This week I'm looking at some examples of the ways that shows introduce characters.
On Friday THE SNOWMAN AND THE FAL LOU FERRIGNO AND THE WIN SAM AND BUCKY Episode 103 introduced two characters from the MCU movies: Baron Zemo and Sharon Carter. There's not a lot of heavy lifting to do to reintroduce Zemo. He falls very much in the I Know He's A Monster But We Need Him trope.
Sharon on the other hand is a significant character in the MCU-- super spy; friend of Cap; granddaughter of Peggy Carter, Cap's One True Love. But she's been out of the picture since CIVIL WAR in 2016, when she helped Cap and Co. against the Powers that Be and became a criminal. So there's a lot of ground to cover in reintroducing her. What has she been to? What does she want? And why should we care?
But for all that work to do by the end of the episode, written by Derek Kolstad, we not only know who she is, we want to see a lot more of her.
As I like to ask, How'd they do that?
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There are a couple elements about her introduction worth noting.
She's introduced before we actually meet her.
When the boys arrive in Madripoor, of course they get into trouble. And they're saved twice by an unseen sniper, who then turns out to be Sharon (or her people).
The Angel in the Shadows is not an unfamiliar trope. And there's a lot to say for it as a way of introducing a character. It lends them an immediate sense of importance and mystery. It's the whole Hard to Get appeal; I'm excited to meet the character in the shadows precisely because I can't see them.
Also, Sharon's initial actions demonstrate her talent, always a really important part of introducing a character. Words are great and sometimes sound real pretty, but it's actions that create the baseline of a character (unless we're in GILMORE GIRLS land, in which case the language used is itself a form of action).
(Suddenly craving Amy Shermer-Palladino writing an MCU movie...)
Kolstad uses urgency and conflict to mask exposition.
We're going to get ample time with Sharon in the latter half of the episode. But Kolstad puts most of the big beats of information about her--she's still on the run; she's pissed as hell that everyone forgot about her; she's not forgotten her hatred for Zemo --here at the beginning when Da Boys are in trouble and in desperate need of an escape plan.
Another writer might have thought all that info can wait, what's key here is to bring them all together and get them to safety. But in fact this is the perfect moment to give us all that information, because the urgency of the moment keeps things moving.
The fact that Sharon has serious beef with all three of these guys helps as well. Exposition has a tendency to slow things down, even to pull us out of the story entirely. Urgency or danger create the sense that this isn't an info dump, but something that must be said. Rage does much the same.
Sharon is given expertise and a mission of her own.
In fact we're not introduced to two characters in 103, we're introduced to three. More than just a backdrop for the ep, Madripoor is introduced as its own crazy violent kind of place, like Gotham but where Batman runs the town and oh, he's Yakuza.
And as those scenes introduce Madripoor, they also become a way of demonstrating how far over their heads Bucky, Sam and Zemo are. Even when they're doing well you have that sense of everything fraying at the edges, a situation that is way too chaotic for them to effectively charm or fight their way out of.
Which means when Sharon shows up and takes care of business tout de suite, it grants her a great power and expertise of her own. She is the one who knows how to manage Madripoor, and more than that, she seems very clearly to be a badass.
At the end of the ep Kolstad will pay off that promise by having Sharon confronted by a ton of bad guys she has to defeat by herself. It's by far the most Sharon Carter has ever been allowed to do in a MCU story. It's also one of the best action scenes we've seen in the series, if not the best. It has a tremendous JOHN WICK vibe. (No surprise: Kolstad created and writes the WICK films.)
So just in her introduction, we've made her mysterious (aka interesting), demonstrated her talents, pushed through her backstory and given her a mission of her own. When she leaves Da Boys behind at the end of the ep and hops in a car with Unnamed Lady, clearly having some further agenda we don't know about it, it makes perfect sense. Sam and Bucky's story is fine, please keep watching.
But Sharon is the hero of a story of her own, and one that seems a lot bigger in scope.
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB,
AND YOU DO NOT CROSS SHARON CARTER.
Tomorrow: GENTLEMEN JACK! Wednesday: HAPPY VALLEY!
