I’m back from my annus horribilis — which culminated in my recent hip-replacement surgery that left me feeling so low — and I am finally officially tired of my own bullshit and ready to jump back into work. Expect lots of stuff from me this week and going forward.
To get us all going:
What are the best (and worse) ways characters have unexpectedly reappeared in a story?
I have chosen the absolute nonsense of “Somehow, Palpatine returned” from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which is so ridiculous that poor Oscar Isaac, who must deliver this line, seems unable to muster enough enthusiasm to even pretend it makes sense, even in the context of science fantasy.
As for sequels, hands down it's Sean Connery in Highlander 2. He was decapitated and magically destroyed in the first, but comes back because he "promised he would", and because now he's apparently an alien, with unexplained powers. *Sigh*. Looking at reappearances within a movie, I hated when Danny Aiello turned up again in Hudson Hawk. Earlier he was in a car that careened off a cliff, exploded in a mighty fireball mid air, and disintegrated on impact. When he turns up alive anyway towards the end of the movie, he explains it thus: "Airbags". No, no, no - not even as a joke, unless the movie is Top Secret or Airplane!, maybe.
My vote for worst - and I'm sorry that I keep going to the MCU in these questions, I don't know why this is happening - Agent Coulson being resurrected out of The Avengers to headline Agents of SHIELD. It was so blatantly a money move, even more so than most things going on with these films. But worse, his character being the everday guy, in awe of and inspired by Captain America, blatantly not the Avenger but being the one to act heroically and sacrifice everything when it mattered, was a beautiful and touching arc. He isn't the hero! But he chose to act! That's worth everything! and so bringing him back to launch Agents of SHIELD just felt so, so cheap.
for best, another commenter said Gandalf the White, and that's hard to argue with or do better than, I think. It was not unexpected, true, so I guess it technically doesn't fit. But it was so, so well done. Perhaps to fit the question more technically, though, I am going to turn to a book series I am a bit rabid about : The Locked Tomb. I could pick a number of moments in the second book, tbh; it's probably a tossup between Abigail Pent, whose reappearance really guides the shape of what the book is doing, or Matthias Nonius, who I guess technically hasn't actually appeared before but we know who he was and it is completely unexpected that he will be joining the party (also the whole scene he's a part of just touches my emotions like a third rail, it's a lot!)
Three words - Gandalf the White. (Not that it was unexpected to anybody who read the books, but PJ and company handled it exceptionally well.)
Worst:
Not a specific instance, but a trope: When a character previously thought dead or incapacitated shows up as a deus ex machina to save the hero just when the villain is ready to strike a fatal blow. It's been done well and not so well, but it is used so often that I've just come to expect it in such situations, which is precisely the opposite of the effect it is supposed to have -- so the only suspense is just waiting for them to get it over with and move on with the story.
Glad you're back in the action.
As for sequels, hands down it's Sean Connery in Highlander 2. He was decapitated and magically destroyed in the first, but comes back because he "promised he would", and because now he's apparently an alien, with unexplained powers. *Sigh*. Looking at reappearances within a movie, I hated when Danny Aiello turned up again in Hudson Hawk. Earlier he was in a car that careened off a cliff, exploded in a mighty fireball mid air, and disintegrated on impact. When he turns up alive anyway towards the end of the movie, he explains it thus: "Airbags". No, no, no - not even as a joke, unless the movie is Top Secret or Airplane!, maybe.
So glad you're healed up and back!
My vote for worst - and I'm sorry that I keep going to the MCU in these questions, I don't know why this is happening - Agent Coulson being resurrected out of The Avengers to headline Agents of SHIELD. It was so blatantly a money move, even more so than most things going on with these films. But worse, his character being the everday guy, in awe of and inspired by Captain America, blatantly not the Avenger but being the one to act heroically and sacrifice everything when it mattered, was a beautiful and touching arc. He isn't the hero! But he chose to act! That's worth everything! and so bringing him back to launch Agents of SHIELD just felt so, so cheap.
for best, another commenter said Gandalf the White, and that's hard to argue with or do better than, I think. It was not unexpected, true, so I guess it technically doesn't fit. But it was so, so well done. Perhaps to fit the question more technically, though, I am going to turn to a book series I am a bit rabid about : The Locked Tomb. I could pick a number of moments in the second book, tbh; it's probably a tossup between Abigail Pent, whose reappearance really guides the shape of what the book is doing, or Matthias Nonius, who I guess technically hasn't actually appeared before but we know who he was and it is completely unexpected that he will be joining the party (also the whole scene he's a part of just touches my emotions like a third rail, it's a lot!)
Glad to hear you're doing better!
"So glad you're healed up and back!"
Still healing, but definitely doing better.
Best:
Three words - Gandalf the White. (Not that it was unexpected to anybody who read the books, but PJ and company handled it exceptionally well.)
Worst:
Not a specific instance, but a trope: When a character previously thought dead or incapacitated shows up as a deus ex machina to save the hero just when the villain is ready to strike a fatal blow. It's been done well and not so well, but it is used so often that I've just come to expect it in such situations, which is precisely the opposite of the effect it is supposed to have -- so the only suspense is just waiting for them to get it over with and move on with the story.