Ah, score another toaster for me! Yesterday my friend who runs a print shop called about some presswork and told me she watched this week's episode (I'd talked about the show while checking proofs last week) and was impressed enough that she plans to watch regularly. If anyone at the Network asks, we now have the name of at least one grandmotherly type in her late 60s who'll be a weekly viewer.
So that's my dream. That and some stuff about cigars and a tunnel.
Faith ,'Get It Done'
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 18, 2005 6:18:05 am PDT #9609 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
brenda m - Jun 18, 2005 7:03:05 am PDT #9610 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
I think what we haven't figured out is why he kept the hair.
Interesting look at Rebecca, PatK. I agree that she wasn't really there in an investigative capacity, at least not entirely. But I haven't thought through what I do think her motivations were.
The Becky/Rebecca exchange was a highlight of the ep, for sure.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 7:07:37 am PDT #9611 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
He kept the hair because serial killers are supposed to be trophy keepers. This is TV received wisdom -- I have no idea about real life.
Polter-Cow - Jun 18, 2005 7:09:55 am PDT #9612 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
But he wasn't a serial killer in his mind, was he? He was always killing the same person, and it seems backward to keep the parts of the victims that specifically weren't Brandt.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 7:17:49 am PDT #9613 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I don't know what most (TV) serial killers think of what they're doing. However, the trophy-keeping (and subsequent discovery by investigators) is standard enough (and perhaps groundless enough) that I don't think it bears dissection.
David M - Jun 18, 2005 7:20:09 am PDT #9614 of 10001
Putting the plain in plainclothes.
Do serial killers ever think of themselves as serial killers rather than avengers or something? At least on TV killing mommy over and over seems one of their favourites. Though keeping the hair is a puzzle as you say. Maybe he just liked it.
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 18, 2005 7:29:53 am PDT #9615 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I think that gets over-dramatized a bit in fiction. A LOT of them just seem to do it for sexual thrills and the sense of godlike power ending another life gives them.
edit: So, not terribly different from Detective Strong's situation.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 7:34:29 am PDT #9616 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Wikipedia lists a number of motives:
- Visionary (rarer than you'd think from fiction)
- Power/control
- Hedonistic
- Mission-oriented
- Gain-oriented
Further reading: The Aetiology of Serial Murder: Towards an Integrated Model
aurelia - Jun 18, 2005 7:51:59 am PDT #9617 of 10001
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.
He kept the hair because serial killers are supposed to be trophy keepers. This is TV received wisdom -- I have no idea about real life.
Yep. I'd say it's more about having evidence to find than about Strong's psyche.
DCJensen - Jun 18, 2005 8:15:33 am PDT #9618 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.
Maybe he was split, part of him wanted to be the good cop, holding onto evidence of his own crimes.