Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Ultimate Villain

Everyone is a both a villain and a hero for someone. It's all a matter of perspective. (photo from lizajanewvu on flickr)
To celebrate my last few days of glorious bumhood, I indulged in a marathon of “Heroes”. Yes, that Tim Kring series that parodies The X-Men with such a baleful and fiendish scorn it’s almost like a Pinoy telenovela. That series used to be television fodder for the bored people of the Medicine Senior Residents’ Office two years ago. That was when I finished Season 1 which, just like any other overrated and commercialized TV series, was the only really interesting and sensible season ever. In the next seasons, the story becomes so twisted and complicated it becomes ridiculous. Come on, Nikki Sanders dies and a Tracy Strauss suddenly appears? Or Parkman suddenly meets an African pre-cog and marries a speedster? Or the old Mr. Petrelli is alive, plots his revenge on Angela, kills Parkman’s dad who’s after all his evil accomplice? And Nathan becomes a bad guy and Sylar temporarily becomes the good guy and Peter goes back from the future to become the bad guy who suddenly turned good? Yeah, right. How soap-operaish could that get!

Come to think of it, if I ridicule it so much, why did I spend my precious days poring over it instead of finishing my long overdue year-end report? I’m ashamed to admit that it’s because of this three letter statement at the end of each episode: “To be continued…” I started it. I had to see how it ends.
The ultimate villain for low-EQ individuals like me. This is as wicked as wicked could get. (photo from bryanthui on flickr)
Yeah, I’m one of those individuals with very low EQ. I’ll certainly flunk the cookie test, I know. Waiting is just something impossible for me to do. Forgive me, but that’s just how I was made. I have to know what happens next.

A good friend once shared this story:
"There was this boy who reads a story for his grandmother who was already bed-ridden.
Whenever the story would come to a close, the grandson would stop. Genuinely intrigued and curious about the ending, the grandmother would ask ‘What happens in the end?’ The grandson would reply, ‘You’ll find out tomorrow grandma. Now have a good night’s sleep’. ‘Okay, goodnight’, she would say. The next day the boy would pick up a new book and start another story. That was how he kept his grandma alive."

Cute?

Nah, absolutely not! I find this story infuriatingly unfair! If I was the pathetic old lady, I’d grab the boy and strangle him to his death. The boy, if he has balls, should have honestly told his grandmother, “But grandma, this is already the end!” instead of creating false hopes that the story will continue indefinitely. I think he's such a wicked and spineless boy.

I shouldn't have been affected this adversely because that's supposed to be a nice little story intended to make me feel better. But as you can see, I have very poor EQ, and I will surely fail the cookie test. I finished Season 2 and Season 3 of “Heroes” in two freakin' days (thanks to pirated DVDs!) because I never rest until I find out what happens next. It's appalling, but I'm just built that way. I just think that every story should have an ending, no matter how predictable, painful, horrid, absurd, humdrum, or sad it should be.

“To be continued…” is such a nefarious, diabolical way to say goodnight. Oh please, be brave enough to end a story you had the nerve to start.



“In the case of human beings, friendship is a transitory art, subject to discontinuance without further notice.”
- From “Telemachus, Friend” by William Sydney Porter (O. Henry)

3 comments:

Reena said...

haha. i can so relate to this. ayoko din ng bitin. hindi ako mapakali if i don't find out the end of a story. :)

kakainis naman yung apo ng lola. hahaha. pag ako yun, naku, maiinis talaga ako.

AngelMD-No-More said...

"to be continued" din ang acquaintance natin drawow. hope to bump into you one of these days while we are answering referrals.hahaha

Will said...

and lahat sila may healing powers. lahat na lang.