Buy the Brownie

Back in the 90s, there was a little TV show that taught me an important writing lesson.

I can remember watching the first episode of that show. It was called Vengeance Unlimited (watch it here). Like the Equalizer, it is about a vigilante who rights wrongs which have escaped the justice system.

Which, given I have previously praised Burn Notice, and am a big fan of Supernatural… ok I have a soft spot for these kinds of tales and heroes.

So I’m sitting there enjoying myself as the show and loving it. The writing is pretty tight, the pacing is great. The hero can handle himself physically but fights far more with his brains – I am 100% on board for this show.

Well part of the vengeance visited upon the villain of the week is that a bunch of his ill-gotten gains are taken from him by the protagonist. Now it’s a bit of a open mystery what is being done with that money…

Until the very close of the episode where we get this moment (which I have clipped out for you).

And that was the moment I went from enjoying the show, to becoming a full on fanatic in love with it, and it taught me a very important lesson.

See, the protagonist of a story is easy – it’s the character the audience spends most of their time with. But what elevates that character from being a protagonist to being a full on hero? “Buying the brownie.” It’s the moment where your character takes just a little bit of extra effort to do something just because it’s the right thing, but it happens in the coda of the story, after the climax – and the hero does it in a way true to their character. In VU’s case, the protagonist is about being hidden – unknown. He’s basically Elim Garak if he used his skills purely for good. He doesn’t even go to church and drop the dirty money in the collection plate, he goes up to a bake sale and buys a brownie just for that extra symbolism and cover (plus after all that work, he deserved a treat).

This is partially what bothers me with the movie Nobody. A film I do love as well, but in that film we see the main character save a kitten. Which is… kind of cheating. Saving puppies and kittens is pretty much the bare minimum of “buying the brownie.” Literally the lowest and easiest setting to pull this off.

See earlier in the film the protagonist in that one is attacked by a couple and when he goes to their house to get revenge, he discovers that they have a baby hooked up to medical equipment, telling the audience they only did their act of robbery at the start of the film to pay for their child’s treatment. Given that later we see the protagonist light a huge pile of dirty Russian mob money on fire, had the film shown him at least take a bag of it with him to give to the couple at the start – THAT would have perfected the movie and made it all superb. It would have elevated the protagonist to see him not only remember a child in need, but to help out even the people who wronged him at the start (and help ensure they don’t do it again) THAT would have been a top notch brownie buying moment.

That would be my advice to writers who want to make heroes with staying power. After you’ve done the climax, after you’ve had them save the day and had the big scene stealing showdown – find something that needs to be done afterwards, and give them a coda doing just one more act of kindness. Find a “bake sale” somewhere in the world, and have your hero “buy a brownie.” Do that, and I guarantee you’ll have a hero that sticks around in people’s minds for a long time.