Sunday, October 4, 2009

Aaron Stark - A Character Study


At first I looked upon Aaron Stark as a supporting character. It appeared that he was there to be Mark Benford's sounding board, the man who helps to keep the recovering alcoholic on the straight and narrow. A quiet, soft spoken man who dispenses bits of wisdom here and there, usually at the moment when Mark would need them most. He was Mark's Jiminy Cricket.
Quickly I came to realize the error of my ways. Aaron Stark could well be the voice of reason in a world that has been shaken to its very foundations by a force no one yet understands. In a time where confusion and uncertainty is the norm, despite every one's efforts to at least appear normal, I have a feeling that Aaron will be the man to put it all into proper perspective.
Our Mr. Stark is a lineman, so I'm assuming he knows a awful lot about electricity. A widower, he lost his daughter Tracy two years prior to the GBO and has not been able to come to terms with the deaths of the women in his life. Having fallen into the abyss of alcoholism, Aaron is now sober and struggling to remain that way. His belief that sobriety is the only way has helped his friend Mark join the AA program, Aaron as his sponsor.
Aaron's FF provides the conflict for his character. As far as he knows, his daughter is dead. Her minimal remains having been identified by DNA, Aaron has struggled to accept the loss of his daughter. Just as he's ready to let go of the denial, he gets a snippet of his future that tells him his daughter is not only alive, but in need of his help.
Hence the conflict. How does one reconcile the supposed proven fact that someone they love is gone to the vision that tells them that their grief may have premature and unnecessary? In short, Aaron has gone from stoic acceptance to cautious hope. I'm left to wonder where and how he will find his daughter, because I'm sure he will not let the vision rest at the back of his mind for too long. At some point very soon I expect Aaron Stark to leave LA in order to go find his daughter, battling the nagging doubt that his was a vision of error along the way. I see a future of both hope and heartache for Aaron Stark.
I only hope he doesn't lose his anchor and drift away.
NOTABLE QUOTES: So far
"You're afraid your future will happen. I'm afraid mine won't."
"Look at these people. Everyone of them is dealing with the same thing we are; the future. The only difference is, most of them don't have a support group to them cope with what they saw. Maybe it was good. Maybe it was bad. Maybe it was inexplicable.
The point is, it happened to everyone, every single human on the planet. I saw my daughter alive. Explain that! You can walk up to any of these strangers and ask, "What did you see?", and they'd know exactly what you were talking about. When in the history of the world has that ever happened?
We're all profits now"
And, one of my favorites:
"Even if this future stuff is real, maybe it's a blessing in disguise......Ghost of Christmas future crap...."
Kind of says it all, doesn't it?
He could be my favorite of all the charaters.

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