I think people frequently mock the things they want the most before they can admit to themselves that they want them.

Keerap. I'll just stick with YaY!

Oh, lord, I'm flailing.

Flail all you want! We'll always make more.

I don't think Dean ever considered that he *might* want a normal life until now, with death (or hell, whatever) waiting in just a few months. I also think he needs to associate it with something he already understands.

In this case, Ben is a cool kid, the kind of kid he probably was. Lisa is a good mom, and still super hot. With that frame of reference, I think he could actually finally see how a life like that would be kind of nice.

He's looking down that road not taken. Till now, there could always have been a fork that led that way. But with the time he has left, that's never going to happen now. I don't think he wants it. He's just having to give up the idea it's there, if he ever did decide he wanted it.

I like your theory, Bev. I think it makes more sense than mine.

Still. Oh, DEAN.

the Uncanny Valley of pretty

This would explain why I hated his character on Days. (I mean, that and the ludicrous writing.)

In re Dean's expectations, it really bugs me that nobody has ever looked him up and down and said, "Babe, you are a textbook serial killer."

Because, he kind of is. No fixed address, dazzlingly charming and outgoing, no compunctions about getting physical when he thinks the situation calls for it -- that's 100% Ted Bundy, from the outside. (Obviously, we know better.)

I think he would be heartbroken to hear it, but... I like to think that at least one in 100 women would have a cautious head on her shoulders, you know? Or, like, a posse.

I think it's something he's always wanted at the back of his mind--look how he was with the only serious relationship we've seen him have (Cassie). But, like most other things he's wanted *for himself*, it didn't meet the triage bar for the release. But other than that aspect, I'm with Bev.

(Err. Hi. I just got home from work. I'm not speaking human yet.)

No fixed address, dazzlingly charming and outgoing, no compunctions about getting physical when he thinks the situation calls for it -- that's 100% Ted Bundy, from the outside.

Early Bundy had a fixed address. He had a job, and he had friends. Before the first time he was caught, of course.

As I recall, most famous serial killers (we grow them like weeds up here) have a seemingly-normal outside life. Though most of the ones I can think of aren't charming like Bundy was. Ridgway, for example, was both fugly and creepy, despite having a job and a series of wives.

As I recall, most famous serial killers (we grow them like weeds up here) have a seemingly-normal outside life.

I was going to say this. Bundy was in law school. Ann Rule was actually a friend of his, before the truth came out, which is why she wrote A Stranger Beside Me, if I recall correctly.

Dean also tends to meet women in crowded places, like bars or diners, where flirting is sort of expected. I also think there's a warmth in those eyes that can't be mistaken for anything less than genuine lust and joy in the moment.

Plus, the women he flirts with? Don't know his history. Don't know he'll throw a punch or fire a gun on instinct, if threatened. They only know they just met a charming stranger, which isn't unusual in larger cities and towns.

I do think he'd come off as creepy to some women, and it would be kind of neat to see that.

I'm just pedantic about serial killers. I mean, I fucking HATE true crime paperbacks, but as I think that's all my aunts ever read, I've read, well, most of the damn things. Plus all of Court TV's Crime Library. Plus the local paper. Like I said, we grow them like weeds. Serial killers were a fact of Seattle life growing up, just like the threat of nuclear attack and the reality of being at Ground Zero for one.