ahhh, I def see what you mean! And you know, the nice thing about that is that.. it actually DOES kind of all come back to Dr. Madden. And hey, if they could almost entirely re-write Natalies character from how she was back in the Feeling Electric days to how she is now in Next to Normal, there's no reason they couldn't do a big re-write of Dr. Madden's character too, right? :)
Although.. see.. the thing is I don't necessarily think Dr. Madden is completely portrayed as the "evil phsychiatrist" type. Maybe I'm just too attached to his "rockstar" side because I find Diana's hallucinations of his rockstar..ness... really amusing haha. But like.. I DO think that once you get past that there is some depth to the character. I agree though, it could be even stronger. I think the main thing they could do (and
should do) is re-work the scene where Dr. Madden is telling them about the ECT. Because I totally see what you mean: ECT, though it seems like it's pretty effective and safe these days, is still quite a big deal. And they make that clear through the REST of the characters, but Dr. Madden's character really doesn't seem to really think too much of it. So I think they could just.. make him a little bit more sympathetic to the fear that the family has of Diana getting the treatment, and a little more assuring in his explaining it to them, so that you DO get that it's a big deal for him to be recommending it. But I do also agree with jordangirl in that the path leading UP to his recommendation of ETC is pretty well fleshed out.
As for the other parts of the show, there are parts that I would keep in terms of his character (again, I personally really like the whole rockstar hallucination thing, as well as the sillyness of the "My Phsychopharmocolagist and I" scene, just because.. they're in Diana's mind, so I feel like you can get away with it being unrealistic. Plus it adds needed lightheartedness to the show over all). But there are also parts I would change (namely, as you said, making him a bit more sympathetic and really showing his eagerness to help her). And that could easily be done, actually, through some simple wording changes and stuff within some of the scenes.
The more I think about it though, the more you're definitely right in that Dr. Madden is by far the least developed and humanized character of the bunch. The rest of the characters (save for maybe Gabe, for obvious reasons) are so beautifully fleshed out and they have real character arcs throughout the show. but Dr. Madden, right now, really does seem to be there simply as kind of a plot device rather than another actual
character. And I think that improving that could make a HUGE difference. And like I said, it's just a matter of little changes in the dialague and wording throughout the show.
And on another note, I still stand by adding "I've Been" back in because I think it really fleshes out Dan's character arc, and it kind of necassery. I mean Dan's character is developed enough without it, but with it, his character is even more easy to sympathize with.
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
Updated On: 2/23/08 at 11:54 PM
