>IMPLYING
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- Dec 14, 2022
Yeah when I'm thinking of Goggins in that show it's more or less just Cooper in the flashbacks. Acting-wise as the Ghoul he sort of peaked in season 1 when he actually had back and forths with characters with some degree of agency whilst also being aware of his own skill-advantage in any given encounter. In season 2 he clips conversations before they can go anywhere worthwhile and he doesn't really get into any antagonistic trades with any characters, which means he doesn't really get the chance to show off his chops. It's like the writers knew the season was filler, so they didn't want to inject anything into his characterisation that'd throw the ghoul too off-balance from how they want him to be in season 3.Couldn’t agree more on 1. He’s fantastic, and lobotomizing him, and as you said, basically killing him off, is a mistake. And I agree with 2 in essence, but the fact is that The Ghoul is just not as interesting a character as he should be.
What’s interesting is that both of them are very solid actors, both of them give their role everything they can, but they are both severely undercut by shit writing. Goggins moreso.
Hank is still around but if he's not doing a bit, then his gimmick might be going from bursts of acknowledgement and pre-programmed lines and just staring off into space. Might be the easiest pay cheque of Kyle MacLachlan's career. I wish he had maintained some degree of rationality. The writer's didn't do a great job of conveying his dedication all things considered, because it would mean being truly thoughtful over the factions involved as opposed to making it more black and white. It's a shame so much of his time was on a plot thread that was an elaborate way of getting to, "I've got 5 guys going to places to do a thing." I do have an extremely dumb theory about why they killed him off in such a way without actually killing him:: I think the ultimate explanation for Moldaver and that scientist guy surviving the war will be cloning. I think once the clone dies, a fresh one pops out with memories up to a certain point hence why Shady Sands survivors worship her as a God given, from their POV, she came back to life. What Hank did was simulate brain death so whatever signal keeps track of his status thinks he died, meaning Hank will reappear in Colorado as a clone, which he knew would happen in the event of his death. We'll also see Moldaver and Scientist dude again. The payoff is a fight between robo-Hank programmed to be a good father and the clone Hank. They'll end their fight to help a troubled lucy, with one or both Hanks dying in the process. Alternatively they just want to keep him on for star power. Nobody is watching this for Maximus or Purnell.
Speaking of, I can't find a way to phrase it how I want, but season 2 almost felt like a re-do. They had characters revert to how they were earlier in season 1 so they can have a do-over on getting to that exact position again as they were at the end of. It's blatant with Lucy, but Maximus also reverted. If you recall, he ended season 1 prioritising his conscience over his duty to the Brotherhood, and he basically re-learns that lesson again over the course of season 2, just like Lucy had to re-learn that the Wasteland sucks dick and nobody is nice.
That's all to say: yeah, the writing shafted some characters more than others. Like the Ghoul, Norm is more or less in a a state the writer's want him so his thread moved at a snail's pace until it needed to end and they killed everyone off. He did get a legitimately nice moment when he leaves the fault for the first time. It was the first time the character smiled like that. Also he straight up saved a dude before helping the Asian chick.
This gives Norm the best ratio of people killed (1, possibly still 0 if Bud Askins is still alive) to people saved (2) of the main cast.