For details on sortinghatschats analytical personality system, see @sortinghatchats and @wisteria-lodge
Doctor Slump is about two brilliant doctors who used to be biggest rivals in high school. They meet again years later when they both hit rock bottom for different reasons and help patch each other up, falling in love on the way.
For it being a show with a very realistic depiction of depression, trauma, PTSD, insomnia, betrayal and forgiveness, it's incredibly heartwarming with lots of funny and fluffy moments.
Hannul Nam is such a fun Lion Bird. I have rarely seen on being a main character like this. Even funnier, she fits the Bird stereotype of being studious and smart because that'd her Lion goal—to study. Hannul enjoys studying, collecting, preparing and she loves it in such a feeling way, she adjusts her whole life around it. It's her ultimate goal without any higher noble or deeper motivation. She enjoys studying, being prepared, being the best with the grades, and aims for a professor of medicine career because that will allow it again—she will be studying and reading articles with all the prestige that comes with it.
While the acknowledgement seems to play a role for her on the surface, Hannul is willing to sacriface everything for her goal. Not just free time, hobbies, friends and sleep, but also her own self-respect. She is so blinded by her passion and what feels right, she is willing to let her supervisor steal her work, put her down and yell at her, if that makes her closer to her goal, her career.
Except she takes it too far for too long and burns herself down. The show excellently shows her depression, her realisation during an almost accident when she thinks she will die and scares herself with the sheer relief of it being over. When she goes to the doctor, she goes because the feeling is wrong. She can't explain it, she doesn't know when or what went wrong. It felt so right and it still does, so why is she so unhappy? Burn out and depression. It turns out to be too much, she ends up leaving work and works through it with her family that fame and success and respect indeed aren't as much as being in good health.
I think the feeling Lion primary makes the depression so confusing. Because Hannul trusts her gut, ready to back it up with her research and studying and prep. But what if she can't trust what feels right anymore? She burns her primary down at that point, unable to trust what she loves and feels.
That's when Jeong Yo comes into play. Her long year rival, goofy and childish and playful and overestimated teaser who couldn't take second place next to her...who is actually a Badger primary. While he was immature still back then, he was the only one actually capable of creating a bond with Hannul where everyone else failed. He didn't know what she wanted but he became what she needed. As her rival he was the closest and most caring about her at the school and the one who knew her the best.
Goofy and carefree as Jeong may be, he always puts people first. He became a famous as a doctor during his volunteering work in Africa and it wasn't for the fame, but because "people found me interesting for some reason so I rolled with it." They wanted interviews and YouTube videos of him working and inside info and for him to make ads for them, so he did it. He doesn't care about the fame or the money, he likes being what people need him to be.
Even in high school when he blacks out after Hannul beats him in maths for the first time, it's not his pride or excellence that takes a hit— it's his integrity. This is who he is supposed to be, this is what he understands his environment wants. Starting from his parents who demand excellence for him to have worth to his school teacher and his friends. If he isn't the coolest one around, who needs him?
But it's the most obvious during the lawsuit. Jeong loses a patient during a plastic surgery and gets sued for murder, that is all a setup, but that costs him reputation, money, his clinic and friends. And the first thing Jeong does when he realizes the full scale of the damage is to pay his coworker friends first, cause they will lose their jobs because of him. Car, house and clinic don't matter half as much as paying his sponsors and all the people that will lose as side-effect.
The lawsuit and false accusations turn out to be Jeong's personal hell only after he realizes nobody believes him. His integrity, his role in the community, what he was needed for suddenly...vanishes. Everyone blames him, turns him down or kicks him out and he takes it in quiet desperation. Hold out a facade till the last minute. Was it not for Hannul's mother's kindness, no one would have even let him rent a place to live.
Jeong lights up when he is with Hannul. Slowly worming his way to her, he knows instinctively what she needs and becomes this. It's his idea to go from former classmates to friends, it's him who realizes Hannul missed out on having a life and interests for her obsession with studying, and therefore works on giving it to her. Takes her to play games, karaoke, on an improvised bus trip. He does all the playful childish things with her and riles her up with the competitive banter from their teen years. He makes her smile and relax and feel stuff.
Hannul doesn't reciprocate until she realizes this is indeed the answer. This is helping. No one understood, nobody helped as much and as successfully as he did. Nobody understood that well what she needed even if everyone was trying. Once she feels herself getting better because of him does she start caring in turn. She becomes his biggest defender, studies his case - in her wonderful Bird secondary way - and finds him a crucial study similar to his own that helps him in court. She studies his sleep patterns and behavior and devises ways how to help with his insomnia and trauma and fears. He becomes a sort of her project, and she builds him up step by step.
For Joeng's secondary I'm guessing Snake. He is defined by change for me. His demeanor changes completely depending who he is with and with his feels about what each person or group around him feels and expects from him. It's quite powerful. He is the friendly doctor with shining smile from the ads. He is the serious and sad suspect on the trail. He is the polite and shy neighbour and renter, but he can switch to being the goofy high school rival in split second. The way he can completely change when around Hannul and then her family, with his friends vs other friends...and he is good at it. Enjoys it. It's playful and fun and creative and it depends on the situation. He is very expressive and emotional when he is alone, so he doesn't loose touch with himself or his feelings. The way he is helpful and always puts others first without realising he is doing it is so Badger, but the playful personality switching depending on what's needed or when he can relax and when he can't is so Snake.
Jeong tells Hannul to put herself first instead of just her goal. Hannul tells Jeong to think of himself and not everyone else and what they want from him. She often becomes the main defender of his interests. No, he won't take the interview, cause he finds it uncomfortable, even though he would say yes to the reporter if pushed. No, he won't forgive you that easily, although Jeong has a habit of forgiving about anyone who actually apologises (giving second chances is very Badger of him).
It's very fun to watch them take care of each other and be and say what the other needs as they slowly accept that for themselves as well.
In the end, Jeong gets a family in Hannul's family, forgives his friends that betrayed or were jealous of him (under Hannul's careful inspecting supervision) and Hannul learns to stand up for herself, even if it's not profitable for her goals. It feels good, in the end.
i kinda want you to sort holden caulfield now... what do you think?
Hmm. Loyalist primary for sure. Holden spends The Catcher in the Rye in free-fall, and the only touchstones that ground him are people: his crush Jane, his little sister Phoebe, his little brother Allie. When he's heavily in crisis, Holden starts actually praying to Allie, asking for protection. (In terms of *structure* this is mostly a book about Holden processing Allie's death.)
So I thought Snake primary at first. That's a short list of people. But on a read-though... I was struck by how much Holden thinks about groups. He's extremely class conscious. He angsts about the wealth divide. He doesn't know what to do about it (that's one of his problems) but dwells on it constantly. Situations where he might have to potentially out himself as a member of a different group than the person he's talking to stress him out. A really clean example is when he's all worried that the nuns might ask him if he's Catholic, out of the blue.
Holden is also super concerned with etiquette. He will judge people for doing things like ordering a Tom Collins in December, or not having a handkerchief with them. He is very aware of and will comment on the correct thing to wear in any situation. "The father had on one of those pearl-grey hats that poor guys wear when they're trying to look sharp" is a very nuanced fashion critique. This focus on the way things should be done also feels very Badger primary to me.
I think Holden has this cultural reputation of being a lone wolf, a rebel-without-a-cause, on-the-road type. But he's been retroactively colored by the characters he inspired. He's running around in the late forties, not mid-fifties like James Dean and Jack Kerouac. Holden Caulfield is a contemporary of like, Steve Rogers. And this kid is the absolute opposite of a lone wolf - always striking up conversations, always trying to make friends, offering to buy a drink for practically every person he meets. Cab drivers. Piano players. Tourists. Random people he doesn't like but thinks might be in town. His older brother's ex-girlfriends.
So anyway. Holden is a Badger primary who doesn't have a community, and is desperately trying to either find one, or make one. His fantasy is running away to either work on a ranch, or work in a gas station. He's been shipped away to four boarding schools in three years (away from his family and his support systems) and it's kind of been the worst thing for him.
*
Holden's secondary is hard, because he spends the book in crisis mostly trying to avoid things and distract himself. And he very much needs to eat a sandwich, drink a glass of water, and have a nap. Can't live on cigarettes and daiquiris, Holden baby.
So his secondary is definitely burnt, and he also definitely has PTSD. But underneath that... Holden has a really weird relationship with honesty. He reacts very, very badly to anyone who he perceives to be acting (including like, actual actors in movies.) Holden Caulfield hates it when people are "phony." It's his catchphrase.
But. Holden lies a lot. He tells multiple people that he's going to have a semi-serious operation the next day. He fakes a leg injury to get past a doorman. He deliberately lowers his voice to seem older. He gives fake names (Jim Steele lol) He pretends that he knows people to keep a conversation going. And he's super aware of this -"I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on the way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and someone asks where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible."
There's also this bit early early on where he's saying goodbye to a teacher, and I bring it up because it's the closest thing to baseline Holden I think we ever see. And... he's doing some Snake secondary arms-length shifting. He's deliberately using a mask to charm somebody, but also not really feeling it, and not at all bothered by that. This is easy for him.
Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. (...) I told him how I would've done exactly the same thing if I'd been in his place, and how most people didn't appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull. The funny thing is, though, I was sort of thinking of something else while I shot the bull. (...) I'm lucky, though. I mean I could shoot the old bull to old Spencer and think about those ducks at the same time.
So that's my diagnosis of Holden. He's got a strong Badger primary, and a burned Snake secondary that he feels guilty about using. Which actually seems to be a pattern for Badger Snakes.
Since my recent announcement identifying as a Badger Snake (don't @ me if I change my primary at some point lol still going back over that one,) I've looked up some characters that have been identified as Badger Snakes, and found two things:
1) There weren't very many in fiction and
2) most go through the same personal journey I had described in my previous post.
By that, I mean, a very similar feeling of self-loathing or feeling as though you have some dirty secret to hide, AKA the Red-Stained Ledger Natasha Romanoff refers to. The two main ones that have been agreed upon I'll be focusing on are Woody from Toy Story and the aforementioned Black Widow, but I'll also be bringing two new characters into the fray, one that's been sorted as such based on the portrayal, and one that I've discovered on my own. They are Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman and Dewey Finn from School of Rock.
It's interesting to find the similar plotlines that certain sortings are given consistently in media, and The Power Behind the Throne AKA Badger Snake seems to pretty much only have the one: They fight for the group that they are loyal to, but they can't seem to help but do so in a way that they aren't proud of, one that they're sure would lead said group to shun them.
I'm sure someone could point out a character I'm not referencing here that doesn't have that plot, but at the very least, this plot dominates the sorting.
Woody in the first movie goes through exactly that issue. He only wants to fight for Andy's toys, and in many ways, all toys he comes across. He makes choices that he believes will benefit everyone, and prides himself on being able to make the "tough choices." But, he ends up having to do so in a "duplicitous" way, when he seeks to manipulate Buzz Lightyear out of his group. This is a horrible, dirty secret to him, and he feels almost as if he could never return to them, never show his face again because of how he chooses to fight. In the end, he reaffirms that his actions come from a good place, a place of love for his group, and finds ways to use his crafty talents that are slightly more constructive and a little less "cloak and dagger."
Natasha Romanoff has given me the namesake for this Badger Snake element: the Red-Stained Ledger. She describes her desire to fight for her country, for her family, but struggles with what she knows she's good at. She believes she's inherently a bad person and is determined to remain a loner due to her "badness," due to the "monster" she is. Good people don't lie or manipulate. Good people... uh... I dunno, bake cakes or something? Work humble jobs? But, her contribution to the world, her ability to be clever and tricky, means that holding her group, her country, her family, the Avengers themselves, only in her heart and not in her hands. But, her true colors are shown in her never-ending dedication to the cause, down to her being willing to give her life so that no one else has to do it. In a way, it's sad, because she died believing she in some way deserved it. But, none of her teammates felt that way about her. She may have been crafty, a master manipulator, and a skillful liar, but she was the farthest thing from bad.
Now, onto the two newer additions. I've seen Selina Kyle sorted as Double Snake, and I would agree that there are many interpretations that could fit the bill. But, if you ask me, the truest interpretation of her is as The Power Behind the Throne, the Robin Hood with no loud cause to shout from the rooftops; only a desire to help the people of Gotham. She uses her skills as a thief to act as a sort of "guardian angel" to the poorest in Gotham, but she has no grand statement to make. She sees people hurting, her group, the underdogs of Gotham, and came to their aid. But she does so quietly, secretly, because she believes in her heart that the way she has done so is not worthy of praise. She's a con and a thief, but, she places people above all else. She, in some interpretations, is one of the main people to open Bruce's eyes to the fact that not all criminals are necessarily bad people. Some of them are just in terrible situations they can't get out of. And yet, she won't afford that benefit of the doubt to herself, believing she is simply a broken toy not worth fixing. Her occasionally lackadaisical attitude towards killing may seem to make Badger primary unlikely, but Badgers are not always loyal to ALL humans. Her group is the poor and downtrodden, and those who act against them are less than human in her eyes.
Now, we come to my personal favorite, my own personal discovery: Dewey Finn from one of my favorite movies, School of Rock.
Dewey is a fabulous example of a Badger Snake, in my personal opinion. His chosen group is Rock with a Capital R and "the band," whichever band that may currently be. He may have some sort of Burnt Snake primary performance/model going on, wanting to play the part of a "rock star" that truly only cares about himself, but his true loyalty is very clear. He is worried about doing his chosen group justice in every way, making sure that Rock is being well-represented and that he's serving his current band the very best he has to offer. Being kicked out of his band at the very beginning is earth-shattering to him, not because he has a Snake primary style devotion to only them, but because they told him he let them down, and implying that he wasn't representing Rock the way he should. His Snake primary performance/model melts away as he bonds to his new band, the kids he teaches. He brings them into his chosen group of Rock and creates a new bonded group with them in particular as they form a band. He actually finds himself liberated by taking a backseat to the children (a very Badger primary thing to enjoy,) allowing Zack to play his song, guiding Freddie away from making bad choices, helping Tamika find her voice, encouraging fellow Snake secondary Summer how to use her shrewdness, and, using a method I believe is best utilized by Badger Snakes, helping Principal Mullins find her chill. Lol.
Badger Snakes, more than any other Snake secondary type, will rely on the "we aren't so different you and I" approach to get what they want. He finds out Mullins also enjoys Rock. This is something they have in common! Let's create a situation where we "naturally" find out we have this thing in common, placing us both in the same group. Although other primaries don't glorify groups as much as Badger primaries do, all people are more likely to listen to or help out someone they feel is like them in some way. So, Dewey puts some Stevie Nicks on the jukebox and gets Mullins on his side.
In a similar fashion to the characters listed above, Dewey believes he is truly a loser and has nothing of any actual value or goodness to provide. But, the children help him see he's wrong, and he finds a way to utilize his talents in a way that truly fulfills him.
In conclusion, although seemingly unrepresented, I think there actually may be quite a few more Badger Snakes hiding in media, and, perhaps, they can be outed by looking for the Red-Stained Ledger plotline. Badger primaries are more likely, in my opinion, to be disturbed by their actions than say a Lion primary, due to where their loyalties truly lie. Although Lions may fight for the right thing, and that right thing may involve people's rights or serving a group, they serve that right thing before any of the people they may steamroll over to achieve it. Badgers, by definition, serve things. And, usually, lying, cheating, or otherwise being crafty is viewed as the worst possible way to serve someone or something. They do care about the things they may hurt or damage through their actions, and how they use their talents does, in fact, matter to them immensely.
So, to my Badger Snakes out there struggling with their own so-called "Red-Stained Ledgers", just remember that Dewey Finn would think you're kick-ass.
EDIT: Sorry, was thinking about it, and had to put an edit. Another way to think of this plotline/character archetype is mentioned in School of Rock as well as in a musical I know very well. I wouldn't use this moniker as the name for this plotline, only because it describes a very specific Snake secondary, one that is playful and light-hearted, and not all Snake secondaries are like this.
Zack's song refers to Dewey as The Magic Man, a person that swoops in and, almost by magic (in actuality, manipulation) brings out the best in the people around them. In the aforementioned musical, this character is called The Music Man.
Harold Hill may very well be another Badger Snake, although one more heavily disguised than Dewey Finn. I won't go too deep into his characterization here, but know he's a conman who claims to be a band instructor, while he has no musical talent himself, planning on taking the money for the uniforms and instruments and running. Instead, almost without realizing it, he encourages and manipulates the people of the town he enters into becoming better versions of what they are now. And, the most tragic part of his character is revealed once another character, one of the children he's conned, points out that there isn't a band, and never has been one. Harold tells him "I always think there's a band, kid."
It's interesting that, in both of these cases, they are associated with music and an almost mystical ability to bring out the best in others. I might do a more in-depth look at Harold Hill at some point, since I've been planning on doing some musical characters for a bit.
If thinking about having a Red-Stained Ledger is too negative for your own self-image, think of yourself as The Music Man. Your friends and the people around you may actually see you as an almost mystical force for good, someone who always seems to know the right thing to say or do to bring out the best in them. :)
Thank you for the ask anon! I wanted to do this so bad. Of course a disclaimer that any bashing I do of your particular sorting isn't meant in any malicious way. It's not my fault your sortings are unsexy alkgvljrsf. No but seriously this is all meant in good fun and more at characters than real people. I guess we're going in ascending order once more.
5. Badger Snakes - Badger Snakes aren't UNSEXY per se, however whenever I look at the word it makes me think of an ugly green like chartreuse or vomit. Actually I can tell you exactly what it reminds me of it reminds me of the Yellow Wallpaper. Badger Snake when it is written out makes me think of an ugly old fashioned wallpaper that's an ugly vomity chartreuse color. It doesn't fit the sorting at all being the power behind the throne (which always makes me imagine a throne room sans the ugly wallpaper) but that's what it reminds me of and for that it is UNSEXY! I'm sorry Lucifer I think you're very sexy but your sorting just doesn't sound nice.
4. Lion Badgers - Lion Badgers also face the same problem as Badger Snakes as they also don’t give me a nice image when I think of them. They make me think of a clashing red and yellow and remind me of ketchup and mustard, not a pretty image. But also Lion Badgers have different variants of unsexy. Some of them can be just so deeply boring or they can be so insecure it kills any sexy vibe they might have going on. Or they’re Castiel and they just...do not convey any sex appeal despite REALLY trying. (and clearly I’m the minority since a lot of people DO find Cas sexy-I just can’t for some reason. It’s probably Misha’s face) However irl Lion Badgers have rights.
3. Bird Lions - The only sorting that has no Badger lmao. Bird Lions once again are not necessarily unsexy (physically) but oh my GOD they can be so fucking annoying and whiny. Like my guy I’m not looking for a Hamlet I want an Oberon. Bird Lions are like “I have a strict code and I have to follow it forever with full force” like they didn’t grow out of that immature stage of their sorting and then be shocked and sad when they find out one part of their system was wrong or not perfect and break into a million pieces. Baby girl let’s get you some therapy and maybe you can be a sexy Joe from the Old Guard type.
2. Badger Lions - It was between this one and Double Badgers for a little bit, but ultimately Badger Lions was slightly sexier than Double Badgers because I quite like plenty of Badger Lions and find them massively sexy. You may say “Oh but I’m the protagonist sorting” yes and you deserve to be taken down a peg you unsexy sorting you. Badger Lions do consist of the two most annoying and unsexy sortings. I love Badger primaries but you explode way too much and way to easily, and Lion secondaries are just fucking annoying. Truth be told Burnt Badger primary Badger Lions are the hot ones.
1. Double Badgers - EW SO UNSEXY!! Bleh! Sorry, but you are very unsexy. Stop exploding and maybe I’ll consider your sexiness. I looked at the list of characters that are Double Badgers, and I didn’t know most of them, but the ones I did know aren’t exactly dripping in sex appeal. Get your shit together, I want peace and peacemakers to be sexy, but y’all keep being so boring and sweet or fucking EXPLODING, btw you are the worst sortings to explode because I HATE exploded Badger secondaries and primaries. Get sexy!!
Top 5 Badger Snakes? Just figured out my sorting (I'm super burnt) and I'm not really vibing with any of the ones I've seen listed. I've seen Aang sorted as a Burnt Badger Snake but I kind of can't stand him... Naive childish characters drive me up a wall.
Congrats for figuring out your sorting, nonnie! But I am sorry you are burned. I am actually the one who came up with the idea that Aang might be a burned Badger Snake, and sorry to say, he's gonna be on this list. Hope you don't mind.
1. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars) - Her primary is also burned, but she behaves in a very different way than Aang. I think you might like her, actually.
2. Aang (ATLA) - Yeah, he's gonna be here. Because, frankly, I like him. Especially compared to other Badger Snake protagonists (Elena Gilbert, Daphne Bridgerton), he's a breath of fresh air.
3. Madison Simons (This is Us) - I think Madison might be double burned? Anyway, I feel so protective of this woman. I loved the storyline she got in season 5 and how it explored her.
4. Howl Pendragon (Howl's Moving Castle) - I think I saw book!Howl sorted as a Badger Snake who thinks should be a Double Lion ...and yeah, it fits. Howl is a delightful character and I really reccomend the book.
5. Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer) - The show may have annoyed me, but Lucifer was entertaining. I think his primary is burned, but he's really pretending it's not and leaning into his secondary in the meantime.
Have to do the sorting for the show I'm obsessed with for the past week - the legal drama Suits. Check out @sortinghatchats and @wisteria-lodge for explanation of the system in detail.
Suits is an amazing character dynamics study, fuled by relationships and personal conflicts, with the legal world drama cases as interesting and intelligent backround, testing the characters, pushing their limits and their loyalties to the brink while keeping a light-hearted banter tone.
Let's start with the most prominent influence character the legal world is apparently turning around, the famous lawyer legend Harvey Specter. Harvey represents the best of the double snake sorting - he is charming, confident, self-serving, enjoying luxury and wealth his job gets him. He is obsessed with winning, with walking away from every situation as the top dog and getting the deserved credit for it. And he is sneaky. You don't meet a better schemer than Harvey, who will get you on a space between lines, who will convince you he will lie even though he would not. Who can switch from being the serious trustworthy lawyer for the business meeting and the funny playful tease at work, to the predatory confident blood smelling shark at court. Changes faces like his suits and enjoys it. He is in it for the game of it all, and he is the greatest at it.
He is also a solitary player. It gets noted several times in the show that Harvey is successful, feared, famous, envied,...but he is not popular. His colleagues don't get along with him, he doesn't care about the team, his subordinates or his peers. He doesn't remember anyone by name, and if he can tease and sneak, he will do it to his colleagues too. Harvey has a very narrow circle of friends. Like a snake with his chosen people, he has exactly three during the whole show, and he would stick his neck out for them anytime. It's incredibly endearing to watch how the charming sneaky predatory ruthless lawyer in 12.000 dollar suit gets feral over loyalties. Harvey is all about loyalty, it's his greatest value and treasure, something he showers his people with - whatever they want it or not - and something he demands right back.
The show lives of his dynamic with Mike Ross. Mike is a young genius, a directionless university dropout with eidetic memory who sold out his ability to pass Harward law entrance exams. By completely coincidence, while running from trouble, Mike gets in an interview with Harvey, tells him everything, impresses the legend...and gets hired as young concipient in training. Boom.
Mike is special, because Harvey recognizes him as special and gives him a chance. Everyone around Harvey notes immediately how uncharacteristic it is of him to care about someone AND to do it so quickly. Mike becomes Harvey's person in record time that leaves everyone's head spinning. At first Harvey sees potential, and fun and an easy way to get nasty detailed work done, but he also sees himself in Mike, and this gets him protective like crazy. Harvey doesn't show emotion, that he cares, cause in the world of business and law, that's a weakness. Hell, he has trouble showing this to Mike, who he is hard on, testing and growing him to be better, to make his own way, to make his choices....while going around making threats and biting people's heads off, if they dare stand in Mike's way. It's sudden but also gradual and so heartwarming, how protective he gets of this little lion. This is the juiciness of their dynamic. That Mike is a Lion Badger and he gets adopted by a ruthless scheming Double Snake.
Mike is a hard worker. He is defined by his attitude of chipping away at big tasks, by working his skin off, by making friends and connections through being reliable and maming effort. Harvey likes to find shortcuts and different angles, Mike works his way through 100 pages to find one line of evidence he can give Harvey to use against the clients. Textbook badger secondary.
Mike has a roaring lion primary. He centres around morals, an emotional core and very strong opinions about what's right and wrong. The series shows numerous instances of this. He feels bad about sleeping with a married woman, cause it's "wrong" (not because he is hurting somebody in particular). He gets inspired and passionate about pro bono casds and when he smells injustice, cause he wants to be helping to "make things right". It's also what draws him to Harvey - that through all his arrogant and well-deserved competence in scheming and risky games, Harvey never cheats, lies or goes back on his word. His boss might walk on the edge of the law, but never crosses it. This is very important to Mike. During the mock trail at the firm, everyone doubts Harvey aside from his boss Jessica and Mike, who argues that Harvey has "principles" so of course he can be trusted. He doesn't get others don't see the side of Harvey he appreciates the most.
Mike suffers having to live in a lie. He gives up on his relationship with Rachel, because if he can't tell her his secret, it isn't "right" to be with her. He hated making a living through cheating on tests, proven also by the vigiriosity with which he threw himself at the quantum of difficult annoying law work and research. Because it's finally a good kind of work he can be proud of. The compassion and sympathy he offers to all his clients feels right and fulfilling.
Harvey calls him naive and idelaistic and soft, but only in private. He praises him into the heavens in front of everyone else, so no one has doubts how capable Mike is. You bad mouth Mike or look at him wrong and you get Harvey on your tail like a bulldozer.
Harvey complains it's ineffective and emotional, but he likes Mike's paragon moral lion. He admires him for it. Mike gets emotionally invested in the people, not the case, money, reputation or profit. He comes to Harvey with sense for justice and genuine concern, and Harvey let's himself get dragged into it. Their best cases are when Mike finds the unfairness, offers the compassion and the hard toil, while Harvey uses all the strings, tricks and schemes and his years long experiences to help him win the game. Slowly Harvey develops his moral system around Mike. If Mike says it's right, he will throw himself at the case. He mentions Mike is much better a man on occasion, because he admires him that much for the compassionate kind of work he partly tries to beat out of him to be a good lawyer and partly revives in himself, when around him.
Where Harvey adopts some of Mike's lion morals on top of his own, Mike builds a snake model solely for Harvey. Mike is not usually a person to be swayed by affection for specific people. He acts according to his morals, what's right and wrong, no matter how much that hurts the person he is supposed to be protecting. But Harvey gives him a chance, a job, a new life, guides and projects him, risking his career so Mike could do work he loves without the diploma and licence and Harvey wants loyalty, so that's what Mike gives him in return. Undying absolute loyalty. Mike buys his grandma a flat, not because he misses her or is sorry he hurt her by his absence (that too ofc) but mainly cause it's right thing to do. He turns on a client who turned out to be lying, cause that's not right. But Harvey gets priority over fair treatment, his own cases, trouble from Loius, from better offers, from other useful friendships. Mike turns every advantage into Harvey's favour smooth and automatic, and this earns him more and more protectiveness from Harvey. Harvey is the only person he doesn't turn against, even when he disagrees or feels it's wrong. Harvey is the person he would lose everything to protect. But it's a model he only got for Harvey, and it confuses his other friends, especially his on and off girlfriend Rachel. Harvey is put above her multiple times. It isn't right to be with her, when he can't tell her he is a fraud, it's not comfortable for his lion primary - so he wants to tell her and Harvey says no. It's too risky and too early to know whether Rachel wouldn't betray him. So Mike doesn't give the love a chance to grow, he breaks up with her and longs after her, but putting Harvey at risk for his secret is not something he can do.
Mike gives the schemer solitary charming snake compassion and something to protect, and when the lion badger becomes the double snake's person, it creates a duo heartwarming to watch, who tag at each other and overwhelm anybody in their way.
Jessica Pearson is the leading partner of the Pearson & Hardman law firm. She built Harvey up. Harvey is basically her Mike - she found a talented postman, paid for his Harvard degree and got the most loyal right hand man for her efforts. Harvey dazzles and fights and schemes in her honour, and she can't always control him cause Harvey doesn't like orders or limitations, but he always has her interests in mind and that is enough. They call Harvey her "pitbull" in the show and they are both proud of this. Jessica is a snake primary that shows up a lot like Harvey's. She likes luxury. She is the hedonistic enjoyed of money, opera dresses at work, and she only cares about her firm, married it over her husband, never had other family or kids. She is absolutely loyal to Harvey, and fine with manipulating everyone else. She favors him so obviously Louis and other other partners never get over it.
Jessica is a lion secondary though. A talented and brilliant lawyer alright, but she likes the posturing. The power. Being able to break through everyone with a straightforward "bend your knees to me", when she walks into their office. She does this to rivals as much as to her own subordinates. When she is at risk or at court, Harvey has to keep her from spilling the truth or going all out with everything she's got, cause that's not by any means the most effective evasive or profitable way his snake secondary came up with. Jessica doesn't want to back down, doesn't like the backhanded schemes and deals, she wants to power through.
Jessica doesn't allow people into her circle after Harvey, understands and syncs with Harvey's snake morals and loyalty, trusts his secretary Donna, cause she is Harvey's alright. Mike confuses her. It takes time to get used to Harvey expanding his circle without her permission or knowledge (quite possessive of him). Harvey shows her Mike and says "he is mine now, so take him too" and she just blinks and stands, and understands so she can't fight it, but she doesn't like it much either. But the parallels are obvious. Harvey's protective wings over Mike with his "if he goes, I go" mirror Jessica's over Harvey, when Hardman tries to kick him out. She is ready to lay down all her cards for her pitbull.
Louis Litt is the badger primary on deck who just wants to belong. He breathes for the firm. He rises the younger assistants and lawyers in training, guides them, bullies them, controls their mistakes. Louis just wants to belong and doesn't understand why he can't be part of Jessica and Harvey's "group". His competence, loyalty, insistence get him nowhere, cause these two are snakes and each other's people and Louis just can't get there with his group based thinking, no matter what he does. Louis feels undervalued, yearning for Harvey's acknowledgement and hates Mike with passion for jumping the ranks and becoming Harvey's overnight, something he never managed. Harvey sees his belonging flattering servile motives as "pathetic" and treats him quite unkindly. Jessica is trying to be more open and accommodating, but she can't expand her circle to him for some reason. Harvey is her world, there is no helping it. Louis in return, backstabs. Gets vengeful, scheming, petty and gives them hell. This makes me think of snake secondary. Sneaky playful snake enjoying his revenge and all the little ways to get back at Harvey, to punish Mike, to get around Jessica. But in the biggest crisis, he chooses them, since in the end all the revenge and backstabbing is him lashing out he can't belong to the group he chose.
Whike Jessica is a queen snake lion, being loyal and royal and massive, Donna Paulsen is a playful double snake secretary with her life wrapped around Harvey and then ranks people according to their importance after him. She doesn't have probelms adopting Mike, as he is Harvey's person, or be Jessica's ears and eyes, cause she is also Harvey's and she likes Louis, cause she recognizes he just wants to be Harvey's too and can't manage. She loves Harvey romantically too, but can't say it, cause he doesn't say it, and she is stuck with that for a long time. Her playful snake banter and ways are very fun and charming to watch.
Rachel Zane comes off as selfish, whiny and emotionally manipulative. Or maybe that's just her trying to use her beauty and sexuality to play around with Mike and get her way on the surface. Constantly guilts Mike into prioritising her and doing what she wants, demands his attention and his favour, getting spiteful when she doesn't get it. She tries to win over Harvey in Mike's heart and can't, not until she realizes that to win Mike over she can't be making him choose. I'm considering lion primary for her, since she wants to be important and special, suffers for not having a law degree and being a simple paralegal with no way up, and she isn't quiete about it. She hates that lawyers with degree get better treatment, when she is smarter and more experienced than them. Why it takes her so many seasons to go after the degree she wants, while burdening everyone down with her unhappiness and complexes, I have no idea. Rachel has a talent to make everything about her, even though she is just holding everyone back. Maybe that victimhood and not minding consequences as long as she gets what she wants makes her an exploded lion. Also the high ground moral speeches, the "wrongness" of some things she feels instinctively speak for a lion primary too.
Her methods are very lion too. Straightforward, honest, running you through with her arguments, valuing truth and clarity over effectiveness and logic, can't keep a secret, says and acts on what she feels, consequences be damned. And maybe that's why this double lion struggles so much in such a snake oriented firm. Everyone is picking and backing their people like snake primaries, while she just barges against walls, all loud and ineffective, cause raw emotions and just anger don't get you nowhere in the schemer snake sec world of the law.
Maybe that's why she obsesses over Mike so much. She smells resonance in his lion primary, in his emotional and moral motivations to help. He wins her over through arguments like helping someone, noble causes, not putting her interests above others. And that's why it confuses her to no end he has such blind snake model loyalty to Harvey, who is a double snake through and through, a person she loathes and doesn't get and doesn't want to get at all.
It's interesting how Mike, who is the main pov character, gets thrown around all these sortings. Double snake Harvey and Donna adopt him, Louis's badger primary tries to integrate him and then throws him out, cause Mike belongs somewhere where he can't, Jessica understands the snake loyalty, but her lion secondary is building an army he can join or fall off and Rachel's double lion resonates and is sympathetic, but in the end her lion ways are too loud and destructive for him. He builds a snake secondary for the law schemes, but he is the most comfortable in his proper caring toiling badger secondary, and he inspires and gets his morals from his lion primary, with one snake primary model exception for Harvey.
Have you thought about sorting Catch Me If You Can? Not a recent movie, but I was rewatching it and there’s just a lot of snake secondary improv going on!
I love this movie. And I was ready to sit down and give it a clean bill of health - Frank Abagnale Jr is a Double Snake, easy, next. After all he is a con artist (the Double Snake archetype) and Neal Caffrey of White Collar, who is fanon Frank Abagnale Jr, is most definitely a Double Snake.
But I’m watching this movie, and I'm seeing a movie about secondaries. It’s a movie about method. BUT it likes its Built secondaries way more than Improvisational ones. In Catch Me If You Can, it’s not enough to be clever and brilliant and quick on your feet. The film is constantly asking - where is the foundation, where is the process, where is the prep work? If the foundations aren’t solid, the whole thing is going to inevitably come toppling down.
This is the anxiety of a Built secondary desperately modeling an Improvisational secondary, which is ultimately what I think is going on with Frank Abagnale Jr. The true Snake secondary is his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. He’s the shape changer, who can use his environment on the fly, who improvises stories and seems to love doing it. Frank Jr at his sneakiest is just modeling (or even performing) his father. At one point, Frank Sr does little move with a necklace in order to get a lady to do him a favor, and I get the impression that he just happened to have a necklace on him and thought this would work. But Frank Jr repeats exactly this move, preparing his necklaces in advance and using exactly the same wording each time. I see prepwork there, and I see Actor Bird.
Frank Jr has the Actor Bird love of costumes. He watches doctor and lawyer movies in order to prep those roles beforehand. He has a moment where he models himself after specifically James Bond, down to the exact suit and exact car. He likes multi-step plans, he likes decoys, he likes doing his research. He can definitely act like a snake secondary, and can even think like a snake secondary... but it’s stressful for him. He does it when he’s in a bad emotional place. And he’s doing it because he’s a young Snake Primary, trying to please his father through imitation.
When you really break it down, this is a movie about transitioning from an unreliable father to a better one. Because Carl Hanratty - the FBI agent who eventually catches Frank Abagnale and becomes his father figure in the process - now he is a Built secondary.
I actually did consider Lion secondary for Agent Hanratty, because he is defined by his inability to lie. He won’t do it. He has a very in-your-face, abrasive manner, and he is that way with everybody. BUT he doesn’t solve problems like a Lion secondary. He catches Frank because he does his homework, he works constantly and steadily, and he puts together a cohesive picture out of the tiny crumbs of information left behind. One of my favorite details is how Hanratty can tell if Frank has been somewhere recently, because he knows Frank has a nervous habit of picking the labels off of bottles. This isn’t even presented in a Sherlock-Holmes-Bird-secondary way. Hanratty isn’t making brilliant deductions, he’s just very diligent, and dedicated, and follows up on every single conceivable lead until one of them pans out. And that is SO Badger. Hanratty cares so deeply about his consistency of method that it gets an almost spiritual importance, so much so that he just kind of looks Lion. He also had a pretty loud Lion primary, and I think that helps. He is the only FBI agent in the film who takes his job deadly seriously.
Honestly, I think that’s why I love this movie so much. I housematch Hanratty, and just generally vibe with him. His badger secondary is both interesting and flattering, and framed extremely positively and comfortingly by the film. Hanratty’s inability to lie is what allows Frank Jr to adopt him as his new Person. Because in the end, Frank's not working for the FBI, he’s working for Carl Hanratty.
Catch Me If You Can keeps coming back to a story about two mice. ‘Two mice fall into a bucket of cream, one of the mice thinks it’s hopeless and quickly drowns, the other keeps swimming so long that he churns the cream into butter and is able to climb out.’ And that... is a story celebrating constant consistent effort without a reward in mind. It's a Badger story. Frank Sr tries to make it work as a Snake secondary story (if you commit to the lie hard enough and long enough you can make it real) but ultimately, his lies catch up with him. Frank Sr will also describe his methods by saying that “the Yankees always win because the other team is blinded by the pinstripes” (ie, distracted by the flash.) But both Frank Jr and Carl Hanratty question this, saying that the reason the Yankees always win is because they have Mickey Mantle. They win because they have the best player, so they’re built on a solid foundation.
The film ends with the revelation that Frank didn't cheat on the Louisiana Bar exam. He studied, and he passed. And that moment is treated as his redemption, because here is substance to Frank that the viewer can tell will make him a good fit at the FBI.
(Incidentally, although I’m not factoring this into my sorting, the real Frank Abagnale Jr comes off as really, really birdy. Definitely more a forger than a con artist, his book gets really technical about different types of paper, different inks, the relative difficulties of forging different identification documents, the intricacies of different countries’ extradition policies, all that fun stuff. He also definitely reads as a fairly unsympathetic Glory Hound Lion who matures over the course of the story. He works on anti-identity theft measures now, and more power to him.)
tl;dr
Frank Abagnale Jr - Snake primary / Bird secondary, Snake secondary model/performance that he borrows from his father. It’s effective, but using it stresses him out.
Frank Agagnale Sr - Badger primary I think, considering how enamored he is with joining clubs and maintaining his status in the community / Snake secondary
Special Agent Carl Hanratty - Lion primary / Badger secondary
BOUNUS - Frank Abagnale Jr (the actual person) - Lion primary / Bird secondary (and yeah, it’s pretty funny and very appropriate that Lion Bird is the Lawman/Vigilante sorting)
