I thought that was a little...eh. I mean, Strong ended up dead, so hey, but I'm not sure I would characterize that whole interaction as Brandt being in control.

Yeah, that had me confused. I also didn't understand why Strong killed himself (surely that wasn't his plan all along), and figure they are probably related by more than my not getting them.

Yeah, that had me confused. I also didn't understand why Strong killed himself

Self-hatred. He was gay, he hated that he was, he hated that he was obsessed with this guy, he went nuts.

insent, jessica

I started writing my book last night (it's a retelling of a pilot I wrote a few months ago). The opening chapter features the end of the world told through the eyes of a cat called Jessica. I'd no idea why I'd used the name Jessica (it wasn't in the script), so I think Buffistas is affecting my brain...

Self-hatred.

That's what I got. When Brandt said, "You're weak," and Strong said, "I know," I knew what he was going to do. He hated what he had become, and he knew he didn't have it in him to change.

There's also that idea of what's the worse punishment -- if he had killed Brandt, it would have been over for him. Now, he has to live with the memory of the rape, and everything that happened.

Which could apply to Rebecca, too, but it's all in how you deal with it, what you take away from violence and how you can use it, good or bad.

I don't know - in a way it read to me as a really tender moment, which gave me a kind of shocked thrill.

That's how it played for me. And it was a really complex, fascinating moment. She asked to unlock him - she wanted to have that exchange. She challenged Paul's one-dimensional view of Hart's character. She knew he was a prick, but she understood him.

For daring to make a game out of what she's been through for real and presuming to understand anything about real power or control, even if she also understands that that's a false comparison on many levels, and therefore a really unfair judgement to make.

I think this was going on as well. But it was more gentle than snarky. (Though definitely putting his words back in his face.) She knows from damage. She knows from inappropriate or not socially normative survival strategies. She knows ambiguity and ambivalence and how motives don't always run in straight lines.

In fact, all of Rebecca's actions and lines in this episode really made her character snap into focus for me. Her getting tied up didn't tweak any of my damsel concerns, and I thought there were some very subtle topping-from-the-bottom clues to Rebecca's character. This time I did believe she was strong.

Also, I am really liking Rachel's acting. It's very underplayed with a purposefully flat, guarded vocal style but very expressive face that flashes past her guardedness.

But it was more gentle than snarky.

I think she was aiming for gentle, and mostly succeeded. But there were layers she couldn't hide. (That's what I was trying to say above.)

Wait, wasn't she saying that Brandt was in control, that Strong was never in control? And Strong was the one who died. Or did I totally misread that line.

Brandt was definitely the dominant one (or in control, if you prefer) as the object of Strong's obsession. In the actual rape, I think it's a lot grayer-though helped by Strong's brains getting splattered on the decor at the end.

I was thinking more of the other victims of Strong's second series, who did end up dead. I don't think that was their intention. (Again, the first group that lived is le area gray.)

Paige Fuller wanted to kiss Death and maybe try to warm up his cold, er, cockles and bones, but I don't think her plan was to become a full time consort.

After thinking about this scene overnight, my current interpretation of Rebecca's line is something like:

"I still think you were full of it saying that 'surviving' an S&M session makes you stronger. But take my word for it, surviving real-life abduction and abuse really does."

The snark is there, but it's more of a "now you really understand what you were talking about before" feel.

I think she was aiming for gentle, and mostly succeeded. But there were layers she couldn't hide. (That's what I was trying to say above.)

You're right. Because she doesn't really have a handle on being gentle yet either.