Siblings make a difference?

[sidney]

What would have been different if they would have had families? What if Face would have known about his sister all along? What if Hannibal or BA would have had family? If Murdock's twin brother would have been part of the narrative from the beginning? What would have been different?

Do you think they would have been more 'sad' about being on the run? Do you think there would have been more problems being on the run? Would Murdock's twin be upset with him for being in the VA? Would any of their relatives have tried to work with the government? Try to convince them to turn themselves in or even doublecross them?

Is it important that the main characters NOT have any family links?

[HoudiniDerek]

Well, I think we get to see part of how it would have worked with B.A. and his mother. I think that sets the tone for how they all would have felt with anyone important left behind.

[amyk]

Dec 12, 2021 8:49:06 GMT -5 sidney said:

What would have been different if they would have had families? What if Face would have known about his sister all along? What if Hannibal or BA would have had family? If Murdock's twin brother would have been part of the narrative from the beginning? What would have been different?

Do you think they would have been more 'sad' about being on the run? Do you think there would have been more problems being on the run? Would Murdock's twin be upset with him for being in the VA? Would any of their relatives have tried to work with the government? Try to convince them to turn themselves in or even doublecross them?

Is it important that the main characters NOT have any family links?

We do know that BA has a family link, although not a sibling. I don't know if that made much difference, although we did learn that BA considered the team to be his family. However, I still like to think that BA was a bit sad he could not visit his mother more often. So perhaps he was a bit more 'sad' about being on the run. To me, it always seems like Face is the one most 'sad' about being on the run and that he is the one who most longs for a 'normal' life. I don't know that it would have made much difference if he had any family. But I do think because, for the most part, they don't have close family ties, this may have helped the team to feel more like a family to one another.

Edited to explain: I did not read HD's post before I posted mine. So I'll just leave mine even though it may somewhat repeat the ideas that HD shared.

[HoudiniDerek]

Dec 12, 2021 19:40:27 GMT -5 amyk said:

Dec 12, 2021 8:49:06 GMT -5 sidney said:

What would have been different if they would have had families? What if Face would have known about his sister all along? What if Hannibal or BA would have had family? If Murdock's twin brother would have been part of the narrative from the beginning? What would have been different?

Do you think they would have been more 'sad' about being on the run? Do you think there would have been more problems being on the run? Would Murdock's twin be upset with him for being in the VA? Would any of their relatives have tried to work with the government? Try to convince them to turn themselves in or even doublecross them?

Is it important that the main characters NOT have any family links?

We do know that BA has a family link, although not a sibling. I don't know if that made much difference, although we did learn that BA considered the team to be his family. However, I still like to think that BA was a bit sad he could not visit his mother more often. So perhaps he was a bit more 'sad' about being on the run. To me, it always seems like Face is the one most 'sad' about being on the run and that he is the one who most longs for a 'normal' life. I don't know that it would have made much difference if he had any family. But I do think because, for the most part, they don't have close family ties, this may have helped the team to feel more like a family to one another.

Edited to explain: I did not read HD's post before I posted mine. So I'll just leave mine even though it may somewhat repeat the ideas that HD shared.

I got to thinking about it after I read Amy's post. We didn't see ANY family ties prior to the fourth season. Then, we get back stories on B.A., Hannibal, and Face to a degree with Face getting more in the fifth season. I think the show was definitely designed so that the team didn't have to worry about ties back home and that made it easier to be on the run. But as the show progressed, it became more important to learn more about the team.

Overall, I think it worked best without ties, but it's definitely an interesting thing to consider.

[amyk]

Maybe they just started adding in family ties because they were running out of ideas for the more typical plots (thug oppressing honest, hardworking people). Murdock is the one that we really don't ever seem to know much about. I am never even sure if his mother really did die when he was five as I think is said in the pilot. I think BA is the only team member who even ever talked about his father (unless you count Frankie talking about how his father was in a nursing home).

[sidney]

They need to be without family, I think. For the first three and a half seasons, it was imperative that they were on their own and had no one but each other. I think adding BA's momma was another gimmick in a gimmick-full season. The only thing is - we loved that gimmick! Mrs Baracus was the best!

[amyk]

I just got a thought about Murdock's mother. What if, when Murdock was five years old, she actually was committed to some kind of institution because of insanity and they just always told Murdock she had died because it was considered shameful or something to have a relative in an insane asylum?!?

[sidney]

Out of all of 'em, who do you wish did have a sibling with an actual story line? I am kind of going with Hannibal on this one.

[HoudiniDerek]

Dec 23, 2021 16:39:22 GMT -5 sidney said:

Out of all of 'em, who do you wish did have a sibling with an actual story line? I am kind of going with Hannibal on this one.

To me, I kind of see the Kid Harmon storyline as the sibling story angle for Hannibal. I know he wasn't related to Kid Harmon's dad, but they had that sort of fraternal rivalry to me.

I think B.A. and the Hulk had some of it too.

I think a sibling for Murdock would have been good since he is the one we have the least backstory about.

[sidney]

I never really liked the Kid Harmon story. It was kind of less about Hannibal and more about him. I want a real Hannibal story.

[HoudiniDerek]

Dec 23, 2021 21:10:45 GMT -5 sidney said:

I never really liked the Kid Harmon story. It was kind of less about Hannibal and more about him. I want a real Hannibal story.

I agree, but there was some backstory to Hannibal at least. Just a shame there wasn't more throughout the series.

[amyk]

Dec 23, 2021 16:39:22 GMT -5 sidney said:

Out of all of 'em, who do you wish did have a sibling with an actual story line? I am kind of going with Hannibal on this one.

I think it may have been neat if BA had a sister - would love to see what she would be like! But for Hannibal having a brother or sister, that could have been interesting.

[Eclipse139]

They could have made Kid Harmon's dad Hannibal's brother - Kid called Hannibal 'Uncle John' anyway, but to make them real brothers would have given us some insight into Hannibal's childhood. I would have also put a slightly different angle on the idea that Kid's mum chose between the two of them when she was choosing who to marry. Perhaps it might have been interesting for the rest of the team to discover Hannibal had been secretly keeping in touch with his 'real' family all this time?

I agree that it would have been fun for BA to have a sister. I can see a younger sister who can stand up for herself as well as her big brother and really hates it when BA tries to protect her.

We know virtually nothing about Murdock's family - I don't like to think of him having an unhappy, or abusive childhood, especially not if it's used as a reason/excuse for his mental health issues. I like to think that he had a large, extended family even if it was perhaps not the traditional family unit - lots of uncles, aunties and cousins around and they all had lots of fun and looked out for each other.

Although the introduction of Face's biological dad was controversial, one of my favourite things about that ep is the way Face has some kind of natural connection with his sister, even if to start with he misunderstands those feelings! Once he discovers who she really is his attitude towards her completely changes and I would have loved to have seen them develop that relationship further - Face would have made a great big brother!

[amyk]

I don't personally think of Murdock as having an unhappy or abusive childhood. Even if his mother did die when he was 5, I like to think that Murdock had a loving dad. Perhaps by the time of the show, his dad has died. But I think that Murdock would have been putting on little shows and plays for his family, copying TV shows, and making them all laugh.

[Katia]

Dec 18, 2021 17:27:45 GMT -5 sidney said:

They need to be without family, I think. For the first three and a half seasons, it was imperative that they were on their own and had no one but each other. I think adding BA's momma was another gimmick in a gimmick-full season. The only thing is - we loved that gimmick! Mrs Baracus was the best!

I think so, too.  I think it would be too difficult to deal with them being on the run if they had family ties.  I wouldn't want to see the show dealing with Murdock having to call his worried sister and Hannibal's relationship with his uncle and etc. etc., or of feeling it's implausible that they don't have to do these things.  Though it does also seem a bit unlikely that they were all only children.  Maybe one could have a sibling who was also in Vietnam and killed?  (I wonder if Face and Ellen kept in touch.)

I do like that we saw B.A.'s mom, because Mr. T (and by extension, B.A.) is so about "be nice to your mama" that it was good to see the person who inspired it in him (and I think I like this way of explaining it better maybe than that she's dead and a bunch of emotional flashbacks or something).  (And it was such a good excuse to get him into a plane voluntarily.)

Dec 13, 2021 19:47:38 GMT -5 amyk said:

Maybe they just started adding in family ties because they were running out of ideas for the more typical plots (thug oppressing honest, hardworking people). Murdock is the one that we really don't ever seem to know much about. I am never even sure if his mother really did die when he was five as I think is said in the pilot. I think BA is the only team member who even ever talked about his father (unless you count Frankie talking about how his father was in a nursing home).

And, we still don't know where B.A.'s dad is.  Dead?  Left?  I haven't even decided on that myself.  Though I think I could come up with a few scenarios, based on the fact that his file in "Mexican Slayride" shows that he was born in Atlanta... could maybe tie that in; how did he then end up in Chicago?  His mom left his dad and they moved?  The whole family moved because his dad was maybe in trouble with the law?  (I'm not above suggesting B.A. might've had a rough background, in part because IIRC, Mr. T did and he'd probably be okay with that for B.A. too.  And Mrs. B. kind of gives off that "tough single mom" vibe, IMO.  Plus, I feel like we can't have *everyone's* parents be dead, so for me B.A. and Hannibal have to have-- or had-- living parents somewhere.)

Dec 18, 2021 18:03:29 GMT -5 amyk said:

I just got a thought about Murdock's mother. What if, when Murdock was five years old, she actually was committed to some kind of institution because of insanity and they just always told Murdock she had died because it was considered shameful or something to have a relative in an insane asylum?!?

Ooh.  Or that that's what happened and he just always said she was dead.  Or, maybe his dad was-- we know nothing about his dad and in my headcanon both of his parents have just always been dead, but this is a possibility.

What if part of Murdock's thing is that he grew up being told that mental illness is hereditary and he was probably going to end up "crazy" like his parent, too?  Maybe it bugged him all his life, and now he's like, "Eh, what the hell; everyone expects it anyway."

In my headcanon, Murdock has one of the most complete backstories, sort of.  Namely that his parents are both dead, he was mostly raised by his grandparents, and didn't have a big family anyway and they weren't all that close... and now he pretty much doesn't hear from the little he has, since he's across the country, and they're not interested in him because A. veteran (Vietnam vets weren't always popular, after all) and B. insane in an institution.  I've got one story where they have a job in his hometown helping an old friend {actually his high-school sweetheart who he almost married and keeps in touch with sometimes} and B.A. drives him to visit his parents'/grandparents' graves, but I can't decide if he just decides not to tell the rest of his family that he's in town since they don't really talk, or if I should put in a quick scene where he does look them up and it's awkward because, again, they're just not interested in him so they just kind of stand around shuffling their feet trying to make small talk and are all glad when he can finally go...

I didn't like that A.J. was Face's dad; I think I liked him better as a mysterious orphan.  (Though I still think it would've been cute if he had managed to scam his way into being adopted, and so realized how useful it was to be a con artist and thus launches his career...)

Hannibal I always imagine as having been divorced in the past-- maybe because I'd read that GP was and I could see that for Hannibal, been married once and never wants a committed relationship again, maybe even one of those "the war/being deployed/aftermath destroyed my marriage" things-- and estranged from his family (again, like Murdock, he may not have had much family, maybe they weren't close-- I could see that making him the independent type).  I can just see Hannibal being the "bitter" type about some stuff in his past, and that being part of the reason he's a "lone wolf" sort.

B.A....I get the vibe it was very much "him and his mom against the world" sort of.  Which might also explain why he was so protective of her.