BoM/TWS Message Forum

First for a tangent, I don't think that there's a fake and real Chelsea. The Chelsea who is a mean, spiteful, vindictive manipulator is as much the real her as the one who shows a softer side to Will or Gordon. She's a layered character which makes her interesting and popular.

As for Sydney, I don't think she's evil but she's certainly a dark character. But like everyone else she's a product of her circumstances, in her case the fact that she's living with a man who killed her father and then took his place in her family before earning that they both were connected to something mysterious and disturbing. I see her more as someone who's been damaged and warped by her trauma. I actually mentioned this in an email to Seuzz but I think she's developed a sort of twisted fascination with family bonds (think Oedipal) and taboos and the idea of breaking them or corrupting others. There's the Brown storyline but also the Hollywood one where I'm pretty sure that all of their sex is happening in Paul and Rebecca's masks; you know, father and daughter. There's her desire to corrupt a Christian school or a god fearing family and I'd bet if Will suggested the middle school then she'd be all for it. I think what's happened to her has seriously twisted her views on all of these things in various ways. I'm always iffy on her relationship with Will but she's an interesting character because her angelic looks hide something that can be unsettling.

But again, I don't see her as truly evil but a damaged person projecting their damages onto others as a way of dealing with them. Blackwell, Hyde-White, Florence Shabbleman... these are truly evil, rotten people. Sydney is nowhere on their level yet. Sydney could probably be redeemed and I wonder if on a deep down level she realizes how screwed up she is.