Cocogurl wrote:
Yeah, but Michael and Isabel didn't make great strides to become better friends with Liz, or Maria, or Alex. But you didn't see any of them become murderers and backstabbers.
I would say even Michael and Isabel were more welcoming originally to the humans then Tess was originally. Yeah Isabel and Michael were initially very threatened with Liz and Maria they still warmed to them rather quickly more or less. Isabel initially was very stand-offish but during the episode 285 South she tried to at least be friendly to Liz. Isabel and Maria had a bonding moment in Monsters. I also think in Missing, Michael was friendly to Liz and Michael and Liz also had a moment where she found that Topolsky had a file on him, etc. All in all Michael and Isabel were more open to be friends with the humans then Tess was. So I don't even think those comparisons are really all that valid.
Maybe Michael and Isabel didn't really try to have a better relationship with Tess because deep down, they sensed that even though she was one of them, she wasn't like them.
The funny thing is that I think Isabel and Michael could have been friends with if it was something she wanted. However she didn't want to cultivate those relationships because she was too concerned with getting in bed with Max. Michael and Tess actually could have been friends considering how both of them wanted to express their alien side and find home. Isabel and Tess could have been friends too if Tess wanted it. But she wasn't interested in them outside of them "knowing" who she was and after that she couldn't have cared less about them.
valentinebaby wrote:And sure she knew about Nesado's deal, but like I said before who knows what he told her. For all we know Nesado could've said that Zan was a tyrant and Khivar was trying to save the people of Antar, and she thought she was doing what was best for her people. Without forming some sort of friendship with the other three and getting to know them, she really had no reason not to follow through with the plan.
I'm sorry, my bias may be showing but I honestly can't picture Tess as the virtuous (or even misunderstood) heroine trying to save the world from big bad Max (when the show expressed to us several times that Max held no interest in going back to Antar). The deal in my opinion can in no way be justified as the right thing to do. Tess was planning a slaughter of her self proclaimed family and there's no getting around that. Isabel, Max and Michael would never hurt anyone. The only reason they were leaving was because Tess and the baby were dying. They were leaving earth to save her and it was all a mind game anyway. Tess had no reason to betray Max, Isabel or Michael. Tess was always more self-aware and more in control then your saying she was. Tess didn't get duped by Nascedo. She was apart from him and his rule for an entire year and yet she kept this secret from them and continued to plot against them from the beginning, it's not like we can't say Tess didn't have other options (hell she even flirted with the Kyle option before returning back to her plans). Even if we brush Alex's death off as an accident she still was going to send Max, Isabel and Michael off to their execution, and she even used her baby as a pawn in the game. I honestly think that this just showed that Tess is not capable of love. She couldn't understand it and she couldn't see why Michael, Max and Isabel were willing to do so much because of it.
valentinebaby wrote: Tess has always been a problem character for me because yeah I feel horrible for her,
I can't feel bad for her, because all of Tess' problems are self-inflicted. She could have a completely different life if she just chose differently and I can't feel bad for her up bringing with Nasedo because I don't believe he ever abused her, she never acted that way so I don't see it as something he imprinted on her in her up bringing. I do think that it affected her interaction with people and her belief in humans as less than, but again that can be changed and Tess never even tried to not act the way she did. Tess had too many choices to be pitied in my opinion, and I just can't find it within myself to feel bad for her. She was a spoiled brat most of the time and her character was always centered around being Queen at any cost even her babies welfare. It made too much sense to me that Tess winds up killing herself at 4AAAB, she had nothing left to live for. She failed at doing the one thing in life she most wanted to do - go home and be Queen. So it makes complete sense that after being so one track minded that she would self-destruct and want to end her days. She never wanted be on earth - she couldn't be on Antar - she couldn't have her thrown. I don't think she is a character that should be felt bad for. She made her choices and she owned them and was more or less proud of them.
I just have to say that there seems to be a bit of revisionism here. Tess was by no means a confused victim in all of this. She was way to proactive, way to in control and had numerous choices that she could of made but she made all of the wrong ones and she deserve contempt. I say to her fans revel in her evilness and own the canon of the character. Because that is true to who Tess is. To be honest I don't think Tess herself would ever want the label of victimized ingenue.