My favourite heroes and villains - pt1

What makes a watchable hero? What makes a compelling villain? Compelling writing is an important part, possibly the most important. But in the mediums of film and TV, you have the added factor of the actor. Previous roles can form bias, and whether it is film or TV, for me, plays a huge part.

In a TV series, you can have the most charismatic villain, but they aren't going to be sticking around for very long. For your series to be successful, you have to have a hero that you want to see week in and week out. TV is the perfect medium for long building character development.

Inversely, in movies, there isn't really much that separates your average action hero character, even the best actor in the world couldn't give you much variance, so the interest and uniqueness of your film lives and dies by it's villain.

So by this criteria, I'm looking for a show with a protagonist capable of pulling off their shtick over multiple seasons. Supporting cast is important, but today we are looking at heroes. I'm also looking for a film where the villain not only provides a credible threat, but also adds to the performance of the hero and those around them.

So here's my list of some of my favourite TV shows of the 21st century, and the heroes of them, and how they stack up:

1. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) - House

One of my all time favourite shows. You'd see a lot of this type of show on my favourites list. A re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant mind, used in this case in the pursuit of medical mysteries rather than criminal ones. I've always been a fan of Hugh Laurie, and he plays this role to perfection.

The reason he isn't my favourite hero? House emphasises all the worst qualities of the Sherlock Holmes character, along with the intelligence and wit, and is frequently deliberately self-destructive. You want him to succeed, but he fails on purpose, for reasons that don't make any sense.

2. Walter O'Brien (Elyes Gabel) - Scorpion

Scorpion was something of a revelation in that it, for the most part, did away with the whole "Genius who doesn't play well with others" trope. Well it didn't, but the team got on well with each other. Gabel's character was captivating, and though he made a laundry list of stupid mistakes, you felt for the guy every week. I would have expected him to get further work off the back of this show, but the only thing I ever saw him in was as a bad guy in the 2015 film version of Spooks.

Why he isn't my favourite hero? Scorpion was cancelled after it's fourth season due to dropping ratings, and the cliffhanger ending then became one of my least favourite final episodes of all time. In the opposite of the last entry, growing as a person lost him everyone who had stood by him when he was being an ass, and I hated it.

3. Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) - Chuck

Chuck is just an all-round lovely guy. A tech genius, who spends his life working at a tech help desk of an electronics store who accidentally becomes a CIA computer. Chuck is the fish out of water tat gets thrown in to the deep end of the spy world with no idea what he's doing, and just some people he doesn't trust to protect his life. Zachary Levi pulls out a great performance as a fun spin on what is normally a serious genre. He later uses this to great effect as the DC hero Shazam.

Why he isn't my favourite hero? Of all the people on this list, Chuck is the most personable, and easily the one you'd most like to meet in real life. The show tells you, that if not for unfortunate circumstances, that Chuck could have easily gotten into the spy life, as an analyst at least, off his own merits, so adding the Intersect doesn't add too much to his character for me.

4. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) - The Good Place

Eleanor may actually start off as the worst person on this list, and starts the show as almost another villain. Not the she is evil in any way, just a straight up horrible person, or in her words an Arizona trashbag. Her most redeeming feature is that when she finds out that she is here by mistake and "ruining" the neighbourhood for everyone else, that her first reaction is not to act as though it isn't her fault, but to try to be a better person to actually belong there. Kristen Bell is well known across multiple shows, so wasn't as much of an unknown quantity, but she will always be Eleanor Shellstrop to me.

Why isn't she my favourite hero? Despite being a full on comedy, The Good Place has stakes to match any superhero blockbuster or spy thriller as Team Cockroach quite literally escape from hell and then save the earth from being erased. They do that by becoming better people, especially Eleanor, but the whimsical nature of the show just takes away the severity of the stakes, so it is difficult to buy into the idea of any of the team becoming the ultimate heroes.

5. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) - Daredevil

Most superheroes have incredible powers, or fantastical technology, to help them change the world. Matt Murdock has a disability. The Marvel Netflix series didn't get a lot of love from the general public, and a lot of them were cut off too soon. But Daredevil was the original and best. He is both lawyer and vigilante, creating interesting ethical dilemmas constantly, which the show doesn't shy away from. He has some excellent foils to work against, all throughout the shows three season run, and Charlie Cox is beyond superb. The only thing I remember seeing him in before this role was as the surprising lead in the film Stardust, which is aptly named due to the massive amount of A-list actors in it. But Cox is now back where he belongs, as the devil of Hell's Kitchen in the MCU.

Why isn't he my favourite hero? Matt Murdock is obviously a dual threat hero. His intelligence can't be questioned as he graduated top of his class from Columbia Law, and his fighting ability is excellent. It is joked that Daredevil could have taken down Thanos single-handed if he'd been able to fight him in a corridor. But the issue is that for three seasons, Matt doesn't show any of that intelligence. He constantly runs headfirst into danger, and takes quite a beating for it most times. My hero has to have a bit more nous than that.

So who is it? Who is the ultimate hero of the 21st century? The combination of excellent writing meeting excellent performance?

Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) - Sherlock

I make no apologies for the fact that I love the Sherlock Holmes character. From the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, through to every 21st century adaptation. In this writers humble opinion, the very best of the bunch is the 2010 BBC adaptation. The casting is brilliant throughout. Martin Freeman as John Watson is one of the most real characters I've ever seen, and Andrew Scott's Jim Moriarty would have been enough for me to change my above opinion on TV villains if it wasn't for the fact that he is only in a couple of episodes, kinda proving my point. But rightly, Sherlock is the Benedict Cumberbatch show. The man with the silliest name in showbiz has iconic scenes with every member of the Sherlock cast, and does wonderful work with wonderful writing. His take on Sherlock Holmes has all the flaws that are well documented, and can be an ass, incredibly self assured and lacking the most basic of social skills. But his vulnerabilities, and the relationships that he manages to form, with John and a few others, make what should be a ridiculous caricature into a real human being that you can't help but care about. Sherlock and John solve many murders, and take on some fantastical villains, but if you want to see the heart of the show, then watch the episode of John's wedding (The Sign of Three).

So Sherlock Holmes is my favourite hero for the reasons listed above, he has astounding intelligence, and matches that with a willingness to get into the action. His adventures are varied, and he comes out on top by an eclectic mix of means. He is excellent yet nowhere near perfect and finds himself out of his depth enough to be relatable. And all of this is delivered by Cumberbatch's imperious performance every single episode.

Thanks for checking out my article, and hopefully you come back for the villains piece, linked below.

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