Coffee Break Corner – Matt is My Sidekick
By Roz Young December 20, 2010
I’ve decided (as of this moment, no... this moment... no... NOW) that we are going to have a new blog called the Coffee Break Corner. Most days, Matt and I join our labmates for a cup of tea or coffee in the cafeteria. We work in a microbiology lab, so we can’t just chat around the water cooler and ingest spores or Campylobacter from the lab next door. Plus the cafeteria lady is nice enough to supply free milk and sugar. During our coffee breaks, many enlightening discussions take place that I think we should share with the internet. Just as we were leaving today (after a mild fight about which of the Matrix sequels was less bad and some terrible special effects in the new TRON, see Matt’s review), we almost started poo flinging about sidekicks. Here are my two cents.
I forget why we started talking about sidekicks, but Matt left the discussion commenting that Kato could kick the Green Hornet’s ass. That’s true. But I don’t think that many sidekicks are stronger than their counterparts. They are generally an apprentice, like Batman’s Robin or Radioactive Man’s Fallout Boy, and can evolve into a superhero in their own right (Robin becomes Nightwing). Or they die (the fate of many Robins, for shame Batman). In the case of Sith Lords, they are kind of like sidekicks until they get strong enough to kill their masters (they grow up so fast! sniff). I must add, as a part of my generally unwarranted hatred for Captain America, he also has the lamest sidekick ever, Bucky, and I dislike them both.
Of course, now we can talk about the idea of a sidekick in general and get away from just comic books (there are other things in life?). I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and Dr. Watson is one the most famous sidekicks around. He compliments Holmes, which is the second kind of sidekick I’d like to talk about. While some sidekicks are apprentice-types, the Dr. Watsons make up for the character flaws in their counterparts. For example, the Tick is dumb as a post, but luckily he has Arthur. I’m not sure if Star Trek fans would run with this, but Spock is like a sidekick to Kirk and serves a similar function. Often the sidekick is the voice of reason (literally, Sancho Panza). Dr. Who’s companions are totally sidekicks, and they aren’t generally stronger or smarter than him, but offer a different perspective in a very lonely universe.
Lots of sidekicks are also best friends to the hero, and although they generally play a less pivotal role, they are loyal and fun. There is no Han without Chewbacca and Spongebob would be lost without Patrick. Ok, now I remember how this all started. We were talking about Big Bang Theory, and how two characters decided to wrestle to decide who would be the hero and who would be the sidekick. Matt would never consign himself to find something from BBT funny, so he commented that Kato would wipe the floor with the Green Hornet. And then our boss thought Matt should talk to her about actual work and this very important discussion got interrupted. Right. Now, am I Matt’s sidekick, or is he mine? I suggest we settle this outside!
{Editor’s note: we can wrestle all she wants but we all know that if she wins she will be Kato to my Green Hornet and if I win she will be Robin to my Batman. Either way, I’m awesome}