Favorite Characters: Simon Monroe (In the Flesh)

Handling the Undead Liberation Army stuff in series 2 (especially when it involves major characters) requires a great deal of care, and overall, I think In the Flesh addresses it in a thoughtful way.  It really looks at the parallels between a terrorist organization and a cult, not shying away from the horrible acts but also examining why someone with PDS would be drawn to a group like the ULA.  This aspect of the show is always at its most interesting as it relates to Simon (series 2 spoilers.)

It’s hard to nail down Simon early on, which is as it should be.  In series 1, we see the shrouded figure of the Undead Prophet preaching undead supremacy on the Internet, and the second season opens with a Blue Oblivion attack on public transit.  Everything we’ve seen of the ULA suggests very bad news.  When Amy brings Simon back to Roarton with her and goes around calling herself one of “the redeemed,” we have every reason to be worried.

But are Simon and his ideas dangerous, or aren’t they?  The answer is yes and no.  There are clear red flags:  he keeps Blue Oblivion at the bungalow, he’s preparing his followers for the Second Rising, and he does think he and other people with PDS are ascended in a way that the living aren’t.  However, not everything he believes is bad.  He encourages people with PDS (including Kieren) not to be ashamed of who they are and not to hide their true faces.  He stands up against having their rights stripped away and is appalled to see the squalid conditions in which a pair of untreated rabids are kept at the local hospital, waiting to be shipped to the treatment center.  And even though he has a hidden agenda in asking his followers to share their Rising stories (he’s trying to identify the First Risen,) it’s still valuable to get people to come to terms with that part of themselves and talk about what they experienced in their untreated state.

Of course, it can easily be argued that the good parts of Simon’s ideology just make it even more dangerous, because they lure people into a false sense of trust/safety and prime them to accept the more extreme stuff.  It might also be said something good could emerge from the ULA, discarding the hateful elements and keeping the salvageable aspects to create something new.  The show doesn’t ultimately come down on either side where the ULA is concerned, but Simon at least is shown to be possible of redemption.  It’s hard, because he came to the Undead Prophet when he was very lost and destroyed by guilt.  He’d spent months in the treatment center undergoing torturous experiments in a desperate attempt to be “cured,” he learned that he killed his mom in his untreated state – oh my god, how tragic can you get? – and he was living on the streets, alone in the world, and hating himself.  In the face of all that awfulness, the ULA was this shining thread of hope, a place where people like him were accepted and he was taught that he wasn’t a monster.  It’s no wonder he was pulled in so thoroughly, and it’s also understandable that it takes him a long time to reject the darker side of the ULA. 

I discussed Kieren and Simon’s relationship in a previous post, but Simon’s realization of what the Undead Prophet wants to do to Kieren (who Simon believes is the First Risen) is just brutal and raw.  As weird as it is to sympathize with a cult disciple who’s been told to prepare himself to bring a sacrificial lamb to slaughter, I absolutely feel for Simon in that moment and root for him to finally let the scales drop and see what he’s allowed himself to become, to understand that he can demand self-worth without having to buy it in blood.

Relationship Spotlight: Simon Monroe & Kieren Walker (In the Flesh)

(Season 2 spoilers.)

This is quite possibly one of the most complicated romantic relationships I’ve ever seen on TV, and I really appreciate seeing such rich conflict in a story about a same-sex couple.  While there are exceptions, when same-sex couples come up against roadblocks on TV, it’s often specifically about their sexuality, frequently depicting a new relationship alongside a coming-out narrative or a storyline about external bigotry.  Not that these stories can’t be compelling and well-done, of course (Emily and Naomi’s story in the third season of Skins is absolutely gorgeous,) it’s good to see variety in the kinds of stories that are told, and Kieren and Simon’s problems have nothing to do with orientation.

Really, every relationship Kieren has in the show is about facilitating his journey in accepting his PDS.  This makes sense – when you’re undead and (relatively) newly-medicated to manage that condition, when your society views you as a monster and hates you for the things you did in your untreated state, that’s what’s going to be on your mind most of the time.  And so, everyone Kieren encounters offers a slightly different lens through which to understand his PDS.  He can be encouraged by them or push back against them, but it’s all about that road to acceptance, and dishy Irishman or not, Simon is no exception.

As one of the disciples of the Undead Prophet who’s come to Roarton to identify the First Risen, Simon has a totally different perspective on PDS than Kieren.  At this point in the series, Kieren has learned to live in his own skin, but he’s still internalized the idea that PDS is something wrong with him, something to disguise so the living don’t get too uncomfortable.  Simon, who preaches undead superiority, is deeply disappointed in Kieren when they first meet, despite being drawn to him.  He makes pointed comments about Kieren’s flesh-tone makeup and colored contacts, shaking his head at Kieren for being ashamed of who he is.  It’s true that Kieren has a way to go in terms of self-love, but as someone who never loses sight of his culpability for his actions during the Rising, he also can’t get behind the idea that people with PDS are “ascended.”

So their initial interactions are mostly ideological, with Kieren arguing with Simon that he’s not denying who he is but at the same time feeling stirred by Simon’s message of self-acceptance.  And in the midst of all that, they’re also attracted to each other, with each getting continually pulled in by the other.  It’s a really fascinating mess of interpersonal back-and-forth and inner conflict; Kieren’s dealings with Simon have him doubting what he thinks of himself, and Simon’s longing for Kieren has him doubting what he believes.  It’s a big deal when Simon puts on his makeup and contacts to go to tea with Kieren’s family, just like it’s hugely important that Kieren wants Simon present when he’s finally ready to remove his own makeup.

It all comes to a dizzying head of love, religion, and politics when Simon discovers that Kieren appears to be the First Risen.  It’s with awe in his voice that he relays what he’s found to the Undead Prophet, (“he’s beautiful,”) but the rug is sickly yanked out from under him when he learns of the the Prophet’s intention:  the First Risen is to be sacrificed in order to bring on a second Rising, and the Prophet expects Simon to be the one to do it. 

I mean, wow.  How’s that for drama?  Everything Simon feels for Kieren colliding with everything he believes, the teachings that essentially saved him after he left the treatment center now telling him he has to kill the boy he cares for.  This is what people mean when they talk about someone “warring inside themselves.”  Holy crap.  Watching Simon wrestle with these two immense forces in his mind in an experience that leaves you wrung-out, but it’s also a genuine dramatic pleasure to see him tear down the sky of all he’s built up for the sake of Kieren.  I’ll say it again:  wow.