Ahh. My mum doesn't like James Nesbitt much either. I quite like him, depending on the role(s). Once again, though, yearning for the actor that never was. Sigh.

And am I misremembering the scene where Hyde beats up a teenage boy in an alley, and does not beat up/rape/kill the girl (who stood by and watched and stupidly did not run away, call the police, do anything useful)?

Nope, but they're establishing scenes. Hyde can't kill that early, it would negate the danger later in the episode, where Jackman is fearful for his wife and children. And people are often stupid, useless and disinclined to go to the law in the television world of those situations.

I understand what you mean from a narrative perspective, but from a realistic story perspective (and yes, I do see the daftness in expecting a Jekyll-and-Hyde story to be realistic) it didn't work for me. He didn't attack her, and that snapped me out of the story. After that all I could see was smug James Nesbitt chewing up the scenery.

Hey-ho! I think you have more fun than me with TV.

Well, it comes down to equal parts forgiveness and suspension of disbelief. And no, I wasn't hoping for realism from Jekyll.

Realistic stories are not exactly paramount, for me. High fantasy isn't either. I like a mixture, a medium. Enough realism to say, 'yes, I know these people', and enough fantasy to say, 'yes, I don't have to.'

I'm up to episode three and there is still a lot of eye rolling, but lots of fun too. I guess I do have more fun with TV.

Typing of fun with TV, what do you think of Arrested Development? I'm half way through the second series now and still madly in love with it.

Thinking more about realism etc, I can't stop myself from being annoyed when characters do unlikely things just for narrative convenience. I kind of feel like there's no point in them having a character at all if it's not going to be consistent or believable.

Thinking more about realism etc, I can't stop myself from being annoyed when characters do unlikely things just for narrative convenience.

There are some things I've done that just aren't in my character at all - and if anyone were writing my fate they'd say they went OOC at that stage, or overdid the crack, or were jumped up on red cordial. People do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, that seem to contradict everything about them. People aren't consistent, they aren't always believable. However, you can usually tell when it's a narrative convenience issue as opposed to a fluke or phenomenon, the thread snapping and personality unravelling.

I've only ever seen ten minutes of Arrested Development, but it's on my list of 'shows I should probably watch, only I get distracted'.

Now you've got me wondering if real life is controlled by narrative imperative! Is the real world character-driven or plot-driven? Maybe, when lots of things are happening it can seem like it's plot-driven (action film!) -- this thing happens so you do this other thing that you wouldn't ordinarily do but now you have to because that's what you do when the first thing happens. I wonder if that would seem OOC from the outside.

Narrative imperative is beginning, middle, end. So is life. I... am I wrong in thinking this? Like the best stories, life is both character and plot driven, because you can't have one without the other (is he/she really a character if they don't do anything? How can anything really happen without someone to enact it?)

I've always assumed life is one big story. Mine is as if it were written by me - unevenly paced, with some pointless scenes, but some nice turns of phrase, filled with unlikeable characters who you sympathise with anyway.

Perhaps this is my greatest failing. I assume life is full of plot points. Maybe it's not.

I assume life is full of plot points. Maybe it's not.

Maybe it is!

But I can see now that I think it's driven by character, really.

One example: Matt and I know someone who is frequently beset with financial problems, and time-management problems, and difficulties in one particular relationship. What we can see, and what this person apparently can't (or won't) see, is that all his problems stem from himself. He's driven by his own character to make his life difficult. But from where he's standing, life keeps hurling crappy plot points at him, leaving him feeling powerless and put-upon. There's no way of helping him, because he's in control of the plot.

I meant to add that I think you're right that's it's a mixture of the two -- narrative and character -- but I think the narrative issues in real life are relegated to natural disasters or other unexpected situations (eg, being attacked by an insane person).

And now I'm wondering who all your unlikeable characters are...

Oh, well, I was thinking mostly me and my family, to begin with. To an outsider, I mean.

I guess --- I don't think anyone's instantly likeable, which could be why I find it difficult to connect with people. I think the worst of others, perhaps, or concentrate on negativity.

Yeah, see, for me, I got to this point where I realised my life was a character-driven narrative and I had to do something. And I did. And that something was so far off from who I am, as a character, that if I were in some kind of Truman Show, the audience would swear we had a fill-in director.