obx transitioned from rafe being an antagonist -> anti-hero is because of fan reception. and i donāt necessarily think thatās a bad thingāsometimes itās good to take in the reaction of your viewers to better steer the direction of your projects, but not at the cost of the character itself.
rafeās redemption arcāno matter what direction it goes toāwonāt be satisfying to me. because he didnāt get the chance to hit rock bottom. rafe was heading in that direction, but s3 felt like a complete shift from s2. let me explain.
rafe started as this character who was relatively background. he was just an agitator, a place of conflict to heighten the kook-pogue dynamics. then, he killed peterkin and it completely shifts the narrative. the thing about killing in shows such as these is that once you write it, u cannot go back. the only way to enhance problems and issues is to go deeper than murderāand thatās where it become very cartoonish and out-of-tune with the realism of obx. regardless, rafe shifts from this minor background character to a pivotal moment in the showāan on-screen death. and now heās caught in the middle of everythingāthe treasure hunt, the ward-john b conflict, the pogues and kooks. and so, heās beginning his first step to antagonism.
this heightens in s2. rafe had his moments of doubts but overall, he went straight into the treasure hunt and aiding his father. he helped ward hid the body, he almost killed kie, he found the cross and stole it from pope and had a whole fight against pope in the middle of the marsh. he was ruthless and relentless. he was becoming this demented version of himself he never saw himself going toāand thatās the most intriguing part of his character. there was so much to explore, especially as you said, a lot of his actions were driven by his need to be validated by his father. all his actions were manipulated by another voice. HOWEVER, by the end of the season. he won. he didnāt have any more doubts about himself. he managed to pull the cross back onto the ship, but he didnāt try to shoot sarah. that moment of hesitation was depicted, but not explored.
this is where they took rafeās character and completely flipped it imo. i truly believe itās because of his depiction in s2 and how fans wanted rafe/drew to be more on screen; and the only way the creators could think of doing that is making him a āgood guy.ā but the problem with this is that, rafe felt like someone who was controlled by another person (s2) to someone who grew into their own (s3). he had this complete shift in mentality (also getting clean, growing more dominant) and we didnāt get to see his internal struggle with it.
nothing in the show has demonstrated for rafe to look back and reflect on his actions. everything heās ever done felt right in his head, felt like his own ownership. he never hesitated nor regretted his choices. in fact, he enhanced it by taking the cross from the pogues successfully and melting it down. if rafe were to have doubts, he would have to be met with failure, but rafe kept winning. and thatās the problem. he never needed a moment of self-reflection, of second-guessing his choices because why would u when ur choices all lead you to success?
thatās why this shift into s4, which clearly shows the creators attempt to making rafe becoming redeemed, feels disingenuous. because rafe never wanted to change. he had no reason to. so why would he? and in addition, we never got to see the full version of who he could be had he descended down his villainy path. we never get to see the potential of anything. rafe feels flimsy in that aspects, and while we get moments of him tweaking, it feels like fan service rather than genuine responses. because itās never explored why. ļæ¼
again it comes back to the streaming problem and lack of filler episodes, but overall, i think the question isnāt that rafe āshouldā have a redemption arc but rather ācouldā he have it successfully in the show. and the answer is no. itās too flimsy, it lacks the proper foundation for him to transition smoothly and naturally from who he was to who he becomes. because regardless of my answer, i think he will. itās whether the execution can be done properly.
