# Supposedly sympathetic characters you just can't stand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462 "2005-12-28T18:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **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:** [December 28, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/1 "2005-12-28T18:28:35Z")
Watching an E.R. repeat on TNT the other day, I was struck by how basically irritating and unlikeable Sam is. It’s not that I don’t like Linda Cardellini or her performance; I think she’s a talented actress and genuine cutie. And I like the concept of the character; she’s supposed to be Carol Hathaway mark III, the successor to Abby, the emotionally damaged nurse who gets out love. But it doesn’t work. Sam is such an ungrateful, whiny little bitch that it’s a wonder no one’s murdered her. In this episode she was castigating Luka for having sex with someone else when, in the previous episode, she had told the then-monogamous Luka that she didn’t want to be exclusive; she wanted to keep things casual. My sister was watching it with me, and she started screaming, “Run, Luka, run! Save yourself!” Anybody care to offer similar examples? I don’t mean people like E. R.'s Robert Romano, or season-one Cordelia on Buffy; I mean characters the view is clearly meant to empathize with, but who is so irritating that you just hope they’ll get knifed in the back? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/2 "2005-12-28T18:31:40Z")
Neelix on ST: Voyager. He was so unctuous my teeth hurt. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/3 "2005-12-28T19:14:11Z")
I do find George Bailey a spineless wimp. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/4 "2005-12-28T19:28:20Z")
The goddamned Batman. Can’t stand the paranoid, psychopathic git, although he’s not a bad foil for characters I do like, I can’t read his solo titles. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/5 "2005-12-28T19:53:03Z")
Errmmm . . . Was Jar-Jar Binks **supposed** to be a sympathetic character? (Sometimes it’s hard to tell . . .) ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/6 "2005-12-28T19:55:06Z")
Steve Urkel, I can’t stand him. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/7 "2005-12-28T20:18:53Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > The goddamned Batman. > > Can’t stand the paranoid, psychopathic git, although he’s not a bad foil for characters I do like, I can’t read his solo titles. I’m with you on the current incarnation of Batman, though he’s actually more palatable in his solo titles (where he doesn’t have to be an uber-genius) than in the group books. But he’s not always horrid. The best Batman story I’ve seen in the past ten years or so was a two-parter in the 90s animated Batman series, “Robin’s Reckoning.” It starts off with Batman seeming to be a paranoid, psychopathic git–Dick practically says at much, swearing to Alfred that he’ll never be like his mentor–but ends with Batman revealing a human, loving side that was wonderful to see. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/8 "2005-12-28T21:32:40Z")
Speaking of Linda Cardellini, I just burned through the series, and I can’t stand Nick Andopolis on _Freaks and Geeks_. Why Lindsay (or anyone else) liked that stoned, burned-out idiotis beyond me. It really threatened my enjoyment of the series for a few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/9 "2005-12-28T21:34:45Z")
I have to say Dr. Benton on E.R. Here we have a very human, compassionate person, with real problems impinging upon his medical schooling, and I can not stand the guy. When he was on, I kept yelling at him to just quit and do something about his problems instead of bringing them to the hospital with him (so to speak). I felt bad about that then, and I still do now! ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/10 "2005-12-28T23:51:24Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > I don’t mean people like E. R.'s Robert Romano, or season-one Cordelia on Buffy; I mean characters the view is clearly meant to empathize with, but who is so irritating that you just hope they’ll get knifed in the back? How about Cordelia on _Angel_ seasons 1-3 or so? Couldn’t stand her. She’s supposed to be the common-sensical, unafraid-to-speak-truth-to-Angel bitch with a heart of gold, but she was just irritating. In fact, I only really started to like her when Jasmine was in the driver’s seat. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/11 "2005-12-28T23:55:04Z")
I hate Jane Eyre. I wrote a paper in college whose opening sentence was: “_Jane Eyre_ is a heroic novel about a twit.” I also can’t stand Marshall Will Kane, the “hero” of _High Noon._ How are you sposed to respect a Marshall who spends the whole movie whining around town trying to get somebody else to risk their lives to do his job for him? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/12 "2005-12-28T23:56:24Z")
All the characters in the The Blair Witch Project. I kept hoping they would all get killed in a hurry and some more sympathetic characters would appear. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/13 "2005-12-29T00:03:06Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I hate Jane Eyre. I wrote a paper in college whose opening sentence was: “_Jane Eyre_ is a heroic novel about a twit.” I had the delight of studying Jane Eyre with a rabid-feminist English teacher. I agree with your opening gambit, and wish I had had the guts to write something similar. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/14 "2005-12-29T00:18:08Z")
Lucille Ball–in any of her series. I always wanted “Ricky” to drown her and then kill himself. The entire cast of the Brady Bunch–blech. The mom on Six Feet Under–can’t remember her name, but she annoys me. She is supposedly so sensual and erotic, but she dresses like June Cleaver in California in the 21st century! God knows I don’t want senior smut, but I could never believe her character. Raymond-from Everybody loves Raymond. I liked the show (my MIL is Marie on a bad day), but I never liked him. I always wanted to yell at the TV–you could do better than him! Dump him! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/15 "2005-12-29T00:32:56Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I had the delight of studying Jane Eyre with a rabid-feminist English teacher. I agree with your opening gambit, and wish I had had the guts to write something similar. Hee hee. My teacher disagreed with me, but I got an A. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/16 "2005-12-29T01:10:19Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > The mom on Six Feet Under–can’t remember her name, but she annoys me. She is supposedly so sensual and erotic, but she dresses like June Cleaver in California in the 21st century! God knows I don’t want senior smut, but I could never believe her character. Ruth? I thought the point of the character was that she was so repressed, she’d never loosen up. I _certainly_ didn’t see her as ‘sensual or erotic’!! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/17 "2005-12-29T01:15:42Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I hate Jane Eyre. I wrote a paper in college whose opening sentence was: “_Jane Eyre_ is a heroic novel about a twit.” The narrator of _Rebecca_ was also a twit. Probably more so than Jane, who at least had enough backbone to slog starving though field and farm to get away from the lying old bastard, IIRC. I loved _Rebecca_, but get a grip, nameless woman. Speak up. Tell Maxim you’re not his pet water spaniel. Buy your very own stationary. Move in to the cool bedroom with the nice ocean view and fire Mrs. Danvers, fer chrissakes. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/18 "2005-12-29T01:47:19Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Ruth? I thought the point of the character was that she was so repressed, she’d never loosen up. I _certainly_ didn’t see her as ‘sensual or erotic’!! Ruth goes camping with her lover, repeatedly-accidently takes some acid or something that Claire or David has hidden in a bottle of aspirin, and makes mad passionate love to Ed Begly Jr. (heh)–she then breaks off with him, and takes a Russian lover who runs a flower shop and is basically an asshole (IMO)–and she has some kind of weird sexual tension going with their apprentice funeral director guy (forgot his name). The woman is supposedly randier than a Playboy Bunny, but I never bought it. Her cardigans are just too cardigany-ish, if you know what I mean. I didn’t know they sold blouses like that anymore–she always looked like Claire’s grandmother, not her mother. I think she is supposed to be deep waters and all that–I just can’t buy her having sex, period! In literature: Emma annoys me; Marianne from Sense and Sensiblity deserves to die; Catherine is an abused girlfriend (some great love-ugh) and Melanie Wilkes needs to be taken out back and smacked around (as does Ashley). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/19 "2005-12-29T01:53:41Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Ruth goes camping with her lover, repeatedly-accidently takes some acid or something that Claire or David has hidden in a bottle of aspirin, and makes mad passionate love to Ed Begly Jr. (heh)–she then breaks off with him, and takes a Russian lover who runs a flower shop and is basically an asshole (IMO)–and she has some kind of weird sexual tension going with their apprentice funeral director guy (forgot his name). The woman is supposedly randier than a Playboy Bunny, but I never bought it. Her cardigans are just too cardigany-ish, if you know what I mean. I didn’t know they sold blouses like that anymore–she always looked like Claire’s grandmother, not her mother. I think she is supposed to be deep waters and all that– **I just can’t buy her having sex, period!** It’s the whole “ewwww, my parents _never_ have sex” thing. If you can’t believe she ever had sex, you’ve got to start explaining the three kids by some other means. And she admitted to at least one affair when Nathaniel was alive. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/20 "2005-12-29T01:56:47Z")
1. Yorick in \* Y: The Last Man\* is a goofy and a flake, when I think he is supposed to be amusing. Only recent issues have given him some depth. 2. All of the characters, without exception, in \* Everybody Loves Raymond\*. Perhaps that is the point of the show, but I guess I’m missing it. 3. Superman. The character is too righteous and humble for me. 4. Luke Skywalker is a whiny bitch and a hick. 5. Most of the characters on _Buffy_. I much preferred _Angel_, although I couldn’t say exactly why. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462.md?page=2)