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, that’s a loaded question, isn’t it? 😂
The truth is, Portia’s character arc is one of the biggest things that bugs me about this show. I’ve heard it said that you know if media is well-written based on whether you’re mad at the characters or the writers — and I was mad at the writers. Frankly, I think Portia’s character was badly written and I don’t 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 that’s 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 she’s an empathetic woman who’s very much in love with a man whom she knows doesn’t quite feel the same, and every scene she’s in is characterized by her shy, slightly hesitant love for him.
Then, yeah, episode six happened, and it was like whiplash. I just don’t get it when she rejects Philo like that. First of all, only a little while earlier, there’s a scene where one of her tenants tells Portia he’s moving out at the end of the month because she’s “acting like a harlot,” and she tells him off for policing her choices and then kicks him out that very day. So, this scene builds Portia’s 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 society’s expectations. Add that to the rest of her character development as an insightful empath, and I’m even more confused by her disgusted, almost violent reaction when she finds out Philo’s a halfblood. It doesn’t 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 didn’t realize the police would thereby suspect Philo of murder, it’s pretty common knowledge in the Burgue that halfbloods or full fae “passing” as human is punishable by a year in prison (mentioned I think at the beginning of episode two). So, even if a murder accusation wasn’t 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 he’d committed a crime! Is this woman stupid? Also, again, it’s obvious she’s in love with Philo, even after she outs him. The scene where she’s stripping Philo’s bed and then sits down and hugs his sheets wistfully is a pretty obvious indication to me. These aren’t the actions of a woman in love, and there’s 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 she’s actually scared that she’ll be next, since the people who’ve died were close to Philo and so is she, and therefore she wants him out? But this idea isn’t explored or made clear, so it’s kind of left to the viewer to decide.
I just. Don’t. 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, there’s an answer to that. The writers needed a catalyst for the drama of the last three episodes, and that catalyst was the reveal of Philo’s secret. They chose to have Portia do the dirty work ... which was a lazy writing decision. They should’ve found another way to do that without creating inconsistencies in characterization; her rejection of Philo was totally out-of-character, and I’m mad about it.
Look, I’m a writer (not a published one, but I’m 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 I’m 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, wouldn’t-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! 😂)
