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| There's just something disarmingly wounded about him that you can't help but still love him |
If you remember a little blog post I did a while back you'll remember that I listed Sebastian Monroe as #1 of my favorite emotionally disturbed, broken bad boys OR in other words one of my favorite anti-heroes. Monroe has to be one of the baddest guys on TV but he didn't start out that way.
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| "Well you got me. I mean what would I be without you?" |
Before the Blackout, Monroe was just Bass to his dear friends. He was a good, decent, nice guy; a bit of a womanizing drunk but he was nevertheless sweet. He was not just Miles's best friend that he grew up with, he was like a brother to him and when Bass lost his parents and his little sisters in a car accident, Miles was all Bass had left. Bass was no saint, who is really? But Bass slept with Miles's fiancé and they had a baby together but Bass will find out many years later. Not cool. Yet one may say that Bass's family tragedy was the start down his dark path.
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| "1, 21 Guns, Lay down your arms, give up the fight..." |
From flashbacks I could see that at the start of the Blackout, Bass was the voice of reason while Miles was the more volatile one. It was Bass who tried to calm Miles down when he held two bullies at gun point and then when Miles talked about stealing another camp's food, Bass didn't believe it was right. It was only after Bass suffered another horrible family tragedy that pushed him over the edge so much that it scared Miles. Bass was happy with a new girl, expecting a baby but they both died when Shelly was giving birth. Seeing Bass walk out of that tent like a shell shocked soldier with blood all over his hands then collapsing in Miles's arms with tears in his eyes and sobbing, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. But then something in Bass snapped that day. Although Bass was against gutting another camp, Bass did just that but he went a step further. He killed almost everyone in the other camp:
Miles: "Who asked you to kill anyone?"
Bass: "Who asks for anything, Miles?"
Scary. Bass took a dark turn that day. And that leads us to Season 1 where Monroe became a ruthless dictator. He was cold, brutal, and paranoid. He was a psychopath that was self-possessed and charismatic but beneath the surface Bass was cruel and paranoid. But he wasn't that bad before until his best friend, his only family Miles pointed a gun in his face one night. Waking up to see your best friend, the man you considered a brother holding you at gun point could be traumatizing for anyone but Miles should have known better. Of course, Miles couldn't pull the trigger even though it would have been the best choice. Bass was like Old Yeller at the end of the movie where they had to shoot him; Monroe was becoming rabid. It sort of bothers us that Bass would kill kids just for something their parents did. Bass's excuse that he did it for Miles. That there shows us that Bass never really cared about the Republic. In fact his actions over the course of season 1 tell us that Monroe didn't much care about running his newly found country. He let his soldiers run wild with kidnapping, raping, and pillaging his subjects and he was willing to burn down every city in the Republic to get back at Miles.
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| "People are going to remember your name." |
Bass was willing to burn the entire world down because he was so angry at Miles. But deep down I could see that faced with the actual act, Bass wouldn't be able to pull the trigger. Before episode 10 "Nobody's Fault But Mine" Bass wanted Miles brought in alive because he wanted his wingman back. He said, "I'll give you whatever you want" and "I'm your family, Miles. More than Ben, those kids. It was you and men, remember?" Miles was afraid that he would take Bass up on his offer; that's how strong their bond was. But Miles proved that he was over being a the ruthless general who hurt people without a second thought.
Miles: "I'm sorry I didn't kill you the first time. You're too far gone. You're not the same person. We are not family."
That last part "We are not family", Bass was just completely shattered. He became even more despotic. He was willing to burn down his old hometown just to get to Miles. Bass even dragged out Emma in the middle of gun fire and was ready to kill her even though he loved her once. But then Emma dropped a bomb on Monroe. As it turns out, she had Monroe's son after their night together while Miles was passed out on the couch. My first thought was "Wow what a ho" but then my second thought was "Monroe does have family out there." Monroe found out that there was a piece of him out there somewhere. I guess you can say it was getting a second chance from his perspective. Monroe needed someone to share power with him. Whenever I saw General Monroe all I could see was a black hole that couldn't be filled with power, conquest, alcohol or even sex. Bass could have conquered the world and burned it down but he would have never been happy because he was alone.
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| Someone call Maury |
Bass's brutality made it easy for Neville to get his men to turn on him. That'll happen when you murder all your friends. But like always, Monroe got out alive. Once his city was destroyed, Monroe hit a really low point. He was consumed by guilt, self-loathing, and rage that he didn't care whether he lived or died. He changed his name and became a bare knuckle boxer in New Vegas where he would get beat on every night, get paid then spend the money on gambling and whores. Then he was kidnapped by bounty hunters and I bet seeing those Wanted Posters turned a light bulb on or something. Bass suddenly realized that maybe he could somehow make up for what he did for Miles and get back into his good graces.
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| Take this father son act on the road |
Bass wasn't warmly welcomed but he was useful. Bass had no problem doing the bad stuff that Miles didn't want to do. I think Bass sensed that mostly because Miles didn't argue much about Monroe's violent methods. Bass is a horrible liar. We didn't need Miles to point that out because it was easy to spot Bass in a lie. You can call that narcissism since Bass was a womanizer and a merciless guy who could just smile or stab someone in the jugular in order to get what he wanted so why lie? But you can also point out that Bass wears his heart on his sleeve which is why he comes off so intense and he was so insistent on getting his son, Connor to talk to him. Bass wants more than anything a family that he can come home to and someone by his side. Bass had this dream of rebuilding the Monroe Republic with not only his son by his side but his wingman too. But when Miles dashed those dreams, Bass was in a tailspin again which put a strain on his relationship with Connor.
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| Bass is on the outside looking in... literally & figuratively |
I don't know about Connor but Bass would have been a great dad. Bass isn't an entirely horrible evil person. Before his execution, Bass was totally aware that he was going to hell and when Miles revealed he knew where Bass's son was, Monroe was like a wild animal. We sort of question Miles's decision to take Connor away from Bass. He had just lost a child and being told that you have a child that lived you would probably be happy and less murderous. But I guess we should also remember that Bass's volatile personality wouldn't have been good to expose any child to. At any rate Bass was willing to sacrifice himself to ensure Connor's survival of Nunez and Gould's dog fight. Bass revealed that he has hurt a lot of people (so he's not a sociopath, Charlie) but that it should mean something if Connor can live and rebuild the Republic.
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| The best guard dog in the world |
In the end, despite all the terrible things he had done, the fact that Miles was willing to trust him with such a big responsibility was all Bass needed to redeem himself not only to Miles but to himself. Bass may not have cared about many people but he certainly cared about the people he considered family. It pained Bass to disappoint Connor but he did the right thing that saved 1,000s 0f lives even if he didn't care about that but as Monroe had stated, he will always watch Miles's back. Bass was a volatile, intense personality who will always be a ticking time bomb but he also has a heart that feels so deeply that it causes him to act crazy and this man's loyalty is the most valuable thing he can give anyone. When it comes down to it, Bass would always set aside his ambitions to save the ones he cared about. Sure he could be jealous, a monster, a raging killer but all Bass really wanted was a family. At the end Bass was redeemed but he's constant in his heart so expect him to make the same mistakes but also repeat the same virtues.
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| Bass is a river who's constant in violence but also in loyalty |
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