redirected from Main.TheRick
alt title(s): The Rick; Cabbaging
The Watson is the character whose job it is to ask the same questions the audience must be asking and let other characters explain what's going on. Distinct from
Mr Exposition in that
The Watson allows another character to become
Mr Exposition.
Generally, female variants of The Watson will have a bit more character development and a larger role within the story (but not too much larger). She will be inevitably attractive, serving a dual role — giving the children someone to like and the
adult men someone to tune in for. She almost always has something of
The Kimberly about her, although you don't usually end up wishing for her death. She will have a far higher probability of being captured or kidnapped by the opposition than the male variants do.
Playing The Watson is also referred to as
cabbaging, since this role could be played by a head of cabbage.
Science fiction fans may know this character as The Sarah Jane, after (arguably) the most popular of the many companions who had things explained to them on
Doctor Who. In fact, actress Louise Jameson, who played one of the Doctor's companions, explained her decision to leave after a relatively short tenure as being motivated by the fact that, "There are only so many ways you can say 'What is it, Doctor?'"
On occasions, you get
The Watson being cleverer than
Mr Exposition, which results in some problems, but occasionally works.
Often in fantasy settings,
The Watson is the character with more "real world" sensibilities (Sometimes because he's been transplanted
from the real world: John Crichton (
Farscape) often got to act as
The Watson in early episodes, for example), prompting
Mr Exposition to explain the "rules" of the fantasy world.
In parody, it is becoming increasingly common for
The Watson to be a character who isn't
genre blind to the sillier tropes, often making
Mr Exposition look like something of a buffoon (as in
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, where Scott Evil asks why his father
doesn't just shoot Austin, instead preferring to put him in an easily escapable
Death Trap). See
Genre Savvy.
See also
The Daria, who makes similar observations but is less inclined to assist afterwards. Formerly named (but is still redirected from)
The Rick.
Examples:
- The trope namer is Dr. John Watson, the narrator from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, who would often ask the title character to explain his baffling logical leaps. Holmes would then lecture him on how "elementary" the logic used in solving the case was, thus allowing Holmes to explain the finer points of the story without disrupting the narrative flow.
- It's worthy of note that this was much less a trait of the literary Watson, who was a capable medical doctor and whose real-world common sense complemented Holmes's theoretical knowledge (not to mention, being a much better shot). It only became a fundamental part of the character via Flanderization and Adaptation Decay, especially as a result of Nigel Bruce's portrayal on film and radio.
- Captain Hastings in several of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot stories, on the other hand, was most definitely The Watson - in fact, he resembled the flanderized Watson more than the original Watson did.
- In Magnum PI, Magnum had an annoying friend named Rick. His function in the series was to serve as a sort of surrogate for the audience on the more outrageous story points. He was always protesting, "C'mon, Magnum..." as in, "C'mon, Magnum, there's no way those crooks would trust us with $7 million in gold coins. It's ludicrous." (And this is exactly what the audience was thinking at that point.) Magnum would then calmly explain to Rick just exactly why the crooks would, indeed, hand over $7 million in gold. Rick would be convinced, and in theory, the audience protests would have been addressed as well.
- In the newer episodes of Doctor Who, the Doctor himself is often The Watson, asking the natives of whatever time and place he's landed in what's going on.
- In Death Note, Ryuk, a shinigami, often acts as The Watson to Light's plans. That is, when he's not just standing behind Light silently chuckling. Or standing on his head.
- Matsuda in the same series is used as The Watson for the police side of events, mainly due to his being a male version of The Ditz.
- On House MD the role of House's Watson is played by every single character. One memorable example had House saying his staff's diagnosis was wrong, because they weren't wearing the right shoes — if the diagnosis was right, they'd all already be at a bowling alley.
- Of course, with House being deliberately based on Sherlock Holmes, the main Watson analogue is Wilson.
- Real Life example: Mike Rowe of the documentary series Dirty Jobs is a professional Watson, learning the ropes of his latest dirty job from his bemused temporary co-workers.
- Hiyono in Spiral tends to get dropped into this role, and if she isn't, Kousuke is. Hiyo-Hiyo is reasonably clever, and Kou-chan even more so, but that doesn't say much when the entire main cast is made up of child prodigies.
- In the DVD commentary for Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman says the character of Winston Zeddemore was intended to serve this purpose.
- Ron in Harry Potter was constantly making suggestions, forcing Hermione to sigh and explain that, if only he'd read Hogwarts: A History, he'd understand why it's impossible to... Rowling said she would never have Harry or Ron read Hogwarts: A History because it was too useful an expository device.
- Rick Wheeler in F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu. (You know this show as the source of "FALCON PUUUUUUUNCH!!!")
- Normally inteligent Chachamaru in Mahou Sensei Negima was always and entirely uninformed of any fighting style during the Mahora Tournament. Giving us Explainer Goutokuji for this portion of the series. Normally Asuna, Nodoka, Konoka, and Chisame serve this purpose. Yue bounces between this and Mr Exposition depending on where in the series you are. When it comes to fighting Negi takes this role, giving the big Exposition talk to Kaede (Ninja), Ku Fei (Kung Fu Master), Kotaro (Dog Demon Brawler Ninja), or Evangaline (Really Old Vampire).
- The various Snakes of the Metal Gear Solid franchise seem to serve this role well, although the exact reason why is pretty obvious. The original idea behind the protagonist switch was that Snake would have someone to be The Watson for him instead of being The Watson himself, letting him come across as more astute and mature. (Hideo Kojima even cited inspiration from Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who for the idea.)
- And he happens to be the most (only?) reality-grounded character in Super Smash Bros Brawl to boot.
- The entire premise of Futurama is Fry ending up in situations that need to be explained to him because of the thousand years that went by without him. Holy crap, there's a theme park on the moon!? Hilariously, on multiple occasions a new character will be thawed out (Fry's ex-girlfriend and That Guy from The Eighties) and become Fry's Watson, which not only demonstrates his considerable ability to acclimatise (read: there's still TV and beer, so he's just dandy), but also gives him a chance to show how little he retains of what he's learned.
- The classic (1963-1989) series of Doctor Who featured countless characters that filled this role. The female companions evolved as the series went on, tending more towards the Action Girl; the last before the series was cancelled was Ace, a punk-rock teen who loved explosives and was willing to rush at a Dalek with a baseball bat if she saw one.
- The contrast between that and Rose (who originally looked like she would be an Action Girl and ended up just getting held hostage a lot) is the first and only thing that has ever got This Troper considering whether society's views of acceptable roles for women have regressed a bit.
- To be fair, Rose does her part plenty of times; she just gets a lot of vitriol.
- Gwen gets to fill this role on Torchwood.
- Funnily enough, Sarah Jane herself gets her own Watsons The Sarah Jane Adventures; in the form of Maria, Luke and Clyde. Though in this show it's the boys, and not Maria, who tend to get captured more often... though they are still savvy enough to get themselves out of it too.
- The ditzy lab assistant in the Monty Python "Science Fiction Sketch" is very much a parody of the type; she exists simply to look pretty and have Graham Chapman's character explain the plot to her. He eventually becomes so frustrated with her stupidity that he knocks her out and explains the plot to himself instead.
- Gus from Psych, one of the few characters in on the Masquerade, whose fair intelligence and relative lack of observancy make him just short of an Expy of Watson himself.
- Despite being from the same magical world as everyone else, Gourry from Slayers was enough of an idiot to have to ask questions about what the other characters would consider basic, everyday facts, giving them a reason to explain the rules and mythology of their world.
- Poor Naruto; reviled and ignored by everyone in his village his whole life, failed graduation three times, and now he has to be the other characters' Watson. And he's the main character! No wonder Sasuke gets all the fangirls.
- Most stories about a Utopia, particularly those written before the mid-twentieth century, tend to feature a lead character who is a Watson combined with a Naive Newcomer. The plot generally consisted of the Watson being led around the utopia asking questions about how it works. The Exposition Fairy who lived in the utopia would then explain how the utopia worked in exhaustive detail. Really poorly thought out utopian novels did not combine this trope with the Naive Newcomer and hence had the Exposition Fairy tell The Watson things they already new for no apparent reason. Generally declined in usage after modern exposition techniques, (ie "Show, Don't Tell) were developed. Examples include Julian West from Looking Backwardby Edward Bellamy, Guest from News from Nowhere by William Morrison, and the Botanist from A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells. An example of a Watson who isn't combined with the Naive Newcomer is Alice from Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback.
- In Final Fantasy X, the Player Character Tidus fakes amnesia so that he can play the Watson to the rest of the cast (he actually has a real reason, but it doesn't fly too well with the xenophobic people he hangs around with). Unfortunately in order to make sure that every player is keeping up with the plot, Tidus finds himself constantly bugging people for exposition, to the point where his friends aren't sure if he's actually amnesiac or just an idiot.
- In the webcomic Erfworld
, the character Parson acts as both The Watson inside the narrative and Mr Exposition through a diary.
