Sisters in Arms: Prison Break, Supernatural, Numb3rs, and Firefly

[butterfly]

So, three of the returning shows that I'm watching this year feature pairs of brothers working together (Numb3rs, Prison Break, and Supernatural). A large part of why I'm watching the shows are because they're about strong, interesting sibling relationships.

Which brings me to a point -- where are the women? Where are the really good brother-sister or sister-sister shows? Joss Whedon should not be the only person in television capable of creating an interesting brother-sister relationship that drives the narrative forward (if you do know of any shows with strong, interesting b-s or s-s relationships, I would be thrilled to know about them).

The interesting thing (to me) is how Simon-River actually follows the 'format' of all three cited brother-brother dramatic relationships -- the younger sibling is the smarter of the two, the older starts out as/tries to be the physical protector of the two. The most straight-up example of this dynamic is Numb3rs, where Charlie and Don are pretty much set in their roles -- I doubt that we'll ever see Charlie shoot a bad guy to save Don, instead, he always uses his brain to help save his big brother (I admit to the possibility of being wrong). Supernatural also tends more toward this side of the scale -- Sam is the victim more often than not, the researcher more often than not, the one who went to college (each of the younger siblings is spot-lit in their series for 'having gone away to an important school' -- Charlie to Princeton at thirteen, Sam to Stanford, River to the Academy at a young age, Michael to Princeton).

Prison Break and Firefly each take a slightly different approach. While it's implied in Prison Break that Lincoln took care of the younger Michael, in the series itself, Michael is the rescuer of his older brother (who does still try to protect Michael, though Michael has, so far, always had it enough under control not to need Lincoln's help). In Firefly, we start out with an older brother-protector/younger sibling-protected dynamic but, by the end of the series (and into the movie), the roles have pretty much equalized, with River being the more proactive fighter.

Apart from that, there are the other women in each series. Prison Break, by necessity, can only have a minimal number of female roles (this is also the only show where the format demands that the siblings share a gender, as the younger sibling needed to end up in the same prison as the older sibling). Even so, they do have an important woman in each of the individual plotlines, though it must be noted that the two women on the 'good' side also serve double-time as love interests. Despite that, the show does give both Veronica and Doctor Tancredi lives beyond the brothers -- Veronica is a lawyer who grew up with the boys, had a potential future completely separate from them before she started trying to save Lincoln's life, and has gotten to have many scenes where she is the primary mover. Tancredi also has a back-story that got highlighted in the big flashback episode and has her own demons that drive her -- demons that aren't guy-related at all. Though love interests, the show is careful to make them more than that.

And you can't forget the other two important female characters -- Brinker and the Vice President. Both strong antagonistic characters who have their own agendas. All in all, considering how PB is limited by its setting, it does quite well with the portrayal of women, I think. It's also had a few strong minor female characters (Nika and Leticia come to mind).

Numb3rs has two female characters in the main cast -- Megan and Amita. Amita tends to fall more into the 'traditional love interest' area. Megan and Larry share an interest in each other, but Megan is not written as if she were invented to be Larry's love interest. It feels a lot more natural with their characters. In the first season, the character of Terry felt much more like a 'love interest' character than Megan does, so I'm pleased with that change in the show.

All in all, though, Numb3rs is neither remarkable nor remarkably distressing in its portrayal of female characters.

Supernatural, on the other hand... I really love the show. It makes me jump, I adore the brothers, and they've had a few good, strong moments with their women. But the vast majority of women on the show exist to be rescued or to die as victims. There are no strong, reoccurring female characters (the one that did exist, Meg, died at the end of the first season). I... hope for better from them in their sophomore year.

Firefly, of course, had a main cast that was almost perfectly split down the middle in regards to gender, with a wide variety of 'types', as well as several strong 'one-shot' female characters and one strong character that was shaping up to be reoccurring.

Have I mentioned recently that I miss having Joss Whedon do television?

Comments

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

At this point, I will go with any.

And, ooo! Your icon reminded me about Joan of Arcardia! That had some great sibling-drama-stuff in it. I should get that on dvd.

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

JoA sprang immediately to mind for me. Also: Wonderfalls, Alias S4, Six Feet Under, Judging Amy.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Wonderfalls! That show had far too short a run.

SFU always throws me, because I keep forgetting that Brenda's female. Because before I saw the show, I read that one of the brothers was gay, and when... blast, I can't remember his name, when he macked on Brenda, I totally thought we were going to find out that she was a drag-queen. It always takes me a minute to remember that that's not true.

I disliked the pilot of Alias enough to not ever want to watch the show, but I'm curious about the possible interesting sibling relationship.

I have never seen Judging Amy -- is it worth checking out?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Wonderfalls! Wonderfalls! I love the brother on that show. Enough to use excessive italics. Especially when he gets all worried and protective of Jaye, and yet never really stops doing annoying sibling rivalry things.

Plus the sister rocks.

Oh, I miss that show.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I still need to get that on dvd!

*adds Wonderfalls to enormous list*

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

Hee. There's Brenda-Billy, but also Claire! It's an unusually sibling-heavy show.

There is much I love in Judging Amy, and if you like JoA you'll probably at least enjoy it. Tyne Daly kicks ass, and one of the brothers is completely awesome. (Naturally, he isn't a regular after the first couple of seasons, at which point I stopped being a regular viewer. *le sigh*) It's one of my top get-this-out-on-DVD-now picks.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I forgot Claire! She exists in her own, younger reality on the show for me, I think.

Judging Amy definitely needs to come out on dvd -- then I would be able to netflix it to see if I like it.

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

Oh, and in a somewhat similar vein: American Dreams! Best siblings evah!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ah! I have never seen this show. What's the premise?