truly outrageous jem primer

This essay was original published at Roxy Reviews and is reprinted here with permission.

PIZZAZZ

Ah, the sociopath Misfit. She's actually my least favorite of the group.

I actually agree completely with both the Jem Bible, and Kimber's assessment ("The Scandal"): she's a spoiled, rich brat.

Perhaps she was originally intended to be a direct contrast to Jerrica. They both come from similar backgrounds, in theory: rich family, missing mother, doting father. The difference is, Emmett Benton actually seemed to be involved with his children, whereas Harvey Gabor basically seems to want to buy Pizzazz off to keep her busy and out of the way. When Pizzazz clearly wants more than material objects ("Father's Day") she's dismissed.

At the beginning of the show, this is more obvious. Harvey doesn't appear in "Truly Outrageous"--in fact, the other Misfits don't even know how rich Pizzazz is until "Starbright"--but the season 2 episodes often find Pizzazz running off to Daddy to clinch a business deal--buying a movie studio ("Starbright"), the rights to the Holograms' book ("The Rock Fashion Book") and so on. It's Harvey who sets up Misfits Music, when Pizzazz asks for her very own record company ("Music Awards"). He appears less in the series after most of the business propositions sour, but he does turn up again throughout the series--near the end, in "The Day the Music Died," Pizzazz convinces him to bid on Starlight Music, so it's clear she's always Daddy's Girl. One interesting thing is that in spite of all this, Harvey never really seems to comment on the Misfits.

Occasionally there are glimpses of another side of Pizzazz. In "Father's Day," she is clearly stunned when Clash's father is so affectionate, and in the end of "The Music Awards," she seems to be crushed by the shining, happy atmosphere at the benefit. In her own way, she's very needy--for attention and adoration she can't seem to find anywhere else but her music. Pizzazz's "happy" Misfits songs--namely "Top of the Charts" and "How Does it Feel"--are all about reaching the pinnacle of success and being adored.

So, the spoiled, neglected Misfit. Awww. Not really. Out of the entire group, she is the only one who seems to have a deep-seated, personal grudge against the Holograms. She hits it off badly with Jerrica from the very beginning--when they first meet, Jerrica refers to the Misfits as "trash" ("Truly Outrageous"). In "Father's Day," she refers to the Holograms as "the enemy." Clearly, to her, it's a war.

Pizzazz is usually the one who comes up with the nastiest schemes. She's fairly rash, and tends to make snap decisions--including having Jetta join the band without even consulting the other Misfits ("The Talent Search"). She throws out-and-out screaming temper tantrums.

PIZZAZZ AND ERIC

The two of these seem to have a partnership that is, shall we say, close. Ew. Even when Eric is docking her pay, in "Roxy Rumbles," she's rather nice to him. In addition, even though he continually messes up for the Misfits, she never really fires him. Eric, for his part, seems to be the henpecked husband half the time in his dealings with Pizzazz. There's animosity there (see the dartboard in "Indy 500"!) but there's also some sort of bond between the two. I don't even want to go there.

PIZZAZZ AND JETTA

OK. This is a slashable pair. I heard "I Like Your Style" before I saw "The Talent Search," and, not knowing which episode it came from, I immediately thought it was one of the "Pizzazz loves Riot" songs. The lyrics are most definitely flirty. When I saw "The Talent Search" and saw Pizzazz singing it to Jetta...well. Perhaps there's a little something there. Couple that with the fact that Pizzazz immediately offers Jetta help with immigration and a spot in the Misfits...yeah, she likes her. The two of them immediately glom onto each other, and Jetta wastes no time in trying to come up with Pizzazz-like schemes to impress her. At the very least, they are kindred spirits.

What's more, Pizzazz stands back and lets Jetta dominate things right away, as early on as "Talent Search": taking the money from Eric, for instance, and threatening Stormer--a band member with seniority. She takes Jetta to meet Sean Harrison, and generally seems to take her side in conflicts.

PIZZAZZ AND RIOT

I never got how someone so self-assured as Pizzazz would have fallen so hard for Riot. Yeah, he's gorgeous, but I would think that a Misfit wouldn't ever put up with the type of treatment he dishes out. What's that Pizzazz says in "Designing Woman": Other girls play helpless and coy/mooning over this or that boy? Even after he makes a complete fool of her, she still refers to him as "my Riot" ("The Day the Music Died"). What is wrong with you, girl?!