I sat with Clan Kitty and the in-laws to watch a made-for-TV movie, Jesse Stone: Sea Change. It started out as a "where has he been?" sort of curiosity, as it stars Tom Selleck. Turns out he's been in three previous ones, this being an installment of a franchise by Robert B. Parker, he of "Spenser" fame.

It has good points and bad points. Once I realized it was a franchise, I knew the character was immortal. They might wound him, but they couldn't kill him off. That took much of the edge off the suspense.

This got me thinking -- most shows are constrained by their characters' intrinsic immortality. Movie franchises have that same constraint. Even worse is when they try to disprove that by killing off one of the leads (protagonist or antagonist) only to resurrect that unfortunate in the next sequel.

However, the writer can harm that immortal. Hurting a loved one. Attacks on hir reputation, especially if s/he is somehow a guardian of what's right. Disproving one's philosophical or religious axioms. The consequences can be more serious than simply "Ow," too. Forcing a move, losing one's support and friends, forcing one to beg from once-enemies, upending one's world-view, those all can force the character to end one phase of their life and transition into a wholly different, alien and forbidding phase.

Much like death sounds like....