Usually I post a character
profile on the second Monday of the month, but this month we’re celebrating
love and romance on the SFF blog so let’s talk about a relationship instead of
a specific character.
By far the
most popular romantic couple out of all the characters in the Sine Fine Film repertoire
(according to a highly unscientific facebook poll where less than ten people
voted) is Cat and De Carlo from Pandora’s Box. They're an amazing couple with a complicated relationship. However, I already did a post about their relationship, so I
ran a second poll without them in it.
They are played by the amazing Morgan Thomas and the awesome
Mike D (The Curse) and Adam Herricks (Eidolon).
Maria Sanchez and Mordecai have an interesting evolution
in their relationship. Originally the two characters
were never supposed to be together.
I had intended for Mordecai to end up with Zandra, the lead character in
The Curse. However, since the show was cut short there wasn’t much of a relationship
beyond “he likes her, she hates him” between the two.
Although they meet repeatedly –
and by “meet” I mean “occupy the same space” – it’s a long time before they actually
talk to each other. The first time
they met was when Maria ended up in the Dream World after being tricked by
Namtaru. Mordecai noticed her, but
she didn’t really notice him.
Three years later she ended up in the Dream World again, this time
trying to save Zandra. Mordecai
was following Zandra and saw Maria with her. Mordecai noticed Maria on both occasions, but Maria was
totally unaware of his presence. 
Later on when Zandra’s curse
allows Mordecai’s ghost to manifest in the cave where he is buried, he again
sees Maria but she can’t see him since she can’t see ghosts. They don’t have any interactions (although he does make fun of them because Cory is talking to the air thinking it's him). Mordecai is obsessed with Zandra at that point because he’s convinced she is
his soul mate and can resurrect him from the dead, so he doesn't really notice Maria.
Although she knows who Mordecai
is from Zandra talking about him, and she saw his perfectly preserved corpse in
the cave, Maria never interacted with him. The first time she actually saw him alive and moving was
when he was revealed to be the university’s benefactor who was sponsoring
archeological digs that Zandra would be allowed to work on. He introduces himself to Maria and Cory
in a scene that was never filmed.
The first time they have an
actual conversation is due to a stupid bet that Zandra makes with Mordecai in
the final episode of The Curse. As
a compromise to their general conflict Zandra and Mordecai decide to play a
game and the winner gets a specific prize. If Mordecai wins Zandra will marry
him. If Zandra wins Mordecai will
leave her alone forever. 
They find an impartial judge who
decides to make the game a treasure hunt and hides several clues around campus. To make things fair each player has
their knowledge and memory of the campus temporarily erased (since Zandra knows
it way better than Mordecai).
Each
player gets a helper who knows the campus and can guide them around and help
them out. Zandra gets to team up
with her best friend Cory, which leaves Maria to pair up with Mordecai. Even
though Mordecai had barely noticed Maria up to this point and even though Maria
has a pretty poor opinion of him thus far the two still agree to team up.
The interactions that occur in
this episode between the two characters, and the chemistry between the two
actors, is the whole reason there’s even a possibility of having these two
characters hooking up. Whatever
impressions they have of each other change completely by the end. Mordecai respects
Maria’s opinion and he listens to her suggestions and insight. Maria is open minded enough to realize
there’s more to Mordecai then she thought and that even though he may be
misguided and hedonistic, but he’s definitely not evil.
They make a good team and since
they’re the two smartest people in the show they naturally find and figure out
all the clues first. However,
Maria convinces Mordecai that if he gets Zandra by winning the game she will
hate and resent him so much that he’ll be miserable. If he loses the game on purpose he’ll have to leave Zandra
alone forever. 
The stakes are too
high and Zandra is sore a loser so the game was lost from the beginning. Even
if he wins, he still loses. Maria
insists that eventually Zandra will realize he let her win and will be so mad
she’ll demand a rematch. We find out at the beginning of
Eidolon that she never does figure it out and Mordecai bitterly accepts his
promise to leave her alone.
Even if the two get along well
and become friends, that doesn’t mean sparks are flying. So where did the idea
come from to pair them up? Well,
there’s a scene in the library where the two of them are hunting for the next
clue. While they’re looking they
have the following conversation:
It’s the way Morgan says the line
“please, I have no interest in you” that makes you think she actually does. As Shakespeare would say: the lady doth
protest too much. Also, at the end
of the episode Maria tells Zandra that Mordecai is too good for her. That
leaves little doubt in my mind that she has developed a crush on him. 
I considered having the Maria and
Mordecai casually date just to piss off Zandra and make her jealous. I could totally see them flirting outrageously around her to make her irritated. Even back then I realized those two would make a good pairing. If the
series had continued with a second season I probably would have written in a relationship between them. 
Zandra’s character never really
evolved like she was supposed to and she’s such a bitch I can’t imagine anyone
actually wanting to date her. In
truth Mordecai falls in love with her because he believes her to be his soul
mate, and only his soul mate can perform the resurrection spell. It’s a terrible reason for someone to
be in love with someone else and it’s clear Mordecai was more in love with the
idea of being in love and having a wife then he was actually in love with
Zandra. Did that make sense? 
Twenty years later Maria and
Mordecai meet again at Zandra’s funeral. Mordecai is bitter and Maria is
annoyed. It isn’t until six months
later after Zandra’s daughter, Zelda (who is now Maria’s ward) gets cursed that
Maria seeks out Mordecai and asks for his help. Mordecai is now the star of a popular TV show that he also
writes and produces and Maria has to pretend to be a fan in order to meet with
him. After she flashes him to get his attention they finally get a chance to be
alone and talk.
Their reunion is short and although
it starts out friendly enough it ends in an argument with Mordecai refusing to
help her and they go their separate ways. Maria continues trying to get Zelda’s
curse removed. Mordecai goes back to home and proceeds to drown his sorrow over
Zandra with an alcoholic binge that last days if not weeks. After a stern talking to from his agent
he decides to take a vacation.
This is a crucial moment for him
because he actively decides to forget about Zandra and turns his attention to
Maria. He’s lonely and because he
leads a double life he can’t be himself around anyone who doesn’t already know
who and what he is – a thousand year old sorcerer. Maria is really the only one left like that. Their previous
interactions were brief but left a lasting impact on both of them. Mordecai decides to spend his vacation
helping Maria. He does not expect
anything to happen between them, but he wants to get to know her better and
holds onto the hope that a romance could bloom between them. 
Romance is the last thing on
Maria’s mind and is shocked when Mordecai offers to help. He quickly settles into her life and
her house (sharing the place with the rabid fan girl Terri). Maria and Mordecai have many
conversations with sexually charged banter and quickly form a deep friendship,
though neither truly understands how many layers their relationship has until
later. 
Eventually both of them are
tricked by Namtaru, trapped in his lair, and proceed to get very drunk
together. They laugh, they argue,
they kiss, and the next thing they know they’re naked in bed together after
having just had mind-blowing sex. It was something they both needed and it
makes them confront and accept their feelings for each other. In other words, it’s the beginning
of a beautiful romance…until his body gets possessed by an evil god and she
shoots him in the head. That brings their relationship to a screeching halt.
A whole bunch of stuff happens
that’s too confusing to get into but basically they both discover that Maria is
actually Mordecai’s soul mate, not Zandra, which means she can perform the
resurrection spell and bring him back to life. Once back he tries to kill her in order to save his soul
from Namtaru and ends up killing her father figure instead. Mordecai becomes the god of Dreams and
Maria tries to jump off a cliff. Seriously, Maria has had a lot of terrible
stuff happen to her over the years, and the events of Eidolon put her through
the ringer.
So how the hell do these two end
up together after something like that?
Well, it turns out there’s a rule
in the Sorcerer’s World that a sorcerer has to either marry or kill the person
who performs the resurrection spell.
That’s why he wanted to marry Zandra – so that he didn’t have to kill
her. He thought that he was
punished by having his powers taken away after he refused to kill her, but the
law was never actually enforced because Zandra wasn’t his soul mate and the
spell that was performed was never completed. Wow. Confusing. 
However, when the spell is
performed by his real soul mate the rule is enforced. He has to either marry Maria or kill her. Around this time Maria discovers she’s
pregnant. Maria doesn’t want to
have anything to do with Mordecai, but Mordecai doesn’t want to kill her, let
alone kill their child, because he’s in love with her. She still loves him despite everything
that’s happened (and after being locked in a hotel room for a week together)
they talk things out and agree to get married. 
Their relationship is kinda
messed up, but it all works out in the end. I think the reason why they’re
the second favorite pairing in SFF is because they start out as friends, which
a lot of couples don’t, and go through a lot together, falling in love along
the way. It’s a much more natural
and believable romance then most of the others in the various SFF universes.
Also, I have a tendency to pair
up characters that don’t really mesh and would never get together unless they
were forced. The relationship
between Atlanta and Drake in the Gift Bearer is a great example of that, and
honestly so is the relationship between Mordecai and Zandra. 
Mordecai and Maria, however,
compliment each other quite well.
Maria is a very serious person over all with a dry sense of humor and
Mordecai is pretty much the opposite.
He can take things seriously, he just tends not to – except of course
when it comes to love. They are
both people who are determined to achieve their goals and once they decided on
something they rarely change their mind.
Mordecai brightens Maria’s dark world with teasing jokes and easy
conversation. Maria adds balance
and purpose to Mordecai’s hedonistic lifestyle. 
He was always sexy, funny, and
smart whenever someone was around, but was secretly a depressed alcoholic at
home. Maria was a well respected
professor and archaeologist, but didn’t really have a life outside her work
until Zelda came along and got cursed.
Both of them are lonely and want to be with someone who can understand
the crazy supernatural world they come from and have to deal with. They really are a perfect match for
each other. 
Eidolon ends with their wedding,
but I wrote a story that takes place ten years after the end of the show. In the story we learn that Maria and
Mordecai are still happily married and have three children.
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