Use Him, Abuse Him, Throw Him Aside: The Tucker Rant

By: bluemoonalto

A wolf pack may be led by an “alpha male,” but there's usually an “omega wolf” as well. That's the pack member who is lowest in the social order, who is constantly subjected to dominance and abuse from the other members of the pack. Even other low-ranked pack members treat the omega wolf badly. But the omega wolf endures it, because it's better to be the lowest ranking wolf in a pack than to try to survive alone.

That's how I feel about Tucker. The three friends may be the low kids on the social ladder at Casper High, but Tucker is the lowest of all. I don't doubt that Sam and Danny love him and he loves them, but he simply doesn't have Danny's powers and purpose or Sam's confidence and charisma. His exists to be the butt of the joke or the catalyst for disaster. More significantly, he exists to be the flawed reflection that makes Danny look even more heroic by comparison.

If the writer needs somebody to make a mistake at a critical moment, or say something immature, or blurt out something that was supposed to be a secret, or make himself a target for a quick jibe, Tucker's the character for the job! His showcase episodes (What You Want and King Tuck) focus on his least attractive characteristics and twist them to the point that he becomes a villain; his featured “B” plots (13, Life Lessons, Micro-Management) show him at his most inept and insecure.

There are a number of scenes throughout the series that make me ache for Tucker.

In Parental Bonding he was finally able to get a date for the dance, albeit in a most insulting way. But Danny seized control of his body despite his vocal objections, and forced him to abandon his date with Valerie in favor of Sam. (At the end of the evening, however, Sam ignored Tucker and danced with Danny instead.).

In Maternal Instincts Danny overshadowed him again, this time in the course of a routine training exercise. While in control of Tucker’s body, Danny made a silly joke demeaning Tucker’s virility, after which Tucker responded in a rare moment of resentfulness, “I hate it when you do that.” A few moments later, Tucker paraphrased the same joke back at Danny, and Danny (who apparently can give a joke but can’t take one) retaliated with his powers.

In Micro-Management Danny insulted Tucker in a way that could cut deeply into his fragile ego. Both boys were equally out-of-shape and in need of help to pass the fitness test, but Danny’s arrogant line, “You don’t have superpowers, you don’t get to be hilarious,” was just cruel, especially when considered in the context of the events of What You Want, in which Danny realized that Tucker was jealous of him and promised not to show off so much. Of course, that was followed by a particularly sadistic training session at the hands of Sam, who apparently thought the best way to help her friend achieve a goal was to trick him and allow him to be injured.

I do wish that the writers would find a way to give Tucker more chances to shine, to use his technical skills (sometimes it’s hard to remember that he has skills) to fight ghosts. Perhaps he could work with the elder Fentons or Valerie on their ghost-fighting inventions. Or maybe he could grow a little out of his awkwardness and find a girl who would appreciate him and not just use him (as Valerie did in Shades of Gray and Star did in Lucky in Love). But as long as Danny is the hero, it will probably fall to Tucker to be the zero.

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