#she's great though and lena urzendowsky's character is as well

[elisacifuentes]

Jeanette Hain als Jutta in Luden: Könige der Reeperbahn

[sun-undone]

more wkbz discussion: Axel edition

Okay so I want to preface this with the fact that I think Axel is an absolute sweetheart who deserved better. But I just have some thoughts about how his character was utilized and how it kinda bothers me and also points out one of the biggest failures of the show in terms of character development, imo.

So we meet Axel when Christiane first meets him at Zoo Station, and they have a super cute, wholesome conversation about haircare and well wishes. And although he is our introduction to H, he is also quickly characterized as this super kind, lovable, sort of goofy guy, which is an interesting juxtaposition that I don’t have the brainpower to get into right now. 

Bottom line, he’s a good dude, despite being addicted to H. I just really wish he didn’t also have a massive crush on Christiane, which quickly becomes conflated with his kindness to act as his only character trait.

Maybe I just have something personal against this and it’s more of a me problem, but I absolutely despise the trope of “super nice guy who tries to protect and win over the girl he’s in love with even though she doesn’t love him back”. And that’s like the entirety of Axel’s storyline. That’s it. He has a crush on Christiane, tries to win her over, even warns her against taking one of Benno’s trips at one point, and spends the entirety of his time in the series just being extra nice to her, even though he knows she is with Benno. I really don’t get why Axel had to be in love with Christiane other than to add a love triangle element (but imo they had much better groundwork for a love triangle in the form of Michi/Benno/Christiane) and some extra, teenager-y drama. It makes the show feel more like a dumb CW show sometimes, and it just seems pointless because Christiane never shows any sign of being attracted to Axel when he’s still alive. The only time she questions her feelings for him is after his death because of the grief involved in losing him. 

While I was trying to organize my thoughts about Axel’s character, I realized that the majority of the clique is obsessed with Christiane or Benno in some way, either from jealousy, infatuation, or both. Christiane and Benno are obviously infatuated with one another, Axel is infatuated with Christiane, Michi is infatuated with Benno and jealous of Christiane, and apparently even Stella is infatuated with Christiane and jealous of Benno (i really don’t remember any instances of that, but apparently lena urzendowsky mentioned it in an interview). Realizing that crazy web of obsession also opened my eyes to my bigger complaint about how the interpersonal relationships were handled on the show: every character sticks with a set amount of other characters and rarely/never has any interactions with anyone outside of those set relationships that are chosen for them very early on. For example, did Benno and Babsi ever interact meaningfully? What about Stella and Benno? Stella and Michi? Babsi and Michi? Axel and any girl besides Christiane? From the very beginning, it’s evident which duos and trios will be important, and all other ones are just nonexistent. It makes the clique overall feel like less of a cohesive group and more like an amalgamation of individual relationships, all of which are somehow, loosely connected to one another. 

I just think we could’ve learned more about all of the characters if they’d been allowed to have interactions outside of their “most important” ones. And Axel is a great example of that. Also, if he hadn’t been in love with Christiane, I personally think it would’ve made his kind nature more genuine and striking as a character trait, especially as an addict. If we’d seen more instances of him being generous to other people other than just Christiane, I just would’ve liked his character even more. At a certain point, it seemed like his character only existed in relation to Christiane. His entire character was him loving her and that love not being reciprocated. I just don’t like it when someone is supposed to be naturally kindhearted but is then mostly shown being kind to the person that they’re trying to be in a relationship with. It makes it feel cheaper, even if it really is still genuine. I personally would’ve much preferred if Axel was just this nice guy who just happens to be a little protective over Christiane because he’s older and more experienced with drugs than she is, with no underlying crush to complicate that kindness. 

Is there really a purpose for Axel being in love with Christiane? What does that add to the narrative, to his character, to her character? If they wanted to show a foil to Benno and point out the flaws in his relationship with Christiane, I absolutely do not think they needed to use most of Axel’s screentime to do that.

I just thought this misuse (what I perceive to be a misuse) of Axel’s character was distracting and a bit annoying at times, but I’d love to hear other opinions and thoughts about this.