Tyler Lockwood: I Guess He's Back?

[Lisin]

Look, I'm not a fan. I don't have a specific problem with Michael Trevino, I just don't like this character. I'm hoping we'll move away from a Tyler/Caroline story and maybe towards a Tyler/Matt as best buds figuring out the Katherine issue story in which case I may change my tune but if we're going to have to watch him mope more I'm bored. 

[formerlyfreedom]

Look, I'm not a fan. I don't have a specific problem with Michael Trevino, I just don't like this character. I'm hoping we'll move away from a Tyler/Caroline story and maybe towards a Tyler/Matt as best buds figuring out the Katherine issue story in which case I may change my tune but if we're going to have to watch him mope more I'm bored. 

Yep.

[Carrie Ann]

I really loved Tyler's season 1-3 storyline--becoming a werewolf, then a hybrid, and learning to live with both. He grew so much as a character, and I loved seeing his vulnerability, especially through his relationship with Caroline.

So it's sad, but his story is basically over. I mean, he did enough growing in those few seasons, and he sort of topped out. Now they just have him regressing. I'm fine with his anger at Caroline--Klaus killed his mother (and him, actually, when he turned him into a hybrid) and all of his little hybrid friends--but it's not a very interesting angle. And frankly, I'm done with ever seeing him as a hero after his turn on The Originals. Anyone trying to kill the baby, or take the baby from Hayley, is on the Bad Guys team in my book.

I'd be surprised if he makes it through this season.

[bettername2come]

With Tyler, I just get sick of him coming and going. How many times has he left town during the season and come back? Three? Every time he returns, I care a little less.

[lion10]

 

And frankly, I'm done with ever seeing him as a hero after his turn on The Originals. Anyone trying to kill the baby, or take the baby from Hayley, is on the Bad Guys team in my book.

 

I don't think Tyler's actions against Hayley were that bad.  Hayley intentionally deceived him and helped Klaus slaughter Tyler's 12 hybrid friends and doesn't seem to feel any guilt over it, all to find out about her long gone parents.  It's pretty weird to sacrifice people just for information about people who either didn't care about her or who were long dead.  If she wanted a family so badly, why didn't she stay with the wolfpack?  Did Shane tell her the information about her parents?  Tyler's understandably upset and given how many innocent people the heroes of the show have killed, what's one more (Hayley) that actually deserved it?  Does this show even have Bad Guys at this point?  In TVD, villainy seems to be a matter of perspective when dealing with supernatural creatures as everyone is probably the villain of someone else's story.

 

I think Tyler's been given a blessing in disguise with turning back into an untriggered werewolf.  He doesn't have to deal with turning into a wolf and he can have a family and leave the pit of despair and murder that is Mystic Falls.  And he's rich so he can go wherever he likes and lead a normal life away from the supernatural shenanigans and violence.

[Carrie Ann]

It wasn't that Tyler was willing to hurt Hayley--I didn't like that, but whatever, all these people have been awful to each other at various times. The issue, as I said in the part you quoted, was that he was willing to kill the baby. Like I said, on The Originals, almost every character has done truly abhorrent things (aside from Camille, and maybe Josh), and at some point, I realized that the only reliable metric I had for BAD was whether the person wanted to kill the baby or take it from Hayley. That doesn't mean that characters who didn't want that (Klaus) are good, it just means that I was on their team as far as that aspect goes.

 

For me, Tyler being willing to kill a baby was over the line. I also think it was OOC, but what are you going to do? So is everyone at this point, I suppose.

[lion10]

It wasn't that Tyler was willing to hurt Hayley--I didn't like that, but whatever, all these people have been awful to each other at various times. The issue, as I said in the part you quoted, was that he was willing to kill the baby. Like I said, on The Originals, almost every character has done truly abhorrent things (aside from Camille, and maybe Josh), and at some point, I realized that the only reliable metric I had for BAD was whether the person wanted to kill the baby or take it from Hayley. That doesn't mean that characters who didn't want that (Klaus) are good, it just means that I was on their team as far as that aspect goes.

 

For me, Tyler being willing to kill a baby was over the line. I also think it was OOC, but what are you going to do? So is everyone at this point, I suppose.

 

 

I suppose I became so frustrated with the apparent lack of "good" guys and acceptance of "bad" guys on the show, even in a loose sense that I've gotten to a blissful place where I take a lot of actions of the characters in stride, especially when done to other supes.  

 

This REALLY isn't the place to bring up this topic but...technically, Tyler was going to kill a fetus, not a baby, so he wouldn't be really killing a person at all.  He's violating Hayley's bodily autonomy by attempting to kill the baby, which is heinous, no question.  But in a show where the protagonists have murdered innocents to grow a hunter's mark or to emphasize their determination or killed Katherine's family because she didn't want to be brutally sacrificed, and are never called on it, I don't see unwilling pregnancy termination to be a special kind of evil.  It's wrong and disturbs me but so do many of the actions I see the heroes do on TVD and TO.  Imo, killing the baby would've crossed a line.  To each their own.  

 

I do think it was OOC for Tyler to do something like that.

Edited August 23, 2014 by lion10

[Lady Calypso]

Honestly, with the whole killing Hayley and the baby thing, it really was OOC for Tyler to do that. He can be a jerk sometimes, but a killer, especially to an innocent baby? No way. I mean, Klaus was way more harsh in the pilot when he said 'kill Hayley and the baby' after she revealed her pregnancy to him, so sure, what Tyler did was just as bad, but was he unprovoked? No way. Hayley was a bitch to him, betraying him, getting all his friends killed for Klaus, who could have not had any information but luckily did. Everyone is flawed on this show and everyone has done terrible things; this just happens to be one of Tyler's more recent mistakes. Honestly, I get that killing babies/children/pets are pretty much off limits and I even kind of am on that side. But stepping back from it, it's no different than Klaus' many kills over the years, especially if we consider he most likely has killed children and babies before. 

 

Tyler, and Michael Trevino by extension, has not been treated well by the writers since season 3. I would even go as far back as season 2, after he left town to work on becoming a werewolf. They always ship him out of town just when his character is progressing, and then he comes back with new knowledge and in control and whatnot. I loved when he was discovered to be a werewolf and Caroline stayed with him the first couple of full moons, because it showed him transforming and learning on screen. But somewhere along the way from that to becoming a hybrid, the show stopped caring about his character and slowly started to give him less and less screen time, and less story to tell. They did ok with the hybrid storyline, until Hayley came into the picture. They give him a little bit to do before he's sent to Offscreen Land again. The show keeps showing how they couldn't care less about a supposed main character and even Bonnie, Matt and now Jeremy have joined him in Couldn't Care Less About Our Main Characters. 

 

I'm sure Trevino isn't happy with the show anymore; I wouldn't be either if I was him. He started off with so much potential but then they kept sending him off screen, then they killed his pack and then his mother just for the sake of story. He's the one character I could see them killing off finally and having nobody care. Geez, even in the finale, he died with a Traveler inside of him and came back to life as a human, and nobody cared! We get maybe four scenes of Matt caring about Tyler being possessed but everyone else was too busy worrying over whatever was happening with Elena/Damon. 

 

So, really, anything now with Tyler I have to put blame on the writers/producers because they show that they don't care about him, and I keep wondering if they dislike writing for the character this much, why they are keeping him around. Is it because he's a good scapegoat for whatever shitty storylines they have planned? Do I dare hope that he gets a good storyline for season 6, or should I just expect him to be a prop for the other characters/the writer's story once more? He feels less like a character now, and more like a prop and that's why I can't hate Tyler or Trevino: because it's just not their faults for Tyler Lockwood as a character. They need to make a decision on either keeping him and actually trying to write for him, and getting rid of him for good. They have always had opportunities and they keep bringing him back and I really will never understand why.