Big Time Rush: The Guys (Continued)

Logan Henderson

Logan is quite an interesting guy. He’s very funny, probably the sharpest comic of the group, and is often ready with a sarcastic comment or carefree antic to liven up an interview or just entertain his friends. When he gets serious though you can really tell because the smiling face evaporates and he gets a genuine, almost serenely determined look in his eyes and speaks from his heart. One of the first times I noticed this change was in an interview in which he and Kendall were drawing pictures to be auctioned for charity. While drawing his picture he let Kendall field all the questions until the interviewer mentioned they’d appeared on Ellen and asked what they thought about her sexuality (Real classy, interviewer. Real classy.) Logan suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked up answering that “we’re all operated by love” and saying that basically neither her sexuality nor anyone else’s is weird or noteworthy because it’s just who we are. It was one of the moments that made me respect Logan more because while he’s not someone who’s really vocal about his moral or political views (possibly due to being a nickelodeon star and feeling pressure to not make those kinds of waves), he thought that this was significant enough to voice his opinion, and he did so in a simple but effective way.

Logan Mitchell has been my favorite character on the show since the beginning. He’s the brains of the group, a certified (can’t remember if that’s canon or not but whatever) genius who dreams of being a doctor. His character has grown so much over the course of the show. He has always been a careful planner, and was at first paralyzed by indecision and uncertainty, but his best friend Kendall taught him “A life without risk is a life unlived” and he has slowly become more independent and confident. He still lacks the social graces of Kendall or James, or the complete careless freedom of Carlos, but he has learned to be his own person while still being his best self when working with his friends.

I love that his dream has also been characterized. From the beginning we’ve known he aspired to be a doctor but almost every smart character in every TV show or movie does too so it didn’t say much about his personality other than that he was smart and being a doctor is a smart person’s profession. In season two, however, we learn some of the reasons why he wants to be a doctor when he gets the chance to assist a local doctor in diagnosing various patients. Logan states outright that he loved making people feel better, and just from the way he approached each case it was clear that he enjoyed identifying and solving the problems each patient came in with. This passion for problem-solving and critical thinking has been an aspect of Logan’s character all along but it wasn’t until this episode that I put it together with his passion for the medical field.

This episode also included some great interaction between Logan and Mrs. Knight (Kendall’s mother and the group’s primary caregiver) but I’ll be making a post devoted solely to the strong women of BTR so I’ll save this for then. And maybe also in my shipping post because I consider Logan’s closeness with Mrs. Knight indicative of his closeness with Kendall, but I’m getting WAY ahead of myself now.

Lest you think Logan is a perfect person, he is also the most sarcastic of the group. His intelligence often displays itself as a cutting wit, and the most frequent victim of this is probably Carlos who is Logan’s foil on the show. Though he gets exasperated with James frequently and Kendall occasionally, it seems to be Carlos who can get Logan’s dander up the easiest, which I believe is because Logan simply can’t understand Carlos. How anyone can be so (apparently) carefree boggles Logan’s mind and he is always ready to point out when Carlos isn’t making sense.

The long and short of this is that I love Logan Mitchell. I suppose he’s the character with whom I most identify, though I’m nowhere near as smart as he is, and that may be the base for my affection, but I do think he’s the most interesting of the four with very real virtues and flaws, both of which play strongly in who he is.

Kendall Schmidt

Where do I even begin with Kendall Schmidt? I don’t know how he’s in a boyband (though I thank God he is) and I’m not sure he does either.

He’s like two parts hipster, one part overgrown child, one part environmentalist, three parts family man, and a dash of humanitarian all wrapped up in the most honest, caring, and down-to-earth individual I know of who also happens to be a celebrity. And this doesn’t really even come close to describing him, probably because I’m trying to use labels to do so and if there’s one thing Kendall doesn’t appreciate it’s labels. Unless they’re Vans.

I guess I’ll be better off just describing his characteristics. He is in most ways very open, but somehow seems unenthused with or at least indifferent to the spotlight. Like Carlos he is very interactive with the fans, especially on twitter. He loves to respond to fans and follow them, and I can only imagine what his twitter feed must look like with how many times he goes on following sprees and then actually takes the time to read and respond to what twitter users say to him.

He’s a very passionate musician. Prior to Big Time Rush he had a band with his best friend Dustin Belt called Heffron Drive, which is still his twitter handle. Heffron Drive is not over, but is on the backburner for now and, never one to leave a friend behind; Kendall has brought Dustin along for the BTR ride, becoming something of an unofficial fifth member, sharing the spotlight as featured accompanist during many acoustic performances. Kendall also accompanies the band for acoustic performances as playing the guitar is one of his passions and has been for years. Kendall’s passion shines through in every live performance, but I find it especially noticeable in the band’s earliest performances when he was not such a great dancer and still threw his entire being into the performance. He had no concept of pacing himself and was so sweaty and red-in-the face by the end of the performance that it was clear he had given his absolute all onstage, giving everything to the fans and leaving nothing for himself.

I think what I want to say is that Kendall is so generous with his love. He appreciates and praises his family, friends, pets, and fans. He takes these relationships seriously and cherishes them and truly celebrates them.

Kendall Knight is the unofficial leader of Big Time Rush, both prior to and after becoming a band. He is the son of Jennifer Knight and older brother to Katie Knight and takes care of his family as much as he can. From episode one where he was the only one of the four shown to have a job, Kendall has been identified as the one who will get things done.

Kendall can bring his group together like no one else. Every member of this four-way friendship brings something to the table but (especially in the early episodes) it’s only under Kendall’s leadership that they come together and accomplish great things. Kendall’s dream is to play hockey professionally (probably for the Minnesota Wild) but it is his passion that ends up getting piquing the record producer’s interest and starting the guys on their boyband journey.

Kendall will do all he can for those he loves and this is sometimes a fault. He doesn’t put others’ needs before his own so much as his only gratification often seems to come from making other people’s dreams come true. He will become whoever he needs to be in a given circumstance to make sure he doesn’t let anyone down… I can’t begin to imagine the incredible wight on his shoulders as he feels personal responsibility for the well-being and development of all his loved ones. You may have noticed that I made no mention of a Mr. Knight. Kendall’s father is not in the picture and his absence has not yet been explained, but it seems a likely source for Kendall’s hero complex.

Kendall Knight is quite a character. He has shown a lot of different aspects and has given me more to think about than any other character with the possible exception of Logan.