31 Plays in 31 Days, #27 - "Grow Up"

Ugh. So here's the problem with this scene. It's another for the Fraiser spinoff pilot, but it uses an idea I'm not sure I want to include.

I really want to have Freddy believe that David came to him in need, which create a sense of responsibility to his cousin that he latches onto for emotional validation. The idea that he has something to offer a desperate David makes him feel good. But then I want it to turn out that David's actually just using him for something else, which makes Freddy feel betrayed. It will temporarily cause him to withdraw his support out of hurt, but realizing that David's immaturity makes him need Freddy's guidance more than ever leads him back to actually be there for his cousin. That will create a real basis for their relationship-- David needs to learn from and rely on Freddy, and Freddy is taken outside his unhappy self-obsession by taking care of someone else. That idea is super solid and I want to use it.

Additionally, I want to include Alice Doyle in the cast. The trouble there is I'm not sure how. She'd need to turn up in Boston for some reason, and be hooked into the plot somehow, but I was concerned how to do that in a way that wasn't too coincidental with how David happened to arrive in Boston at the same time, after the two of them grew up in Seattle. She's also six years older, which puts her at a slightly different place in life than either Freddy or David.

So where I'm tripping is, what should David's true motivation be? And how does Alice factor in? Unfortunately, at the moment, the only thing I can think of to make these work are to have Alice arrive in Boston for grad school and David, who was believed he was in love with her since he was a kid, decided to come to Boston after his Yale suspension to try to keep pursuing her. She has rejected him in the past and continues to, intending to go on with her own life.

The advantage of this is that it folds her into the story in a sensible way, taking away some of the coincidence. It's a solid ulterior motive for David moving in with Freddy, and one likely to make Freddy feel used and offended. It also makes the need to honor her feelings and develop a relationship with her based in friendship and respect part of David's growing up process.

The problem, however, is that it's a little stale to motivate one of my two primary leads with a disappointed crush on a woman. Despite my intention for her to be one of the main cast and a fully-rounded character in her own right, it brings Alice into things initially as a plot device. I hate doing that to a female character.

I might be able to make it work in a way that wasn't reductive. Maybe if I show that the POINT is that she's her own person and that David is making a mistake in how his crush on her makes him ignore her own agency. It might be okay then. But I'm not sure.

I'd love to think of some other way to make these ideas work, but at the moment I don't have anything else. So I took a crack at it with this scene. It would fall directly after Day #20 - "Reaching Out" in the scene order.

If I did use this, though, it would mean that the whole first half of the pilot was drafted.

( Day #27 - Grow Up )