# Outrageously bitchy behavior from otherwise sympathetic characters (spoilers inevitable) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636 "2009-10-21T17:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/1 "2009-10-21T17:54:03Z")
Your mileage may vary for the terms _outrageously bitchy_ and _otherwise sympathetic_, of course. But let’s keep the discussion to fictional characters, not real-world figures, m’kay? Last night I chanced to see a rerun of _Law & Order: SVU_ on USA. In it, Olivia Benson was in a group therapy session, having nearly been raped a few episodes previous. One of the other women in the group mentioned that, after her violent rape months earlier, she always carried a gun. Immediately after the session ended, Benson accosted the woman and forced her to hand over her gun or else be immediately arrested. As much as I generally like Benson, I was as horrified as one can be about an entirely imaginary situation. There’s no way to see what she had just done but anything other than toxic. Not only had she violated the terms under which one engages in group therapy, but she had done so in such a way that no one else in the group was ever going to trust her again. For that matter, no one was going to trust the therapist again either unless the therapist kicked her of the group. Anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/2 "2009-10-21T18:21:44Z")
Well, there was that whole thing about Evil Willow wanting to destroy the world. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/3 "2009-10-21T18:31:01Z")
Way back on _The Soprano’s_. Carmella is asking her neighbor’s sister(?) for a recommendation for Meadow for college(?). The woman was a little reluctant to give a recommendation for girl she didn’t know, but Carmella used a “do you know who I am?” influence over this woman to make her write a good recommendation for Meadow. The best part was that Carm brought her a homemade dish of pasta. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/4 "2009-10-21T18:48:30Z")
Eric Foreman on That 70s Show is generally a sympathetic underdog type, but after a few seasons he started showing flashes of total douchetude, especially in regards to Donna’s life other than as his girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/5 "2009-10-21T18:49:42Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Well, there was that whole thing about Evil Willow wanting to destroy the world. I said _sympathetic_, not _hot_. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/6 "2009-10-21T19:38:18Z")
I watched that SVU episode last night and I felt the same- it was totally out of line for Benson. Although…if she was in the group because of an assault (I wasn’t clear on that point), maybe falling back to cop mode was her way of staying in control. Or it could just be that, being a more recent episode, the show was just beginning to jump the shark (anything from 2008 up to now, I say "WHAT!!! about 30 times per episode). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/7 "2009-10-21T19:47:40Z")
> [@Smokinjbc](#): > > I watched that SVU episode last night and I felt the same- it was totally out of line for Benson. Although…if she was in the group because of an assault (I wasn’t clear on that point), maybe falling back to cop mode was her way of staying in control. Oh, I’m sure it was totally about her re-asserting control. The look on her face as she listened to the other women in the group convinced me of that. But, really, I was vexed that the therapist didn’t kick her ass out of the group post haste. > [@](#): > > Or it could just be that, being a more recent episode, the show was just beginning to jump the shark (anything from 2008 up to now, I say "WHAT!??!! about 30 times per episode). The thing about SVU is that you can no longer trust it. Over half the episodes suck, but they still have random good ones. I wish they’d just go ahead and commit to being stupid, exploitive crap, as that would free them to make the blonde ADA a regular again and have her and Benson make out once an episode (twice during sweeps). ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/8 "2009-10-21T20:53:53Z")
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought to myself, “It’ll be about three posts and then Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be dragged in.” Missed it by that much. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/9 "2009-10-21T21:06:26Z")
Personally, I never saw Benson as the least bit sympathetic. She’s always struck me as a bitch on wheels. (or, as a female friend of mine likes to say, she Can’t Understand Normal Thinking) But I’d still watch her making out with the blonde ADA. Or better yet, with Abby Carmichael. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/10 "2009-10-21T21:37:19Z")
In the movie \*The Pursuit of Happyness \* Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a virtual saint except for one time he acts like a petty asshole by lying to a fellow intern, making him think he has missed an exam question Since the movie is based on Gardner’s true story it may have happened but it just seemed like a grab for a cheap laugh within the context of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/11 "2009-10-21T21:42:17Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > In the movie \*The Pursuit of Happyness \* Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a virtual saint except for one time he acts like a petty asshole by lying to a fellow intern, making him think he has missed an exam question > > Since the movie is based on Gardner’s true story it may have happened but it just seemed like a grab for a cheap laugh within the context of the movie. Wait- you mean in the elevator, near the end of the movie? I thought that was sincere and the guy really did miss the question. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageously-bitchy-behavior-from-otherwise-sympathetic-characters-spoilers-inevitable/514636/12 "2009-10-21T22:54:35Z")
Veronica Mars. I can’t remember specifics at this date, but due to her circumstances (she was date raped, her best friend was murdered, her dad’s been fired, her mom’s left them), about half the time she would be an extremely sympathetic character as a result (spunky, dedicated to the truth, loyal like anything, and still with a heart of marshmellow), and about half the time she’d be outrageously bitchy (boy problems up the wazoo; willingness to do whatever it took, breaking the law or lying to her dad or whatever, to get at the truth; too willing to say mean things to people who rubbed her the wrong way). Then there’s Cal Lightman in Lie to Me, who I adore watching, and whom in some ways is quite sympathetic, but boy, just about every episode I remark to my husband, “Wow, he is a _jerk_.”