Portrait of a Character – Marie Patrice (Empy) Beckett
Marie Patrice is a bit of a brat.
Origins
At the end of Together, I wanted the very, very ending to be a bit of a surprise. Lili is pregnant throughout, with a kicking machine of a child. Everybody thinks she’s having a boy, and she and Doug have selected the name Peter Matthew. Lili refers to the baby as Petey.
But the baby turns out to be a girl. Enter Marie Patrice Beckett.
Portrayal
Marie Patrice is portrayed by Cameron Diaz.
Cameron Diaz as Empy Beckett
I like how Diaz can be goofy in one film, and serious in another.
Marie Patrice is beautiful, but also rather susceptible to ambition and suggestion. She’s a little spoiled, and is not always so nice to either her full brother, Joss, or her half-brothers, Tommy, Neil and Declan. A bit of a tomboy at first, she plays soccer and calls herself Empy (MP).
Sibling rivalry is alive, well and living in the Beckett–O’Day–Reed–Digiorno–Madden family, and Marie Patrice is one of its biggest proponents and practitioners.
Personality
A bit overly concerned with her appearance, Marie Patrice is perhaps overindulged by her parents. Doug, in particular, seems a bit at a loss as to what to do with her.
Relationships
Kenneth Masterson
The son of Chip and Deb, Ken is a divorced man who seems to have a great deal of patience with Marie Patrice. In Fortune, he is identified as her long-term boyfriend, but they never wed.
Kira Sato
The Empress’s second-born, Kira, fights for her, but loses out to his half-brother, Jun. Marie Patrice is not too upset about this. She figures that being with Jun will give her more and better opportunities than Kira ever could. She cares about Kira, but not as much as she cares about her position.
Theme Music
To reflect her languid attitude toward sex and companionship in the mirror, her theme is Sinead O’Connor‘s I Want Your Hands on Me.
Mirror Universe
Marie Patrice in the Mirror Universe (Cameron Diaz)
Like her siblings, Marie Patrice spends some time in the Mirror Universe, during Temper. But an actual counterpart is impossible.
While in the mirror, she gets along well with Takara Sato, and together they compare the boys and generally look to make the best possible matches for themselves, with little thought for love or other such messy considerations. Two boys fight a duel for her, using swords. She is a bit disappointed in the outcome.
Quote
“My mother was a ghost. I only remember a light grey shadow.”
Upshot
A little spoiled, a little flighty and rather artistic, Empy is symbolic of all of the non-Mary Sue ensuing generation characters. Not everyone’s kids will be perfect. Will she be back? Maybe, but I will admit it. She annoys me, too.
