asimplechord (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
asimplechord) wrote2008-04-21 09:37 pm
asimplechord) wrote2008-04-21 09:37 pm
Entry tags:
in which I am tardy, tired, and lame
So tired. I'm being unbelievably lame. Thrice and Circa Survive were playing tonight, but I didn't get out of lab until 8pm, and I had promised my mom I'd call her tonight, so I came home instead of going out. I'm setting the timer on the TV so it'll turn itself off if I fall asleep during TDS or TCR.
I've had this sitting in my drafts mailbox for a couple of days, so I'm posting it before I forget or too much time passes.
*
I've been thinking about this for a few days, cogitating over it after discussing Elephant's Memory with MrIris. He walked in mid-episode and walked back out, because he didn't want to see half without the initial part for context.
After watching (then deleting from our recorded queue, wth?!?) he said that he thought that Reid was out of character for the entire episode, and he thought it was jarring because Reid never normally disobeys Hotch's orders. (Bear in mind, he did not watch any of season one or most of season two.)
I tried to explain it to him, but I don't think I was coherent enough. Plus, he knows that Reid is my favorite character on the show, and thinks that colors my opinion. (It does, I can admit that.)
Basically, it comes down to this.
Spencer was behaving out of character in the context of the Reid who never makes waves and follows orders without question. That was the entire point. Because that's the same Reid who got abused by his peers in high school. So why shouldn't he break from that mold when put into this situation? The whole point of this episode was that he identified with the (un)sub, and this time he could save his life (unlike the teenaged unsub in 3rd Life), although he couldn't erase the memory of his humiliation. From the last few episodes we've seen that he's struggling -- note the almost desperate way he describes the anonymity of support groups like NA and AA in A Higher Power? He admits it at the meeting in the beginning of this episode.
One of the reasons I loved this episode, other than the fact that it was so Reid-centric, was that it addresses two things.
First, the apathy of the average person when it comes to social justice that isn't a Cause, even in people who are supposed to be raising, educating, and caring for the victims. Not pretty, but entirely accurate. Children are cruel. The internet is as cruel as the rest of the world, and parents should be as aware of what their kids do online as they are of their real-life friends and activities. Of course, that assumes that parents are paying any attention at all to their teenagers. *shrug* Possibly a faulty assumption.
Second, because it addresses the storyline that started at the end of Revelations. I was SO disappointed in CBS last season, because it seemed odd to me that Reid wouldn't be taken to a hospital and treated, and that the FBI forensic analysis team wouldn't want his clothes/bag for evidence, thus making his theft obvious. But I could deal with that. I know nothing about police procedure, so fine. But then there was little direct address of Reid's drug use other than Jones, when he ignored his cell phone and stayed to talk to Ethan. Then at the end of that ep, his words to Gideon: I won't do it again. Ignore the call, or take the Dilaudid? Could have been either or both.
So this episode feels like closure to me. Not that Reid's problems with substance abuse or social acceptance are finished, but that that part of his character's story-arc has been addressed and he's dealing with his problems, rather than having some nebulous "off-screen" issue still brewing.
*
Re: last night's show... I had this thought last night, and I'm still thinking about it, really. I found it oddly disturbing that the line that got the loudest shout of all of Panic's set was the What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore line of I Write Sins Not Tragedies, emphasis on whore. I've posted before about grossly misogynistic lyrics vs. angry lyrics directed at a specific woman, and about gender. The thing that bothers me in this particular instance is that the audience was predominantly young and female, and they sang that line with such glee.
Dunno. It's just sticking in my head, plucking on my nerves. Need to think about it more.
I've had this sitting in my drafts mailbox for a couple of days, so I'm posting it before I forget or too much time passes.
*
I've been thinking about this for a few days, cogitating over it after discussing Elephant's Memory with MrIris. He walked in mid-episode and walked back out, because he didn't want to see half without the initial part for context.
After watching (then deleting from our recorded queue, wth?!?) he said that he thought that Reid was out of character for the entire episode, and he thought it was jarring because Reid never normally disobeys Hotch's orders. (Bear in mind, he did not watch any of season one or most of season two.)
I tried to explain it to him, but I don't think I was coherent enough. Plus, he knows that Reid is my favorite character on the show, and thinks that colors my opinion. (It does, I can admit that.)
Basically, it comes down to this.
Spencer was behaving out of character in the context of the Reid who never makes waves and follows orders without question. That was the entire point. Because that's the same Reid who got abused by his peers in high school. So why shouldn't he break from that mold when put into this situation? The whole point of this episode was that he identified with the (un)sub, and this time he could save his life (unlike the teenaged unsub in 3rd Life), although he couldn't erase the memory of his humiliation. From the last few episodes we've seen that he's struggling -- note the almost desperate way he describes the anonymity of support groups like NA and AA in A Higher Power? He admits it at the meeting in the beginning of this episode.
One of the reasons I loved this episode, other than the fact that it was so Reid-centric, was that it addresses two things.
First, the apathy of the average person when it comes to social justice that isn't a Cause, even in people who are supposed to be raising, educating, and caring for the victims. Not pretty, but entirely accurate. Children are cruel. The internet is as cruel as the rest of the world, and parents should be as aware of what their kids do online as they are of their real-life friends and activities. Of course, that assumes that parents are paying any attention at all to their teenagers. *shrug* Possibly a faulty assumption.
Second, because it addresses the storyline that started at the end of Revelations. I was SO disappointed in CBS last season, because it seemed odd to me that Reid wouldn't be taken to a hospital and treated, and that the FBI forensic analysis team wouldn't want his clothes/bag for evidence, thus making his theft obvious. But I could deal with that. I know nothing about police procedure, so fine. But then there was little direct address of Reid's drug use other than Jones, when he ignored his cell phone and stayed to talk to Ethan. Then at the end of that ep, his words to Gideon: I won't do it again. Ignore the call, or take the Dilaudid? Could have been either or both.
So this episode feels like closure to me. Not that Reid's problems with substance abuse or social acceptance are finished, but that that part of his character's story-arc has been addressed and he's dealing with his problems, rather than having some nebulous "off-screen" issue still brewing.
*
Re: last night's show... I had this thought last night, and I'm still thinking about it, really. I found it oddly disturbing that the line that got the loudest shout of all of Panic's set was the What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore line of I Write Sins Not Tragedies, emphasis on whore. I've posted before about grossly misogynistic lyrics vs. angry lyrics directed at a specific woman, and about gender. The thing that bothers me in this particular instance is that the audience was predominantly young and female, and they sang that line with such glee.
Dunno. It's just sticking in my head, plucking on my nerves. Need to think about it more.