What if we were two Dunsparce chilling on a rock in Area Zero together…? Haha jkjk… unless…?
cant even begin to describe how much The Good Place's thesis on how to be a good person changed how i view redemption arcs
like it's not about "is this character good enough to deserve redemption or are they too bad to get redeemed" it's about "is this character willing to accept that their behavior is harmful, to make amends for their past behavior if at all possible, and to try and become a better person?"
sometimes for the Drama it's satisfying or cathartic to see a character who's done shitty things get to have a big Sacrifice Moment where they save the day and gets to be remembered as a hero, but that's not actually a good redemption arc. being a good person is not a single task that you can check off once you've finished all the steps, and neither is redemption in fiction. there's never really a threshold of "this character is Good Now!" there's the character learning how to be better and trying earnestly to be better even when they're not immediately rewarded for it
that's why zuko's redemption arc (everyone's favorite, the Gold Standard of redemption arcs) works so well. learning that his worldview was wrong was an incredibly difficult journey for him, and even when he knew he had several missteps along the way. but making mistakes didn't prevent him from being redeemed! and it's not like all the characters unanimously agreed that zuko was good now. the choices zuko made that lead to his redemption all made his life harder, but he knew they were the right choices and he made them anyway
and it's why that one wizard teacher's "redemption arc" (if you can even call a sudden infodump of flashbacks an arc) in that one children's series fell flat: at no point was Alan Rickman's character trying to be better. at no point did he realize or care that his behavior was harmful. we learn at the very end that he was working against the main villain the whole time, but that doesn't explain or excuse how much of a prick to children he was or his made-up fantasy racism or anything.
D’arcy Carden as Greta Gill in ‘A League Of Their Own’ has done irreparable damage to my psyche🫡😮💨
The Good Place (2016-2020) Chidi Sees the Time-Knife (S03E11)
