I’m angry. I’m full of spite. I feel my murderous FEMINIST awakening in me.
A man took a precious, potentially magnificent female character and abused her. He introduced her to us with a mighty force when she was of use to him. Sharon Raydor came into our lives wreaking havoc in the Major Crimes division, and we loved every minute with this new, sassy character. He continued to use our love for her for his own profit, and we, dreamy eyed and way too in love, unknowingly enabled this slow but constant drain of our spirit. We devoted ourselves to Sharon Raydor and Major Crimes and when the spin-off took off, he decided it was the right time to start ignoring her. And he did so by getting a young man, in whom he saw himself, to cast a shadow over her. He shoved her into a dark corner and tried to force us all to like this man that he planted right in our faces. Unfortunately for him, her light was too bright to extinguish, so he only managed to dim it a little. But we still saw her the whole time. She was the like a shining star for us, we looked up to her and had high hopes for her, we wanted her to do well so badly. We saw her all along, and her dark little corner became the center of the Major Crimes universe for us.
We joined forces and we pushed the man aside with all our might, even though he rooted deep down into the ground.
We refused to let her go, and we became angry, because we were gradually robbed of that inspiring female character we loved so much. And in spite of how we felt towards the writers and the show in general, we were still devoted and determined to support Sharon Raydor.
Unfortunately, that is why Sharon was also our weak spot, our blind spot, and he knew that. He took our hopes and wishes for her and pulled us by them, letting us constantly believe that something great was coming for her, if we only stuck by the show.
And now, when the show is ending, and he no longer needs to use us and Mary McDonnell’s name for the numbers, he decided to get back at us.
I honestly thought that James Duff cared about the fans and wanted us to be happy with the show. Yes, some of us complained a lot, but it always came from a place of love for Sharon Raydor. We wanted more for her. For women. For us. But I was wrong.
It wasn’t enough for him to get defensive, and even shame a fan or two in public, every time we tried to explain our point of view. No. Sharon’s death was the final spit in the face, the final bitch slap to all of us who dared to demand more from the lead FEMALE character, all of us who just wanted to be inspired by the strong woman that Sharon Raydor was supposed to be.
Like everyone else, I was devastated at the end of that episode by her death. By the audacity to tell us, fans, from the beginning of this season, that we were going to be happy and pleased with the how Sharon’s story is going to be concluded at the end of the show.
What makes anyone think that we would be happy with her DEATH? Are they sadists? Or do they really hate us so much for speaking up and trying to right a wrong?
And if that’s not the reason why, what is? To give us a “surprising” ending? To not fall into the corny-ending trap that most shows fall into? Well, let me tell you something - good endings are what we want. WE WANT THE WOMAN TO BE HAPPY, STRONG, SUCCESSFUL, LOVED AND HEALTHY. And if you write well enough, you know how to do that without falling into cheesiness.
But I guess you don’t and I guess we got crushed and I guess there’s nothing we can do about it but carry this horrible feeling for a very long time.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the gods of TV for Mary McDonnell and Tony Denison. If it weren’t for these two doing it so, SO well with what little they had, I’d have abandoned this show a long time ago. Sharon and Andy were portrayed so beautifully by them. Which, of course, is why it’s so hard to accept her death. I can’t stand to think about Andy’s pain. To be honest, it would’ve been better for me if he had died with her, I’m not even kidding. If I’ll think about how he must be feeling just a little, I might fall apart. I’m not able to handle the thought of him finding the love of his life and losing her shortly after. I’M SO ANGRY AT THIS THOUGHT. Sharon’s death has left me confused, angry, tired, sad. I don’t know what to do with the remaining arc, I’m not even sure it’s worth watching.
For now I’ll just wish for Mary to find a great role that will finally do her acting skills justice, after those last few years in the dark MC corner.
And as for Shandy… If I’m going to continue in sweet denial - they retired together after Sharon got well, and decided to travel the world. First stop, Ireland.
