I think that's a little bit of who Rebecca will be. She's broken, whip smart, strong, but young and stumbly. She's surrounded by people who have preconceived notions about women, pretty women, young women, broken women. She's aware of those preconceived notions, and that's a part of what makes her good at her job, she thinks outside of those notions to find the complete person.
I love this description of the character. I like that she's fallible and somewhat broken, but I like more the idea of her awareness of the preconceptions of the people around her. Intelligence is one thing; insight is another.
Part of her investigational duties is to profile the victims of violent and painfully creepy and dark killers and sadists.
I'm confused by the idea of profiling the victims. Do you mean that she will use the victims' traumas each week to trace her way back to the victimizer? I want to make sure I'm understanding the concept being set up.
Since she's still struggling with who she is, it's easier for her to slip into someone else's skin, find the common threads between brutalized women and sort of become their fists.
The "female-cop-avenging-victims-of-crime-she-once-suffered" has been done a lot already with Cold Case/L&O/Without a Trace-type shows, but what saves this for me is Rebecca's age and relative inexperience. Most of the typical cop-avengers are strong, confident women who--though may have once been damaged--have developed a real sense of self. Usually we only learn further into the series that they have buried levels of trauma. The concept of Rebecca's lack of personal identity being the gateway to her success fascinates me. I can't wait to see how Tim will reveal this right from the beginning. I'm sure we'll see her make mistakes and stumble into situations a more experienced investigator would know to avoid, but I love the idea that those very failings will be what makes her so uniquely successful.
The procedural aspect of the show, that there's a mystery to be solved, and it's all sort of fantastic (yet possible, nothing supernatural here) drives the story, of course. And so I think a large audience will enjoy that particular part of it.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I am positive I will be able to sell DH on the show based on this structure alone (and then I'll chuckle gleefully when he inevitably gets sucked into the character and her story).
The second part is character development, and um, I say this without intent to stroke his ego, Tim is one of the few writers I've seen who genuinely understands that you have to earn the audience's heart and then break the fuck out of it and have to do it without losing them.
Yes, precisely why I'm convinced that this will not be like any of the other law enforcement shows. There is one question that I still have, though: apart from consistent character development, will there be story arcs, or is this a stand-alone series? The lack of arc is the part of the L&O series that I dislike most.
Jane brings in the lighter side of people's souls, and so I think the combination of the two producers is brilliant, since this show is so dark and creepy in that Angel-locks-the-lawyers-in-the-cellar kind of way.
That's a really good point, and I'm glad to hear it. I like the dark and creepy to an extent, but I need some sense of light to balance it or I get too depressed to keep watching. A little levity is great counterpoint to the truly tragic.
I was intrigued before. Now I'm excited.