I've never thought of the "jealous lover" as a gender-specific thing. It could just as easily have been a jealous boyfriend wanting to check of on his girl. And we would have been spared the silly co-ed scene.

the worst sort of JAP stereotype

That pinged me, but only a teeny bit. Hey -- Jews, Irish Catholics -- at least they're equal opportunity offenders.

I'd be interested in your analysis, Plei. I'm not sure the show isn't an equal opportunity stereotyper in portraying characters with base motives. Case-of-the-week guys should as one-dimensional as the women. Take, say, M.A.D., with the homophobic, blackmailing jealous boyfriend. Most of the guys on this show-- with the exception of Keith and Wallace-- have violent streak. On the other hand, most of the women are unfaithful.

With a few exceptions, like M.A.D. guy and stepdude in The Girl Next Door, they manage to work in an explanation/sympathetic backstory for the violent guys. Sure, Aaron's a son-whumping, piece-of-ass murdering crazy man, but he, too, was the product of an abusive home! As is Logan, natch. Sure, Duncan's prone to hyper rage blackouts, but that's just part of his Luxan physiology! (Actually, if I picture D'argo in the Duncan role, Duncan is suddenly way more entertaining.) Weevil loves his Granny.

I don't see as much rounding out of the female characters. I live, however, in hope.

Sure, Duncan's prone to hyper rage blackouts, but that's just part of his Luxan physiology! (Actually, if I picture D'argo in the Duncan role, Duncan is suddenly way more entertaining.) Weevil loves his Granny.

See, after bringing in the FARSCAPE reference you've got me imagining Weevil mooning over Naranti. It's not a pretty picture.

Though I am undeniably amused by imagining D'Argo as Duncan.

See, after bringing in the FARSCAPE reference you've got me imagining Weevil mooning over Naranti. It's not a pretty picture.

It's not, but it made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Well, Plei, all the cases of guys with backstories that clear them of their shittiness you mentioned are regulars. The only regular female is Veronica (and now, Jackie, who we haven't had around long enough to get much of anything on). Mac, Veronica, Meg, the semi-regular girls of last season - do they cause you gender concerns? I really think you can make a case for equal-opportunity stereotyping and cardboard characterization of minor characters. Example: Madison sucks hard in the first season, but Dick's no better and maybe worse.

As to this week: I can see the criticisms, though I mostly enjoyed the episode. However, the first Colin's-a-good-guy revelation (secretly seeing a Rabbi) was one of my favorite moments EVER in the series, for reasons that will be obvious to some.

The coed scene did suck, though.

I didn't fast-forward through the coed scene, though now that I think about it, I probably should have. The client-of-the week, though she was Jewish, didn't ping the JAP sterotype for me, since she didn't physically resemble the women/girls I knew who were like that.(might be an east coast thing, dunno) I did want to shake her and tell her she was being a twit...

Lilly, Veronica's mother with the name I can't spell, and Trina were all about as recurring as Mac and Meg. As were Mrs. Kane and Logan's mom.

Lilly's painted as a charming, scheming whore. Trina's a selfish and shallow bitch. Logan's mother sits by and drinks while Aaron beats him. Mrs. Kane, compared to Mr. Kane, is a cold and nasty woman.

I wrote some of this up in comments when I was first watching, and I'll see if I can find them.

Wouldn't any normal woman - after finding out he was seeing a rabbi - have stopped Veronica's investigation there?

Wouldn't any normal woman - after finding out he was seeing a rabbi - have stopped Veronica's investigation there?

I certainly think so. I think they were trying to make a point about the stupidity of constantly suspecting those you love of badness, and how the very suspicion can get you in trouble, or something like that. Though I guess I see the point of that, I would have gotten more pure emotional satisfaction out of a much longer build to the rabbi reveal, and her stopping the investigations with that. But that's because that scene really pinged me personally, right now in my life, for various reasons, and so had much more emotional effect on me than it probably should've.

Plei, I actually remember your comments, and see your point, now that you mention the adults. I sort of forget they exist sometimes, except for Keith. I guess Mr. Casablancas is the only Bad Adult Male we've seen, yet, who hasn't been given at least a throwaway backstory to help explain his badness. As for Lilly, well, yeah, again, I have to say I see your point. I think we're supposed to see her as a Logan-type, though, only we don't get the time to see the inner depth or whatever because, you know, dead.