"My girlfriend died when I was saving lives halfway across the universe so I became a homeless man with the world's worst beard, woe is me, no one understands my pain..."

She died? I must have missed that. I thought she married someone else.

It was said in some episode that she died. And then in another episode it was said that she didn't wait for him. I have seen three out of order eps, so it's really possible I misread "lost" or something.

eta: Which makes him *way* more of a whiner

Wait, is he more of a whiner if she's dead?

When my girlfriend died, I got really close to becoming a scary homeless person, minus wacky beard and mad assassin skillz. I can see how the death of the only person one really cared about could make someone go a little nuts - especially if he was a little off-balance anyway - and emotionally healthy, totally sane and morally unimpeachable people make great friends, but boring television.

The Machine is just a computer. Even the man who built it doesn't know why it tosses out the numbers it does, or why a particular number comes out on top. It might even be random. All he knows is, it gives him a chance to save someone who otherwise wouldn't be saved. At least PoI provides a *handwavium* explanation for how they find the people they help, unlike, say, Leverage, which makes no attempt whatsoever to explain how people find the team. (Leverage is certainly the better show; I'm just saying.)

Wait, is he more of a whiner if she's dead?

I think ita was saying that he is more of a whiner if she is not dead.

AUGH, I hate the mangst born out of dead girlfriend / wife /mother cliche. Occasionally it's a dead father (H50) or son (Leverage) but most often it's some dead woman/girl solely existing to pad the manly hero's angst fodder and we hatesssss it! We hatesssss it so much! Of course in real life, the loss of a loved one is painful beyond imagining, but in fiction, especially in TV land, the whole trope is used with a laughable amount of abandon and is just a lazy shorthand in storytelling, IMO.

Handwavium ... would there be any TV without it?

he is more of a whiner if she is not dead

Yeah, that precisely.

Fridging is it's own problem, but if he's wandering around feeling sorry for himself because SHE CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE he seriously needs to get over himself. Move on, chuckles, move on.

which makes no attempt whatsoever to explain how people find the team

Hardison finds them, or it's a friend of a friend situation. They have made the attempt. You missed it, that's all.

just a lazy shorthand in storytelling, IMO

Yuppity yup yup.

There are more interesting and creative ways of giving your hero/heroine angst aside from fridging. Like Charlie Crews being incarcerated for 12 years for murders he did not commit. Reese's substance abuse problem (MAN, I miss Life.) Olivia Dunham has a dead mother in this universe and a dead sister in the other one, but she never lets that define her. The complexities of what drives Raylan Givens in Justified. SARAH freakin' CONNOR.

I love an interestingly handled substance abuse problem. I know some people don't like that in/about Leverage, but I adore it. Much more than the dead son.

And don't get me started about Dean Winchester's substance abuse. Fucking adore. I just worry they're going to fix him this season. I like him broken.

I like it when Reid makes subtle references to his substance abuse on CM (although this season's throwing it at JJ after Prentiss's return was not subtle and I didn't care for that reference as much).

They do a good job with giving him angst without making it all about a woman. Well, actually, it is mostly about a woman, just his mom instead of a love interest.