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Madison Kellner – The Worst Character Ever on Everwood
Hi everyone. Doing this rewatch has allowed me to view Everwood with a different perspective. For example, this time around, I’m much more empathetic toward Amy. When I first saw the show, I really thought that Amy was using Ephram, and that her friendship with him had ulterior motives, and that she basically abandoned her friendship with Ephram when Colin “woke up” and again after Colin died. This time around, I can see that Amy was basically torn between her feelings for Colin and her feelings for Ephram, and in early Season Two, she was so crippled by her situational depression that she could barely function, let alone have time to be in a serious relationship with Ephram. Still though, she might have gotten together with Ephram sooner in Season Two, and he could have helped her cope with her depression, except for one thing that not only affected her, but which set the tone for most of Season Two, she saw Ephram kiss his sister’s babysitter, Madison Kellner. Amy seeing Ephram kissing Madison temporarily derailed her and Ephram uniting romantically, and it set her on a self-destructive course where she dated a drug addict named Tommy and she left her home to live with Edna and Irv.
As bad as that all was, Amy eventually came to her senses and broke up with Tommy and she never saw him again, and she worked through the depression that she suffered after Colin’s death, and her and Ephram got together as a romantic couple at the end of Season Two, to the joy of all of us who loved them and rooted for them as a couple. One thing that hasn’t changed during my rewatch of the show is my hatred for Madison Kellner and every single scene that she was in, and I really got to see how she negatively affected Ephram, who became, in his words, psychotically obsessed with her, and she did real damage to Ephram’s relationships with everyone around him, especially his father and sister, as his obsession with her became all-encompassing and he neglected his relationships with everyone who loved him and cared for him and he behaved in ways that represented continuing new lows for his character. Unlike Amy and Tommy’s story and Andy and Linda’s story (which wasn’t a bad story at all, but it was a story that purposely was meant to be of a short duration) and later Andy and Amanda’s story, which had an ending, Ephram and Madison’s “romantic relationship” haunted the series for the rest of its run and we would have been forced to deal with seeing her again at the end of Season Four if Everwood didn’t get cancelled. Madison was, in my opinion, the worst character and idea for a character that we ever saw on Everwood. She was introduced as Delia’s babysitter, but she quickly became romantically involved with Ephram, and their paring was wrong on every level. Madison alternated between looking down on Ephram and acting like she was ashamed to be with him to being in love with him and telling him that her stomach gets all fluttery when he walked into the room, and when he kissed her she just came undone, which really turned my stomach because he was only a kid. Madison knew that being with Ephram was wrong, but she continued to be involved with him, even to the point of having sex with him when she saw how unstable he had become due to his obsession with her. Ephram was so insecure about his relationship with Madison that he acted in ways that were out of character for him and he was quite unlikable when he was with Madison, and I was so glad when they broke up. When I’ve rewatched Season Two this year, I really got to see how dangerously obsessed Ephram was with Madison, and how his character regressed when he was involved with her, and how badly he treated his father, his sister, his friend Bright, and even Amy. Everything about their relationship was illicit and oh so wrong, and I never viewed them as a normal couple, and I don’t understand why the writers took things so far with a teenage boy who wasn’t emotionally equipped to handle such a serious and sexual relationship with an adult woman who was hired to be his sister’s babysitter. Madison also hurt Delia who had to witness all the drama between her babysitter and her brother, until the point when she wisely “fired” Madison because she made Ephram so unhappy. Unfortunately for Ephram, Madison, and everyone else involved in their story, and most unfortunately for us fans, Madison’s saga didn’t end when her and Ephram broke up, because she revealed to Andy at the end of Season Two that she was pregnant with Ephram’s child, and Andy told her not to tell Ephram and that he’d pay her to basically go away and stay out of Ephram’s life, and so “Madisongate,” as we called it, hung over Season Three like a pall and it tainted the happiness we would have otherwise felt watching Ephram and Amy become a couple and watching Ephram and Andy become closer. We then saw that Madison revealed to Ephram that she had his baby and gave it up for adoption, signing the papers “Father Unknown” at the worst possible time, right on the eve of his audition for Julliard, which sent him into an emotional tailspin and it ruined his relationship with not only his father, but with poor Amy as well, as he lashed out at her because she knew about Madison’s pregnancy before he did, and we had to endure seeing Ephram break up with Amy and break her heart in a really cruel and unnecessary way and go off to Europe, and even when he returned, him and Amy didn’t get back together because he had hurt her so much, and we only got to see them get back together because Everwood was canceled. As we saw in the alternate ending to Everwood, we wouldn’t have been done with Madison yet, and instead of being able to see Ephram and Amy reunite in that beautiful Ferris Wheel scene, we would have gotten to see poor Amy standing out by that Ferris Wheel by herself, while Ephram went back into his apartment to call Madison, which would have infuriated everyone, and it would have delayed, or possibly ended, Ephram and Amy’s reunion, and for what? Why bring back a character that everyone hated and rehash the baby storyline that had gotten closure in Season Three? What aggravates me the most about Madison is how we were never allowed to be done with her and her story because of her pregnancy. A lot of people didn’t like Amy and Tommy or Andy and Linda, and they especially didn’t like Andy and Amanda, but at least those storylines were allowed to end and they were never to be mentioned again, but Madison kept on turning up like a bad penny and she loomed over the happiness of all the major characters like a black cloud, and she did damage to the show itself by making her storyline a soap opera. Therefore, I have to conclude that Madison did more damage to the main characters on Everwood and the show itself than any other character or storyline. __________________
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. - John F. Kennedy
There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why - I dream of things that never were and ask why not. - Robert F. Kennedy |
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#2 | |||
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Excellent analysis, Jerry!
After my early meeting this morning I’m going to respond. Looking forward to it! |
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#3 | |||
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I got so busy today! I’m finally finished with work. Need to grab some dinner and then watching something with Angela.
I will respond later tonight/early in the morning so I have time to think. |
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You weren't the only one who had mixed feelings on Amy. Although you had logical reasoning. Some were even unforgiving that she had Clinical Depression and thought she could control it and snap out of it at any time. Quote:
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No, Madison deserved this award. She was the dark cloud in this otherwise beautiful series. Last edited by jediwands; 10-28-2021 at 09:00 PM |
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__________________
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. - John F. Kennedy
There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why - I dream of things that never were and ask why not. - Robert F. Kennedy |
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#8 | |||
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I hated Madison from the moment her mug showed up on screen.
What’s really sad is if she wouldn’t have gotten together with Ephram she could have been a great influence on Delia. Regarding Ephram… the much BETTER storyline would have been Ephram crushed on Madison but her never going there with him. They could have remained friends only. They could have had interaction but with Ephram merely crushed. It would have been one million times better. The crush would have been realistic. Madison rejecting it but still friendly with him would have been ideal. Last edited by jediwands; 10-27-2022 at 09:15 PM |
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Last edited by jediwands; 10-27-2022 at 09:16 PM |
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#11 | |||
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I remember you saying that Madison had a weird thing for Ephram almost right away Michelle.
It takes two to tango, but she encouraged his infatuation with her all along even though she knew it was wrong, and the things she said to him were creepy considering that he was just a 16 year old boy. She didn't want to be seen in public with him and she got fearfully concerned when he crossed the line from infatuation to obsession with her, but she slept with him and she brought everything on herself for getting involved with him in the first place, and then continuing to be involved with him even though she knew it was wrong. One thing I don't blame her for though is the pregnancy. Yes, she never should have slept with Ephram and they both should have been more careful, but it takes two people to conceive a child, so Ephram was equally at fault for what happened. Andy was ridiculous and incredibly cruel when he told Madison to not tell Ephram that she was pregnant because he wanted to "preserve his innocence" but Ephram's "innocence" was lost as soon as Andy allowed his son to date a 20 year old that was the family babysitter, and that led to them sleeping together, which resulted in her getting pregnant. I do blame Madison though for telling Ephram about the baby at the worst possible time, on the eve of his Julliard audition, which caused him to walk out on that audition and go into an emotional tailspin. Why couldn't she wait? __________________
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. - John F. Kennedy
There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why - I dream of things that never were and ask why not. - Robert F. Kennedy |
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#13 | |||
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Yeah, I’m not looking forward to getting to her episodes again. And yeah she was like a large shadow that loomed over the show through S2-S4.
Everwood was really one of the first shows I ever followed from beginning to end during its original airings. And I fought and wanted a Season 5 as much as anybody but when I found out what it was going to be.. I was sort of glad it didn’t. Yes, I wanted to see Ephram and Amy with a drama free from now on but that’s not what we would have gotten if it continued.. at least then. I mean if we got a continuation now it would be a years later sort of thing where I’d be less worried about them destroying Ephram and Amy. If we got a S5 then oh drama drama drama. I mean we have an Ephram and Madison baby in canon… and we don’t have an Ephram and Amy baby in Canon. It’s just wrong. Again not the baby’s fault obviously and I don’t believe the Ephram and Madison stuff takes away from any of the Ephram and Amy romance. If Amy could accept and deal with all that then we should have no issue. Anyway, yeah. I should have stayed out of this thread. Bad memories. But I am starting my first rewatch in over a decade so it was bound to happen. Now on episode 1.5 and we still have Wendell and not Madison. |
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Great memories of this place tho during Everwood, That 70s Show, ER, and Big Bang Theory tho! But i’m not as into the spoiler game anymore. I still love spoilers but I just don’t have time anymore to frequent message boards. Thanks for being so welcoming again. Im happy to see this board is still here all these years later making its posy quota. |
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