Ask the Writers - Correction

This month, we asked our writers to pinpoint the moment when a show/book/movie went off the rails for them. If they could correct one plot twist or character choice, what would it be?

Emily Goodacre

There's no way for me to discuss this without spoilers, so SPOILER ALERT PEOPLE but really DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE ALERT is more appropriate. Splice has a pretty interesting premise: two genetic researchers (Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody) decide to play God a bit and mix human and animal DNA and see what they get. What they get is a humanoid (except for the tail) creature they name Dren. They begin treating more or less like a daughter or at least a daughter you keep secretly locked in a laboratory. It's a pretty cool metaphor for parenthood (Polley used her own eggs for the experiment), as the two feel both affection for and fear of the life they've created. They are responsible for Dren's actions and her safety, but, as she grows to adulthood within a few months and starts to assert her independence, they have to wonder if they have the right to continue to control her life. Things get a bit weird when Dren reaches sexual maturity and focuses on Brody's "father figure" as a potential mate (he is the only male she has ever met) but even that is standard psychological drama (Electra complex, mother's fear of daughter usurping her as sexual being, etc). Then Dren dies of illness, and the scientists have to wonder who was the real monster, etc. If the movie ended there, I would have liked it quite a bit. But Then! Dren comes back to life, having spontaneously switched sexes to male, rapes Polley and murders Brody (causing me to mutter aloud "that took a turn!" in the theatre, and my sister to look frantically through her purse for something to poke her own eyes out). The movie ends with Polley deciding to carry her genetic-freak rape-pregnancy to term and give the baby up for genetic experimentation. Disturbing doesn't even begin cover it. The only good thing that came out of this movie was the fact that now if my sister and I are having a disagreement all I have to say to her is "Splice," and she runs screaming out of the room.

April Yorke

At first I thought I was going to go with -- SPOILER -- Beaver is a mass murderer, but that reveal has grown on me over the years and with subsequent viewings of my V-Mars DVDs. Nope, I'm going to have to reach further back to The West Wing. Despite the fact that I loved it when it aired, I have not watched the show since. But you know what still rankles me? When Bartlet (Martin Sheen) fired Leo (John Spencer). Yeah, he maybe screwed up the Middle East peace talks, but, honestly, what were the chances that Bartlet was going to talk Palestine and Isreal into a peaceable agreement at Camp David? Yes, I should probably go with something like Zoe's kidnapping at the end of Season 4, which put the suddenly Sorkin-less writing staff in quite a pickle, but whatever. Leo was Jed's BEST FRIEND. They were best men at each other's weddings, Jed stood by Leo when he got himself clean, and Leo convinced Jed to run for President. When Jed won, he told Leo that it should have been Leo. When Jed prepped the Secretary of Agriculture for what to do should Congress blow up during the State of the Union (making the Secretary president), he advised the Sec to hire his smarter best friend as his chief of staff 'cause that's what Jed did. While there were times when the President's pride, particularly when his intelligence was in "question," brought out his ugly side, it was never with Leo. How could he turn on Leo like that? And you know what? If he hadn't fired Leo, Leo wouldn't have appointed CJ as his successor, prompting Josh to leave, prompt Toby to physically fight Josh. They threw motherfucking FILE FOLDERS at each other, people! Sure, Season 7 was mysteriously predictive of Obama-McCain '08, but I don't care. Jed should have treated Leo better instead of leaving him to die like a dog in the woods. Oh, right, Leo had a massive heart attack alone in the woods right after Jed fired him.

Taryn Cheal

I have been a fan of The Office for many years, but lately I have been finding it harder and harder to tune in every week. For this, I blame the hijinx-free marriage of Jim and Pam. This isn't to say I wasn't happy when those crazy lovebirds finally got together, but their resultant relationship has been a snooze. The show has more appeal than just this central relationship, but, as it calmed to a boring non-issue, the show somewhat fell apart with no truly compelling reason for it to keep on going. There have been attempts at creating new sources of romantic tension (Angela and Andy and Dwight, Erin and Andy and Gabe (poor Andy), Michael and Jan, Michael and Holly, etc), but they are not nearly as enjoyable as the early days Pam and Jim, and they don't have enough range outside of the couple to be a concern for the rest of the cast. The show has outlived its charm, and, if I could change anything, I would have ended it quite a while ago and not allowed the original brilliance to be tainted by boring bliss of Pam and Jim.

Leigh Daniels

I've never seen the movie, but in the book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult there is a huge plot twist at the end that I absolutely hated.  Spoiler alert!  The main character, Anna, is trying to win medical emancipation from her sister who has had cancer from a young age.   Anna has been contributing to her sister's welfare practically since she was born, as he parents conceived her in the hopes she would be match to donate bone marrow.  Now, 13 years later, Anna is being asked to give her sister a kidney which, given her sister's declining condition, seems to be unlikely to help her.  After Anna is granted medical emancipation (obviously the story is a lot more complicated) she is driving home with her lawyer who has been granted medical power of attorney over Anna.  And then comes the point when the book loses all credibility.  They are in the car on the way home and they are in a freak accident.  Anna is unfortunately brain dead and her lawyer rushes her body to the hospital so that she can donate a kidney to her sister.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  I just don't think Jodi Picoult knew where to go with the book so she killed off the main character rather than deal with the plot she created.  Just to pour salt on the wound, the kidney recipient sister who was about to die through the whole book actually survives, and when she's an adult she becomes a ballet teacher despite spending her almost her whole childhood in the hospital.  I'm not sure what the appropriate ending to this book should have been, but that was not it!

Lauren Cheal

Ahh, the Gilmore Girls. They talked quickly, they drank a ton of coffee, and they showed us a very interesting dynamic between three generations of women. I am a huge fan of the series, but there is a moment I desperately wish we could go back and change (spoilers abound here, of course). The main storyline in this show deals with single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Rory. The one male character consistently in both of these women's lives is Luke Danes, who supplies them with the much-sought after coffee. Luke and Lorelai flirt for years before finally dating in season 4. It is amazing. In season 5, they get engaged, but then, something terrible happens. The writers used a terrible, terrible plot device. Luke suddenly has a 13 year old daughter! Instead of acting like a rational human being, Luke decides to hide this fact from Lorelai (despite the fact that they are engaged and Luke didn't know about the damn kid either), and this stupid "secret" causes the eventual break up of Luke and Lorelai, which leads to Lorelai later whim-marrying Rory's useless father, Christopher. A combination of the actress who plays April (the newfound daughter), and stilted writing makes any scenes with Luke and April hard to watch, and I just wish they would have avoided this dumb subplot. Luke and Lorelai reconcile in the 10 minutes of the very last episode of the series, and it is dumb (of course they were meant to be together, but not like that!). The April storyline was a way for the writers to craft two extra seasons of material, when the show was well on its way to having a satisfying ending back in season 5 or 6.

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