Revenge is something vampires tend to understand very well.
Domestic abuse is complicated. It's rare to find families who make clean breaks from their abusers and find the road to a better life. It's rough all around, and this week's case is a good example of how much abusers screw things up.
It's not much of a vampire story, though.
The case doesn't seem too hard to solve, but our detectives spend a lot of time looking in the wrong direction.
Flashbacks:
Nick struggles to understand why a woman would feel devotion to an abuser. That's certainly a difficult thing to wrap your head around, but it's not unusual. We see it families, but also in friendships and workplaces. People sometimes develop feelings of loyalty to their abusers. I don't know why, but it happens. And it's frustrating.
Little Bites:
-Familiar faces: The woman running the shelter showed up in season one as a radio shrink in "Dead Air."
-The weapon wasn't exactly all that well hidden, and the excessive glass in the alley should have gotten them a lot closer to the truth a lot sooner. Someone obviously didn't come from outside.
-I knew a guy whose mom called him at school to say she was moving back in with a certain boyfriend. He was a very confident and cocky guy, an athlete full of attitude. I hated him, and he hated me. I don't remember why. School is like that. You have enemies and allies and can't remember how it happened. But I'll never forget the look on his face when he got that call. In that moment he absolutely hated his mother, which helps me understand why the murder in this episode happened. I'm not saying it's okay, but I can see how it happened.
Final Analysis: This slow investigation would make a decent idea for a cop show, but I'm here for vampires. One out of five cockfights.
Adam D. Jones is a writer, historian, and undefeated cat wrestler. He also thinks cockfighting is really, really stupid.
Wow. Powerful anecdote. And while I've always felt guilty at what feels almost like victim-blaming on my part, I found the reveal really satisfying. People who facilitate and play message-boy to pursuers with obviously bad intentions set off my "pot-stirrer" paranoia, even if the truth is they're just people-pleasers and can't say no to any real insistence. Of course in this case the guy seemed genuinely repentant and this is the kind of complication I like, that doesn't twist up the episode and make it impossible to follow.
ReplyDeleteThe ending is hilarious abrupt though. No reflection at all about the radio shrink's botched justice?
Oh, but I liked Tracy slapping her mom. Getting married to someone in the business and then getting upset about what the business entails? Now I ain't tryin't'a hear that, see?
What a depressing episode. Unhappy endings for everyone, flashback and present day. Which would be acceptable in a show about vampires, but as noted by our reviewer this episode isn't.
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