I still think that she's superfluous. not saying that the actress is bad or even that their scenes are bad. Just doesn't seem necessary.

Zoe seems way less superfluous than the obligatory and bald-faced attempts at forcing a romance between Jack and Allison. Zoe, as a way to establish Jack as a regular guy with regular guy issues, may also be used on occasion as a form of peril which guarantees Jack, as a lawman, will get angry and effective rather than paralyzed with fear in response to.

ETA:

Besides, Jo and Henry together is too much competence in too many areas. If they did not take over the world, their kids surely would.

Yes, but the world would be a smarter, prettier place, and by extension, happier. Although it had not previously occurred to me, I now yearn for this ship, and the world it would make.

Who does seem necessary? Not a facetious question--just trying to work out what the criteria are. If she's amusing/interesting/well written/well acted, I'm mostly good.

good point. I don't find her character to have any value to the story(ies). I feel that the character is the kind of random crap tossed out at a story meeting (a sherrif! in a freaky town! with lots of smart people! and he should have a daughter! and she should be a delinquent!). The character just seems contrived to create random side controversy. There is always a need for peripheral characters (Vincent (who I hope gets a storyline of his own soon), Fargo, etc., but the "troubled child whom the protagonist must help while not forsaking his/her duty" just seems so superfluous.

Zoe seems way less superfluous than the obligatory and bald-faced attempts at forcing a romance between Jack and Allison.

oh yes, I agree. I hate that even more than Zoe.

I ship the ship DX ships.

Not that I disagree, but I just wanna hear you say that aloud, 4 times rapidly.

I like Zoe for the balance.

The more I watch, the more I tend to like Zoe. I want to watch Jack gain more confidence and competence as a parent.

I'm still giggling over Jack sweet talking SARAH. Good lord, that was FUNNY.

I have no opinions on magnets.

I don't mind Zoe as a way to show some things about Jack and the town--she had the town meeting PDA whatsis thing when Jack didn't, for instance. I do think that she shouldn't be integral to every story.

She was at the nursing home when Jack needed to know who to talk to; she was involved with the bad boy at school who made Blink; she ran off with Callister.

The one that seemed the most contrived was the nursing home. She pulled the fire alarm at school and that was her punishment. Why? I don't think that's true to the character. She's different, and she ran away from home; that doesn't mean she's randomly stupid.

And when I look back at the episodes, it doesn't look like she was central to the plot in as many as it feels like she was.

As for Allison and Jack, I don't really have a problem with the idea of them being attracted to one another. It seems as if Jack's been alone awhile and he was attracted to Beverly at first; Jo seems too young to attract his interest, as well as being a coworker; and he hasn't met, or we haven't seen him meet, any other women of appropriate age and availability. I don't know why it feels forced most of the time, but it's really not working.

She pulled the fire alarm at school and that was her punishment. Why?

I assumed she was trying to get out of taking a test.

I think the Jack/Allison thing would work better if the show would just let them flirt, instead of cloaking it in forced innuendo.

Here, or in general? Because I'm thinking of Night Sins and Opposite of Sex at the very least.

In general. Well, not when Martin Donovan's tongue was down his throat, but Patrick Maitland was supposed to be a character that people could believably mistake for gay in at least a couple of stories. When Colin was playing him, I just couldn't see that happening.

I think that Zoe helps to ground Jack as a real person to me -- he has a human relationship not based on romance, or job or fighting crime, one that he isn't any more well-equipped to deal with than I am. Plus, we get the whole "kids adapt quicker to this crazy new technology these days" amped up to eleventy.

I don't like Zoe for the same reason I hate most kids on television-- they're written to be bratty drama-generators for the main adult characters. When they're central to the show, like the teens on Buffy, they're not nearly as annoying.