Meesa Reggie Binks! (Character analysis)
Reggie
Jar Jar
After playing episode 3 I found out that there are some striking similarities between Reggie and the infamously hated Jar Jar Binks from the Star Wars prequels. Here are my reasons:
They had no purpose in the narrative:
Both characters were completely useless. They were just there. They were both incompetent.They were both the villain's useful idiot:
Both characters had slobbered over the bad guy. In Episode 2 (senator) Jar Jar had enthusiastically granted emergency powers to the evil Chancellor Palpatine to create a clone army which led to the fall of the republic and the rise of the evil galactic empire. Reggie was no different. He supported Carver despite the fact he was incarcerated.Both of their voice acting were kind of off:
I feel reluctant to say this but Kumail Nanjiani's voice acting was kind of off. I'm a fan of Kumail because he's on Silicon valley and I'm a huge fan of the show. When I heard that he was going to be a VA for the third episode I was pretty excited. When I played the episode it felt like his voice didn't match the character and it made Reggie more annoying. I don't want to start talking about how annoying Jar Jar's voice is because the less said the better.They were both failed attempts at comic relief:
The purpose of both characters were to be funny but they both failed at it. I'm not denying that Reggie was funny at times but his attempt at comic relief had felt forced just like Jar Jar. I guess the writers had tried too hard to make both of these characters funny. This prevented the writers from adding more depth to both characters.
So what do you think? Do you agree that he's like Jar Jar or do you think I'm being too harsh?
Comments
Well, A for effort...
I didn't have a problem with Reggie as much - some of his awkwardness entertained me enough, and I didn't have a problem with the VA.
Also, why does everybody hate on Jar Jar? Not that he wasn't a stupid character in a stupid movie but I liked Episode 1 when it came out - because I was 10... And I'm one of the older people on this forum so... Now that you mention, I remember going to see the 1997 rerelease of Episode IV...
I agree. Hated Jar Jar and Reggie was just bad. Both only lasted one episode. But never got why they were created to begin with.
i can see some similarities. Decent analysis though
I didn't think that Reggie was nearly as bad as Jar Jar. He was much more tolerable (is that the word?) than Jar Jar. I didn't see myself becoming very attached to him or anything but I wouldn't call him a bad character like I would that intolerable fish creature from The Phantom Menace.
I found Reggie's nice guy disposition coupled with his spineless slave mentality to be a really interesting combination of character traits. You felt bad for the guy 'cause he's trying to make the best of what is clear to everyone else to be a very bad situation, but his cowardice and willingness to work with the enemy makes him a liability. His presence was there to show that just because someone is genuinely nice, doesn't mean that they're trustworthy. This was even touched upon in a possible exchange you can have with Sarah:
Clem: Do you trust him?
Sarah: I don't know. He's nice, if that's what you mean.
Clem: ...It's not.
Well... I gotta disagree on some things. For starters, Reggie is not nearly as bad a character as Jar Jar. Secondly, he does have a purpose to the narrative. Not in life, though. His death helps turn Bonnie and show that you can't really please Carver. It's just a matter of time before he snaps again. Who knows who's next? Also, I don't know how a Pakistani sounds when he speaks in English (or Spanish, my mother language, for all that matters). I have to say, though, that while it did seem like Kumail was exaggerating his accent, I didn't find it that weird (again, I'm a little ignorant on this point) and not nearly as idiotic as Jar Jar Binks' voice. Finally, I don't think Reggie was meant to be a comic relief. He was meant to be a nice, funny guy who had no place in Carver's brutal regime. I mean, he could be funny, but he wasn't given time to crack even a single joke.
True. Reggie was not as bad as Jar Jar, but Reggie seemed like an out of place character for this game and idk. I was only shocked that Carver killed him and not that he was dead. Just my opinion of course.
Very well said. It's funny because Reggie is almost a more interesting character than Carver.
Carver was a very two-dimensional villain, but Reggie actually had a surprising amount of depth and development for someone who's lifespan was less than 20 minutes. In my opinion, the only thing that makes Carver an interesting character at all is Michael Madsen's amazing voice acting. Madsen's voice was the only reason Carver was even remotely intimidating.