The Untouchables

Eliot Ness was a Treasury agent, not an FBI agent.

she went to school, hid behind her unicorn-print Mead Trapper Keeper, got good grades, and kept mostly to herself.

Becky George was me?

I was really unhappy with that piece, I had a hard time with it. It was hard to shake the defensiveness and felt terribly preachy and overly dramatic.

Set visit report will be better. I did fail in my dream of getting the top down on Tim's car. I think the buttons are rigged to respond only to his biorhythms or something.

I did fail in my dream of getting the top down on Tim's

Reading this up to this point, my mind went straight into the gutter.

Well, I figure it might be time for me to express some more cogent reactions before I go off to edit my paper like I should be doing.

First of all: honestly, it never occurred to me that all four of them covering the door was bad, because I had the distinct impression that there were other agents in the house. On rewatch, it's clear that that impression was actually quite wrong ("Danny, work me up a security profile for a four-man team"), so I would nit that... why didn't they make use of some other agents? Then you get the four-characters-pointing-gun-at-little-girl image, and the six is covered, but, honestly, the whole thing fails to bother me really, so that's that.

My biggest... wrong feeling... about this ep is the idea that Roger is destined to be a killer. I understand that Rachel profiles it out of him, and the pre-filer certainly agrees ("You wanna know how you'll do it?" right before he bags him is the key line to show he thinks Roger's a killer, not just a child molestor). But the pre-filer is a fucked up serial killer, not really the most trusted of sources despite his excellent investigatory skills, and Rebecca is... well, Rebecca has issues with child molestors. Still, the fact is, her abductor never killed her. He kept her for 18 months, probably molested her regularly, completely screwed her up, but he never killed her: so if Roger is like him, why does she assume he'll kill?

Me? I saw no evidence. Pedophilic porn is disturbing, but there are plenty of pedophiles out there who, beyond providing monetary support of the disgusting pedo porn industry, will never actually hurt anybody directly. Now, I admit that Roger, with his hotel-stalking and candid picture-taking, especially combined with the severe self-hating, was a prime suspect for possible future molestations. But he might have gotten himself under control (probably with help - is there a pedophiles anonymous?) even without the pre-filer pointing out his problem to the FBI. Now, of course, he's got a file, and if anything happens to a little girl he'll be an immediate suspect, which will probably deter him from action. Whatsmore, I don't see anything that implies he'd kill the girls - most molestors don't. They rely on the kids to maintain the secrecy, which, sadly, they often do.

Tim's explanation, of course, helps explain this. The pre-filer isn't actually convinced Roger's a killer... yet. He chose him because he thought Rachel would assume so, an assumption that seems to be true, and he could play mind games with his legal counterpart, as he sees her.

The one thing I do wonder about, though: I assume those "young'uns" magazines are a) actually pornographic and b) actually contain lewd pictures of underage girls, not eighteen-year-olds picked for their young looks. In that case, Roger's arrestable just for that, and at the very least can get registered as a known case in files everywhere, not just in the FBI.

Hmm. A lot of that sounded critical. It's not meant to be: I absolutely adored this episode, on the whole. It was definitely my favorite episode so far. The killer did a great Kevin Spacey from Se7en interpretation, which works great since that's about the scariest serial killer portrayal I can name off the top of my head, especially in this I-kill-because-I'm-avenging-or-protecting vein. The character of Rebecca is really starting to develop into something interesting to me: her damage is so incredibly fascinating to watch develop. I also really, really liked Web in this ep, possibly because he wasn't as prevalent and over-the-top as previous episodes, but still gave off that vibe of terrifying competence. The camera shots of him were great, and I loved the music at that point.

I also liked seeing more Danny and Mel. I like Mel. And Danny, for the first time, didn't bother me in this episode, because he just seemed more like a team member and less like a knucklehead. I also liked that we're toning down Paul some: the first eps really drove home the basic ideas of Rachel=fucked up, (continued...)

( continues...) Paul=good guy protector, Web=amoral genius boss guy, to the detriment, a bit, of subtlety in all of their characters, and the true loss of Danny/Mel development. This one felt more balanced, and I liked that.

I also definitely would like to see this killer again, from the safe side of a jail cell, despite the inevitable Hannibal comparisons.

Okay, I really can't write more now. I've wasted an hour thinking about this, and have real homework to do.

ETA: Allyson, I actually really like your Popgurls piece. Sure it's defensive, but that's okay: you have that right. What's more, I like the melodrama. It fits.

I don't see anything that implies he'd kill the girls - most molestors don't

You seem convinced that the other guys would have killed. Is that so? Why are they definite killers and this guy not?

I don't know about Roger turning into a killer or not, but wasn't it pretty well established that the other men were well on their way to killing? The Janitor had a death closet and drawings of women with their throats cut; one man was placed in graves he had dug, and the pre-filer's conversation with the guy in the car included statements on killing.

ETA: Allyson, I actually really like your Popgurls piece. Sure it's defensive, but that's okay: you have that right. What's more, I like the melodrama. It fits.

Allyson, I liked it, too. It addressed some wonderings I'd been having, and explained to me why the show grabs you. It's good. And by far not at all a "Hey why are you saying mean things about my show?"-type piece, which I find impressive as I am among the most readily defensive of fans, and totally incapable of not just coming up with, "Well yeah, but YOU'RE STUPID!" when people critique something I truly love.

...also, I LOVED the bit with Danny and the kid, and I totally adore Katie Finneran. Every time she said or mouthed, "That's mine," I giggled. She's like if Scully were funnier, and I love her.

"Well yeah, but YOU'RE STUPID!"

If you play it backwards, that's EXACTLY what it says, along with, "Eat at Denny's."