So I was 2/3 the way through this week's episode, when I realized that I can't watch Veronica Mars anymore.

Earlier this season, they had a particularly nasty child abuser, and they let him get away with it. That episode was like a gut-punch to me. And they haven't addressed the issue; the little girl is still locked in the closet. Now they have a child-molester and a statutory rapist who will (presumably) also get away with it.

Obviously, I have a lot of personal issues here. It's probably a good sign for me that these things are starting to ping me. But I would certainly feel a lot better about these things if they actually showed the bad guys getting caught and punished.

I can't take it, it's too fucking grim for me.

Tom, do you want to hold off on the finale, and have people spoil you as to whether the abusers get their just desserts, or do you just need to get out, completely?

Probably the latter. I doubt there will be enough dessert to satisfy me.

I have had to stop watching things I've loved that were not good for me in one way or another. I'm sorry that's happened to you with VM, but I can understand why. I think you're wise to make that choice. I love it, and would convert everyone I know if I could, but at the end of the day, it's just a freaking TV show, and isn't worth actual real life consequences.

I don't think Thomas is at all concerned about satisfying endings where the moral issues are concerned, so I'm not sure there will be just desserts, either. Aaron's acquittal itself didn't remind/convince me that that sort of satisfaction doesn't seem to be one of Rob Thomas's goals. But Aaron's acquittal coming on the heels of Veronica's speech about needing that moment where she could look at Aaron after he was convicted, and that she basically blew off her one chance for Stanford to see him convicted, and then allowing Aaron to look at her, the way she should have gotten to look at him. That convinced/reminded me what he's doing here.

I didn't get that far in the episode. I'm glad I turned it off when I did.

P-C, if you're around, how did you manage to black-out text in your LJ? You did it, probably to spoiler font information you learned at Marsathon, or something. However you coded it, you had a big, black bar over the sensitive text. If you have a second, could you let me know. I would like to use that code, if I can.

<span style="background-color:black;"><font color="black">Cervando killed Felix!</font></span>

Tom, Joss once said (flippantly) something along the lines of, "Stop watching and the pain will go away," but it's something I agree with in a very non-flip way. If something is optional, and costs more than it is worth (in any sense of 'cost') don't pay for it.

Thanks so much, P-C. Heh. I always wondered what that t span did.

Tom, Joss once said (flippantly) something along the lines of, "Stop watching and the pain will go away," but it's something I agree with in a very non-flip way.

Yep. Watching triggery things, no matter how good they are, is bad for you.

Signed, learned that lesson, and will nevereverever watch The Inside as a result.

Several of my LJ buddies who love the show have expressed similar discontent--not with the quality of the show, but with the grimness. One of them even went out as far as to say that she wouldn't watch S3 if the culprit turned out to be Beaver, because that'd be just too horrific for her.

I've been loving the second half of the season--it's gotten back to its noir roots with a vengeance, in which good guys and anti-heroes have their past misdeeds come bite them where they hurt the most, and the villains are left unpunished--but I think the finale has the potential to go too dark, even for me. I'm kind of dreading the finale, frankly, even as I'm panting to see the resolution.

VM isn't pushing my buttons that way, but I will say that the last two episodes of ER have. In that horribly guilty "I should be doing more about this" way when it comes to Darfur and all kinds of world problems.

Which is kind of true, on the one hand, since I could certainly do more than I'm doing now, but at the same time? Two hours of TV that made me literally ill with grief and despair. Kind of not the way I want to spend the evening.