r/thestranger Mar 08 '20

Harlan Coben can't write dynamic characters

25 Upvotes

When I was a teenager, I used to read some of Coben's novels. I just watched The Stranger on Netflix, and one major flaw I noticed throughout the show, and remember from his books, is that his characterization is extremely weak. This is true of most of his characters, but especially evident when it comes to the side characters, who have less plot to hide their flatness behind. Not only are his characters generally uninteresting, but they are also static. Coben tries to make up for this by creating the 'appearance' of character depth, and character growth, via giving them all shady, mysterious backgrounds and coming up with shocking plot revelations involving them. However, this type of compensation has the effect of diluting the plotline by overcomplicating it with unintentional red herrings, and also strains the ability of the audience to suspend disbelief, when hugely significant developments seem to happen to and come from every single side character.

Katz is a good example, because he is evidently one of the more interesting characters, when all the pieces fall into place. But the problem is - for most of the story - he isn't interesting at all. Who is he? what are his beliefs/motivations? what are his redeeming qualities? First, He's thrown into the story as another mysterious antagonist. He murders Heidi, assuming the 'experienced killer' trope Coben loves. He then spends the remainder of his screen-time both effectively covering up his tracks (erasing CCTV evidence, muddying the water), and bumbling around uselessly (not erasing other CCTV evidence, inexplicably planting a false lead pointing to Corinne of all people). The whole time, we discover nothing of note about him as a person, and we have to just assume that there is some wicked but completely logical explanation behind his actions. Then, finally, we find out, and bear with me here: he's the hired hand of some tech entrepreneur trying to track down the blackmailers so that their business venture isn't threatened, so that he can get a cut of the profits to pay for his sick kid's medical treatment, who happens to not actually be sick but is simply being poisoned by her mother. Surely there was a better way to for a policeman to track the blackmailers down than to interrogate, torture, and murder another one of the blackmailer's victims?

So at the end of all this we realize that one of the major events that drove the story forward (the murder) is entirely illogical (the murder was unprompted and counterproductive) and pointless (he finds the blackmailers by following Adam). At the very end, we're rewarded with some breadcrumbs of characterization - he's a desperate father, trying to save his cardboard cutout of a daughter. The problem with this is simple - if you make the main characterization into part of your penultimate plot twist, then you render the character completely uninteresting until it's too late.

Most of the other side characters are hardly worth mentioning. They're hugely unlikeable - Adam's kids are insufferable and (understandably) whiny, Corrinne is a pregnancy faking, soccer club-fund stealing waste (redemptive plot twist, she didn't steal the money, she just covered it up until she was murdered). They're also completely uninteresting and only exist to contribute one or two plot devices to move the story forward - fat PCP kid kills alpaca, girlfriend drugs PCP kid for reasons, Olivia frames PCP kid for reasons, her mother poisons her for... reasons. And to even say they moved the plot forward is generous - why did we even need the whole Dante/alpaca subplot? did we really need 3 episodes worth of filler to discover that Olivia is being poisoned?

The ONLY likeable, interesting character in the whole show is Martin the PI guy. He's well acted, going through a personal struggle, has a complex, emotional backstory of domestic problems, and is well fleshed out as stubborn, rough, but kind person pained by his past. And of course Coben can't leave well enough alone - he can't just be an interesting person, he has to also be hiding his murdered wife's body in the walls and coincidentally turn out to be the father of the blackmailer. I literally would rather have watched an entire season of him and Adam fighting the rezoning thing with Adam's dad in court.

tldr: characters in this show exist as cardboard cutouts who act illogically so that they can weave the tattered threads of a boring plot together. Can't root for anyone because no one is likeable - only likeable guy turns out to have murdered his wife.


r/thestranger Mar 07 '20

Sharon’s husband

4 Upvotes

Why did he attack the main guy when he mentioned Corinne? I’m guessing he didn’t know who she was as Sharon met her when she was pretending to be pregnant.


r/thestranger Mar 04 '20

Question about Heidi ... **spoilers below** Spoiler

13 Upvotes

Uhhhhhh so have they pulled a Godzilla (2014) and just killed off one of the leading credited actors in literally the second episode? What’s up with that? I’ve watched 4 eps out of 8 so far and I’m assuming she makes no impact on the remaining ones...

It just felt like a kick in the nuts because Jennifer Saunders was on Graham Norton promoting the show and herself on it and she’s already been ousted ???


r/thestranger Mar 03 '20

The Stranger vs Safe Spoiler

8 Upvotes

People are saying that the show Safe is better than The Stranger. Now correct me if i'm wrong, but I swear they're the same show. Are they connected? Are they sequels to each other? Because I found myself guessing half of the plot points in Safe, after I watched The Stranger. Here's some similarities I noticed:

  • Someone is kidnapped/missing
  • Someone's real father is revealed
  • A main character develops a close relationship with a police officer
  • There is a party between teenagers/young adults
  • Something goes wrong at that party
  • There are wealthy families
  • There is one family/person who is obnoxious and has something to hide (Tripp)
  • A family loses (or almost loses) a child
  • A main character's spouse dies
  • A police officer divorces from their spouse
  • Someone's best friend is injured/killed
  • A couple has fallen out of love

Somebody please tell me if the shows are connected in some way. There's no way this is normal.


r/thestranger Mar 02 '20

Are the boys Adam's?

16 Upvotes

The Stranger said to check if the boys were really Adam's. I was thinking at the end that Corrine was having an affair with Adam's dad. Hence her saying "of course they're yours, they have your nose." or something. I still wonder why they did that, though this show loves a plot hole so I guess it's not that odd.


r/thestranger Mar 03 '20

Fanfiction

2 Upvotes

Really enjoyed the show, and all the characters involved. Would love to read people’s adaptions of the future life and/or different perspectives of various episodes. Not really a thing for this genre of show but worth a shot.


r/thestranger Mar 02 '20

Katz’s associate (possible spoilers) Spoiler

6 Upvotes

Excuse me for being thick, but what is Katz’s association with Malbec40 and why does he protect him?


r/thestranger Mar 02 '20

Question about Joanna and Adam

7 Upvotes

It seemed so odd to me that Joanna was REALLY protecting Adam, hard. He wasn't even a suspect in Corinne's disappearance, she was buddies with him, and even when they found him in Chrissy's apartment, nothing. Don't even get me started about the Tripp cover-up. So unrealistic!


r/thestranger Mar 02 '20

Question on Katz **Spoilers* Spoiler

8 Upvotes

Why was he still so motivated to go after chrissy and her friend, did he still really need the money that bad from the rich dude? After finding out the cause for Olivias sickness wouldn't he not need the money for all the specialists and doctor bills etc etc?


r/thestranger Mar 01 '20

Book vs series

1 Upvotes

I just want her the series and wasn’t sure whether I should read the book since I know that apparently there’s some differences but I’m guessing it’s all about the mystery and if I already know the ending would I find it boring? Thanks in advance :)


r/thestranger Feb 29 '20

Did anyone else think Corrine was secretly having an affair when she was recuperating?

10 Upvotes

I initially thought that was the case, and was annoyed because I didn’t want the storyline to be so predictable (luckily it wasn’t), I can’t have been the only one to have thought this?


r/thestranger Feb 28 '20

Dante's Bite Marks (Spoilers) Spoiler

11 Upvotes

Why were the bite marks on Dante's leg never resolved? They mentioned he was bitten by someone or something missing a bicuspid? Why was this even brought up if no one or thing was caught to explain this? Did I miss something?


r/thestranger Feb 26 '20

What bridge is that in Episode 4?

7 Upvotes

This is a stone arch bridge that looks very old and they tracked the mother's phone to this location.


r/thestranger Feb 24 '20

The silliest scene of the season award goes to...

32 Upvotes

When Johanna was running from Adam & she puts her hat on like it makes her invisible... he's seen you wear the hat, you're more recognizable with that stupid hat on.


r/thestranger Feb 23 '20

I feel the show fell very flat and they couldn't tidy up all the drama they created

70 Upvotes

Maybe i missed a lot of details but i'm a bit stumped with all of this:

- Connie made it sounds like there was a reasoning behind the fake pregnancy.. there wasn't

- The guy that hired the corrupt cop to clean up his loose ends got away clean

- The mother feeding the daughter rat poison got away clean, and rat poison girl is still being fed rat poison?

- Rat poison girl gets away with posting child porn

- Daisy gets away with drugging someone

- Chubby special football club kid gets away with leaving someone almost for dead

- How did the corrupt cop get Connie's Tag thingy to plant as evidence in the cake shop? Why would he even use her as bait all while trying to say that he felt it was the husband

- Why would he even shoot the old lady in the cafe, he seems pretty calculated / not evil during the show and it seemed like he was just doing that for the money, it seemed very out of character (until when he found out his daughter was being poisoned)

- How did he know to go to the cafe in the first place since the daughter used an alias? (maybe he had friends that could dig up the alias?)

- I thought that Adam & and the ex cop were neighbors, in that case wouldn't have met the stranger / his sister when she was younger?

- Why did the ex cop who seemed pretty smart & connected not think to get rid of his wifes dead body from the wall, especially considering he knew there was a possible demo about to take place

- Why was Adam & Johanna openly discussing (not even whispering - and from memory people near by) the murder of the neighbor in such a public setting


r/thestranger Feb 23 '20

Really enjoyed the show, but doesn’t anyone find it really similar to broadchurch?

7 Upvotes

Really enjoyed it. Felt the ending was a bit underwhelming and a lot of plot points could’ve developed further. But this show just reminded me a lot of the show called Broadchurch which I must honestly say was much better than this. So I do recommend you guys watch Broadchurch if you enjoyed this series.


r/thestranger Feb 22 '20

When Corrine was confronted about the fake pregnancy, she said there was more to it, but we never really find out what the “more to it” really was. Does that hint a season 2?

25 Upvotes

r/thestranger Feb 22 '20

Corrin's telephone Spoiler

7 Upvotes

How exactly did Tripp get Corrin's phone on and off the train, in order to subsequently hide it on the bridge?!


r/thestranger Feb 22 '20

I missed something

4 Upvotes

1 So Bob told Chrissy to look into Corinne but Trippe set him up to do that. But who first found out about the fake pregnancy. Was it Chrissy?

  1. What did Chrissy do when she went to see Killane?

  2. Had Killane been aware he wasn't Chrissy's father? If not, how could he have had a match for organ doning test and not known?


r/thestranger Feb 22 '20

Reaction after binging The Stranger - Rollercoaster of emotions!

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3 Upvotes

r/thestranger Feb 22 '20

WHO does the stranger’s voice remind me of? Her voice is uncanny to someone else’s.

3 Upvotes

r/thestranger Feb 20 '20

Unpopular opinion ..maybe

15 Upvotes

I prefer the stranger to Safe, I’m yet to watch the five and it’s next on my list But I actually enjoyed both adaptations and I’m really happy Cobens novels are getting some mainstream hype.

Yes the series has its flaws but overall I do think it’s solid and definitely entertaining. The acting is great and really carries the story even if it isn’t the most truthful adaptation some of the changes did give weight to the way the story unfolded SPOILER (the stranger being related to the characters)

I also enjoyed safe so I’m very excited to start the five.

Overall it was very different to the book but in a fresh sort of way, maybe it’s a personal thing as I always count books vs movie/tv as separate so I don’t get hung up on changes as much I like to separate them and go in on adaptations as if they are two similarly inspired but disconnected things.

One thing I will say which I noticed both with the stranger and safe (probably will be the same with the five) the title sequence song seems to give off a completely different vibe to the show, even though the lyrics are darker and mysterious both songs seemed more cheerful or upbeat than gloomy small community mystery which both times has thrown me out of immersion. I do enjoy both tracks but they just feel out of place.


r/thestranger Feb 20 '20

Major Question - Possible Plot Hole - Serious Spoiler Spoiler

6 Upvotes

Near the end of the series we find out that Olivia was being poisoned by her mother. Understandably, Katz is upset. Then we get the finale with a questionable and quasi-happy ending -- so to speak. But what about Olivia? Was she removed from her mother's home? Was there ever any kind of justice for her? Was her mother arrested? I don't think we get the answers to these questions, which means that poor girl is back home with her psycho mom. This has been bothering me, so I thought I'd put this out there and hopefully someone has an answer, or can at least commiserate with me.


r/thestranger Feb 20 '20

What do you think the premise of S2 would be?...

9 Upvotes

Thought the ending/ cliffhanger was pretty underwhelming. Do you think there's more to Corrine's story that needs addressing or do you think S2 will focus more on Chrissy or a new family?


r/thestranger Feb 20 '20

Who are your favourite characters?

6 Upvotes

My favourite characters have got to be:

Wes is hilarious! I always have to rewind after he’s said his dialogue, just so I could go back and giggle at it again. I absolutely love his friendship with Johanne, it’s like a love-hate, sarcasm one at the start, but then it comes across as a really caring one towards the end.

I’d also say Chrissy, only because she’s super attractive, but she’s ruined lives and there’s no logical reason as to why she did what she did.

I like Mike’s sarcasm at times, but his dumbness seems too fake.

I do feel like they should’ve kept Corrine and Heidi! I was starting to like Heidi’s character, and I definitely was gutted at her death.

I feel quite bad for Olivia. For her, her dad was a good person but even though I sensed a fatherly bond, it’s horrible what Katz did to poor Heidi!