Sullivan/Devine challenge, pt. 2 (Long Rant--Abandon Hope All Ye Who Must Clutch At Your “True Father Brown Fans Don’t Criticize” Pearls.)
Don: "She is not the person that you think she is."
David: "She's worried you have the wrong idea about her."
Don: "Everything about her is wrong."--Ghost Story
Mrs. Treadwell: "I'm - I'm very fond of Mr. Carpenter, of course. Everybody is."
Lydecker: "I'm not. I'll be hanged if I am." --Laura
Several A03 fan-fic writers have done a solid job (certainly way better than the FB writing crew) of explaining Mrs. Devine's insecurities, awkwardness, previous marriage, and desperation to have a better deal than life has handed her so far. But unfortunately, their best efforts can't make up for the fact that 1) her character is now all over the map, yet still not likeable; 2) there is still something rottenly-patronizing at her heart that no amount of talent, retconning or excuses can make up for. She continues to come off like the FB writers figured female viewers were stereotypical pathetic fans with a thing for Sullivan who would jest love any old adorkable, fake-ass-quirky lurve interest.
Worse yet, she's already proved three crucial times canon-wise that she is not the truly unconventional, intelligent, selfless, woman-of-substance people want her to be. In “The Beast Of Wedlock,” she and Brenda wander around the countryside looking for a killer beast/whatever with no weapons, backup, or help. Someone has already been gruesomely murdered, so shouldn't they have been ready for a human psycho nuthead at the least? Nope--Devine and Brenda act like there's no threat whatsoever. (The TV show Endeavor did a terrific ep. about a killer animal that was scary, suspenseful, and twisty--everything this episode was not. And I would have given anything to see Devine and Brenda dropped into that. Hell, the Scooby Gang shows more sense of danger than these two--and they're supposed to be comedic. 😝) In “The Hidden Man,” all Devine needed to do was pretend to be Father Brown--but she wanted to show off so much, she couldn't even manage that modest task. Which of course led to Flambeau getting jailed, Sullivan getting beat up, and Father Brown almost losing his life to a psycho.
And The Serpent Within was definitely Devine's Blip; her stake through the heart; her silver bullet; the sword to her neck--the episode that proved how hopeless she really is. (And sorry--fan-fiction writers have done their level best to explain her actions here, but it speaks volumes that nobody can really make sense of--or excuse--her.) She should have risen to the occasion and really proved her worth. Instead she ups the rock-stupid ante because her actor's ego again puts everyone at risk--this time even worse than before. Who did she think Father Brown was up against--Girl Guides high on their Thin Mint stash? Did she ever consider that maybe someone in Kembleford might have seen her on stage? And did she really think that gangsters who were dropping bodies like they breathed--and had killed to frame Sullivan--would listen to her pleas for mercy? (Sweet Honkin' Jesus. That trope was laughed off movie and TV screens by the 1960's, and no one needs that mess coming back from the dead now.) Can you imagine what Lady Felicia, Mrs. McCarthy, Sid, or Bunty would have done in this situation? (But, then, they would have had enough common sense to not get caught in the first place. 😝) To put this in proper perspective, think of Sid in "The Upcott Fraternity." Was he rolling around proclaiming he was the mostest dedicated humblest devouterest trainee priest ever--"Lookit me!! Lookit me!!"--and making the case all about his undercover talents? No? Well, then--case closed. Devine is still a terrible Father Brown associate. At the best, she is Damsel Scrappy--at her worst, she is Too Dumb To Live/The Ditz.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DamselScrappy
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooDumbToLive
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDitz
And she still ain't a good love interest for Sullivan, who certainly deserves someone with more common sense, true caring, intelligence, and real selflessness. Come on, guys--are folks so desperate that Sullivan be in love that they'll settle for this hopelessly-retrograde, endlessly-simpering, vapid, self-centered idiot? Why? Can't FB writers (or fan-fiction ones) come up with better, more-credible alternatives? Even worse, does anyone really want to see the enticingly-tortured, officiously dashing, needing-real-love, caring-down-deep Sullivan turned into "Mr. Women's Institute/Kembleford's Own 'Honey-Do'??!?!!?"
Mark Twain perfectly nailed this kind of bad writing ages ago (in “Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses”--a great how-to piece on good fiction writing everyone should read. ASAP.) https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl368/fenimorecooper.pdf He said everything that needs to be said, so I'm just gonna paraphrase:
"She has no . . . order, system, or logical sequence. She is confusedly drawn, and by her acts and words she proves she is not the sort of person the author swears up and down on a sky-high stack of Bibles that she is. Her humor is pathetic; her pathos is funny. Her conversations are indescribable; and her love-scenes are fuckin' _odious_."
Nice try, guys. But tl;dr: "Upstairs Space For Let" Devine still sucks. And one can only hope her "Knight-In-Shining-Armor" teams up with a suitably-irate dragon--and "Dracaryses" her insufferable self into oblivion. Fooey.
