it's got to the point where I sigh and get frustrated whenever I see someone seriously clamouring for a night shift season, and demonising the writers for not giving us one. the writers are correct- you don't want a night shift season. you wouldn't be able to handle the complex characters in the same way you can't handle the complex day shift characters.
what's really become obvious to me recently though, is that despite the fact we aren't getting a nightshift season (at least, any time in the foreseeable future), the point you can't handle one will be proved anyway. how? because of ellis. she's moving from night to day shift, and we're getting her as a major character next season. we'll get to know her character deeper, perhaps what drives her, what issues and setbacks she has, who she is. all the messy stuff we get to know about the day shift.
she's one of the characters people always wanted more of (rightly so, she's great), and was some people's reason for wanting a night shift season. and you'll get her! but unfortunately the point will be proved that, just like all the current main dayshift we know things about, you can't handle her. because the issue is that you love characters until you can't deny their problems, or their biases (which they all have), or their flaws. you can deny these things about the current night shift- it's why you think you want them, so you can claim that xyz character is soooo morally superior and better than xyz dayshift character (we need to look no further than response to robby and abbot to find this weak line of reasoning), and so you never have to feel uncomfortable.
you don't actually prefer nightshift because they're better, or kinder, or whatever other reason- you just don't know how to engage with human, complex characters, and don't know how to see someone's value when presented with their struggles and moral pitfalls. you think night shift would give you an easy watch where everyone is perfect and serene, and you're wrong.
so, when we get ellis next season, this is what will happen. people will initially cheer- here, we're getting more of the nightshift crew!- and that response will quickly fade and flip on its head. what we DO know about ellis is that she takes no shit. she's ferociously competent, doesn't and will not suffer fools gladly, and she can be a leader- no question about it. people will take umbrage with this in the blink of an eye. in addition, we'll find out about her personal struggles like we do robby, trinity, dennis, javadi etc- we'll see her FLAWS.
and suddenly, ESPECIALLY since she's a woman of colour, people will hate her. look at trinity. she hasn't actually done anything wrong- she just has a personality that doesn't back down, where she holds her own and can be headstrong and she's unafraid to do what's right. in female characters, that's not accepted. she gets called a bitch, gets called annoying and self centered, in comments that gain sometimes thousands of likes. the same WILL happen to ellis. she won't deserve it, but she'll get it.
she'll commit the crime of being a person with flaws you SEE and can't deny, a person who might say something that your favourite character might not like, a person you can't lie and say is a moral angel, free of any nuance. we'll get the same wars people have over trinity (and often al hashimi too), and people will still clamour for night shift season, not realising that they've proved exactly why they can't have one.
to reiterate- you want a night shift season because you think they're easier characters. you think they don't have flaws, you think you're finally getting someone Perfect. you're completely wrong. ellis, coming from night to day will be an unfortunate case study. she'll have all the depth and nuance of all the other main characters, and you'll be angry.
if you GOT a night shift season, this would be the case with every. single. character. heaven forbid what would happen when you would be forced to confront the fact that jack abbot is undeniably, utterly complicit in numerous civilian murders in the middle east, and that he still is part of the military industrial complex for real.
so yeah. you don't want a night shift season. you just can't handle nuance and you're looking for an easy way out. I'm almost scared of the way that the view of ellis will change in some sections of the fandom when we see her flaws. it won't be pretty in the same way the mob calling for robbys death wasn't pretty (and seriously, if that was you, you need to revaluate a LOT about yourself).
but if you take anything from this post make it this- the nightshift characters are not morally better than the day shift. you won't have an easier time. they won't be saints- any of them. they will be just as messy (if not more- what kind of a person does it take to choose the night shift?) and nuanced as the day shift. when we meet ellis properly, this will be lain utterly bare. the showrunners aren't blind- aside from nightshift not making narrative sense in a show about robby, they've seen how badly so many of you have interpreted (or, failed to) the characters you already have.
