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Why I (And Many Others) Just Really Love Oliver Hampton
I think that there's something to be said about the fact that a majority of a fanbase prefers the recurring character to a majority of the main characters.
Okay, so Oliver has done bad things. But out of all of the characters, I've observed that a majority of people will turn a blind eye to all the stuff he's done. Why? Because I feel like most people relate to him.
I think that until about 1x04, Connor was manipulating Oliver. After that point, he was falling from grace and needed someone to be on his team. We've all had people manipulate us, right? Also, can we assume that Oliver is most likely an introvert? I doubt most extroverts are spending their time watching a television series religiously and posting about it on Tumblr. Also, there's a reason why those books where a person who is ridiculously gorgeous sweeps a relatable character (at least to us reading at home) off our feet.
Two bad things happened to Oliver in the first season. First, his Whatever ends up sleeping with someone else (that Oliver perceives to be much more attractive than him- which he is not and omg Connor pls just tell him in universe that he is a beautiful creature), and then he gets diagnosed with HIV. I think both of these things add to his low self-esteem.
Oliver has had low self-esteem since the pilot. And it breaks our cold little I watch a show about murderers on Thursdays hearts. His low self-esteem makes us want to wrap him up in a blanket and protect him from all awful in the world. Of course, we're watching the wrong show for that, but a fanbase can dream, right?
We all see Oliver as that dorky IT guy who fell for Connor, the guy who really loved sex. But what if Oliver was only in one episode? I don't even want to think about it, because it is terrifying to think about. Really, think about how different Connor would be if there was no Oliver.
Also, a few of the light moments after Sam Keating got murdered were because of Oliver. 1x11, a very good yet very depressing episode, had a lighter tone of the soapy kitchen hands kiss, where we finally realized that yes, Oliver was going to take Connor back. Even before Connor probably even read The Velvet Rage.
Or maybe Connor read it before murder night and we were never told about it.
Whatever.
And as someone who thinks that popular culture plays a big part in public perception, I think that it's incredibly important to have a character with HIV. Who is living. Not dying. And he has a partner who cares about him so deeply he'd even shoot his professor over him.
Oliver is still one of our favorite characters in the show, and we still know very few things about him. The only thing that we know is that, in our hearts, he is innocent.
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