There are a lot of things that I enjoy while watching a TV show: good casting choices, memorable character dynamics, a great love story, among other things. However, a trope that always sticks out to me is when a character haunts the narrative. Whether we get to meet this character or not before their haunting begins, their presence is always felt. Everything that happens in the story revolves around them one way or another. The choices the characters make, the way they are mentioned, the little nods that are added to reference them; it truly creates great storylines. Haunting the narrative is a technique that has been used many times over in movies, TV shows, and books. So, I thought it would be fun to look through my favorite shows and see which one’s made use of this particular trope. WARNING: This article will include spoilers for the shows Cobra Kai, Doctor Who, Bridgerton, and How I Met Your Mother. If you dislike spoilers and have plans to watch any of these shows, I suggest you maybe revisit this article at another time.
Mr. Miyagi (Cobra Kai)
Cobra Kai aired in 2018 and it gave Johnny Lawrence, The Karate Kid’s main antagonist, the chance for his story to be told. Part of the show’s success was because the original actors from The Karate Kid trilogy reprised their roles, giving the series that element of nostalgia while also being something new. Even though Cobra Kai was Johnny’s story, Mr. Miyagi haunted the narrative from day one. Mr. Miyagi was Daniel LaRusso’s mentor in the original movies, and the only one of the original cast members who couldn’t appear in the series due to Pat Morita, the actor who played him, having passed away before the show was filmed. Mr. Miyagi may not have been physically present, but the lessons he taught Daniel stayed with him well into adulthood and were the driving force behind his character arc. Daniel did everything he could to honor Mr. Miyagi’s legacy, from reopening Miyagi-Do karate to making amends with Johnny and being co-sensei’s together. Mr. Miyagi haunting the narrative in Cobra Kai was so integral to the plot that this was the storyline that gave me the idea to write this article.
Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Now I know what you’re thinking, Rose Tyler was actually an active character in Doctor Who (2005), not just someone we met in passing. So, how can she fit the archetype of “haunting the narrative”? Well, I’m referring to the later seasons of the show, where she is no longer a main character, as the setting for her haunting. Rose acted as the Doctor’s companion for only two seasons, but her impact on the show was so great that her name is still being mentioned years later. She was first introduced as the 9th Doctor’s companion, but most of her memorable moments happened with David Tennant’s 10th Doctor.
Rose said goodbye to the Doctor in season two and then again in season four, when she was trapped in a parallel universe, giving the fans one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the Doctor Who series. Rose is regarded as one of the only people the Doctor fell in love with during the course of the show and she is a key figure in the rest of David Tennant’s storyline as the Doctor. Even though Rose’s main moments haunting the narrative occurred during seasons three and four of the show, she has been referenced by subsequent Doctors as well. Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor was shown her image when he asked for someone he liked, her name was mentioned during an interaction with Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor, and Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor finally uttered the words that Doctor Who fans had been waiting more than ten years to hear: that the Doctor did, in fact, love Rose Tyler.
Edmund Bridgerton (Bridgerton)
For this discussion, I’ll be focusing on the Bridgerton TV show and won’t be taking into account anything mentioned in the book series (I still haven’t finished reading all of them). Edmund Bridgerton is the father to all eight of the Bridgerton kids and Violet’s husband. Even though we never get to meet Edmund because he has already passed away by the time season one begins, his presence is felt throughout the storyline. Violet describes Edmund as the love of her life, in season two she refers to him as “the air that she breathed,” and their epic love story influences the way each of the kids view love.
Daphne greatly admired her parents’ relationship and wanted a love and family like theirs. Anthony, on the other hand, thought his parents’ love for each other was so great that he didn’t want anything like it at the beginning of his season. He saw how much his mother suffered when his father passed and he didn’t want to cause anyone that pain or for anyone to cause it to him. As we know from season two, Anthony does get over this fear and ends up finding true love with the amazing Kate Sharma, now Kate Bridgerton. Colin’s story is the most like his parents’ since he ended up marrying his best friend, just like his father married Violet who was his best friend. I know we haven’t seen Francesca’s season yet, but, in season three, part of her arc revolved around the fact that she thought she had to compete against the impossible standards that her parents, and her siblings, had set for love. We may have only seen Edmund in flashbacks, but his presence and the relationship he had with Violet has shaped the way the Bridgerton siblings approach their relationships.
Tracy McConnell (How I Met Your Mother)
How I Met Your Mother is my all time favorite show (we don’t talk about the ending), and the way that Tracy McConnell aka “The Mother” is present throughout the course of the show’s nine season run has been one of the best uses of this trope. Along with the audience, Ted Mosby only meets Tracy during season nine, but we also get to see how her storyline connects with Ted’s. The yellow umbrella being originally owned by her and then casually found by him years before he even met her had me pacing across the room. Throughout the show, they were in so many places at the same time, but never met: at the Saint Patrick’s Day party, at the apartment where Tracy lived with a roommate who Ted was dating at the time, Tracy being the two out of three in the Mitch storyline, and many more.
It becomes even more intertwined when you find out that, because of a conversation he had with Tracy, Barney decides to propose to Robin. When we realize that Ted and Tracy only met because of Barney and Robin’s wedding, the scene of her talking to Barney has a whole new meaning. Unknowingly, she becomes the driving force behind the events that the whole show is centered around. At the end of the show, we learn that, during the time Ted is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother, Tracy has been gone for six years. This gives her presence throughout the storyline that last haunting element it required to further fit into the archetype.
The idea for this article may have occurred on a whim, but it was actually really fun to revisit these shows and these storylines. I’ve got to say that, after reviewing all of these characters, haunting the narrative really is a full time job. None of these shows would be the same without the presence of these characters influencing the storyline and propelling the events forward, creating twists and memorable moments at every turn.