Who’s your favourite flawed
but hyper-competent hero?
Based on my Twitter feed a lot of people out there share my love of the ABC hit drama Scandal, which has over the course of its three seasons perfected a formula that never misses a moment to make viewers’ jaws drop. (Speaking personally, the last word spoken in the last episode of the second season literally made me laugh and clap out loud.)
A large part of the show’s success is easily attributed to its fascinating main character and the actress who brings her to life. As Olivia Pope, Kerry Washington transcends the fact that she may very well be the most beautiful woman in the world and compellingly convinces us that she is one of Washington’s most important behind the scenes power-players. But true to a television tradition, Olivia’s superhuman skills are levelled by the flaws that keep her human. Much of the drama in the show–and the bodies that pile up as a result of it–comes not despite her actions, but directly because of them.
Probably the most famous example of the hyper-competent flawed hero is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, whose famous eccentricities have in more recent present-day adaptations like Sherlock and Elementary been portrayed as something closer to outright mental illness.
It’s an archetype we embrace because we love seeing people who are amazing at their jobs overtaking obstacles that would stymie nearly all of us, but we tend to resent anyone whose talents aren’t at least a little bit counter-balanced by a certain fucked-up-ness.
There are too many examples of this kind of character to list here, but chances are you have a favourite. I definitely know mine.
As Jim Rockford, James Garner walked an amazing line I don’t think has ever been duplicated in a TV show. In the world he lived in and that surrounded him, he was a bum P.I. who could barely keep his head above water, yet as viewers we served witness to his unrecognized heroism and brilliance. Though the result wasn’t always what he wanted, he always came to the truth in the end–not because he was obsessively compelled to uncover it, but because it was the only way to pay for his trailer.
He was most definitely a hero, but a reluctant one whose good deeds were often performed less out of moral obligation than everyday survival.
By the time we reached season 3 of 24, Jack Bauer was pretty messed up. Heroic, disturbed and occasionally compromising of ones values.
Paul Newman both on and off screen
Hugh Laurie as House. The man possessed an nearly unamtched skill when it came diagnosing and treating disease but damn he’s just so messed up. Most of the 8 seasons were of him finding some glimmer of hope of making progress in his personal life, just to bring it all crashing down by the end of the season. He crossed so many lines but he was so good at his work that it was extremely difficult to find someone that would openly disagree with him (and even when he did they would usually fall under his gaze in due time… Read more »
I agree on this one…
I definitely think Olivia Pope is a great example…
I used to love Jax Teller, but that’s getting to be impossible.
Rick Grimes?
I think I can see those (from the little bits ive seen of those shows mind you).
How about Michael Westen from Burn Notice?
Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. DEFINITELY flawed. DEFINETELY a hero. A very complex character who always has to fight his demons but always does the right thing.
Veronica Sawyer. Brilliant. Witty. Fashion savvy. Networks well. Puts up with too much shit from her friends and falls in love with sociopaths. Kills a few people. (ACCIDENTALLY) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7gHAORbmw
Rockford is a great choice! I was very attuned to the rhythms of that show: reluctantly take case brought to you by beautiful mystery woman, get trailer tossed, get beat up, check on Rocky, assume a fake identity, call Dennis, get beat up, win.
I hafta say the classic Stan Lee / Steve Ditko Spider-Man resonates the most with me. His problems seemed like mine. Picked on, money woes, sick relatives, girl trouble…and oh yeah the proportionate strength and speed of a spider.
I’ve been watching the show on Netflix and your comment made me think of how much more TV and comics used to compress their stories compared to today. There’s an episode in the first season where we’re told Rockford is in an amazing relationship with a single mother, who then disappears and is replaced by another woman during a road trip they go on with her daughter. Turns out she saw a gangster at the wrong moment and was killed and they paid the other woman to pose as her in Rockford’s back seat so no one would connect them… Read more »
My favorite has to be the man with no discernible first name, COLUMBO. This guy looked like he got run over by a dump truck on the regs, stumbled and bumbled around every crime scene, talked to himself, and had a wife who may or may not have been a figment of his imagination (she never appeared onscreen. I’m just sayin’) but he could damn well solve a murder. COLUMBO FOREVER. Honorable mentions: THE DOCTOR, a commitment-phobe celebrating 50 years of ruining the lives of young girls by setting a romance-and-danger standard that no human man could ever meet; HERCULE… Read more »
Columbo was my second choice. Although, I like to think that the MRS. COLUMBO series is canon because it meant that he hooked up with a hot, young Kate Mulgrew, which makes my heart happy.