May I ask you what's your opinion about Portia Fyfe? (At the beginning I like this character... but her reaction when Philo confesses his secret shocked me...)
Well, thatâs a loaded question, isnât it? đ
The truth is, Portiaâs character arc is one of the biggest things that bugs me about this show. Iâve heard it said that you know if media is well-written based on whether youâre mad at the characters or the writers â and I was mad at the writers. Frankly, I think Portiaâs character was badly written and I donât quite understand what the writers were trying to do with her; it feels like they changed their minds halfway through.
From the beginning, Portia is portrayed as a compassionate, insightful character. She clearly cares about Philo (more than he does about her, sadly), and thatâs shown through everything like little comments and subtleties and how she acts around him. She really seems to grasp his struggle with letting others love him, and instead of judging him, she acknowledges his pain, supports his healing journey, and gently persists in showing him she cares. My overall impression for the first 5.5 episodes was that sheâs an empathetic woman whoâs very much in love with a man whom she knows doesnât quite feel the same, and every scene sheâs in is characterized by her shy, slightly hesitant love for him.
Then, yeah, episode six happened, and it was like whiplash. I just donât get it when she rejects Philo like that. First of all, only a little while earlier, thereâs a scene where one of her tenants tells Portia heâs moving out at the end of the month because sheâs âacting like a harlot,â and she tells him off for policing her choices and then kicks him out that very day. So, this scene builds Portiaâs character by having her assert her autonomy, her devotion to Philo, her independence and right to make choices as an adult, and her defiance of societyâs expectations. Add that to the rest of her character development as an insightful empath, and Iâm even more confused by her disgusted, almost violent reaction when she finds out Philoâs a halfblood. It doesnât add up! That reaction in no way fits with the entirety of her character development up to that point.
And then she tells Dombey everything? My mind just explodes even more. Despite the fact that she didnât realize the police would thereby suspect Philo of murder, itâs pretty common knowledge in the Burgue that halfbloods or full fae âpassingâ as human is punishable by a year in prison (mentioned I think at the beginning of episode two). So, even if a murder accusation wasnât her intended revenge for Philo hiding the truth from her, why is she surprised that he was arrested and jailed? She told a police officer that heâd committed a crime! Is this woman stupid? Also, again, itâs obvious sheâs in love with Philo, even after she outs him. The scene where sheâs stripping Philoâs bed and then sits down and hugs his sheets wistfully is a pretty obvious indication to me. These arenât the actions of a woman in love, and thereâs no question that her feelings for Philo are strong.
Upon several rewatches, it almost seems to me that when Philo reveals everything to her, she seems more scared than repulsed. Could it be that sheâs actually scared that sheâll be next, since the people whoâve died were close to Philo and so is she, and therefore she wants him out? But this idea isnât explored or made clear, so itâs kind of left to the viewer to decide.
I just. Donât. Get it. Where is the logic? Why would they build her character up in very specific ways only to smash all that in ten seconds?
Well, thereâs an answer to that. The writers needed a catalyst for the drama of the last three episodes, and that catalyst was the reveal of Philoâs secret. They chose to have Portia do the dirty work ... which was a lazy writing decision. They shouldâve found another way to do that without creating inconsistencies in characterization; her rejection of Philo was totally out-of-character, and Iâm mad about it.
Look, Iâm a writer (not a published one, but Iâm working toward that!). Characterization and narrative structure and all that jazz are concepts I spend a lot of time and energy exploring and focusing on, so Iâm very tuned into them. That makes it very noticeable and extra frustrating when I see massive flaws like this in otherwise well-produced media.
In answer to your question, a lazy, wouldnât-this-be-shocking writing decision was made without thinking deeply about whether or not it actually fit the character, and I am Bitter About It. (Sorry for the essay! đ)
