In some musicals, not all but some there is usually a character that I describe as the innocent and typically, these characters are the love interests of the main character. Examples include Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors and Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
I apologize up front as this could seem sexist considering that all three of these characters are women and they are in situations that make you feel bad for them such as Audrey being with an abusive boyfriend and Penny being with a man that only cares about his ego. One has to ask, is that the case with Zoe?
Well... no, but she does fall for Evan under false pretenses.
Evan... convinces her that Conor--in spite of all appearances--cared deeply for her, and she buys into his version of history, she finds herself falling for her brother's "best friend"
The quotation marks around the words best friend indicate the lie that is being told in the book, Through the Window. And that is perhaps the one issue I have with this show. Let's return to this quote.
"... a lie that was never meant to be told"
This is something that we have discussed throughout this series that Evan didn't mean to tell the lie that was the catalyst for the story but he does take advantage of the lie in order to get closer to Zoe as he has had a crush on Zoe for quite some time and that is seen in perhaps my least favorite song from the show, If I Could Tell Her.
If you listen closely to this song, you'll see how Evan is taking advantage of Zoe's dead brother in order to get closer by feeding her lies about how Conor cared for her by twisting the words to be things that Evan has always admired about Zoe. I get what the show is doing and yeah, I get why Evan would do this but it just leaves me with a squicky feeling. However, that brings up another quote from Through the Window that we should look at.
[Zoe] doesn't allow herself to be a victim... and she easily could be
This is such a strong point as from what he hear, her relationship with Conor wasn't the greatest. This is best exemplified in the song, Requiem.
Thankfully, the Dear Evan Hansen YouTube page has a solo version of this song that focuses on just Zoe's part and here you can hear the hurt and pain that she felt from Connor and in a way, she doesn't seem to mind that her brother is gone. That can best be seen here.
'Cause when the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep
The way that Zoe describes her brother as a villain speaks volumes to how rocky the relationship they had was as if we are, to be honest, Connor wasn't the greatest guy and there are hints that he was verbally abusive towards Zoe but as the show ends, we learn that it may have been Zoe hiding the pain of losing her brother as a year after the events of the show, Zoe and Evan meet back up and she lets down her defenses and says this to Evan.
Evan: They never told anyone about Connor's, about the note. About... who really wrote it. They didn't have to do that. They could have told everyone. What I did.
Zoe: Everybody needed it for something
This is interesting to consider but this is something that has been brought up numerous times that the Murphy's needed the lie as it brought them closer together and we see how it actually hurt Zoe but if we go back to the events of the story and when Evan reveals the truth, we have this breakdown from Zoe and her parents right before the lie is revealed.
Zoe (to her father):... you wanted to punish him.
Cynthia: Listen to your daughter, Larry
Zoe: You treated him like a criminal
Cynthia (to Larry): Are you listening?
Zoe (to her mother) You think you were any better? You let him do whatever he wanted
Larry: Thank you
Cythina (to Larry): When he threatened to kill himself the first, do you remember what you said?
Cythina: "He just wants attention"
Now, I cut it down a bit to focus on the important parts but this boiling point speaks to the relationship that the Murphy's had within their household and how Zoe was an observer to how Connor was trampled by their father and coddled by their mother. And it almost seems as though, she might have felt a little invisible. Which becomes very clear with this line.
I'm the dead kid's sister
This line is important because throughout the musical that is how Zoe thinks the rest of the school and everyone involved is viewing herself. Let's take a listen to one of my favorite songs from the show, Evan and Zoe's romantic number, Only Us.
And let's look at some of Zoe's lines here.
I don't need more reminders of all that's been broken
I don't need you to fix what I'd rather forget
Here, we can see that Zoe wants to be more than the dead kid's sister and doesn't want to build the relationship that is starting with Evan off of the memory of Connor and this takes us back to how Zoe is the innocent within the story of this musical because everyone is so focused on what happened to Connor, that they never stop to ask how is Zoe doing through all of this? And through the two male relationships that we can observe in the story with both Evan and her brother, we see that it's a rocky relationship for her from both Evan and Connor. So, let's go back to how this makes Zoe an innocent. It's because she remains strong and these things happen to her but that doesn't make her naive as she is also the observer of this story and is willing to call people such as her parents out on their bullshit. Perhaps, not the strongest entry but I think this makes sense. I hope that you enjoyed this entry. Peace!
