Trese has artistic merits but it’s a spectacular failure in terms of character development. The protagonist Alexandra is based on an overused trope: she’s a strong independent woman who’s prophesied to be some sort of a savior despite her tragic past, thanks to her special abilities (*yawn*). Because the protagonist sucked, the episodes’ plots sucked as well.
It’s important to write multi-dimensional characters because characters drive the plot. According to writing consultant John Truby, there are two factors that will help you write a protagonist that audiences will care about: 1) the character’s relatable weaknesses and 2) the character’s high-stakes goal. In the story, the protagonist must pursue a goal that he thinks will satisfy what he wants. But what the character does not immediately realize is that the act of pursuing the goal will help him overcome his weaknesses, which is what he needs.
Truby said that a character must have psychological and moral weaknesses. The psychological weakness is the flaw that hurts the character. It can stem from his personality, upbringing, or traumatic experience. The moral weakness is the harm that the character inflicts upon other people because of his psychological weakness. In Trese, Alexandra has no believable weaknesses.
Monster: The Opposite of Trese
To concretize the ideas above, let’s compare Alexandra with Kenzo Tenma, the protagonist of Monster. Tenma has many admirable traits. He’s a compassionate and excellent neurosurgeon. He loves people even when they don’t deserve it.
And yet, I got hooked to Monster because of Tenma’s weaknesses. Tenma’s psychological weakness is that he’s such a people-pleaser to the point that he unconsciously imbibes the corrupt values of the people around him. The compromises that he made caused him to stray from his calling as a doctor. He’s weak in this manner because he was brought up by parents who were difficult to please, possibly because they’re narcissistic. This psychological weakness drove Tenma to neglect patients, abet criminals, and drive a deeper wedge between Anna Liebert and his twin brother Johan, Tenma’s former patient who becomes a mass murderer (for more information, read this and this).
In the manga, Tenma’s goal is to kill Johan because he wants to assuage his guilty conscience for operating on the latter. If only he didn’t save Johan, his former patient would not have lived to kill so many people. But what Tenma needs is to discover how he can practice medicine in a way that’s true to his values. And pursuing Johan fulfills that need.
Rewriting Trese’s Protagonist
Liza Soberano’s voice acting sucks because Alexandra Trese sucks. She’s a Mary Sue. How then should we rewrite this protagonist?
If I were the mangaka, I'd make Alexandra a middle class Filipino young adult without superpowers. She’ll be born to loving parents and will have four siblings. Her father will be a human rights lawyer for Filipinos belonging to low socio-economic groups. He will inculcate in her the importance of a good work ethic and a strong sense of justice. Alexandra’s mother will be a full-time housewife. Because she’ll be attentive to her children’s needs and will accept them for who they are, Alexandra will feel confident to be herself.
As the middle child, Alexandra will not be burdened by responsibilities like the eldest or overly protected like the youngest. This will give her the independence to explore the world on her own, thus training her to think critically and follow her moral compass. She will develop an unconventional worldview that marries her empiricism with her brand of Filipino spirituality.
These strengths will have corresponding weaknesses. Her psychological weakness will be self-righteousness and impatience mixed with naivete. As a young girl, these traits will rub her teachers and classmates the wrong way. Her teachers will view her fierce individualism as defiance. Her classmates will avoid hanging out with her because she’s different and she’s proud of it. Many of them will force her to fit their mold. She will try to cope with this by being more arrogant, which will result in more ostracism in school. The rejection will give Alexandra the desire to create a world where upright and competent people can thrive even if they’re different.
Her moral weakness, however, will be Machiavellianism. As a detective, she will insult and subject co-workers to unreasonably high standards to force improvement out of them. Worse, she won’t mind torturing criminals for information. She will conduct MK Ultra-like experiments so she can brainwash people into doing what she thinks is best. Such behaviors will incur other state employees’ wrath so much that they will oppose Alexandra in ways that will be far more hurtful than what she can imagine. The sufferings that she will go through as she pursues her goals will give her what she truly needs: humility that results in compassion.
How will you rewrite Trese’s protagonist?
(Photo from Canva)
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