^I'm sure Caruso will volunteer to strip down and wrestle with you,
midnight.
CrimeShark said:
I will admit that I shamelessly stole the idea for this topic from a brilliant LJ post I came across
*snicker* I believe that was me
.
I did bring up the Mary Sue aspect of Lindsay at the beginning of Season 2 because I thought she basically fit it - the know-it-all girl whom everyone loves and ends up having 'something' with the hunk of the show. I'm not sure how much of a Mary Sue she is now because they've only started showing Season 3 where I am but I guess I just didn't like how perfect she was when she first came in. At least Ryan Wolff (CSI:Miami) had the character to be a little annoying and flawed so that we're not forced to like him straight away. I miss Speed, but I grew to like Ryan too. My main issue with Lindsay was that it seemed as if the writers want the audience to like her as soon as she appeared.
Actually, it was a different LJ, but good to know that there are multiple entries about this!
I agree that we were supposed to like her right off the bat, which irritated me a bit. She was the super cool girl who tackled suspects and dug into tiger dung and oh yeah, impressed the hottie. Really, who could not love her?
Ryan's intro on Miami was much more believable. He wasn't some perfect god of all things CSI--more realistically, he was a patrolman trying to feel his way out in a new field. It wasn't like he was making mistakes all over the place--he was observant and gutsy (with the alligator) but he clashed with Delko pretty early on, and also talked about having OCD. He's a much more well-rounded character.
penguinpie said:
I'm not sure there's much I can add here. I tend to agree that Lindsay displays some distinct features of Mary-Sue Syndrome (very well explained by Top), despite the fact that she misses some traditional fanfic ones: extraordinary beauty, remarkable talents (plays violin, sings etc), and always saves the day.
Part of this is because a) she isn't the traditional author-inserted Mary-Sue, b) she is played by a real actress, and c) she will always be trumped by the lead, Mac, and to some extent, Stella. Otherwise, she is perilously close.
I agree--she can't really upstage Stella, the lead female character on the show, and of course, no one trumps Mac.
But I think you're right--a big part of that is because she isn't some person on a page (like she would be in a fanfic story), but is brought to life by an actress.
In my opinion, there is one feature that always differentiates a Mary-Sue from a well constructed original character: the Mary-Sue doesn't serve the story, the story serves the Mary-Sue. I know; Lindsay is not the main character etc etc. However, a Mary-Sue will tend to warp both the story and the other characters around her needs, usually to the detriment of both. Lindsay's trauma story was a big feature of season 3 (whether it would have been so without Anna's pregnancy is hard to say), it also popped up (in some form) at inappropriate moments in season 2 (eg. "All Access"). Was the story worth the amount of airtime it received? That tends to be a matter of personal opinion.
I certainly think that's been true of how her storyline has been played out. Even in "All Access" it wasn't so much about her concern for Stella as it was about her dramatic histronics, yelling at a suspect and storming out of the room and making Danny chase after her. She could have pulled him aside at some point and expressed her concern, but by being so dramatic about it--and interrupting an interrogation!--she made it about her, not Stella. Ugh, Drama Queen.
Her character has also warped the other characters around her to a certain extent, but it is most glaringly visible in Danny. From what we learned of Danny in the first 2 seasons, the likelihood that he would be much attracted to her seems highly improbable. Danny certainly gave the impression of being a bit of a player, who preferred short term, no committment relationships. Danny's sudden and overwhelming attraction and the commensurate changes in his personality only served Lindsay's character, not his own.
I've never bought into the Danny as player idea, but I agree that the storyline with Lindsay has totally changed him. The women he seemed to be into before tended to be dark haired, exotic, strong, beautiful women--Aiden, Maka, the girl from the train. Lindsay is small, mousey and plain. Now, if she had a kickass personality I could buy it, but Danny seemed into her because the scripts demanded it.
All of this is highly subjective, of course. But I think most would agree that the biggest problem facing Lindsay is the extreme lack of consistency and definition in her personality (despite almost 2 seasons of episodes). Unless this problem is addressed and her character becomes capable of supprting her own weight, without sucking sustenance from her co-characters, she will always be open to the accusation of Mary-Suedom.
I think the fact that she's poorly written and poorly portrayed probably factors into it as well. But on paper, she's got a lot of those Mary Sue qualities.
