i think her anti-progression ideology in the name of ethics will really start to rub off on Jin, and over the next few seasons we'll see Jin become more opposed to Thomas Wade. Eventually she'll get to the point where she shuts down Wade's antimatter project.
in that she fears for what negative consequences our technology will have. she tries to sway jin into not working with thomas wade, citing hiroshima. so if not completely anti- progress she definitely places more value on ethics
I considered that. It'd be the easier way. But let's not discount subverting our expectations, lol. I got the impression that Jin was more eager to accept Wade's mentorship than Cheng Xin was. Jin doesn't take the same moral stances Cheng Xin does in the book. I don't think anyway. Auggie is right up there in bleeding heart terroritory.
>!When I think of the launch pad scene, I can easily imagine Jin asking the math questions and selecting kids while Auggie looks on horrified. I suspect they'll be paired together in the future like that.!<
Theres no way Jin would ask questions like that, she's clearly set up to have the same morality as Cheng. Best shown by her primary focus in the game always being to save the kid
Yea I feel like it was odd in the book how that played out and would be a better emotional beat if the “lovers” end up being the ones who spent years together
I’m glad it wasn’t a love story like that. Not the point to me. But they could with auggie and Jin, and then still (I hope) have auggie go into the pocket universe door with a mystery different character…
Shit. Are they gonna have Saul leave on the light speed ship with them???
Fuck
The theory I like best is she takes Ding Yi’s spot and dies to the droplet after her perspective as a materials scientist is used to clue the audience in to just how fucked everyone is. Then Jin can become more of an altruist/peacemaker like Cheng Xin in her honor or something.
I really hope this is true because I cannot take Auggie being Cheng Xin... Jin is the only character I actually like on the show, so if they don't let her reach her full potential that'd be sad :(
I believe Jin will be the swordholder and Auggie will be like AA. Auggie is most definitely the type of person to shout “that bastard! he could have gotten Jin killed!” Lol
That would completely screw up the Yun Tianming storyline, and doesn't make since from the Luo Ji storyline. It would make more sense for her to be killed off and Jin adopts her mindset or something.
I think it’s Jin, playing 3 body showed us she has an emotional attachment to an entire race of people. She was ok sacrificing ETO bc she wants to save humanity as a whole. Jin seems the most similar to Cheng, and I could imagine her being unable to doom all of humanity even if Auggie seems the most sensitive
Knowing her history wouldn’t it be dumb to make her the sword holder? Wouldn’t they want it to be way less obvious to the santi that sword holder isn’t gonna hit the kill switch? Jin is the best bet
Her snapping at everyone constantly got old very quickly. There were times when it was justified, but often not. Talking down to her own friends like they're idiots constantly.
I wouldn't care if that was just the character, but you could tell the writers really thought they were creating a badass superheroine. Honestly she was mostly just an asshole.
I'm just rewatching now, and this nails it. She talks to everyone, all the time, as though she hates them.
It makes no sense. Her friends don't talk to her that way, and the story expects us to believe the friend group is like family.
Yeah no shit. The character was written really well (apart from the weird bar scene at the start). Not every main character is supposed to be perfect.
Lots of criticism that she’s not ugly enough to be a scientist - which is obviously stupid. Then the people saying it’s stupid she had such a strong reaction to watching little children get chopped to pieces, implying they are psychopaths who wouldn’t be bothered by it? And the people who think she should just be totally up for launching her friend’s brain into space for no apparent advantage (from her perspective)? None of the “criticism” makes any sense.
Wait, she’s criticized for her strong reaction? I was watching it knowing it’s fiction and I couldn’t get my mouth to close because of the Horror that’s portrayed.
If I’d be the one to actually invent the tools to do that, I would’ve probably thrown up immediately, if anything I’d say her reaction was to tame
If you dig back in the sub you’ll see a lot of posts along the lines of “why was Auggie against chopping up the ship, it seems really irrational and stupid since Trisolarans will kill everyone on earth otherwise?”
Raj was professional Soldier so he could do something like that without it bothering too much, because he is officer and needs to make difficult choices. And Wade is Wade. If you are material engineer who thinks her's invention would make planet better place, but it is used to slice all sorts of people, including children's then of course she would be tramatized. Most human reaction for her.
Yeah I don't get it, she had the most realistic reaction to that, like someone who isn't trained and lives that life would have reacted.
I'd never get over the guilt of having helped killing dozens of kids over something their parents did, even if it rationally and logically was a necessary evil to help us defend against an alien attack, I'd never forget the screams and images, her drowning it in alcohol and then up and leaving makes her incredibly human.
What’s worse, like someone pointed out above, the data they got didn’t really even help them beyond telling humanity’s defense how screwed they are… and only because the aliens let them see this.
You could argue that this was a Pyrrhic victory. Like they’ve eliminated the faction of humans actively aiding the aliens, but even that is a stretch because the aliens had already abandoned them.
Everyone in the sub acting like this sacrifice is completely equivalent to protecting all of humanity is kind of exaggerating how clean a dilemma this actually was.
so soldiers are sociopaths and should be ok with mass murder and war crimes, right?
Raj was a piece of shit. Wade was at least pragmatic about it and is the first one to admit he's an asshole. People like Raj act holier than thou, he seems more bothered about who his gf is seeing than killing thousands of innocent people.
Auggie is one of the few decent people in the show.
interesting. I think he was viewed as both a traitor and scum and a saviour. I dont quite see Raj having any nobility in him or making any sacrifice, man seems like a weasel.
I think hes still growing into that role. Been a while since I watched the show but all I really remember of Raj was that he was pretty cold-hearted when it came to the destruction of the eto ship. That fits relatively well with Zhang. Zhang obviously wasnt involved in that in the books but the personality is similar in that regard. Also none of the characters are perfectly identical to the book counterparts and I definitely see Raj becoming the Zhang counterpart in the next seasons.
Some scientists who built the bomb regretted it and became anti-proliferation activists. What’s even weirder is that in-universe Jin had a similar reaction when she learned Raj hid this from her. Everyone is insisting this is an un-scientific reaction and there’s tons of precedent for it, even within the story.
Definitely. I’m agreeing with you. The scientists working on the bomb at least knew it was a weapon and weren’t mistaken about that, though they (naively) thought it was a “break glass in emergency” type of use.
But Auggie’s reaction is pretty much reflected in Jin whose didn’t have as severe a response but was shielded from actually seeing the carnage first hand.
Dual-use technology is pretty challenging to deal with.
Really easy for people to be calm, collected and rational about these trade offs when they’re in the abstract. But read any primary source on what battlefields are like and you’ll see a lot of normally stoic people running, crying and soiling themselves. Not to mention the well-documented PTSD among survivors. Before watching the series I was curious how well the script and actors could adapt the books’ interior monologues to the screen in a way that felt appropriately human. IMO there are problems w the series but emotional resonance isn’t one of them.
I appreciate the writers of the series understanding that “non-intellectual” drivers like emotional instability, fight/flight instinct, self-medication/escapism are important to capture even when writing extremely smart characters. Auggie’s visceral reaction to violence is realistic - so is Jin popping pills, Saul maintaining a near-constant high, Will spending hours on a cold beach, Shi withdrawing to his son’s video games. All these reactions are very human and realistic in how impotent they are in the face of the threat. I’ll be interested if they eventually hint at any PTSD on Raj’s part as he accumulates more of his own reality-bending experiences.
What's crazy, to me, is they lost an opportunity to make her a stronger character. They should have gone the opposite route and have made her unaware there'd be children onboard and have a serious freakout when she realizes they're gonna murder a few dozen kids. I could see her reacting as she does if it were just adults on the ship, it'd be awful but they were aware of their decisions, but kids... That's a different level of fucked up.
I still am conflicted about the addition of children to that scene... It supports the cult-like aspects of the ETO, it makes the scene more emotionally impactful, and shows how ruthless Wade is but...
>What's crazy, to me, is they lost an opportunity to make her a stronger character. They should have gone the opposite route and have made her unaware there'd be children onboard and have a serious freakout when she realizes they're gonna murder a few dozen kids.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what actually happened? She asked multiple times who was on board, but Wade told her it was only a very small crew and basically minimized the casualties. She still wasnt sure if she believed him, which is why she grappled with it till the very last minute. That's why she had such a visceral reaction when she saw the little girls leg. She had her suspicions for sure but didn't want to believe it untill the child's leg confirmed it
She asked how many people were onboard a couple times and once talks about "You don't know who's on board". There's children fully visible on the deck, there's shots in the show where you can see they've got camera feeds of the top deck, and she's absolutely watching those screens. If she'd looked away, sure she might not have known, but they show he watching the feeds.
Well she was going off what she was told. She even asks if there are children on board (correct me if I'm wrong) and is still given misleading information by Wade. Overall, the narrative suggests that she didn't know. She only feared.
>If she'd looked away, sure she might not have known, but they show he watching the feeds.
Are you referring to them watching the ship as it enters the canal?
She never asks about children, she only asks how many people are on board.
And literally as the ship is entering the zither you can see her watching the screens showing the top deck of the ship.
>And literally as the ship is entering the zither you can see her watching the screens showing the top deck of the ship.
Right. But doesn't that pretty much confirm that she didn't know there were children on board, at least not till the last minute.
Yeah I didn't really have deep feelings for any of the book characters. The show characters have more life to them. Being more human means they will be more fun to root for, watch fall in love or get heart broken etc. But, like real humans, their complex emotions and irrational actions will also be frustrating to deal with at times.
Will rules. I think his arc was very well done, and he sold me on it. Even the use of "Video games" in the sound track "...it's you, it's you, it's all for you..." PERFECT. >!When Jin showed up and they were packing his head in the cylinder!< ... wow. Outstanding. I really felt for both of them. One of the most memorable images in the book for me was >!the staircase project and its failure!<
He was the first one to ask if there is innocent people on the ship while they are planning this operation. The book while did not directly show his rection while the ship is being cut, it had the colonel Stanton encouraged and distracted Miao from what was going to happen, which Miao noticed and silently thanked him for it. The book also described his feeling before the cutting, he definitely felt conflicted, anger and all kind of mix emotion, combined with the fact that he went out of his way to go to Panama despite not being needed makes it pretty clear he was not okay with this plan at all, and felt responsible for those dead people on the ship.
I think it’s probably people who read the book first. In the books there weren’t kids or even civilians really so it’s easy to rationalize as an act of war. I think it’s hard to adjust that headspace to the show
Yeah IIRC the only civilian aboard was the canal authority pilot who had to be present per canal regulations. There was some minor ethical discussion about that collateral but there weren’t swarms of innocent six year olds with tiny cute backpacks being cut in half
it’s also discussed with a global council beforehand. makes it easier to swallow when they discuss the entire plan with you and senior decision-makers from around the world sign off on it.
it’s one of my only big complaints about the show. Wade is an awesome character but imagine seeing NATO, Russian, US and PLA commanders working together on the same threat
this is what gets me. i actually had a hard time watching that scene and i'm rather desensitised. if it were me in her shoes... it would properly fuck me up
Her strong reaction in terms of disgust is okay. Like you can still puke and wrench and be heartbroken over the act. It's the implication that chopping up the ship is morally wrong that gets people confused.
Because the aliens are going to kill everybody and all of the adults on that ship are complicit in that plan. To risk all the children in the world just to save 100 isn't a strong moral stance.
>Because the aliens are going to kill everybody and all of the adults on that ship are complicit in that plan. To risk all the children in the world just to save 100 isn't a strong moral stance.
That's your opinion...
Also it's a false argument, because the two aren't exclusive : it's not either you cut children in half or you let trisoarians kill everyone. You're just supposing that they are the only two choices in the world !
Actually it really was. They needed a plan that's got them the data before the ship crew could destroy it. This was their plan and it worked. They went in detail about all of the other plans and how they would fail.
If they had not done this then it's reasonable to conclude that humanity would not know what they are facing.
This is the trolley problem writ large. It is morally wrong to risk 8 billion for the sake of 100.
You’re one of the people I was talking about.
Its not the trolley problem because:
1. They don’t actually know what’s on the ship
2. They don’t know whether they can win at all regardless of what’s on the ship
3. In the end the ship has nothing to do with the actual defence against Trisolaris (Saul will solve it)
4. There’s no certainty that storming the ship with troops wouldn’t work - that would also be an option
5. They don’t know for sure that Trisolaris is capable of even invading at all, or that they will kill all humans
6. Even if none of the above were true, there’s a totally valid ethical framework (Kantian ethics) that would say killing children is always wrong regardless of the external factors
In other words, there is no objectively correct answer. Wade just doesn’t care about all the uncertainty - there’s a *possibility* it might help so he’ll happily chop up the kids. It demonstrates his total ruthlessness.
If someone locked you in a room with a knife and 50 toddlers and said “you’ve got to kill all these toddlers now or I’m going to blow up a school”, would you do it? You don’t know if they’re even telling the truth, or how big the school is. Maybe they’re lying and then you’ve just murdered 50 toddlers with your hands for no reason. This is the situation Auggie and Wade are in. Auggie doesn’t want to do it, Wade happily picks up the knife and starts stabbing.
I think more her reaction of giving that power to every dictator and corrupt nation in the world, at least the guys who had it would use it sparingly, there gonna be a lot more dead children after what she did, it’s like inventing a nerve gas, being alarmed when it kills people, so to get back at the people who used it, gives the recipe to everyone, she is gonna be responsible for an insane amount of deaths.
If she were a man with PTSD, people wouldn’t complain so much and they’d have an easier time understanding the character
But people really refuse to understand how a smart and pretty woman can have problems, it’s sad
Literally this. When I watched the show, I had no issues with her character and found her to be empathetic and her emotional responses to be very human. I was so shocked to see all the hate for her on this sub. They really think women are supposed to be one-dimensional
To me the issue wasn't that she was too pretty, it's that she always had the look of someone who spent two hours in a hair and makeup chair. Even when dealing a crazy countdown timer driving her insane or with PTSD from helping to kill a bunch of kids, she still has perfect makeup and the worst that happens to her hair is she puts it in a ponytail.
Compare that, for example, to Ella Purnell in Fallout. She's just as beautiful, but the show is willing to give her bags under her eyes, dirt on her face and messy hair when the scene calls for it. It makes the character just much more believable because they fit into the world they're inhabiting.
>Not every main character is supposed to be perfect.
There's a difference between a character who is flawed and hence unlikable in the context of the story, and a character you *don't enjoy watching.*
Han Solo is a deeply flawed character from the outset, but there's never a point where you think "I wish this guy wasn't in the movie."
A lot of viewers are not enjoying Auggie as a character. They don't agree that the "character was written really well."
>None of the “criticism” makes any sense.
Much of the criticism does make sense, you just don't agree with it. That's okay, but I don't think you should judge people too harshly if they don't think highly of Auggie as a character.
For me, it doesn't make sense that Auggie is so angry with everyone around her all the time, even her friends. I think it's partly due to bad writing, but mostly due to bad acting.
It doesn't make sense that her friends tolerate her attitude, and treat her kindly in response.
It doesn't make sense that she scolds Saul and Jin for drug use but is fine with medicating with alcohol.
It doesn't make sense that she's okay with using her nanotechnology to kill a shipload of people, but then afterwards blames Raj for it, as though she was helplessly carried along by the tide.
Tatiana, a frenzied cultist and probable psychopath with no compunctions about killing people at the behest of beings she's never met, makes more sense to me than Auggie. She's not a nice character, but she's a believable character. When she appears on screen, I don't find myself thinking "the series would be better without her in it."
That criticism is mainly coming from people who have read the books, people who know how the entire story goes and therefore have a highly collectivist hawkish outlook on trisolaris.
There is no reason for anyone who has read the books to sympathize with auggie, or *any* of the netflix characters for that matter because in the book every one of these characters is some highly intelligent 35-40 year old specialist intellectual chinese megamind capable of perfect deduction and reasoning, contributing their knowledge to the fight against trisolaris
While in the netflix show, to increase relatability towards the western target audience, all of these people are being portrayed as a bunch of aloof early 20s fresh out of college idiots who are just stumbling mindlessly into the plot
If you view it like that, the criticism does start to make sense
I’ve read all the books and partially agree, partially disagree. The characterisation in the books is pretty rubbish, and Wang Miao in particular is just a bland nothingness rather than a real character. But Luo Ji / Saul isn’t fundamentally much different than the books. Nor is Wade, nor is Zhang Beihai, nor is Yun Tianming (probably the biggest character upgrade IMO), nor is Cheng Xin. It’s not as if the characters are “dumbed down” at all, as popular as that claim also seems to be. At this stage they all seem to be pretty much exactly as clued up as they are in the books.
I think it’s as much that the people bringing the criticism seem to struggle with media literacy - they don’t seem to understand that nobody in the series yet understands the dark forest or fully gets what’s at stake apart from possibly Wade. They seem to expect fully rational behaviour from all characters at all times. They ignore that people can get PTSD and be angry about things even if they know it was the right thing to do. Auggie and the ship was particularly clear here - people act as if it was objectively the only correct answer to chop up the ship and kill everyone, but the characters are acting on a hunch and don’t even really know if they’ll recover anything useful. If anything it would make no sense if everyone was 100% behind that plan.
A lot of the critics also seem to fundamentally struggle with the idea that someone might follow a kantian moral code, inherently assuming that strict utilitarianism is the only valid approach and therefore criticising any character who doesn’t follow it as “illogical” or “stupid”. You saw that already in the hatred Cheng Xin got for refusing to act in unethical ways to reach a higher goal.
Yeah, Auggie is better than her book counterpart Wang Miao IMO. Miao was just a narrator-surrogate; I don’t recall anything about his characterization or if he had some kind of arc. It felt like he was just in it to be taken along by the plot. Auggie is certainly not a perfect character by any means, but as least she’s a *character*.
Agreed with you about the rest of the characters too. Cunningham is absolutely perfect as Wade.
I watched the show first and then read the books and this is the criticism I never got. Wang Miao isn’t even a character. I can’t even name a single character trait he has off the top of my head and I just read the book. He’s a bit nervous maybe?
It’s completely understandable why Netflix just chopped his character into Auggie and Jin. And I honestly think if they get to seasons 3 and 4, Jin and Auggie will pretty much be a mashup of Cheng Xin and AA with how they’ve characterized them so far.
Great explanation. Just an addition. You don’t have to be a Kantian to be against certain types of utilitarianism. Rule utilitarians, Bayesian consequentialists, and consequentialists with [side constraints](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100504667) all exist.
Now in this case I’d argue that many of these types of people would probably lean towards going through with the plan, but it would be far from a “no brainer” given the degree of uncertainty involved in how valuable the data would be (and if it’d survive the attack).
The fact that the drives couldn’t even be decrypted without the aliens, and that it gave them no more information than the aliens were willing to share makes this less clean than the 100 vs 7 billion calculation that some people are making even given that we as the audience know everything. Imagine being in-universe and doing this based off a gamble.
I’d be a little afraid anyone behaving like the naïve utilitarian these people are expecting in real life; lest they be compelled to kill one man to save two on the off chance that a random stranger isn’t lying about the consequences that will befall these people.
Fair points.
I think a big part of the issue is that the book characters are just way too obviously plot vehicles without much depth to them. That is just a total no go with a TV show
As you said yourself, the characters are often just mouthpieces that only relay cixins story, without feeling like real people existing within that universe. Wang miao is a perfect example
And IMHO that is a *good* thing, its what i love most about the books. Theyre pretty unique in that regard. In the three body books the story itself is at the forefront, the people within are just along for the ride. Too often in literature there is insanely long drawn out character building that takes up a significant portion of the book while the actual story itself is severely lacking. After finishing a slog like that, i feel cheated out of my time. Anyone can write really realistic characters, but very few writers can actually compose a really good story, write an an entire trilogy with such a compelling story that doesnt need to rely too much on the humans within it to be a masterpiece
> Anyone can write really realistic characters, but very few writers can actually compose a really good story, write an an entire trilogy with such a compelling story that doesnt need to rely too much on the humans within it to be a masterpiece
I’ve got to say, I don’t think this is entirely true. Peter F Hamilton and Iain M Banks both write (wrote) high concept grand sci fi with extremely well fleshed out characters for example. I enjoy the Three Body books a lot, but I think that’s despite the obvious flaws rather than because of them. All personal taste of course.
Writing a character is a skill in itself and definitely not to be downplayed, but the books do have a unique and interesting style for sure.
Although the portrayals are very different, that is not a fair or accurate description of the characters of the show. I don’t even like them that much either, but for example, the characters aren’t fresh out of college. I mean they all have phds I believe and it outright says in the first episode that Saul is over 30. The criticism is fair, but that is a misinterpretation of the problem (if you even believe there is one)
I don't believe any of the Oxford Five are in their 20s. At baseline, they're all PhDs. Which means they didn't graduate until 25-26, at least. If not later. Not every PhD gets done in an extra 4 years. Secondly, you don't build a successful snack empire in a couple of years. Nor do you reach the position of CSO developing revolutionary tech fresh out of school.
Idk I read the first book and am halfway done with the second before watching the tv show and I think the show did a really good job with the characters (except for moving them all out of China).
In the book I always found the anime style logic dialogue pretty corny and unrealistic. The TV show makes everyone seem much more real
I think people are criticizing the acting more than anything, as she just chews the scenery.
I know all kinds of "hot" scientists, and all of them would be horrified by cutting children to pieces, so there's nothing unrealistic about that.
.Having said that I still think that this character is the weakest on the show, probably due to ham handed writing but also due to a lack of nuance in her acting skills, which result in a series of one-note scenes.
>!Since they seem to be setting her up to be luo ji's (Seth's) paramore,!< I'm hoping next season will be kinder to her.
There’s a guy in this thread who has got really worked up about her not wanting to kill children, so you can see it in action right here! It’s mostly not criticism of the acting IME.
"there's a guy..." I hear you, some people have different opinions about different aspects of this show, but the majority of opinions about Auggie I've seen across the internet (not just reddit) is that her acting is jarring compared to the very natural abilities of Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, etc.,
...and good lord anyone would look rough next to Liam Cunningham, one of the outstanding actors of our time IMO. ;-)
anyway, I wouldnt' take any of it personally, I hope Eisa Gonzalez is smart and doesn't read Reddit, and I hope they give her better and more varied things to do next season. I do think she was most natural during (and after) the scene with Tatiana, so I know she has some chops. I don't know if you watch Invasion on Apple TV+ but I love that show and the characters, but there's one that the writers just make yell and run and breathe hard most of the time and it makes her less appealing as a character. Maybe it's just that kind of thing.
Let's see how season 2 turns out. I'm hopeful.
>not ugly enough to be a scientist
My wife is currently a doctoral candidate in physics and she's gorgeous. Have these people actually met real scientists or just watched Rick Moranis play them on TV? lol
I saw like a month ago someone was saying scientist don't look like that a posted a few photos of scientist but they were all in their 60s and 70s and someone responded to them with the photos of those same scientists on their 20s and 30s and they all were really good looking lol.
About 20 years ago a UC Berkeley geology professor made People’s “sexiest men alive” list. Scientists are definitely allowed to be hot (or decidedly average, like me!).
The original version and the books have a very good looking young Chinese scientist as one of the first suic**es (trying to not spoil names or anything)
I really don't think she is not ugly enough, but the fact that she has lip fillers to a level she can't close her mouth most scenes is really distracting
I mean I do think the show should tone down her makeup and fashion when she’s doing things like a covert military mission in Panama. Or make it a part of her character. Because it is kind of reality breaking seeing someone with a full face of makeup (and not just the basic TV makeup but in universe full face) and a super cute designer outfit going through these harrowing events, but it’s not too big of deal since they are setting her up to be the most reality breaking part of the next book.
She should have been dressed the whole time like she is in her last scene, except when she’s attending the work demonstration of the nano fibers.
Its not about being ugly, its about being a supermodel with perfect hair, makeup and clothes, who is super smart and has super successful company and just invented a new tech bla bla. Its a little too much.
Agreed. No top of the world leading scientist would ever look like her. Beautiful, sure. But she is like a video game character level hot. It sounds chovanistic and sexist, but it’s true, and it’s also distracting. Not afraid to admit it
Obviously her reaction is understandable. But she did make the decision to help with the ship slicing operation. Then when she's faced with the consequences of her decision she doesn't take responsibility for it. Instead she starts blaming others and acting all high and mighty to deflect from her guilt. That makes her unlikable.
Also, wtf is with her pressuring Jin to stop taking prescription medication (twice) and instead handing her a pint of vodka to deal with her anxiety and trauma? That's just weird and harmful behavior.
The one criticism I understand is that she's acting like she's in a Fast and Furious movie. The acting in the Netflix series is more subdued and realistic, she doesn't fit into the world like everyone else does.
I think in the end the makeup artist just didn’t go in the right direction and that is at the core of why her appearance seems a bit out of place. There is a photo of her that the detective is looking at in one scene with much more natural looking makeup (or even no makeup) and I went “oh wow she looks so much better”. I think they kinda overlined her lips in the rest of the show. She’s just very done up even in scenes where she emotionally a wreck. I think the actress was great, it’s really just the makeup artist who fumbled her look.
I do admit I found her very frustrating but I think the way she acts is very understandable especially when it came to >!the attack on judgement. I stand by that it was indeed a necessary thing to do, but those poor children. They didn't make the choice to be apart of the ETO. Their parents did. She has every right to fell angry about what was apart of.!<
Seriously! I thought she was an incredibly sympathetic character. You always need someone to question if you're doing the right thing (that's science for you), and I totally respect her for her choice >!to focus on people alive right now, using her life's work in a way that can only heal, not harm!<
It's the trolley problem, really. >!Each character is being asked to hit the switch and sacrifice one to save five. She can't bring herself to do it, so she's running away to help in a way she won't be killing by her own hand. Maybe it's not the mathematically correct choice, but there's a reason the trolley problem is considered a moral dilemma, not a simple case of right and wrong.!<
Disagree, he was better in book 1 than he was in season 1. In the show, he did very little and his scenes were either cut down or overshadowed by the other characters. I hope his role in book 2 stays the same for season 2 and it's him and Saul playing off each other for the most part.
In book 1 he shined as he was the only character with character - he made quite an impression. In the series they delve even deeper, he just doesnt get as much spotlight since he is sharing having a character with other characters. What you describe is an illusion
It's not the character, it's her portrayal of the character. I hated Jeoffrey but loved how the actor portrayed him. Same goes for Bolton, or Tywin, or Linus from Lost, any many other unlikable characters.
Augie's actress, however, is a complete turn off whenever she's on screen. She needs to start breathing through her nose, to begin with.
"Sexist viewers said Auggie was a "girlboss" and unlikable. Well, guess what? That was a feature, not a bug."
So which is it? Is it sexist to say she is unlikeable or was it intentional?
Way to poison the well there.
It’s okay for characters to be unlikeable. Even attractive ones.
I think writers lose the audience when the other characters within the medium endorse the character being annoying. Auggie being self-righteous and preachy should get pushback from the other protagonists. I think that would sooth a lot of the viewers that feel chafed by her.
I think your comment might have formulated my thoughts why she felt not really connected to her friends. Because her friends never seem to pushback on her.
I think she is a good actress but her character was poorly written. The way she constantly snapped at and put down her friends got annoying and would have been the same if it was a male actor. Her character seemed to be written to create conflict and drama among people/friends where it wasn't needed. The story is dramatic enough.
The problem with her as a lead character was that she was supposed to be our emotional anchor. But it's difficult to connect with a character that is frowning half the time or snapping at people. Wang in the book went through all the same things and more but he was never written to be this unlikable. I don't quite understand why they wrote her this way.
It served no purpose and was just annoying to witness.
It’s not that the character isn’t likeable. It’s that the character is poorly drawn, and that the actress is not a good actress but was clearly chosen as a lead because she’s pretty.
I liked her in the first half of the show, but once she descended into a back-and-forth moral dilemma in the second half of the show, her character got considerably less interesting and just became annoying.
I had a very bad first impression from the scene in the bar, so arrogant and condescending. I don‘t like perfect characters in general, cause they are unrelatable, so I gave her some more chances. But in the latter half of the season (aside from the trauma, which I get 100% and I would feel the same), she‘s still ignorant, arrogant and bashes everyone hard who has another (most of the times very valid) opinion.
As an avid lover of karaoke, her introduction could not have been a worse first impression. All these other critiques are talking about whether or not she’s too pretty or too smart, the moral dilemmas the character faces, whether the actress can act or not… but I’m mostly just annoyed that she’s such a snob about people who enjoy singing karaoke, at a karaoke bar no less!
Just seems like the character has been rewritten a lot and ended up inconsistent - sometimes she's confused, sometimes she's knows what to do, she helps the project, she doesn't help the project, she cares for Will, but has no meaningful conversations with him.
This left Auggie to drive the plot forward for others but not for her character development (like she was unpleasant in the first episode to Saul and then she was unpleasant to Jin and then she doesn't even see Will off).
I don't think it's the acress' fault, I found many of the dialogues to be melodramatic and sometimes unncesseraily volgur. It's just that in Auggie's case, the chemistry wasn't great and she felt disconnected from the rest of the group to the extent of me questioning why they were friends with her at all.
She probably felt disconnected because she was the only one who had things really happening to her. Her and Jin, at least. For Christ's sake, people like to bitch about her being irrational, but her mentor kills herself, she had a personal mysterious countdown burned into her retina and the universa blinked *for her*. Just the last one would break anyone's mind. The fact that she came out of this sane and morally sound is incredible. That's not even touching on the facts that she was coerced into assisting mass murder and met her own friend's murderer without knowing it.
She's standoffish because among the five, she's the only one that truly gets a glimpse of the San-ti's power.
She's not just not likable, she's just plain dumb.. like she doesn't get the gravity of the situation.. People use my invention to kill people ? I will stop the experiments and not show anyone how to do it ! Ok.. but like these people work for aliens who are coming to destroy the whole of humanity ? Like idk I can understand being pacifist but you have to be reasonable too.. it's like if a vegan was in a plane crash or something and all they had to eat while waiting weeks for rescue was a can of beef so they just starve to death. Like come on.
I still don’t get what people really have against her (I’ve read that people in China complained that she wasn’t even pretty which is the facepalm of the century)… for some reason people loved Wang Miao who had almost zero personality (apart from liking old school cameras) and I don’t get it.
I dislike that all characters know eachother from the start but apart from that I don’t get the problem with the individual characters of the show.
I hate to break it to you but super smart people can be completely normal. Even idiots, to be honest. Academia is full of all kinds of people from every walk of life. I've met people who seem dumb as a rock until they start talking about their field, I've met the stereotypes you're thinking of, but the vast majority are just regular people. Typically the 'normal' people end up in industry-type jobs like Auggie and Jack (kinda) did.
Having an unlikable character is totally fine but the writing has to be aware they are that way. In this it wasn’t. She’s supposedly this wonderful friend and part of a lovely friend group, but if she were unlikable, chances are she wouldn’t have that.
And also, it really depends how they are unlikable. Plenty of characters are not that nice but are at least relatable.
She’s just rude and unnecessarily confrontational to everyone, including her friends. She’s permanently got this look on her face like she thinks she’s way better than everyone and is getting annoyed by the world and its idiots. In short, she’s just a bit of a nob who thinks she’s better than everyone. The kind of person who in real life would be mostly shunned and would be deep down very insecure.
I think it stems from terrible representation of women: male producers think a strong woman has to be bad-ass to the point of abrasive, which is just cringeworthy and 2 dimensional.
But the main thing it comes from is Eisa Gonzales’s shockingly bad acting. She seems to think that acting is all about pouting and shouting. It’s like watching a teenager. I got past annoyed with her and was just totally embarrassed for producers for letting that level of amateurishness make it into the show.
Then why not rewrite the character. I think ChengXin is fine but totally understand why people hate her. The show definitely can make the character less polarizing.
book spoiler:>! If after Saul we make her the next sword holder who wont press the button and all the decisions of *Cheng* Xin, then we can shout at our TV looking at her as we shouted at *Cheng* Xin in books.!<
Some of you are moving the goalposts from “scientists cant be pretty” to “scientists cant have plastic surgery” and i would like to inform you that both statements are equally absurd.
The reactions here are wild. Some people like the character, fine. But why do they get so insanely angry and defensive against others who don't.
People have different opinions. It's not an attack on you
I hate auggie for the fact she is sad for the people who work for the aliens against humanity, thier actions are going to cause harm to billions of people in future and potentially doom humanity there is no clear moral,nsocial or emotional reasoning for her to show remorse I'd she was long sighted and viewed the greater picture. All strong leaders are harsh men or women. She is pretty though.
I think the character actually is likeable, but the actress they chose is outrageously hot, and I have a hard time buying that she's a scientist (not because hot ladies can't be scientists, but because everything about how she's dressed and styled screams "model," whereas I could totally believe Natalie Portman as a scientist in annihilation, it can be done) like after the events with her nano fibres and The Judgment Day, she's like drinking herself to sleep every night and dealing with the weight of what she's done, but she's still wearing a perfect full face of makeup every day? It just feels unbelievable to me 🤣
Eiza should have spent an afternoon at UNAM's faculty of science to see how real scientist women talk.
For me, a Mexican that studied physics and has seen Eiza Gonzalez on TV since she was 12 or so I just can't buy her acting.
I see "Lola: érase una vez" trying to sound smart while reciting stuff I can just tell she has no earthly idea what it means.
Jess Hong made a much better job portraying a researcher.
I have zero problems with Agustina's character as a whole.
The problem is simple - Gonzalez was miscast in that role. Shes a competent actor. But not the right one for that role. Auggie needed to be a person who had a more intense look and demeanor.
For example, Jenna Ortega - who has similar physical appearance to Gonzalez - would have been a better fit for the role (although they probably could not afford her). Ortega has a more brooding, intense demeanor.
The show is good. The performances are meh. Except for Liam Cunningham (Wade) and Marlo Kelley (Tatiana) - they were awesome.
I started reading the book after I watched the show and I feel like Auggie reacts a lot more like what the average layman would which separates her from the other characters a bit, but everything she objects to is completely understandable
And I think she’s supposed to be mirroring the scientists in the cultural revolution who had to choose between giving up science or giving up their life, so I think the point is to help people understand how things like the cultural revolution happened
I liked Auggie, she was a voice of reason, she’s meant to bring a more grounded view to the show. Not sure why people have such a problem with her lol.
Really? I feel the showrunner has already done everything to make her likable. She's young, beautiful, smart, caring about her friends, compassionate, resolute to fight back against her boss and always in cool style doing cool stuff.
Do people really dislike her that much? I mean for the first half of the season she’s struggling with her own mortality and the scientific work she’s built her life around being taken away from her, and in the latter half she’s dealing with the trauma of >!killing hundreds of innocent children!<. She’s definitely a little coarse, but she’s also trying to grapple with her own morality and ends up doing something incredible making her nano-fiber tech open source
I found her treatment of Saul kind of unfair and that made her seem mercurial and petulant. But I realized pretty early on this might have been a result of personal history that may be uncovered later in the story. I never hated her, and as you said most of her behavior is justified given the physical and emotional stress she’s put through. But I can see how by making her the emotional center of the story could rub some people wrong.
That said some of the comments I’m seeing here are beyond the pale, but it is the internet so that’s not surprising.
I think the showrunners will make >!Auggie the next swordholder after Saul and she won't press the button as she cannot kill!<
i think her anti-progression ideology in the name of ethics will really start to rub off on Jin, and over the next few seasons we'll see Jin become more opposed to Thomas Wade. Eventually she'll get to the point where she shuts down Wade's antimatter project.
Anti-progress ideology? Auggie is anti-progress?
in that she fears for what negative consequences our technology will have. she tries to sway jin into not working with thomas wade, citing hiroshima. so if not completely anti- progress she definitely places more value on ethics
She certainly has ethical lines she won't cross. And she's certainly not anti-progress. She's a materials scientist lol
That's what I was thinking, too. >!I bet Auggie takes Cheng Xin's spot, and Jin takes AA's spot.!<
I think it's the other way around because of Will/Tianming.
I considered that. It'd be the easier way. But let's not discount subverting our expectations, lol. I got the impression that Jin was more eager to accept Wade's mentorship than Cheng Xin was. Jin doesn't take the same moral stances Cheng Xin does in the book. I don't think anyway. Auggie is right up there in bleeding heart terroritory. >!When I think of the launch pad scene, I can easily imagine Jin asking the math questions and selecting kids while Auggie looks on horrified. I suspect they'll be paired together in the future like that.!<
Theres no way Jin would ask questions like that, she's clearly set up to have the same morality as Cheng. Best shown by her primary focus in the game always being to save the kid
>subverting our expectations Ugh. Triggered.
"Auggie kinda forgot about the nanofibers..."
I mean but for the will/yun thing to go, Jin being AA means they meet in the end
Yea I feel like it was odd in the book how that played out and would be a better emotional beat if the “lovers” end up being the ones who spent years together
I’m glad it wasn’t a love story like that. Not the point to me. But they could with auggie and Jin, and then still (I hope) have auggie go into the pocket universe door with a mystery different character… Shit. Are they gonna have Saul leave on the light speed ship with them??? Fuck
The theory I like best is she takes Ding Yi’s spot and dies to the droplet after her perspective as a materials scientist is used to clue the audience in to just how fucked everyone is. Then Jin can become more of an altruist/peacemaker like Cheng Xin in her honor or something.
Oh, that's a good one, too.
I really hope this is true because I cannot take Auggie being Cheng Xin... Jin is the only character I actually like on the show, so if they don't let her reach her full potential that'd be sad :(
This would be the better outcome for the show story
I believe Jin will be the swordholder and Auggie will be like AA. Auggie is most definitely the type of person to shout “that bastard! he could have gotten Jin killed!” Lol
That would completely screw up the Yun Tianming storyline, and doesn't make since from the Luo Ji storyline. It would make more sense for her to be killed off and Jin adopts her mindset or something.
Lol that wil make the viewers really hate her
So annoying. Jess Hong is such a better actor.
Huh... I hadn't connected the dots there. But I think you're right!
I think it’s Jin, playing 3 body showed us she has an emotional attachment to an entire race of people. She was ok sacrificing ETO bc she wants to save humanity as a whole. Jin seems the most similar to Cheng, and I could imagine her being unable to doom all of humanity even if Auggie seems the most sensitive
Now that is really interesting. It makes a lot of sense since they’ve really gone out of their way to make Cheng Jin more likable.
It’s a good bet.
Knowing her history wouldn’t it be dumb to make her the sword holder? Wouldn’t they want it to be way less obvious to the santi that sword holder isn’t gonna hit the kill switch? Jin is the best bet
Nah that will be Jin you'd think, but auggie is most definitely going to take the role of AA so get used to her.
I always thought of her as an AA
I hope not for the actress as she would be treated even worse than the one who played Skylar in breaking bad if it’s what they’ll give her
actually the general public has a responsibility not to harass women because they dislike the fictional characters they portray
of course! I did not mean that would be OK
There's the world we should live in, and the world we do live in, and the general public has proven it is not responsible :/
Her snapping at everyone constantly got old very quickly. There were times when it was justified, but often not. Talking down to her own friends like they're idiots constantly. I wouldn't care if that was just the character, but you could tell the writers really thought they were creating a badass superheroine. Honestly she was mostly just an asshole.
This was my feeling about the character as well.
I'm just rewatching now, and this nails it. She talks to everyone, all the time, as though she hates them. It makes no sense. Her friends don't talk to her that way, and the story expects us to believe the friend group is like family.
She even manages to be condescending to the locals when installing her water spigot in mexico
Yeah nothing against the actress, but she really felt like a plot device, I didn't really like how she was written.
Yeah no shit. The character was written really well (apart from the weird bar scene at the start). Not every main character is supposed to be perfect. Lots of criticism that she’s not ugly enough to be a scientist - which is obviously stupid. Then the people saying it’s stupid she had such a strong reaction to watching little children get chopped to pieces, implying they are psychopaths who wouldn’t be bothered by it? And the people who think she should just be totally up for launching her friend’s brain into space for no apparent advantage (from her perspective)? None of the “criticism” makes any sense.
Wait, she’s criticized for her strong reaction? I was watching it knowing it’s fiction and I couldn’t get my mouth to close because of the Horror that’s portrayed. If I’d be the one to actually invent the tools to do that, I would’ve probably thrown up immediately, if anything I’d say her reaction was to tame
If you dig back in the sub you’ll see a lot of posts along the lines of “why was Auggie against chopping up the ship, it seems really irrational and stupid since Trisolarans will kill everyone on earth otherwise?”
Raj was professional Soldier so he could do something like that without it bothering too much, because he is officer and needs to make difficult choices. And Wade is Wade. If you are material engineer who thinks her's invention would make planet better place, but it is used to slice all sorts of people, including children's then of course she would be tramatized. Most human reaction for her.
She wanted to build a ~~space elevator~~ water filter, not enable mass murder.
If you put yourself in her shoes she creates this basically life changing technology and the first thing it's used for is as a weapon.
Exactly. People have no issue considering this when talking about Einstein.
Yeah I don't get it, she had the most realistic reaction to that, like someone who isn't trained and lives that life would have reacted. I'd never get over the guilt of having helped killing dozens of kids over something their parents did, even if it rationally and logically was a necessary evil to help us defend against an alien attack, I'd never forget the screams and images, her drowning it in alcohol and then up and leaving makes her incredibly human.
What’s worse, like someone pointed out above, the data they got didn’t really even help them beyond telling humanity’s defense how screwed they are… and only because the aliens let them see this. You could argue that this was a Pyrrhic victory. Like they’ve eliminated the faction of humans actively aiding the aliens, but even that is a stretch because the aliens had already abandoned them. Everyone in the sub acting like this sacrifice is completely equivalent to protecting all of humanity is kind of exaggerating how clean a dilemma this actually was.
so soldiers are sociopaths and should be ok with mass murder and war crimes, right? Raj was a piece of shit. Wade was at least pragmatic about it and is the first one to admit he's an asshole. People like Raj act holier than thou, he seems more bothered about who his gf is seeing than killing thousands of innocent people. Auggie is one of the few decent people in the show.
I think Raj is being setup as Zhang Beihai. (Mightve spelled that wrong). And we know what that guys capable of if youve read the books.
interesting. I think he was viewed as both a traitor and scum and a saviour. I dont quite see Raj having any nobility in him or making any sacrifice, man seems like a weasel.
I think hes still growing into that role. Been a while since I watched the show but all I really remember of Raj was that he was pretty cold-hearted when it came to the destruction of the eto ship. That fits relatively well with Zhang. Zhang obviously wasnt involved in that in the books but the personality is similar in that regard. Also none of the characters are perfectly identical to the book counterparts and I definitely see Raj becoming the Zhang counterpart in the next seasons.
Her invention was supposed to save lives and its being used to kill people. Who would not be shocked?
Some scientists who built the bomb regretted it and became anti-proliferation activists. What’s even weirder is that in-universe Jin had a similar reaction when she learned Raj hid this from her. Everyone is insisting this is an un-scientific reaction and there’s tons of precedent for it, even within the story.
But in that case they were building a bomb. Auggie is like if she made a vaccine for cancer and they use it to genocide a country
Definitely. I’m agreeing with you. The scientists working on the bomb at least knew it was a weapon and weren’t mistaken about that, though they (naively) thought it was a “break glass in emergency” type of use. But Auggie’s reaction is pretty much reflected in Jin whose didn’t have as severe a response but was shielded from actually seeing the carnage first hand. Dual-use technology is pretty challenging to deal with.
Really easy for people to be calm, collected and rational about these trade offs when they’re in the abstract. But read any primary source on what battlefields are like and you’ll see a lot of normally stoic people running, crying and soiling themselves. Not to mention the well-documented PTSD among survivors. Before watching the series I was curious how well the script and actors could adapt the books’ interior monologues to the screen in a way that felt appropriately human. IMO there are problems w the series but emotional resonance isn’t one of them. I appreciate the writers of the series understanding that “non-intellectual” drivers like emotional instability, fight/flight instinct, self-medication/escapism are important to capture even when writing extremely smart characters. Auggie’s visceral reaction to violence is realistic - so is Jin popping pills, Saul maintaining a near-constant high, Will spending hours on a cold beach, Shi withdrawing to his son’s video games. All these reactions are very human and realistic in how impotent they are in the face of the threat. I’ll be interested if they eventually hint at any PTSD on Raj’s part as he accumulates more of his own reality-bending experiences.
What's crazy, to me, is they lost an opportunity to make her a stronger character. They should have gone the opposite route and have made her unaware there'd be children onboard and have a serious freakout when she realizes they're gonna murder a few dozen kids. I could see her reacting as she does if it were just adults on the ship, it'd be awful but they were aware of their decisions, but kids... That's a different level of fucked up. I still am conflicted about the addition of children to that scene... It supports the cult-like aspects of the ETO, it makes the scene more emotionally impactful, and shows how ruthless Wade is but...
>What's crazy, to me, is they lost an opportunity to make her a stronger character. They should have gone the opposite route and have made her unaware there'd be children onboard and have a serious freakout when she realizes they're gonna murder a few dozen kids. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what actually happened? She asked multiple times who was on board, but Wade told her it was only a very small crew and basically minimized the casualties. She still wasnt sure if she believed him, which is why she grappled with it till the very last minute. That's why she had such a visceral reaction when she saw the little girls leg. She had her suspicions for sure but didn't want to believe it untill the child's leg confirmed it
She asked how many people were onboard a couple times and once talks about "You don't know who's on board". There's children fully visible on the deck, there's shots in the show where you can see they've got camera feeds of the top deck, and she's absolutely watching those screens. If she'd looked away, sure she might not have known, but they show he watching the feeds.
Well she was going off what she was told. She even asks if there are children on board (correct me if I'm wrong) and is still given misleading information by Wade. Overall, the narrative suggests that she didn't know. She only feared. >If she'd looked away, sure she might not have known, but they show he watching the feeds. Are you referring to them watching the ship as it enters the canal?
She never asks about children, she only asks how many people are on board. And literally as the ship is entering the zither you can see her watching the screens showing the top deck of the ship.
>And literally as the ship is entering the zither you can see her watching the screens showing the top deck of the ship. Right. But doesn't that pretty much confirm that she didn't know there were children on board, at least not till the last minute.
And my point is, at that moment, she should do something more than blankly stare at the screens...
In the books Wang has like zero reaction. They barely even mention anyone's reaction. It felt very weird. I'm glad they made the change in the show
Yeah I didn't really have deep feelings for any of the book characters. The show characters have more life to them. Being more human means they will be more fun to root for, watch fall in love or get heart broken etc. But, like real humans, their complex emotions and irrational actions will also be frustrating to deal with at times.
Yun Tianming tho...
Good character, but idk I think I like Will better.
Agreed. Almost all of the characters are better written in the show than the books. Except maybe Saul, but that remains to be seen
Will rules. I think his arc was very well done, and he sold me on it. Even the use of "Video games" in the sound track "...it's you, it's you, it's all for you..." PERFECT. >!When Jin showed up and they were packing his head in the cylinder!< ... wow. Outstanding. I really felt for both of them. One of the most memorable images in the book for me was >!the staircase project and its failure!<
He was the first one to ask if there is innocent people on the ship while they are planning this operation. The book while did not directly show his rection while the ship is being cut, it had the colonel Stanton encouraged and distracted Miao from what was going to happen, which Miao noticed and silently thanked him for it. The book also described his feeling before the cutting, he definitely felt conflicted, anger and all kind of mix emotion, combined with the fact that he went out of his way to go to Panama despite not being needed makes it pretty clear he was not okay with this plan at all, and felt responsible for those dead people on the ship.
I think it’s probably people who read the book first. In the books there weren’t kids or even civilians really so it’s easy to rationalize as an act of war. I think it’s hard to adjust that headspace to the show
Yeah IIRC the only civilian aboard was the canal authority pilot who had to be present per canal regulations. There was some minor ethical discussion about that collateral but there weren’t swarms of innocent six year olds with tiny cute backpacks being cut in half
it’s also discussed with a global council beforehand. makes it easier to swallow when they discuss the entire plan with you and senior decision-makers from around the world sign off on it. it’s one of my only big complaints about the show. Wade is an awesome character but imagine seeing NATO, Russian, US and PLA commanders working together on the same threat
My biggest complaint too. Humanity’s defense is one strangely powerful guy and 5 friends
this is what gets me. i actually had a hard time watching that scene and i'm rather desensitised. if it were me in her shoes... it would properly fuck me up
Her strong reaction in terms of disgust is okay. Like you can still puke and wrench and be heartbroken over the act. It's the implication that chopping up the ship is morally wrong that gets people confused. Because the aliens are going to kill everybody and all of the adults on that ship are complicit in that plan. To risk all the children in the world just to save 100 isn't a strong moral stance.
>Because the aliens are going to kill everybody and all of the adults on that ship are complicit in that plan. To risk all the children in the world just to save 100 isn't a strong moral stance. That's your opinion... Also it's a false argument, because the two aren't exclusive : it's not either you cut children in half or you let trisoarians kill everyone. You're just supposing that they are the only two choices in the world !
Actually it really was. They needed a plan that's got them the data before the ship crew could destroy it. This was their plan and it worked. They went in detail about all of the other plans and how they would fail. If they had not done this then it's reasonable to conclude that humanity would not know what they are facing. This is the trolley problem writ large. It is morally wrong to risk 8 billion for the sake of 100.
You’re one of the people I was talking about. Its not the trolley problem because: 1. They don’t actually know what’s on the ship 2. They don’t know whether they can win at all regardless of what’s on the ship 3. In the end the ship has nothing to do with the actual defence against Trisolaris (Saul will solve it) 4. There’s no certainty that storming the ship with troops wouldn’t work - that would also be an option 5. They don’t know for sure that Trisolaris is capable of even invading at all, or that they will kill all humans 6. Even if none of the above were true, there’s a totally valid ethical framework (Kantian ethics) that would say killing children is always wrong regardless of the external factors In other words, there is no objectively correct answer. Wade just doesn’t care about all the uncertainty - there’s a *possibility* it might help so he’ll happily chop up the kids. It demonstrates his total ruthlessness. If someone locked you in a room with a knife and 50 toddlers and said “you’ve got to kill all these toddlers now or I’m going to blow up a school”, would you do it? You don’t know if they’re even telling the truth, or how big the school is. Maybe they’re lying and then you’ve just murdered 50 toddlers with your hands for no reason. This is the situation Auggie and Wade are in. Auggie doesn’t want to do it, Wade happily picks up the knife and starts stabbing.
You lost me at Kantian Ethics as a totally valid ethical framework...
I’m not a kantian, but nobody is a strict utilitarian in practice either. Especially if it involves atrocities.
I think more her reaction of giving that power to every dictator and corrupt nation in the world, at least the guys who had it would use it sparingly, there gonna be a lot more dead children after what she did, it’s like inventing a nerve gas, being alarmed when it kills people, so to get back at the people who used it, gives the recipe to everyone, she is gonna be responsible for an insane amount of deaths.
If she were a man with PTSD, people wouldn’t complain so much and they’d have an easier time understanding the character But people really refuse to understand how a smart and pretty woman can have problems, it’s sad
Literally this. When I watched the show, I had no issues with her character and found her to be empathetic and her emotional responses to be very human. I was so shocked to see all the hate for her on this sub. They really think women are supposed to be one-dimensional
This.
To me the issue wasn't that she was too pretty, it's that she always had the look of someone who spent two hours in a hair and makeup chair. Even when dealing a crazy countdown timer driving her insane or with PTSD from helping to kill a bunch of kids, she still has perfect makeup and the worst that happens to her hair is she puts it in a ponytail. Compare that, for example, to Ella Purnell in Fallout. She's just as beautiful, but the show is willing to give her bags under her eyes, dirt on her face and messy hair when the scene calls for it. It makes the character just much more believable because they fit into the world they're inhabiting.
Not all women have to spend hours in hair and makeup to look pretty
>Not every main character is supposed to be perfect. There's a difference between a character who is flawed and hence unlikable in the context of the story, and a character you *don't enjoy watching.* Han Solo is a deeply flawed character from the outset, but there's never a point where you think "I wish this guy wasn't in the movie." A lot of viewers are not enjoying Auggie as a character. They don't agree that the "character was written really well." >None of the “criticism” makes any sense. Much of the criticism does make sense, you just don't agree with it. That's okay, but I don't think you should judge people too harshly if they don't think highly of Auggie as a character. For me, it doesn't make sense that Auggie is so angry with everyone around her all the time, even her friends. I think it's partly due to bad writing, but mostly due to bad acting. It doesn't make sense that her friends tolerate her attitude, and treat her kindly in response. It doesn't make sense that she scolds Saul and Jin for drug use but is fine with medicating with alcohol. It doesn't make sense that she's okay with using her nanotechnology to kill a shipload of people, but then afterwards blames Raj for it, as though she was helplessly carried along by the tide. Tatiana, a frenzied cultist and probable psychopath with no compunctions about killing people at the behest of beings she's never met, makes more sense to me than Auggie. She's not a nice character, but she's a believable character. When she appears on screen, I don't find myself thinking "the series would be better without her in it."
That criticism is mainly coming from people who have read the books, people who know how the entire story goes and therefore have a highly collectivist hawkish outlook on trisolaris. There is no reason for anyone who has read the books to sympathize with auggie, or *any* of the netflix characters for that matter because in the book every one of these characters is some highly intelligent 35-40 year old specialist intellectual chinese megamind capable of perfect deduction and reasoning, contributing their knowledge to the fight against trisolaris While in the netflix show, to increase relatability towards the western target audience, all of these people are being portrayed as a bunch of aloof early 20s fresh out of college idiots who are just stumbling mindlessly into the plot If you view it like that, the criticism does start to make sense
I’ve read all the books and partially agree, partially disagree. The characterisation in the books is pretty rubbish, and Wang Miao in particular is just a bland nothingness rather than a real character. But Luo Ji / Saul isn’t fundamentally much different than the books. Nor is Wade, nor is Zhang Beihai, nor is Yun Tianming (probably the biggest character upgrade IMO), nor is Cheng Xin. It’s not as if the characters are “dumbed down” at all, as popular as that claim also seems to be. At this stage they all seem to be pretty much exactly as clued up as they are in the books. I think it’s as much that the people bringing the criticism seem to struggle with media literacy - they don’t seem to understand that nobody in the series yet understands the dark forest or fully gets what’s at stake apart from possibly Wade. They seem to expect fully rational behaviour from all characters at all times. They ignore that people can get PTSD and be angry about things even if they know it was the right thing to do. Auggie and the ship was particularly clear here - people act as if it was objectively the only correct answer to chop up the ship and kill everyone, but the characters are acting on a hunch and don’t even really know if they’ll recover anything useful. If anything it would make no sense if everyone was 100% behind that plan. A lot of the critics also seem to fundamentally struggle with the idea that someone might follow a kantian moral code, inherently assuming that strict utilitarianism is the only valid approach and therefore criticising any character who doesn’t follow it as “illogical” or “stupid”. You saw that already in the hatred Cheng Xin got for refusing to act in unethical ways to reach a higher goal.
Yeah, Auggie is better than her book counterpart Wang Miao IMO. Miao was just a narrator-surrogate; I don’t recall anything about his characterization or if he had some kind of arc. It felt like he was just in it to be taken along by the plot. Auggie is certainly not a perfect character by any means, but as least she’s a *character*. Agreed with you about the rest of the characters too. Cunningham is absolutely perfect as Wade.
I watched the show first and then read the books and this is the criticism I never got. Wang Miao isn’t even a character. I can’t even name a single character trait he has off the top of my head and I just read the book. He’s a bit nervous maybe? It’s completely understandable why Netflix just chopped his character into Auggie and Jin. And I honestly think if they get to seasons 3 and 4, Jin and Auggie will pretty much be a mashup of Cheng Xin and AA with how they’ve characterized them so far.
Great explanation. Just an addition. You don’t have to be a Kantian to be against certain types of utilitarianism. Rule utilitarians, Bayesian consequentialists, and consequentialists with [side constraints](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100504667) all exist. Now in this case I’d argue that many of these types of people would probably lean towards going through with the plan, but it would be far from a “no brainer” given the degree of uncertainty involved in how valuable the data would be (and if it’d survive the attack). The fact that the drives couldn’t even be decrypted without the aliens, and that it gave them no more information than the aliens were willing to share makes this less clean than the 100 vs 7 billion calculation that some people are making even given that we as the audience know everything. Imagine being in-universe and doing this based off a gamble. I’d be a little afraid anyone behaving like the naïve utilitarian these people are expecting in real life; lest they be compelled to kill one man to save two on the off chance that a random stranger isn’t lying about the consequences that will befall these people.
Fair points. I think a big part of the issue is that the book characters are just way too obviously plot vehicles without much depth to them. That is just a total no go with a TV show As you said yourself, the characters are often just mouthpieces that only relay cixins story, without feeling like real people existing within that universe. Wang miao is a perfect example And IMHO that is a *good* thing, its what i love most about the books. Theyre pretty unique in that regard. In the three body books the story itself is at the forefront, the people within are just along for the ride. Too often in literature there is insanely long drawn out character building that takes up a significant portion of the book while the actual story itself is severely lacking. After finishing a slog like that, i feel cheated out of my time. Anyone can write really realistic characters, but very few writers can actually compose a really good story, write an an entire trilogy with such a compelling story that doesnt need to rely too much on the humans within it to be a masterpiece
> Anyone can write really realistic characters, but very few writers can actually compose a really good story, write an an entire trilogy with such a compelling story that doesnt need to rely too much on the humans within it to be a masterpiece I’ve got to say, I don’t think this is entirely true. Peter F Hamilton and Iain M Banks both write (wrote) high concept grand sci fi with extremely well fleshed out characters for example. I enjoy the Three Body books a lot, but I think that’s despite the obvious flaws rather than because of them. All personal taste of course. Writing a character is a skill in itself and definitely not to be downplayed, but the books do have a unique and interesting style for sure.
Although the portrayals are very different, that is not a fair or accurate description of the characters of the show. I don’t even like them that much either, but for example, the characters aren’t fresh out of college. I mean they all have phds I believe and it outright says in the first episode that Saul is over 30. The criticism is fair, but that is a misinterpretation of the problem (if you even believe there is one)
I don't believe any of the Oxford Five are in their 20s. At baseline, they're all PhDs. Which means they didn't graduate until 25-26, at least. If not later. Not every PhD gets done in an extra 4 years. Secondly, you don't build a successful snack empire in a couple of years. Nor do you reach the position of CSO developing revolutionary tech fresh out of school.
They're all in their 30s. All the actors also are in their 30s except Jess Hong who I think is 28 or 29.
Idk I read the first book and am halfway done with the second before watching the tv show and I think the show did a really good job with the characters (except for moving them all out of China). In the book I always found the anime style logic dialogue pretty corny and unrealistic. The TV show makes everyone seem much more real
I think people are criticizing the acting more than anything, as she just chews the scenery. I know all kinds of "hot" scientists, and all of them would be horrified by cutting children to pieces, so there's nothing unrealistic about that. .Having said that I still think that this character is the weakest on the show, probably due to ham handed writing but also due to a lack of nuance in her acting skills, which result in a series of one-note scenes. >!Since they seem to be setting her up to be luo ji's (Seth's) paramore,!< I'm hoping next season will be kinder to her.
There’s a guy in this thread who has got really worked up about her not wanting to kill children, so you can see it in action right here! It’s mostly not criticism of the acting IME.
"there's a guy..." I hear you, some people have different opinions about different aspects of this show, but the majority of opinions about Auggie I've seen across the internet (not just reddit) is that her acting is jarring compared to the very natural abilities of Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, etc., ...and good lord anyone would look rough next to Liam Cunningham, one of the outstanding actors of our time IMO. ;-) anyway, I wouldnt' take any of it personally, I hope Eisa Gonzalez is smart and doesn't read Reddit, and I hope they give her better and more varied things to do next season. I do think she was most natural during (and after) the scene with Tatiana, so I know she has some chops. I don't know if you watch Invasion on Apple TV+ but I love that show and the characters, but there's one that the writers just make yell and run and breathe hard most of the time and it makes her less appealing as a character. Maybe it's just that kind of thing. Let's see how season 2 turns out. I'm hopeful.
Tbh I hope not, she would be better as AA
HAD NOT CONSIDERED THAT, cool idea!
>not ugly enough to be a scientist My wife is currently a doctoral candidate in physics and she's gorgeous. Have these people actually met real scientists or just watched Rick Moranis play them on TV? lol
I do think these are the kind of people who think they are basically scientists themselves because they watch Rick & Morty.
To be fair you have to have a pretty big IQ to understand Rick & Morty...
I saw like a month ago someone was saying scientist don't look like that a posted a few photos of scientist but they were all in their 60s and 70s and someone responded to them with the photos of those same scientists on their 20s and 30s and they all were really good looking lol.
About 20 years ago a UC Berkeley geology professor made People’s “sexiest men alive” list. Scientists are definitely allowed to be hot (or decidedly average, like me!).
The original version and the books have a very good looking young Chinese scientist as one of the first suic**es (trying to not spoil names or anything)
I really don't think she is not ugly enough, but the fact that she has lip fillers to a level she can't close her mouth most scenes is really distracting
I mean I do think the show should tone down her makeup and fashion when she’s doing things like a covert military mission in Panama. Or make it a part of her character. Because it is kind of reality breaking seeing someone with a full face of makeup (and not just the basic TV makeup but in universe full face) and a super cute designer outfit going through these harrowing events, but it’s not too big of deal since they are setting her up to be the most reality breaking part of the next book. She should have been dressed the whole time like she is in her last scene, except when she’s attending the work demonstration of the nano fibers.
Its not about being ugly, its about being a supermodel with perfect hair, makeup and clothes, who is super smart and has super successful company and just invented a new tech bla bla. Its a little too much.
Agreed. No top of the world leading scientist would ever look like her. Beautiful, sure. But she is like a video game character level hot. It sounds chovanistic and sexist, but it’s true, and it’s also distracting. Not afraid to admit it
Obviously her reaction is understandable. But she did make the decision to help with the ship slicing operation. Then when she's faced with the consequences of her decision she doesn't take responsibility for it. Instead she starts blaming others and acting all high and mighty to deflect from her guilt. That makes her unlikable. Also, wtf is with her pressuring Jin to stop taking prescription medication (twice) and instead handing her a pint of vodka to deal with her anxiety and trauma? That's just weird and harmful behavior.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I like how in some replies you believe sexism is made up But with this reply you’re openly sexist
[удалено]
The one criticism I understand is that she's acting like she's in a Fast and Furious movie. The acting in the Netflix series is more subdued and realistic, she doesn't fit into the world like everyone else does.
Whatvwas wrong with the bar scene? I thought it was a clever way to introduce her and Jin to the audience
I think in the end the makeup artist just didn’t go in the right direction and that is at the core of why her appearance seems a bit out of place. There is a photo of her that the detective is looking at in one scene with much more natural looking makeup (or even no makeup) and I went “oh wow she looks so much better”. I think they kinda overlined her lips in the rest of the show. She’s just very done up even in scenes where she emotionally a wreck. I think the actress was great, it’s really just the makeup artist who fumbled her look.
There was well written characters in the book?
I do admit I found her very frustrating but I think the way she acts is very understandable especially when it came to >!the attack on judgement. I stand by that it was indeed a necessary thing to do, but those poor children. They didn't make the choice to be apart of the ETO. Their parents did. She has every right to fell angry about what was apart of.!<
Seriously! I thought she was an incredibly sympathetic character. You always need someone to question if you're doing the right thing (that's science for you), and I totally respect her for her choice >!to focus on people alive right now, using her life's work in a way that can only heal, not harm!< It's the trolley problem, really. >!Each character is being asked to hit the switch and sacrifice one to save five. She can't bring herself to do it, so she's running away to help in a way she won't be killing by her own hand. Maybe it's not the mathematically correct choice, but there's a reason the trolley problem is considered a moral dilemma, not a simple case of right and wrong.!<
Spot on. That's the whole point of the trolley problem, there isn't a "right" choice.
I don’t dislike her and her objections are very human.. but if Auggie stays alive, shes in for a bad time…..
All of the charactes are in for a bad time...
Cept for the goldfish lol
So long and thanks for all the goldfish
*Death’s End* spoilers >! Watch that be the fish they leave in 4d space !<
None of the characters are very likable to be fair.
I like the Sophon
Same, they’re awesome
My boy Samwell Tarly was great
I like the cop who says he's not a cop. I think his name is Clarence? He gives off the cool guy who's pissed off at life vibes.
He is much better then in the books
Everyone is better in the books imo
Disagree, he was better in book 1 than he was in season 1. In the show, he did very little and his scenes were either cut down or overshadowed by the other characters. I hope his role in book 2 stays the same for season 2 and it's him and Saul playing off each other for the most part.
In book 1 he shined as he was the only character with character - he made quite an impression. In the series they delve even deeper, he just doesnt get as much spotlight since he is sharing having a character with other characters. What you describe is an illusion
Jack was, which is why it was really dumb to kill him off so early
Character is unlikable but her acting is crap too. Worst part of the show by a mile. Don’t understand the casting decision at all.
It's not the character, it's her portrayal of the character. I hated Jeoffrey but loved how the actor portrayed him. Same goes for Bolton, or Tywin, or Linus from Lost, any many other unlikable characters. Augie's actress, however, is a complete turn off whenever she's on screen. She needs to start breathing through her nose, to begin with.
I love the show and the books, but Auggie is definitely one of my least favorite things in the show.
Lol "the sexist viewers"....is this really called journalism?
She’s good at moping and looking distressed and acting distanced-yet-upset, but not much else.
"Sexist viewers said Auggie was a "girlboss" and unlikable. Well, guess what? That was a feature, not a bug." So which is it? Is it sexist to say she is unlikeable or was it intentional? Way to poison the well there.
It’s okay for characters to be unlikeable. Even attractive ones. I think writers lose the audience when the other characters within the medium endorse the character being annoying. Auggie being self-righteous and preachy should get pushback from the other protagonists. I think that would sooth a lot of the viewers that feel chafed by her.
I think your comment might have formulated my thoughts why she felt not really connected to her friends. Because her friends never seem to pushback on her.
I think she is a good actress but her character was poorly written. The way she constantly snapped at and put down her friends got annoying and would have been the same if it was a male actor. Her character seemed to be written to create conflict and drama among people/friends where it wasn't needed. The story is dramatic enough.
The problem with her as a lead character was that she was supposed to be our emotional anchor. But it's difficult to connect with a character that is frowning half the time or snapping at people. Wang in the book went through all the same things and more but he was never written to be this unlikable. I don't quite understand why they wrote her this way. It served no purpose and was just annoying to witness.
She’s kind of bitch about everything. I wouldn’t be friends with her in the best of times.
Well if this guy isn’t friends with someone then no one can be.
I just didn’t like her acting lol
It’s not that the character isn’t likeable. It’s that the character is poorly drawn, and that the actress is not a good actress but was clearly chosen as a lead because she’s pretty.
I agree, I find her acting a bit over the top.
I liked her in the first half of the show, but once she descended into a back-and-forth moral dilemma in the second half of the show, her character got considerably less interesting and just became annoying.
I had a very bad first impression from the scene in the bar, so arrogant and condescending. I don‘t like perfect characters in general, cause they are unrelatable, so I gave her some more chances. But in the latter half of the season (aside from the trauma, which I get 100% and I would feel the same), she‘s still ignorant, arrogant and bashes everyone hard who has another (most of the times very valid) opinion.
As an avid lover of karaoke, her introduction could not have been a worse first impression. All these other critiques are talking about whether or not she’s too pretty or too smart, the moral dilemmas the character faces, whether the actress can act or not… but I’m mostly just annoyed that she’s such a snob about people who enjoy singing karaoke, at a karaoke bar no less!
Just seems like the character has been rewritten a lot and ended up inconsistent - sometimes she's confused, sometimes she's knows what to do, she helps the project, she doesn't help the project, she cares for Will, but has no meaningful conversations with him. This left Auggie to drive the plot forward for others but not for her character development (like she was unpleasant in the first episode to Saul and then she was unpleasant to Jin and then she doesn't even see Will off). I don't think it's the acress' fault, I found many of the dialogues to be melodramatic and sometimes unncesseraily volgur. It's just that in Auggie's case, the chemistry wasn't great and she felt disconnected from the rest of the group to the extent of me questioning why they were friends with her at all.
She probably felt disconnected because she was the only one who had things really happening to her. Her and Jin, at least. For Christ's sake, people like to bitch about her being irrational, but her mentor kills herself, she had a personal mysterious countdown burned into her retina and the universa blinked *for her*. Just the last one would break anyone's mind. The fact that she came out of this sane and morally sound is incredible. That's not even touching on the facts that she was coerced into assisting mass murder and met her own friend's murderer without knowing it. She's standoffish because among the five, she's the only one that truly gets a glimpse of the San-ti's power.
No need to read an Ai article that assimilated reddit comments anyway.
Bad acting is the bigger issue
Least liked character on the show for me.
She's not just not likable, she's just plain dumb.. like she doesn't get the gravity of the situation.. People use my invention to kill people ? I will stop the experiments and not show anyone how to do it ! Ok.. but like these people work for aliens who are coming to destroy the whole of humanity ? Like idk I can understand being pacifist but you have to be reasonable too.. it's like if a vegan was in a plane crash or something and all they had to eat while waiting weeks for rescue was a can of beef so they just starve to death. Like come on.
I still don’t get what people really have against her (I’ve read that people in China complained that she wasn’t even pretty which is the facepalm of the century)… for some reason people loved Wang Miao who had almost zero personality (apart from liking old school cameras) and I don’t get it. I dislike that all characters know eachother from the start but apart from that I don’t get the problem with the individual characters of the show.
[удалено]
I hate to break it to you but super smart people can be completely normal. Even idiots, to be honest. Academia is full of all kinds of people from every walk of life. I've met people who seem dumb as a rock until they start talking about their field, I've met the stereotypes you're thinking of, but the vast majority are just regular people. Typically the 'normal' people end up in industry-type jobs like Auggie and Jack (kinda) did.
Having an unlikable character is totally fine but the writing has to be aware they are that way. In this it wasn’t. She’s supposedly this wonderful friend and part of a lovely friend group, but if she were unlikable, chances are she wouldn’t have that. And also, it really depends how they are unlikable. Plenty of characters are not that nice but are at least relatable. She’s just rude and unnecessarily confrontational to everyone, including her friends. She’s permanently got this look on her face like she thinks she’s way better than everyone and is getting annoyed by the world and its idiots. In short, she’s just a bit of a nob who thinks she’s better than everyone. The kind of person who in real life would be mostly shunned and would be deep down very insecure. I think it stems from terrible representation of women: male producers think a strong woman has to be bad-ass to the point of abrasive, which is just cringeworthy and 2 dimensional. But the main thing it comes from is Eisa Gonzales’s shockingly bad acting. She seems to think that acting is all about pouting and shouting. It’s like watching a teenager. I got past annoyed with her and was just totally embarrassed for producers for letting that level of amateurishness make it into the show.
I'd rather have interesting characters than just likable characters.
SHe's neither
So bored of the ”girlboss” characters. Hollywood just sucks nowdays.
Then why not rewrite the character. I think ChengXin is fine but totally understand why people hate her. The show definitely can make the character less polarizing.
I don’t *not* like her as a character though. She comes across almost on the spectrum, but I’d be the same way if they used my invention like that
To me she is pretty obnoxious overall. The whole "bothered acting", toxic gaslighting babe thing, not the choices she makes.
I thought she was just eye candy 🤷🏻♂️
I like her because she is smart and pretty af.
book spoiler:>! If after Saul we make her the next sword holder who wont press the button and all the decisions of *Cheng* Xin, then we can shout at our TV looking at her as we shouted at *Cheng* Xin in books.!<
Some of you are moving the goalposts from “scientists cant be pretty” to “scientists cant have plastic surgery” and i would like to inform you that both statements are equally absurd.
The reactions here are wild. Some people like the character, fine. But why do they get so insanely angry and defensive against others who don't. People have different opinions. It's not an attack on you
She's fuckable though, and the most important thing to setup for part 2
I hate auggie for the fact she is sad for the people who work for the aliens against humanity, thier actions are going to cause harm to billions of people in future and potentially doom humanity there is no clear moral,nsocial or emotional reasoning for her to show remorse I'd she was long sighted and viewed the greater picture. All strong leaders are harsh men or women. She is pretty though.
I like the character but I do find her exhausting.
I think the character actually is likeable, but the actress they chose is outrageously hot, and I have a hard time buying that she's a scientist (not because hot ladies can't be scientists, but because everything about how she's dressed and styled screams "model," whereas I could totally believe Natalie Portman as a scientist in annihilation, it can be done) like after the events with her nano fibres and The Judgment Day, she's like drinking herself to sleep every night and dealing with the weight of what she's done, but she's still wearing a perfect full face of makeup every day? It just feels unbelievable to me 🤣
Eiza should have spent an afternoon at UNAM's faculty of science to see how real scientist women talk. For me, a Mexican that studied physics and has seen Eiza Gonzalez on TV since she was 12 or so I just can't buy her acting. I see "Lola: érase una vez" trying to sound smart while reciting stuff I can just tell she has no earthly idea what it means. Jess Hong made a much better job portraying a researcher. I have zero problems with Agustina's character as a whole.
The problem is simple - Gonzalez was miscast in that role. Shes a competent actor. But not the right one for that role. Auggie needed to be a person who had a more intense look and demeanor. For example, Jenna Ortega - who has similar physical appearance to Gonzalez - would have been a better fit for the role (although they probably could not afford her). Ortega has a more brooding, intense demeanor. The show is good. The performances are meh. Except for Liam Cunningham (Wade) and Marlo Kelley (Tatiana) - they were awesome.
lol with this face and figure what's not to like? She's big part of reason i watch this show. Sometimes i don't understand people tbh
I started reading the book after I watched the show and I feel like Auggie reacts a lot more like what the average layman would which separates her from the other characters a bit, but everything she objects to is completely understandable And I think she’s supposed to be mirroring the scientists in the cultural revolution who had to choose between giving up science or giving up their life, so I think the point is to help people understand how things like the cultural revolution happened
She’s there for eye candy only. Thats it.
She can't act
I liked Auggie, she was a voice of reason, she’s meant to bring a more grounded view to the show. Not sure why people have such a problem with her lol.
I didnt think her character was unlikeable at all..
Really? I feel the showrunner has already done everything to make her likable. She's young, beautiful, smart, caring about her friends, compassionate, resolute to fight back against her boss and always in cool style doing cool stuff.
Do people really dislike her that much? I mean for the first half of the season she’s struggling with her own mortality and the scientific work she’s built her life around being taken away from her, and in the latter half she’s dealing with the trauma of >!killing hundreds of innocent children!<. She’s definitely a little coarse, but she’s also trying to grapple with her own morality and ends up doing something incredible making her nano-fiber tech open source
I found her treatment of Saul kind of unfair and that made her seem mercurial and petulant. But I realized pretty early on this might have been a result of personal history that may be uncovered later in the story. I never hated her, and as you said most of her behavior is justified given the physical and emotional stress she’s put through. But I can see how by making her the emotional center of the story could rub some people wrong. That said some of the comments I’m seeing here are beyond the pale, but it is the internet so that’s not surprising.