Inter-Related

I like stories that are exciting and unpredictable.  Figuring out how things fit together is one of the great joys of following along.  Unfortunately, some of that fun gets sucked out when it turns out that everything and everyone has to fit together because of shared connections in previous stories.

It was fun in the beginning.  When we first found out that Darth Vader was Luke’s father, it was a jaw-dropping moment.  No one saw it coming because it was new.  No one had done that before.  However, everyone seems intent on doing that now, and it’s really annoying.

Not everyone has to be related or have a past with the story.  One of my favorite shows is CobraKai, and while good, folks are braying for Terry Silver or John Kreese to be related to Tori, or for Julie Pierce to show up(maybe she’s Tori’s mom, or MikeBarnes is Miguel’s dad?).  Why?  Is it not enough for there to be tension with new characters?  Star Wars did this by having Rey be Palpatine’s granddaughter.  Can’t we just find force sensitive people whose names are not Skywalker or Palpatine?  It insulates the story by shutting out all outsiders, making the story an exclusive club and preventing people from envisioning themselves as part of it.

Besides which, all this inter-related nonsense is just plain lazy.  It lets writers not have to worry about much beyond that which they’ve already created.  They don’t have to stretch themselves and apply it to real life(where most folks aren’t inter-related).  It may make the moment feel wonderous, but it’s quickly fleeting and leaves the reader feeling empty.