So it's impossible to want to grab her hand and see her through it in these few eps, she's little more than pain!girl right now.

When you say it like this, it makes me try to imagine starting Buffy with Season 6. That's a tough sell.

Tim needs to work on that First Impression Strategy.

Tim needs to work on that First Impression Strategy.

Heh. My first impression of Tim was that I'd just love him to pieces 4 evah.

My first impression of Rebecca was that she was worthy of me loving her, and was worth the investment.

This, I realize, was not everyone's first impression.

How much do you think your first impressions were slanted by reading first, Allyson?

My first impression of Rebecca was that she was worthy of me loving her, and was worth the investment.

Huh. This is not the way I remember it at all.

I don't normally watch cop shows, I don't watch much horror, except for certain kinds, which generally means they have to end with some sort of hope, even if the whoever-survivor may be is fooling him or herself, because...that's what we do. We pretend this world isn't a great big old ball of pain, and that's how we can have more children, and eat ice cream, and go to the park on Sunday afternoons. I like my horror with a dash of fun, Shaun of the Dead rather than The Ring.

There are many things I like about The Inside. I really like Peter Coyote's character, and I like the way Coyote is playing him. I don't think he's a good man, but I do think he is working to get good results. He's hard, and manipulative, and I think he's honest in a way I can't quite explain--honest that he's a bastard, anyway.

I like Rebecca. She's PTSD girl. She does interesting things that fit her character and intrigue, like the inappropriate perkiness when she was accomplishing things early in the morning; the fleeting (pride? something creepy, anyway) look on her face when Web said, "That's my girl."

I like Danny and Mel, though I wish we'd had a better introduction to them. The scene with Danny and the little boy was funny AND disturbing. Mel's glee in her "pre-filer label" was endearing.

I don't like the gore. Not just the bodies, or, worse so far to me, the pictures on the boards and in the files (and what DX said about the descriptions too), but more the fact that they're there (the pictures, the descriptions). Those bodies have no dignity. There are too many of them. For every one I see or hear described, I imagine 100s more. Pretty gritty and yes, realistic, and even effective, but not my favorite type of entertainment. All those mutilated bodies, for me, lend themselves to a feeling of hopelessness that I can't ascribe to a fictional world because the show is set in a place too much like the world I live in.

I didn't like the feeling of hopelessness at the end of the last episode. No one, so far as we could see, told the guy who got turned on by little girls that he could/should go for counseling (whether they believed in the efficacy of counseling or not, it would have been something). No one said that he'd be watched. No one warned the parents of the little girl on whom he was fixated--or if they did, we didn't see it, and so I don't believe it. Maybe there will be fallout later, but that doesn't fix my feeling of dissatisfaction now. The ending scene had an amazing impact on me; it was great, perfect, but I'm still dissatisfied. I want white hats and good guys and all the other lies.

I don't know if I'll stick with the show yet or not. I love catching the shoutouts. I love having a show to chew over again. This one has depth, complex characters, intriguing storylines, and shoutouts to shows I love and miss. I think the characters, while they don't grab me yet (and of them all, the only one I don't really like is Paul), are intriguing and could do, if I give them the chance. It kind of depends on which hits my "enough" meter first--if the stuff I don't like eventually outweighs my growing fascination with the characters or not.

My first impression of Rebecca was that she was worthy of me loving her, and was worth the investment

Not love, for me, but intrigue, definitely. I relate to her in some way I can't quite figure out well enough to explain. I just don't know, yet, if that feeling is worth the investment.

Nevermind, I apparently don't know what I'm talking about anymore.

Nevermind, I apparently don't know what I'm talking about anymore.

Why don't I believe this statement?

How much do you think your first impressions were slanted by reading first, Allyson?

It's hard to say.

Edited because I seem completely unable to post a coherent thought, tonight. Blargh. Better to just get some sleep.

In the first three eps, my level of attachment has gone thusly (in terms of Rebecca's character):

1st ep: Intrigued. Her face said what her words didn't. And I liked seeing her get into the "profiler zone" with Web at the apartment. I saw her toughness that masked the not-so-tough parts.

2nd ep: Liked her. Another layer came off. Her talking to Paul was telling. Her visceral reaction to the chains chilled me. The cracking somewhat of her exterior on the street afterwards showed me she was human. Her ambiguious words to Brandt as she uncuffed him kinda made me dig her. She's got so much going on.

3rd ep: Loved her. All her anger and her past experience was playing on the surface throughout the case, and she was struggling to hold it in. And of course, at the end, with Roger and the Pre-filer, I was just floored.

I can't identify with her trauma, but I empathize, and I get her. For whatever reason. She's complex and fun to watch, and I AM rooting for her to make connections to the world.

For me, with a drama, I HAVE to get behind the main character. I have to get where they're coming from, I have to understand their motivations, so even when they do something that may make me dislike them, I can see their point of view.

I was able to do that with Buffy, Angel, Jaye (yeah, it was more a comedy, but still)....because whereas I know some people hated the main characters (more so Buffy and Angel), and watched for Willow, or Wesley, or whomever else, if I can't support the character the show revolves around, I don't see the point in watching.

(Chris Carter didn't seem to realize in the last two seasons that it wasn't just the scary stories that made the X-Files work, it was Mulder and Scully's reactions and interactions to them that did, which is why he should've ended the show after Season 7 minus a pregnancy...and this tangent is over).

I like many of the elements of "The Inside." I like the atmosphere, the music, the gruesomeness (I won't say gore, because I think that's too strong a word), the moral ambiguity, and I like the supporting cast for the different views and personalities they bring to the mix, and I'm sure I'll learn more about them as the show goes on....but Rebecca's the most important piece from my perspective.

And I think she's awesome. Some don't, which is a bummer, but hey. I don't need to feel hope, either. I got hope and hugs from "Full House" for seven years as a kid. I'm full up. Imagine my horror when I discovered problems weren't solved in a half hour.

The show goes into the dark, upsetting places, and I know that going in. For 43 minutes a week, I welcome that. It's different. It's unique. They may not have happy endings, but at least there's people like them doing their damndest to lock those kinds of criminals up, and that makes me grateful and have a great deal of respect for those that do the job.

It's honest. There's plenty of other things to cheer me up later. Wherever the story goes, I'll go. Apologies if this no longer makes sense.

PatK, I like everything you said.