tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86738904972650226012024-02-19T02:13:06.709-08:00Devils On HorsebackSweet and savory diatribes and inquisitions by Jean MacphersonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-63683173942430255182015-03-08T09:49:00.001-07:002015-03-08T09:49:29.036-07:00Hello Dear Readers,<br />
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I have a new essay up at Radiuslit.org called "Life Lesson: What I Learned from Philip Levine." He is a poet dear to my heart, Please consider checking it out.<br />
<br />
Respectfully,<br />
JeanUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-60058308329193541452015-02-16T14:30:00.000-08:002015-02-16T14:30:40.172-08:00Past Animal Terror: Season 4, Episode 1 of The Killing: Blood In the WaterLife is load of weirdness and that is all I can say about my disappearance act. However, I thank you for checking in and re-discovering my blog. I won't count the days or state the 'nearly' of how long I have been gone, but I finally watched the last season of what was once AMC's <i>The Killing </i>but became Netflix' <i>The Killing.</i> Here we go.<br />
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We last left off at the end of season three -or at least I did- where Holder catches up to Sarah and Skinner, but not in time; he cannot talk her out of killing him even though he reveals that Adrian is alive. Skinner works his psychological voodoo in order to convince her to kill him. We see that "look in her eyes... past animal terror" akin to Skinner's retelling of murder.<br />
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Episode 1, Blood in the Water, picks up Sarah removes her clothes, steps into a hot, steaming shower and slowly washes the blood from her hands, dirt from her feet. We can don't know if she is doing this at the Lake House or if she and Holder moved the body and she is in a hotel. As she stands beneath the running water, for a moment her face is centered, pale, her wet hair clings to her bag and shoulders as steam fills the air. There is something quite Shakespearean in this moment. I don't think I would call her a Lady Macbeth, I have to think about it. She is emotional, confused, but this is Linden and she knows what to do. She gathers her clothing and throws them into a plastic garbage bag. . Her image in funerary black prominently stands out and attracts the eye to absorb nothing but her. Linden stops in front of the mirror, catches her reflection with a look that suggests, <i>Who are you? </i>She pulls the light string before exiting the stark, white bathroom. Soon she stands above a flaming barrel and dumps the garbage bag. She hears a car roll by and takes out her piece.<br />
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Looking around a high hedge, she sees Holder approach her. Now we know: they're back at her house. She steps toward him and the outdoor light comes on. Two and half minutes into the episode we hear the first bit of dialogue:<br />
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Holder: We just gotta keep our stories straight Linden. No one's gonna find out. No one's gotta know what we did.<br />
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Fantastic opening scene. Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman still got it; maybe Netflix let cast and crew do their job.<br />
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Sitting at her kitchen table, Holder paces the floor, revisiting their invented story to keep everything straight. We learn that they plan to dump her gun in the ocean, she'll fake breaking a car window and file a report stating the gun was stolen from her vehicle. They also plan to tell their peers that once they discovered Adrian was found alive Skinner took off-- he was going on vacation so this buys them a little time. Of course Linden poses an important questions: what happens after the two weeks are over and he doesn't come back? While Linden takes slow drags off her cigarette (she's back to the habit, who can blame her) she notices blood on Holder's jacket. Both of them freak out-- they need to cover their tracks, they cannot leave a single clue. Linden takes the jacket and says she'll wash it out. End scene.<br />
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Holder and Linden show up at Adrian's foster mom's house, Reddick (Gregg Henry-- thank goodness he's still around!) is sitting at the table reading the paper. "Where the hell have you been?" Linden asks to see Adrian (Rowan Longworth), the foster mom leads the way and Holder navigates the q&a with Reddick with sarcastic banter. Reddick finally leaves. And what? Flash over to Linden sitting on the edge of Adrian's bed. He opens his eyes from sleep and she begins to tell him, newsflash- we got the guy who killed your mother, but of course he says, "the man in the car?" and Linden tries to tell him that he is confused, that he was wrong. This poor child will never trust an adult. I must say that I don't understand why she is telling him any of this, regardless of Holder's idea to 'set the kid straight' because the kiddo is never going to believe that the killer is actually caught. Linden says, "You don't have to be afraid anymore, we got him." Adrian gives her a look that has 'bullshit' written all over it. If Linden walks away from him even considering he believes she is wrong. Unfortunately, this tactic reflects the the conversation between Linden and Skinner in the car when he talks about their love-making, how he was willing to change for her. The psychological disturbance of lies and guilt are stunningly portrayed in both scenes. She knows he doesn't believe her.<br />
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As they sit in Holder's car making you can see terror overcome Linden's face because she reveals that they buried Skinner's body in the same area as his victims. "No one is ever going to find those girls" she says. After all these episodes she cannot reveal what she passionately and obsessively wants to do: give these girls peace, give their families peace. But her decision to kill Skinner has changed all that, just as he knew it would. Let's face it: he knew that if Sarah killed him she could never reveal to his family or colleagues his maniacal, murderous engagements with all these young women. She is trapped.<br />
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Holder fiercely tries to set her straight on what to do; they need rest and they need to keep it together. After this verbal exchange, she listens to Holder and goes home to sleep, but she can't. Holder goes to see his girlfriend, Caroline (Jewel Staite) and she wakes to find him there. Linden goes to a pharmacy and gets a Plan B type medication to hopefully protect her from sexual relations with Skinner. A brilliant crane shot looks down at her car in an empty parking lot, parked across the lines. Scenes weave between Holder and Linden. Finally, we're at the station like nothing happened.<br />
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Linden walks to her office, flips the switch and the faces of all those deceased girls stare back at her. Reddick walks in-- they got a new case.<br />
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(But wait: did they ever say what they did with Skinner's car?)<br />
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The new case is brutal. They arrive at a gorgeous home on the water-- more white interiors; from Linden's bathroom, to Caroline's bedroom, and now this. Also the continuous white exterior of the Seattle skies. White as a symbol of innocence is anything but in this episode. Slaughtered: parents and children. We see blood splatterings on white walls, glimpses of white sheet covering body. Most shocking: the cut piano strings. According to the officer relaying information to Holder and Linden, the murderer is a seventeen old son who than shot himself but lived. Sudden, bizarre transition to Joan Allen dancing with a dashing, young gentleman. She receives a message and goes to the hospital in military uniform with a group of young men in uniform behind her; she is the superintendent of St. George's Military School for Boys. Colonel Margaret Rain. She doesn't grant them permission to talk to him so Linden says they'll arrest him. "Nobody talks to him before me" announces Linden. Swagger is back. Back at the station they review the family's history and security tapes from the house.<br />
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The victims are the Stansburys: both parents, Phoebe, Nadine (6 years old, the youngest victim), Kyle, the accused perpetrator. The officer that originally ran the plate on Skinner's car walks into Sarah's office and says the were able to get a partial on the plate numbers. She visibly freaks a bit, basically says the case was solved and takes the picture.<br />
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Another bombshell: Caroline is pregnant. I knew this was coming when she overslept and said she was tired!<br />
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Back at Linden's place, the gun and shells remain on the table. She rolls them in her hand, leaves them behind. Goes upstairs, tears up the bed. She slept with a murderer. We all know that Linden's state of mind was never controlled and she also spent time in a hospital. Is it possible she is headed in the direction again? She smells the pillow, and the conflict over a man she fell for being an evil bastard is a twisted game. Holder wakes her up and the camera shows Linden holding the pillow, laying on the stripped white mattress. Wow, they do a good job of making her look like shit.<br />
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Holder reports on the current case including the piano strings; it turns out they were cut a long time ago. They get a call from the hospital, Kyle is awake. The camera angles on the back of his head where it's shaved and stitched. She doesn't tell him she's a cop, she just says she's with the city. He doesn't seem to know anything--- he doesn't remember being home, or what happened. He says he hasn't been home since Christmas. Finally, when Holder walks in she reveals they're with the Seattle Police. They haven't said anything about his family. Kyle worries about his youngest sister, Nadine, she is like 'a little bird' he says, please tell her I'm okay. And .... enter Patti Smith as one of the hospital doctor. She asks Holder and Linden to save their interrogation until the end of the week.<br />
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Cut to the military school: morning inspection. Colonel Rayne walks the line as the detectives pull up. She is peeved they spoke to Kyle. They want to see Kyle's room and she questions why. In traditional Linden style she lays it out. A brief consultation on St. George and the Dragon, interesting use of mythology. They enter Kyle's room. The young office stays in the doorway. Linden asks him questions--does he know Kyle, why didn't he make his bed? As she flips through a notebook there's a G clef-- perhaps he plays the piano? Holder spots a student with an untucked shirt and follows him out: a smart, reflection back to season 1 when Holder interrogates the girls near the high school bleachers. The student comments that Kyle is a "loner, a loser. Keeps to himself." Holder asks him if Kyle had any enemies and he says, "Look man, no one even knew that kid existed." After the kid gives Holder a hard time and threatens that Holder can't touch him, Holder tosses his cigarette at his face.<br />
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Back at the hospital, an attorney reports that the excess of the family estate until he is thirty-five. He turns 18 in three months so that indicates that he's likely going to be tried as an adult. The Colonel sits in on this report and is pissed. Kyle has an uncle that he doesn't know so he doesn't wish to be with him. Rayne says she'll bring him some more books and assignments as he's been progressing and doing well. We know through Linden's previous questioning that he ended up at St. George's because he wasn't doing well in school. The Colonel goes back to his room, sees Kyle's body turned beneath the sheets, but his johnny is open on the back and you can see red marks; are these new or swollen scars? Someone has beaten this kid. Back at the station they discuss the family and Linden comments that Nadine is ten years younger than Phoebe and Kyle and suggests she was probably a mistake. Of course, Holder thinks of his pregnant girlfriend. Linden goes to visit Kyle. He's getting out of the hospital the next day. He's reading Steinbeck's East of Eden and they talk about the book. Kyle mentions that the book is about trying to find a way home and about being an outsider. Linden presses him to remember what happened. He gets defensive, can't remember. She asks about the piano wires. "I miss my little sister," and Linden says "I know what it's like to miss someone. Wait, someone was watching, a POV shot from behind them. At dusk they stand on the deck looking over the water as a search for the gun continues. "Maybe he didn't do it" she says. She mentions livestock, farmers abandoning their cattle. She worries about her own service weapon, which she also used to kill a dying cow. Holder insists she get rid of her gun and shell casings tonight.<br />
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Holder goes to Caroline. He embraces her, she is awake, not smiling. He says, "Marry me. I want to be there for you. Have a baby. I want to be a good man. I want to be a good man." Holder too, is struggling with his participation in crime. It doesn't look like Caroline will say yes, but she agrees. Linden is still at the murder scene: she turns on the light, stares at the blood on the wall, a blood stream in a hall, another POV shot from the bushes. She walks to the next room, follows the crime scene. In reflected class a large stain of blood. She stand with her back to the piano. She turns and walks outside- another POV shot from the distance. "It's a glass house, you can see everything," she says in a message.<br />
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Oh no. Linden gets home. We see it before she does: a shell case is missing from the table. A knock at her door, she tells Holder to wait, but he doesn't respond. Something is wrong. She slowly goes to the door. Oh wow-- it's Skinner's daughter. She said you left with him I saw you. Linden looks at the ring. The daughter lingers, pounding at the door, calling for her dad to please talk to her, why haven't you called, I know you're in there. And I need a break before episode two. Intense. But I do have a question or two:<br />
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What happened to our rainy Seattle setting? Will Caroline actually marry Holder and will she keep the baby? Where is Kyle going to go after he leaves the hospital?<br />
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Okay, go have a doughnut with kale sprinkles and come back for the next post (it won't be two years from now-I hope!)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-45691599332217966142013-08-04T20:04:00.002-07:002013-08-04T20:04:29.091-07:00From Up Here; The Road to Hamelin-- The Season Finale (& Hopefully NOT the Last) of AMC's The Killing<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Tonight's episode was incredible. I couldn't wait to post, and sacrificed a little editing time because I couldn't wait to post. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>From Up Here</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Opening shot: the trees, Sarah running through the woods; it looks like she's being watched; it's effective camera work. She runs faster and faster into the mist, bends forward, erects her body and stares with sadness at a single tree at the center of a clearing. She is grief stricken, guilt is heavy on her conscious. As the sky darkens she heads back to her house to find her ex-lover and boss, James Skinner, waiting for her. He was concerned that he could not reach her. Then reveals that his marriage is over. Sarah does not look that interested, yet when she walks into the house she leaves the front door open for him to enter. "Time off huh? And people say being relentless is a bad thing." They talk about Skinner's deteriorated marriage, his unwant for retirement. "Sometimes I think, people like us, are supposed to be alone." "That's not true," she says. They kiss. <i>People like us.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder sits in his car outside a church. The bell tolls; he enters to find a small gathering of sitting in pews close to the service. Near the coffin is a large photograph of Bullet, but not the Bullet we know from the street, not the transgender young woman, but of a straight, colorful, smiling girl. Danette sits next to Holder. They talk solemnly about Bullet's friendship. A couple in the front that appears to be Bullet's parents, sob. Lyric is there as well. "Bullet took care of her," says Holder. He soon leaves as the parents sob.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next morning, Sarah's kitchen, Skinner walks in. Sarah looks hopeful, well rested. She is happy to have him there, but he seems uneasy. Something isn't right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder show up at his girlfriend's workplace. She is surprised to see him. "I'm sorry. I messed up," he says. "I should have told you about my past. You're a step up for me. And I"m a step down for you.. like five steps down... I just want you to see the good stuff." "That is what I see," she says. He is surprised that she'll see him later. "We had a fight, it happens." "And for what its worth you're a half-step up for me." Holder is brightened, lovely to see the immediate change in expression.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The prison is next----- is cleaning up Seward's cell, packing up his things: a copy of Lonesome Dove, a blanket. The cell door remains open, empty; waiting for the next prisoner to occupy a place on death row. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like Seward's remainders, the Becker is packing his things, leaving the job. "Don't get to comfortable here..." he says. He wishes 000 good luck.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder arrives on the scene. A body has been found in a burned up car. A bullet from a 45 was found by Linden. "You're my ride, so I guess you're stuck with me." The body is burned, legs slightly curled inward. An arm appears to be over the head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kallie's mom shows up at Lyric's job where she's waitressing at a fast food restaurant or diner. "It's good to have girls around. remember that." Danette tries to make connections with her, offering to do her hair like a plea for love. I would not call this a search for a replacement, but an attempt at amends and forgiveness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twitch is in the new apartment trying to cook. He takes a packet of drugs, probably heroin, from his coat as he drags on a smoke and deliberates over use. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder apologizes to his partner who requested a new partner. "Cops don't rat on cops."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the station Sarah walks into the Captain's office. They chat about work, then he turns the conversation to this morning. He recalls Linden's incessant under her breath singing, the same song. He invites her to come to the lake with him, but she declines. He tries to lure her in with romantic notions, but Holder interrupts-- the coroner has something for them on the body.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the car, Holder teases Sarah about her relationship with "the boss man." She gives his some background and the playful banter between them continues. Everything seems emotionally back on track for both of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Danette stands on a bridge, looking down at the water, then ahead. She watches to giggling girls walk by. She turns back and closes her eyes, counting to five. Her grief is unbearable. Is she considering suicide? Lyric walks through the streets in her uniform. A car pulls up, she debates. Twitch sits on a rooftop, or overhang, the drugs still in his hand as he smokes. Everything is broken in their worlds as Holder and Linden seem happier and moving forward in the worship of a false God called 'normalcy.' But from up here, you can see that all is not what it appears to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shot to the head. The victim is likely a female. He took out all her teeth postmortem. Her ring finger is missing, but the coroner says this wasn't a new injury; it happened two weeks ago which means the body is likely Angie Gower, the girl they interviewed a few episodes back. In the car, they talk it through. "Who would have known Mills was our number one suspect...only a copy could have found out about mills... gotten to the storage unit before us, planted those trophies." Sarah gets out of the car. "What do you want to do, let the state take another guy who didn't do it?" back at the station: Sarah scans the room, weighing the options: is the killer a cop?She even looks at Skinner. Holder gets a file and they leave. Everything's with the DA; holder suggests he could call Carolyn. Most of the file is about Joe Mills. The review the file, the facts. Holder thinks the cop could be chasing the first kill-- placing the girls in the backseat to watch them. They go to the first victim's home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They interview the dad, ask some questions. Linden and Holder they claim they're there to prepare for the trial. He tells them that she was even picked up by an undercover cop. Holder scans family photos on the wall and see a picture of Carl with Bridget (the victim). He was also the one that told him they identified the body. Could Carl be the serial killer or is this a red herring?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leaving the house, Holder says Reddick never mentioned knowing the victim. Sarah looks up, sees a tree house. ".. was never after Trisha? Trisha and Ray used to fight all the time... "Adrian's a runner too." This season has opened up more and more about Linden's past. They go to the woods and the platform for an older tree house still exists. Linden climbs the ladder to the tree house, Ray built it for Adrian. Initials are carved into a tree. She looks across the water where the bodies were found. Sarah mentions the trees would have been bare--Adrian's drawing! Holder goes down to the water and sees something from his ... he was going to the apartment to kill Adrian-- he's in danger because he saw something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adrian is leaving school, soccer ball in his hand and he's being watched. The car follows him as he bounces the ball down the sidewalk. I hope Adrian is a runner this time too. Th car moves slowly, in the background other kids are crossing sidewalks. Adrian is alone. Turns around. The car goes by Adrian knows something is wrong. The car is driving toward him, he stops in his tracks, drops the ball and recognizes the man--- honestly, the silhouette looks more like Skinner. Even the color of the car is slightly unidentifiable and could be tan or gray... commercial break! Intense! What a phenomenal season of storytelling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linden and Holder run to the house. The foster mom comes up the walk. Adrian is not home. Adrian's backpack is there, but he is not. A set-up to look as though he were home. The backdoor to the house was wide open. Next shot, we see Skinner picking up his daughter. She asks where to mom is. Is Adrian gagged in the trunk? His daughter is distraught by her parents break up and asks him if it's because of Sarah. "I can't be something that I'm not, I'm tired of it... but I'll always love you." Double meaning? His phone rings and it's Linden. Adrian's been gone for an hour and half. "Jimmy, we got the wrong guy." They reveal it's a cop. Skinner pulls them aside. Holder and Linden reveal the connections between Angie and Reddick. Holder suggests he talk to Reddick, Skinner says no. "We keep this quiet between us," he says. All the more reason to point the finger. "I promised to keep him safe," Sarah says. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They interview the mom of a friend. Adrian had come to there door. Adrian said to her that Adrian said he was being followed. She gave him a ride home therefore he was taken from his foster family's home. They go to the station to check the traffic. Holder gets stopped by internal affairs-- they're arresting him. Sarah calls Skinner hoping to clear it up. Remember-Reddick said he wasn't pressing charges against Holder: "Cops don't rat on cops." Is this Skinner's work?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah goes to the station looking for Skinner. She tries calling. No contact.Traffic cam-- grey car shows up in the background over and over again. Sarah asks the officer to blow up the image of the car to get a better make of it. IA interviews Holder: they accuse him of making harassing phone calls, that Holder has his eye on Reddick's talk. They ask Holder for his phone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>The Road to Hamelin*</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah knocks on a door-- Skinner's house. The door is unlocked she walks in. She hears something upstairs and sees Skinner packing upstairs. She shows him the traffic cam; she continues He berates her then apologizes. "I believe you, of course I believe you." "You should call IA." His wife and daughter walk in as Sarah and Skinner are coming downstairs. His daughter asks if he's really leaving. She's wearing the ring-- Kallie's ring! She walks out ahead of him, stunned, thinking, notices Skinner's car. Everything is a shock slow motion, he gets in his grey car and Skinner turns to look at her and sees the recognition in her face and knows she's figured it out. She pulls her gun. "IF you want to see him alive you'll come with me." "Hand over your weapon." He gives it to her. She frisks him. "Where is he." "Arrest me now and you'll never see him alive again." She tells him to get in the car. They drive away. Skinner is the Pied Piper.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder is still stuck with IA. He tells them to call Skinner and that's how Holder finds out Skinner filed the complaint. He knows something is wrong. The door is locked. "Admit what you did to Reddick." Holder tries to tell them his partner is in danger. He gives IA a big story that he's planted a bomb in Reddick's car, but it's all BS. It's a way to get Reddick at the station. "Holder's an idiot, he's not Al-Queda!" Holder needs help. Sarah's phone rings. Skinner has complete control and Sarah is letting it happen. His threats about Adrian are effecting her. He tells her he notices Sarah's shaking hands . Holder goes to Skinner's house. And he discovers Linden and Skinner left together. he knows Sarah is in serious danger.. Where's the lake house? Back to the car. "Why couldn't you walk away," Skinner asks her. "You used to trust me implicitly." He continues to manipulate her, talk bout their recent intimacy. "You and I are nothing alike." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twenty-seven minutes left! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's dark. Hours have gone by. Holder continues to try and reach Linden. No answer. We hear more about Bridget, how all this began. "I make her get in my car. She spits at me. So I hit her... a reflex... she's bleeding... I know she's going to tell, bring me down... I take her out to the woods and um, I don't remember much after that... it was quiet... she didn't cry, she didn't scream, she just looked at me." He continues talking about the final look from the victim and Sarah comes to realize the psychosis. Sarah mentions his own daughter-- "I save them from the inevitably of their lives." Sarah calls him a monster. The scene is quiet, disturbing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reddick's at the foster family's home. He's on the phone with Holder. Back to Skinner's car and they talk about Adrian. He says he didn't kill Adrian he didn't think he was able to see from the tree house but because Sarah was helping Adrian to remember so much, Skinner felt he had to go after them. Skinner is an arrogant, psychotic, manipulating ^&*^. He brings up Sarah's own hospitalization and she flips out, starts punching him. They veer off the road, but not before nearly hitting another car. She gets out and throws up. he gets out, walks over to her and tries to give her tissue. She is distraught, crying, kneeling on the ground. He steps closer and I cringe, he rubs her shoulder. She looks up, face soft, eyes nearly thankful and I can only hope she is now playing along and not succumbing to his manipulation. "Where is he." A statement. "Not far, " he whispers. This season has reminded me so much of the Green River Killer from the 1980's. I felt this about seasons 1 and 2, but here, with the discovery of the bodies, the victims being young women-- prostitutes, runaways; it's hard not to think the writers didn't consider those horrific events when developing this season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder reaches a fork in the road and chooses to go right. Skinner and Linden are still driving. I keep thinking Adrian is in the trunk. She brings up Kallie-- he doesn't remember her, or claims not to. Their headlights round the corner. "Are there more girls in the lake?" And other places he remarks. It gets worse and worse. Finally the car stops at the lake house. The long ride is over, then ending is near. Will he kill Sarah? He admits to everything. He killed Bullet too. Of course he did. She asks where Adrian is and he tells her to get out of the car. Holder is getting close. He parks the car at the house number. Turns off the lights and gets out. He begins walking through the darkness, trees brush over his face and I fear he isat the wrong house. He calls Adrian's name, flashes a light in the darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adrian is in the trunk. Is he still alive? Sarah asks for the keys. Reddick is at the cemetery finds Trisha Seward's grave, hoping to find Adrian and he's been there the whole time! He's still a runner. Holy crap-- he's going to kill Sarah when she goes for the trunk. Is Holder back on the trail? Sarah fires her gun, shoots him as he talks about 'how he doesn't kill little children. Holder hears the shot. Or is Sarah going to kill Skinner? Holder talks her off the ledge. She kills him. Holder is witness. There's three minutes left on the clock. Holder is in disbelief. Sarah stands tall, smug, angry. Commercial-- is this how the season ends?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now argument in my household commences over whether AMC will present a season 4 or dump the show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">* I think episode two started here-- tonight is so intense that I lost track of time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-9895073552664581032013-07-28T19:19:00.002-07:002013-07-28T19:19:58.312-07:00Six Minutes: AMC's The Killing<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Note: I know I am very behind in my posts, but here's a recap of tonight's episode. I'll be posting my recap and thoughts of last week's "Reckoning" sometime tomorrow.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tonight's episode, directed by Nicole Kassell, opened with an intense intro of not only what is to come, but also redefines the title of the series. Witness the practice of killing. And here we stay, inside the prison, waiting to see what happens in the last few hours of Seward's life and what actions remain to be taken by Linden to make things right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah faces Seward in jail. It's eleven hours before his execution. Sarah asks him to identify a wedding band. He sarcastically recalls memories associated with the ring and after she hangs up on him he positively identifies the ring as belonging to his wife. Sarah continues to believe that Seward is innocent. She tries getting in touch with Holder who is continuing to mourn the death of Bullet in last week's episode. Sarah eventually speaks with Seward again, telling him she was in touch with the Attorney General's Office. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Seward's son Adrian is waiting to see him. Seward seems to know things about Sarah, which comes to a surprise to her, perhaps startles her into the slightest eruption of fear. He asks if her son plays baseball and you wonder how he knew she has a son to begin with. "Sometimes it's better that way." His response to Sarah and her son not living together. Eventually some prison guards including Becker interrupt their conversation and tell him to put his hands behind his back. Linden tries to stop it telling them she's a cop, but they ignore her and take him away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Becker and Linden stand-off between bars. Finally, Becker lets her in to talk with him again after she throws state or federal regulation in her face. Seward stands, shifting from foot to foot, angry and scared. He tells her that they weighed him again; it takes up to six minutes to die by hanging if the neck doesn't break. She asks him about the ring again, anything else he can tell her. "If you go, they'll just send me back to my cell," he says. Sarah stays on the line. "Your son is here." He sighs. Now they stand-off between the glass, perhaps reflecting the previous image of her and Becker; they all share similar characteristics in the distance they place between themselves and others. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I don't have any qualms</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> about you... I'm here because I made a mistake." Sarah keeps bringing the conversation back to Adrian. Her phone rings, she tells Seward she'll be back and she exits the visiting</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> room to take the call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder is at the prison with a cardboard box. He's been drinking since yesterday. He tells Linden that he's there if she needs him-- smokes, whatever. Adrian walks outside after Holder. He offers Adrian a smoke. I love Holder "serial chiller" that he is, but after last week's episode I was already hoping that he wouldn't fall back into his darkest depths. His attempt at making a connection with Adrian at least ends with the child's curiosity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah presents a picture to Seward, a birthday party picture with his wife wearing the ring. Sarah leaves again, Adrian is alone near the vending machine. "I saw your dad, he was real curious about you." Adrian asks if he can still see him. He continues to tell Sarah that Seward, his father, was the one that "was there that night," that killed his mother. Linden's face drops, looking to the floor. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder stops at the cemetery outside the prison, dirty white crosses with numbers (I think) carved into them. Filled with anger and disgust at himself and the situation he throws cans of beer, kicks the box. One can only hope that he's done punishing himself for Bullet's death. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah goes back, picks up the phone. She's pissed. "You're not telling me everything about that night... why were you there?" She throws the phone at the glass. She storms out-- runs into Holder.<br />"He played me."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her emotional state is heightened, out of control. We've seen this before. Holder tries to talk to her, she accuses him of being drunk and gets in the car, wanting to leave, run away. "We never stay and in the end we lose everyone. I'm not gonna try and kiss you again. Keep dreamin'." He keeps going until she cracks a smile. He opens the car door. The chemistry between these characters is absolutely wonderful. Finally, this is Linden's opportunity to not walk away. She gets the call-- no stay. Seward is going to die.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And we're back. Sarah is on the phone, waiting for Seward to pick up. "You're still here?" he says. "For Adrian, not for you," she replies. His execution is a little over an hour away. She says, "I'm sorry." She continues to badger him about why he was in the apartment that night. "If you didn't kill her... what are you hiding?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He went back to get Adrian. "I was gonna bring him with me... I went back and she was lying on the floor..." Sarah continues to tell him to see Adrian as Seward cries in the reminders of how he wanted something better for his child even though he went through heavy moments of not caring for him, reminders of impending death. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adrian dips into the men's room on his way to see his father. Holder follows him in, helping with his hair, perhaps one of the most poignant moments this season captured in ten seconds or less. Sarah and Seward wait. "Do you think it will hurt?... I know you did everything you could for me. Thank you. What should I say to him?" We hear the cell doors rolling back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adrian, Holder, and the foster mom wait outside the final cell door. Becker looks down at the child and immediately you know something is wrong; Becker denies the entry and he walks into the room where Sarah and Seward wait and revokes the visit. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Adrian can hear his father screaming to let go of him, 'I'll kill all of you." Sarah tells him to keep looking toward the trees outside his cell, referencing Adrian's pictures, Seward's final story. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The moment happens so quickly, and it is so devastating. Holder takes the phone from Sarah as she tries to buy him that time. "It's over." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And we circle back to the opening sequence, but this time Seward is being dressed for execution. You can see him try to hold back, and as they turn the corner, he retreats into himself and collapses to the floor. He gets up, walks with hesitancy, eyes creased with fear and he looks to the window and sees Sarah with Adrian. Adrian waves to his father and Seward continues. His sight is blurred, the camera shifting and out of focus as he walks to steps to the top of the gallows. Sarah enters and stays for the execution. When asked if he wants to make a final statement, he says, "Salisbury steak is not steak; it's ground beef." Brilliant, up there with milkshake. He tells the warden to move on. He breathes deeply. Henderson places the bag over his head, the noose follows as Seward's gasps and tears, breath and the floor let's go. Sarah looks away, then turns back on hearing sound. His neck did not break. The camera stays on Sarah as we hear Seward's gasps in the background. Can Sarah live with his death on her hands? What will happen to Adrian? Did Holder stop himself from digressing into addiction? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't wait to see how the writers transition from this week's ending into the next episode.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-66626202354353134612013-06-16T18:10:00.002-07:002013-06-16T18:10:11.511-07:00And We're Back: Episodes 1 & 2 of AMC's The Killing: The Jungle and That You Fear the Most <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linden and Holder are back! And I'm already behind with blogging the show... yikes! Life happens, and other things take precedent, but I have not given up on AMC's <i>The Killing</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Episode 1, The Jungle</b> is written by show developer Veena Sud and introduces several new characters, and we also get to see what is happening with a few old favorites that will likely have less of a presence this time around. I am so excited <i>The Killing</i> is back for a third season!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder is looking sharper, more mature in a long black coat, shirt and tie. He looks cleaned up, professional; we can see that he is moving up the ladder. A dead girl is found in a garbage bag. The atmosphere is dark, rainy, grotesque. When Holder uncovers the body, he steps away from the corpse as if her death is something never seen before. Later we find out through the autopsy that the deceased has vaginal bruising, she is sixteen or seventeen years old, and she broke a finger attempting to fight back. Holder becomes fascinated by the murder of this young girl and immediately senses a connection to an older case.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We find out that Linden is working for the transit authority,and is no longer a detective. She's also in love, or at least finding sexual satisfaction from Cody, who appears to be a younger man; she's moved on from the broken relationships we saw last season. She lives in a small house that vaguely looks like Jamie's grandfather's house (interior) from last season. Perhaps some of the same props are being reused. Holder show's up at Linden's house, away from the city. She's been running everyday, she is happier with her life. Holder is doing great, solving seven out of seven cases with his new partner. and plans to take the sergeant's exam. "Ain't that sweet, Linden's dating." She receives an envelope from the Department of Corrections, but does not open it right away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chemistry still rides high between Linden and Holder and it's wonderful. They talk about Jack, he has a girlfriend. Holder comes to her with his new case and explains the working girl's death that was revealed earlier in the show. He tells her that the file box on a case he was looking for was checked out by someone else. Sarah states that they're always misplacing files. Holder leaves his case photos behind on her table, knowing she cannot resist the psychological impact of the girl's death, nor completely deny that there isn't a connection between Holder's case, and Linden's from three years ago. "Not every victim is worth it," she says, but Holder doesn't buy it. The sound is a bit stifled in this episode, or perhaps I need hearing aids, but he mumbles something about never thinking he would ever hear that from her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Peter Saarsgard is new this season, and plays a disturbing, ruthless, character named Ray Seward, a man who murdered his wife and left his son with the decomposing corpse for several days. His son is the child we heard about last season with Sarah was hospitalized, hence, Sarah's case from three years ago. Seward is now on death row, thirty days until his execution. Later in the episode we witness something horrible that reveals exactly how dangerous and manipulative he is: a priest sits outside the cell. Seward talks about the trees outside the window and comments about nothing but trees (remember the drawing from seasons one and two?). His name is Ray Seward. "Are you gonna be there when they kill me?... If I was gonna ask for forgiveness... what I did to my wife and my--" He grabs the priest by the head and begins slamming his head against the rails of the cell. Later, we see Ray on the phone with his lawyer. The discuss going to the governor for an appeal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder continues investigating the opening murder and stops street-side to interrogate the two street kids, Callie Leeds (Cate Sproule) and Bullet (Bex-Taylor Klaus). Holder answers his phone, "Hey baby... " maybe he has a new love interest too. We find out later that her name is Caroline. The young butch street kid</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We also see that Regi with her partner Ellen for the first time. Jack looks a little older, and definitely taller than his mom. Following a celebratory drink, Jack sits with his mom, who smokes after telling Holder she's quit. Jack is living with his dad. Their conversation is poignant. Jack asks her if she ever thinks about moving to Chicago, "Why are you still here then?" She checks her watch. "We should go, we don't want to miss your plane." Sarah is still controlled by her past experiences, which prohibit her from moving forward and developing closer relationships with the people in her life. Everyone remains at a distance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder and his partner have lunch in the office; he inquires about the Jane Doe and his partner... the ID comes in over the phone. Holder meets with the parents. He finds out their daughter is fourteen. "Your daughter, her body was found this morning. I need you to come down to the coroners office and identify the body."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Callie tries going home. Her mom has changed the locks. Her mom doesn't let her stay there, and doesn't look much older than Callie; they could be sisters. She puts on the TV, cartoons play in the background. "You can't stay here. Maybe this weekend, but not tonight." They argue over the mom's boyfriend. Callie is a red-head like Linden, which reminds me of Linden's own childhood trauma with her abusive mother who came to abandon her. Callie's situation is very similar. We see a child who is unwanted, and mom sees her more as competition than as a daughter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Later, we see Sarah running and a thunder storm breaks. She finds shelter under what looks like an old barn. Inside is a dead animal, several carcasses. She looks out over and there is nothing by cow skulls. One cow is still breathing, lying near death, but we see the head move slightly, the mouth release a bleating sound. She cannot escape the depravity she has lived with her entire life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We meet Twitch (Max Fowler). He is the boyfriend of another street girl named Lyric (Julia Sarah Stone). Bullet is jealous. S/he tosses the ring to Callie. Callie's number for a bed doesn't come up. She lies and says she can stay at her mom's. The kids without a bed leave, go back on the street.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah gets home from running to find Cody looking at the pictures Holder left behind. Sarah runs upstairs and comes back with a hand gun. Flash over to Holder-- he looks for the rings in the picture the parents brought with them.She goes back to the barn, puts the dying cow out of its misery. Sarah begins going through the evidence boxes from the case. She looks at photos of a murdered woman and we see the killing is identical. The first hour closes with Callie getting into a car driving away for the night.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Episode 2: That You Fear the Most, written by Dan Nowak</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linden goes to the murder scene. In the dark of night, the rain still pours. Her flashlight moves over the blood that remains on the floor. Net we see her walk into Holder's office. She leaves the photos on his desk, but he flips on the lights. "You miss it?" he asks. He knows she went to the murder sight. As she walks down the hall, you can see the difficulty in leaving, her expression confused, pained.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bullet tries calling Callie-- she can't be reached. S/he tries going to her mother's house. The mother slams the door in her face. Twitch and lyric hang in a room together, she begins to cry while he talks about his fantasy of Hollywood parties and the desire to look sharp and good like the magazine add. Lyric looks so young. "I don't want you working today," he says to her. Maybe he's her pimp. He's a little creepy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The jungle is a section of the city. The tombs. Bullet goes to the police looking for Callie. and runs into Holder. Bullet shows her picture and he notices the ring, but it doesn't register with his murder victim. Seward tries to manipulate a prison guard into letting him call his lawyer. And it works. He cuffs him in the the cell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linden stops by to see someone-- maybe her old partner that helped put Seward away. Linden says she always had questions. "What if there's a connection?" "What if Ray Seward didn't kill his wife?" Turns out Seward called him earlier inviting him to his execution. "I just want to be sure we're executing a guilty one." She leaves, gets in her car. His wife comes out and tells her to "Stay away from us. I've forgiven him, but I never want to see you again." Either Sarah and her ex-partner had an affair, or perhaps she entrenched him so deep in the case that his absence was unforgivable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah is heading back over to the island; Cody jumps in her car. "I break things" she says, "I break them and they never get fixed. But this thing, this one thing..." Cody offers to help her, but she won't allow it. We see there is no relationship going anywhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder and his partner go to the boarding house in the jungle. Ashley, the murdered girl. The Beacon is the name of the place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twitch is with his probation officer for his last piss test. Twitch isn't interested in getting his GED; he's got Hollywood dreams. Flash to Lyric, who is telling a girlfriend about Twitch inviting her to California. This vile guy makes a crack about a girl getting her throat slashed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The other security officer, Frances Becker, (Hugh Dillon) lays into the other who let Seward use the phone. He goes to talk with Seward-- "... it's a family business-- prison guards and race car drivers." Frances describes death by hanging.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holder and his partner go to the hotel on 'nine' as suggested by the Pastor back at the Beacon. His partner gets pissed when Holder decides to look around, maybe talk. He lays on the horn, "Get in or I'm leavin' ya." Holder knows something is up with Callie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Regi walks in on Sarah looking at case files. Adrian drew that, over and over after I found him in the apartment. He had been trapped in the apartment for six days with his mother's decomposing body." Sarah discusses seeing him, the boy who drew the tree pictures over and over. She goes to see Seward. He picks up the phone, stares at her through the glass. "I remember you from the trial , you're his partner." Seward is... "What did you do with your wife's ring?" "I pawned it." Not once does he look away from her. She asks him about the trees. He immediately breaks his gaze. he calls for a guard to take him back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ray spends a lot of time facing away from the cell doors, looking outside toward the trees. A new prisoner comes in that knows Ray.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twitch attempts to die his hair; he spent Lyric's money on hair die to get head shots with the hopes of modeling. His attempts are delusional. Lyric says she'll go out to turn tricks to get more money. Twitch makes some comment about Callie going with some guy. Bullet breaks in somewhere, it's dark and filthy, the guy she had an altercation with on the street. He comes up behind her, holds her down the camera pans away and we hear him shush her, slight cry escaping her lips. The knife is wide and curved. bullet had tried to force her way through a locked door when he came up behind her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sarah goes to check on Adrian. the foster mom takes her into his room. He's playing in the backyard. The foster family haven't ... a copy of the woods drawing is hanging on the wall. Sarah finds the scene, matches the drawing to a real place. I'm not sure where this location is. She walks through the woods, the area is dense with trees, nothing but her own footsteps, peep frogs. A mist grows thicker and the scene becomes more and more frightening. Across the water-- she has discovered several decomposed bodies, in red trash bags. The camera frames her back centered, moves away and we see this is a killer's dumping ground. How does Adrian know this place?</span><br />
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Drink of choice: Lots of coffee.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-80619440219888369222013-04-26T14:57:00.002-07:002013-04-26T14:57:40.857-07:00Interview with Poet Ivy Page<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More news: my interview with poet <a href="http://www.poeticentanglement.com/" target="_blank">Ivy Page</a> is up at <a href="http://latenightlibrary.org/ive-gone-from-here-to-the-floorboards-a-conversation-with-ivy-page/" target="_blank">Late Night Library</a> ! Please consider checking it out. Ivy's debut collection, Any Other Branch was published by <a href="http://www.salmonpoetry.com/bookshop-search.php" target="_blank">Salmon Poetry</a> and debuted at AWP Boston.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-20941989505221408662013-04-26T04:11:00.001-07:002013-04-26T14:49:08.521-07:00New Essay at RadiusLit.org<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's my latest essay for Radiuslit.org. I loved writing about this poem. Check it out at:</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.radiuslit.org/2013/04/25/going-up-going-down-getting-stuck-between-floors-in-melissa-culbertson%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98elevator-love-song%E2%80%99/">http://www.radiuslit.org/2013/04/25/going-up-going-down-getting-stuck-between-floors-in-melissa-culbertson%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98elevator-love-song%E2%80%99/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-27420003779272414162013-03-24T15:16:00.000-07:002013-03-24T15:16:06.681-07:00For the Love of Books! Five Titles I Can't Stop Thinking About<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Read what you will, but read passionately! When I select my reading materials it is either by chance or recommendation. Sometimes I browse bookstore and library shelves, open to page one and attempt the traditional 'does-it-pull-me-in' strategy. Here's five books I love that kept me thinking .</span><br />
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<a href="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/cvr9781451624403_9781451624403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Angela Sloan" border="0" src="http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/cvr9781451624403_9781451624403.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My absolute favorite book last year was <b>Angela Sloan</b> by James Whorton, Jr. (Free Press, New York, 2011. Paperback. $14.00). Incredibly fun yet at times a poignant coming-of-age novel about a teenager who suddenly finds herself on her own when her retired CIA officer dad disappears at the onset of the Watergate scandal. A mad-cap adventure filled with quirky, memorable characters. All bookstores should carry James Whorton, Jr. If this text is ever adapted for film I hope they do it right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>A favorite quote:</b> ""I worry about you stealing things, Betty," I said. "That's not how we do it here! Get caught, and it causes me all kinds of problems. Now you're stealing potato sticks. The whole can costs twenty-seven cents! You're an illegal alien. Just pay for the can!""</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What to eat: </b>biscuits with sausage gravy.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/resources/strand/images/products/partitioned/a/e/9/1594485658.1.detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Uncoupling: A Novel" border="0" src="http://www.strandbooks.com/resources/strand/images/products/partitioned/a/e/9/1594485658.1.detail.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another fiction title that kept me engaged and curious was Meg Wolitzer's <b>The Uncoupling </b>(</span>Riverhead Books, New York, 2011. Paperback. $15.00)<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. A new drama teacher is hired at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and soon after rehearsals of the school play begin, relationships between couples throughout the community begin to change as women young and old begin to lose their sexual desire and want for intimacy. A great novel that looks at the value and meaning of love and sex.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>A favorite quote: </b>"They lived in a time in which it was tremendously difficult, as parents, to let children endure any pain. If you sensed their despair, you took it on as your own."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>What to eat: </b>carrots and hummus.</span><br />
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<a href="http://writebloody.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cover_news_clips.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="cover_news_clips" border="0" src="http://writebloody.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cover_news_clips.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">News Clips & Ego Trips: The Best of Next...Magazine, 1994-1998, </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">edited by G. Murray Thomas (Write Bloody Publishing, Long Beach, CA, 2011. $17.00) is a wonderfully energetic look at the Southern California poetry scene in the 1990's provided by <i>Next...Magazine.</i> This historic catalog provides numerous articles, commentary, and interviews with Patricia Smith, Jeffrey McDaniel, Regie Cabico and many others. [Full disclosure: the editor of Radiuslit.org, of which I do occasional writings, is featured many times over in this incredible text. But that's not why I included it in my best books; it's a best book. Period.]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>A favorite quote: </b>"We are all more the same than we are different. Yet, simultaneously, there is a deep and important difference between people -- that of individual identity. Each person is unique. Each person is an individual spirit, and is therefore important."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What to eat: </b>Alpha-bits cereal and beer.</span><br />
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<a href="http://john-irving.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/in-one-person-by-john-irving9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="in one person by john-irving" border="0" src="http://john-irving.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/in-one-person-by-john-irving9.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Every time I run into a reader I ask them if they read John Irving's latest book,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In One Person </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Simon & Schuster, New York, 2012). What I loved about this text besides Billy Abbott, Miss Frost, and Billy's best friend, Elaine (let's face it-- there are many memorable characters) is the way Irving navigates the reader through questions of sexual identity in the 1950's to the startling, heartbreaking tragedies of all those that passed during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's and early 90's; the story of Tom Atkins is unforgettable. Beautiful, sad, funny, truthful, satiric, and at times, quirky.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In One Person </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stayed with me many months later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>A favorite quote: </b>"I'd managed to meet Miss Frost only because</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Richard recognized the absurdity of a small-town thirteen-year-old boy not having a library card."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What to eat: </b> More like what to drink. Whatever you do, leave the beer cans under the old chair.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEidaPQ7g_OrsdxdEMGIbVUKBbFiTgvwwRSBjeyE68EQXGyUGaNP6zEdqUz2GLJ_C4ucJlCgN8uwAPmjSiwEnxaTop4seRKvDs92-i9G7QcyGwYv9vnNf0psK3kDWPEyP7XTisrD-3d5QqsHactcnfFPFS314WEqckJZ76ynGtKVRu2azrIw8ogD3Ueb-VpN-TEXo-Ltvr1I=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.wilsonkevin.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/The-Family-Fang-Cover-198x300.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love art. And I love the characters in <a href="http://www.wilsonkevin.com/">Kevin Wilson's</a> <b>The Family Fang</b>. And there really is nothing I can say without allowing the book to speak for itself. It's incredibly fun, sad, and borders absurdity. The text alternates between performance art (a christmas carol, 1977 is one of my favorites) and the current realities of the Fangs' lives, particularly Annie and Buster (Child A and Child B, respectively) who eventually go in search of their missing parents. If you like Wes Anderson films, you'll love Wilson's text.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>A favorite quote:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> A & B,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We have art to make in North Carolina. We'll be back in a few days. Don't go into our room.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Love,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Caleb & Camille</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What to eat: </b>"Free goddamn chicken sandwiches."</span><br />
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<i>Francesca Woodman, <a href="http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/4432">Guggenheim Exhibit, Summer 2012</a></i></h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Note:</i> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">The following post is one that I began over the summer, put aside for a while by other responsibilities. Hence, you'll notice the use of present tense.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't remember what drew me to her work, but one night I was working in my college library re-shelving art books. I stood beneath the fluorescent lighting in the stacks pausing now and then to flip through monographs and catalogs. And that's when I found <i>Francesca Woodman</i> by David Levi-Strauss et al; it was an extraordinary find. More than once did I check this book out of the library, studying her photographs, reading the essays. I cannot deny that her death was a curiosity to me- a talented woman so young creating work as early as age eleven that even then included advanced techniques in photography . However, I never felt that her photography made any connection to her death. As a college student at <a href="http://www.risd.edu/">Rhode Island School of Design</a>, Woodman created the bulk of her work, mostly self-portraits. So many years later after my 'discovery' of this book, I had to see the Francesca Woodman retrospective at the Guggenheim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I made myself wait. As excited as I was to be there, I made no rush to the third floor gallery, but traversed the funnel with ease, taking in <a href="http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/4462">the abstraction show</a>; chatting quietly with my husband about a few of the works. I was disappointed Joan Mitchell was not represented. Unless I missed her, which I don't think so. I allowed anticipation within myself to build in order to fully take in the Woodman exhibit with as much focus as possible. When we entered the short hall into the gallery I forced myself to read the wall text before beginning a provocative journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The exhibit is curated chronologically, beginning with photographs taken while at RISD, including one year abroad in Italy, followed by her residency at the<a href="http://www.macdowellcolony.org/index.html"> MacDowell Colony </a>in New Hampshire. The exhibit concludes with the New York photos. At first I was surprised by the size of her early pictures; I had only seen one of her photos on display at RISD 'cornered' with a Nan Goldin photograph during the Aaron Siskind show six or seven years ago. The photos are small, requiring attention. Here and now, I stop at each piece looking as carefully as possible, reading the pictures, sometimes eavesdropping on other viewers: "Hmmm." "Interesting." "Narcissistic." "Hmmm." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The exhibition catalog is a gorgeous tome featuring essays by the associate curator of photography at SFMOMA and catalogeditor, Corey Keller, curator of photography at the Guggenheim Jennifer Blessing, and associate professor of art history at the University of California Berkley Julia Bryan-Wilson. In Corey Keller's <i>"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman"</i> he explores as much as one can, her brief life as an artist from her upbringing through the New York years; the but what I love about Keller's piece are the descriptive, near poetic, passages in regards to Woodman's photographs: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Though she sometimes demurred that her sole motivation for appearing in her photographs was that of convenience, it appears to have been rather more a productive compulsion, albeit one she chose not to examine to closely. Despite her perpetual presence in the photographs, she is always on the verge of disappearance. her face is most often obscured from the camera; on the rare occasions when she fixes us squarely in her gaze, the effect is riveting but disquietingly unrevealing (178).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bryan-Wilson's text, <i>"Blurs: Toward a Provisional Historiography of Francesca Woodman</i> looks at "some of the trends and patterns in the writing about Woodman... the text is not organized around close readings of her photographs, but rather attends to the thematics of interpretation that have surrounded her work since the critical literature began in 1986" (186). The essay does not lend itself to biographical discussion, but considers the historical dialogue as told by other critics, feminist or otherwise, on Woodman as a female artist. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Finally Jennifer Blessing's text focuses on six untitled videos created by Woodman during her time at RISD, and "explore[s] the relationship between photography and video... the still and moving image" (197). All three of these essays will remain relevant and important in the study of Woodman and her work. Besides, they are simply a pleasure to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What always fascinated me about Francesca Woodman's art was the absence of face, or the blur or conceal of face in the majority of self-portraits, which suggests that her intentions were not narcissistic, but simply an exploration of the self in movement, meaning, and the pre-emptive opportunity to non-acquiesce to any one's gaze: </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can look at my body, but I won't tell anyone if I'm pretty or not. I won't let you see me completely, try to read my eyes like you think you might know what I'm thinking. </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For me, her photographs are playful at times, disturbing at others, and even though she was aware of feminist discourse as discussed in Blessing's essay, I do not necessarily see her work as feminist. I see a young woman exploring her relationship within the frame of a natural and unnatural world. As much as I love her early work as a RISD student, through my experience at viewing this exhibit, reading the catalog and reflecting more on her pictures, I like the MacDowell Colony series the best; clothed and unclothed, her birch bark arms, her stance in patterned dresses that lean to mimic the trees, each picture untitled as they should be. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-28718021732011293732012-12-28T13:54:00.001-08:002012-12-28T13:54:24.784-08:00<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My latest essay for RadiusLit.org reflects my emotions on the Newtown tragedy. This was a horrible, horrible incident, and I had mixed feelings on responding to it, but at the same time felt there was no other way. My heart goes out to the community. How we live in a world where this is possible is incomprehensible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.radiuslit.org/2012/12/15/crying-my-little-one-footsore-and-weary/</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-46544295435542750912012-11-25T17:27:00.001-08:002012-11-25T17:27:43.722-08:00"What I Know": The Season Finale, and Final Episode of AMC's The Killing<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Open: The Larsen household. Flashback to the Larsen weekend away. Mitch is packing, the boys are begging Rosie to come camping with them, but she says next time. Mitch instructs Rosie to go straight to Sterling's house after the dance. Rosie watches her mother, glances about, smiling- she knows something we don't. She heads downstairs with backpack, staring at Stan, and walks out of the house. The last time she is seen at home. Here, she closes the door as she exits, this episode soon closes the door on her murder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The election continues to unfold and the results are about to come in. Holder and Linden arrive at the Richmond party looking for Jamie. We left off last week with Jamie and Richmond at Jamie's grandfather's house. Jamie quickly wheels Darren out of the house saying he has a car to take him to the party.. The detectives and Gwen take off to hunt them down. Jamie takes Darren to the campaign office. "I want to show you something." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Why did you lie?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Jamie claims his grandfather is a drunk and a liar, there's no need to believe anything he says. Darren asks Jamie</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jamie admits he planted the Indian bones at the waterfront so Darren would approve a casino on the waterfront. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What happened to the girl?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It was an accident!!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rosie, saying her goodbyes to the city, overhears the argument regarding the waterfront casino between Jamie, Chief Jackson and Ames. He turns out the light, and as he's walking away hears a cell phone ring- Rosie's phone. And finds her on the tenth floor, same room as the discussion. Rosie, startled and scared , cannot speak. Rosie drops her camera and Jamie is immediately suspicious. He hits Rosie, she falls to the ground. He believes she's dead. "She was going to ruin everything. It was an accident." As we all know she was alive when the car went into the water. Jamie takes out a gun, which belongs to Darren. Jamie continues to tell his side of the story. He thought she was dead, but wasn't. He couldn't let her live after coming so far in the campaign. He chased her through the woods until he reached her and slammed the flashlight on her head multiple times. "I was only thinking of you" he tells Darren. "Everything I've always done has been for you." Anger erupts when Darren tries to leave. Sarah, Holder and Gwen are running up the stairs and tell Jamie to drop the gun. In an amazing shot of who fired the gun, we see within seconds that Holder shoots Jamie after he raised his gun to fire at them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And there's forty-five minutes of programming left.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next day: Jamie's gun was empty. But it doesn't matter, he was a murder suspect who raised his gun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back at the station they've got Michael Ames and Chief Jackson in custody. Examining Jamie's phone records they discover a call to Michael Ames at 3:37 AM and they recall the cab....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Richmond is in the campaign office. Gwen joins his side. He's waiting for the cleaners to take care of the glass and the carpets need replacing. Darren works on a speech for the press regarding Jamie's death. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The camera pans as Richmond enters City Hall. The Mayor walks in recounting his past and mentions that he's from Pigeon Point, Jamie's home town. 'You have the makings of great leader Darren," and the Mayor exits the room. Darren visits his dead wife, Lily, and recognizes that it's 'time to move on.' Linden and Holder head down to the lake where the campaign car was pulled out of the water. Here's where it all began, but has yet to end. Jamie's story ends with a chase in the woods. His story doesn't end with Rosie in the trunk, drowning in the lake. Someone helped him. The detectives get back in the car and head to the Larsen's home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When they arrive Terry is there, but Stan and Mitch are out. Linden glances around the garage and spots something. A busted tail light on Terry's car. Linden goes upstairs and finds Terry sitting on Rosie's bed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You were there at the lake, weren't you? You picked him up from the ferry that night. Both of you were both going to the airport for that flight to Vegas. And that's when he got the call about a girl in the woods."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Rosie was nine when I read her the story of the Monarch butterfly. She love it. It was like, like she believed the world could be hers. Everything in it."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You ... . He was going to leave his wife for you wasn't he?... You were going to have everything."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan and Mitch enter the bedroom. They ask them to go downstairs. Terry begins to apologize and Linden tells her not to do this here. She's a wonderful actress and as this scene continues her performance is breathtakingly sad, harkening back the reception following Rosie's funeral when Ames and Terry see each other; Terry leaves and we next see her in Rosie's bedroom crying, while a record plays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Flashback: Terry waiting in the car while Jamie and Michael argue over Rosie, and Terry overhears Michael say he's not leaving his wife. Terry gets out of the car -we see expensive shoes reminding us of her profession, reminding of the shoes from season one- and Terry gets into the campaign car, puts it in neutral and the car rolls into the lake. She doesn't know it's Rosie. A heartless gesture for unrequited love as Rosie's screams sink into the water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And now, here we see her again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I didn't know. I didn't know it was Rosie."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But when did she know? When did she realize the result of actions was the killing of her own niece? And does this even matter knowing that Terry has the ability to murder?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Linden and Holder separate Stan from Terry as he lunges after her; Holder reminds him the boys are downstairs. Linden holds onto to Terry, and the look on Sarah's face is one of pity as we see her hand reach and caress Terry ever so slightly on her back. Terry runs to Mitch, holds her, screaming and crying that she didn't know. Surprisingly, Mitch lifts her arms in a loose hold around her sister, possibly accepting the anguish rippling through Terry's body. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Following the commercial break we're back at the station. Holder enters their office, Linden sitting in the dark. She asks for a cigarette, but he's all out. Terry declined a lawyer and is being transported to county in a couple of hours. An officer drops off the Rosie Larsen film. Sarah exits to watch the footage: "What I know" a film by Rosie Larsen. The world is vast... I know I want to see it all. ...Just like you wanted to Mom... I don't know where I'm going, but I'll let you know when I get there. I know Tommy and Denny Mom and Dad I love you! The film includes family shots, seagulls flying freely above the waterfront symbolic of her impending freedom, yet flying toward heavenly skies forshadowing the outcome of her destination.</span><br />
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...</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Linden and Holder get the call. A body was found and their first up. Linden gets out of the car, perhaps contemplating whether to stay on the job. or say good bye. She's leaving. "Keep in touch. You're my ride, you know." Sarah watches Holder pull away as she looks over at the Larsen's old place. She walks the neighborhood sidewalks, walks away from the job, we think free from the psychology of her own past, her experience as a detective, and since the show has not been renewed, walks off the set.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chief Jackson enters for a meeting along with Michael Ames. Gwen looks on as Darren closes the door on her. She is shocked at what is happening. He's just as bad as everyone else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stan wakes up that morning to find Mitch packing up Rosie's room. He joins her on the floor, and helps. Later, Stan drives the family to their new home. It's wonderful to see that Mitch has made concessions if not come to understand the need for the whole family to move on from Rosie's demise. There are many touching moments in the scenes with the Larsen family: Stan lingering over Belko's locker if only for a moment; Terry arriving and Mitch feeling the guilt of her last moments with Rosie. The finale was directed by Patty Jenkins, who also directed the pilot. An incredibly powerful season finale with outstanding performances.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I began this entry the night of the finale, but life brought larger things into play, taking precedence over completing this entry. As time continued and the summer became increasingly busy, I let things go for a bit. You might wonder, why bother posting this now? Well, endings are required for new beginnings; in order for me to continue with other writings on my blog, I had to conclude this one, even though it feels incomplete. With that said, we'll see if a Season Three comes to fruition since <a href="http://collider.com/the-killing-season-3-netflix/209713/">Netflix and AMC are in talks.</a> </span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-16322060241644816372012-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:002012-06-17T19:55:16.020-07:00Donnie or Marie. I Love. It. AMC's The Killing<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So who's it gonna be? Donnie or Marie? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last week's episode leads us to believe that either Gwen or Jamie is responsible for the Larsen murder. They know the Mayor doctored the photo of Richmond passing through the toll may episodes ago, but Sarah offers to 'drop it' and pursue the Richmond campaign in the Larsen case if the Mayor agrees to call off the 'dogs' waiting to arrest her and Holder. They hole up in Holder's car and review the evidence from the night Rosie was killed. They discover that Gwen canceled her dinner plans that night and her where abouts were unknown. Jamie, on the other hand, "went to the City Hall gym at 4:37 AM. Security guard didn't let him in; didn't have his key card" (Holder). Sarah goes to City Hall to inquire about key card replacements, but a Mr. Kimberg (sp?) says that the list of key card holders was deleted from his hard drive on Monday, October 8th, the Monday following the Larsen murder. However, a new card was issued to Gwen. Now the assumption is the card found on the 10th floor belonged to Gwen, but Holder and Linden head back to the casino to retrieve the security disks that provides video of passengers on the elevator headed to that floor (which later reveal Jamie riding up in the elevator). After a brief, unpleasant verbal exchange with Chief Jackson, a photograph on the wall catches Sarah's eye. The picture includes Gwen standing with Chief Jackson and her father, a the ribbon cutting ceremony for the casino. The detectives now have a solid connection between Gwen and the casino, but Linden asks the remaining questions, "What is her connection to Ames?" The answer may lead them to the next link: the Waterfront Project. Now, cut to the voting booths. Gwen takes Richmond outside to wait for the car and give a shielded interpretation of her own goodwill and work for the campaign: "I tried so hard for you. We came so far, Darren." When the limosine arrives Gwen makes a quick exit and says, "I'll see you at the next stop." Her transition from grasping Darren's hand and releasing it is emotionally suspect. With these latest allegations and investigations by Linden and Holder it is too easy to read into both Gwen and Jamie a lingering guilt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After checking with Gwen's canceled dinner with Council woman Yitanis, she tells the detectives that Gwen uses sex to maintain control over the Richmond campaign. We also learn that Michael Ames' wife is actually the owner and controller over the Ames company. We than encounter a grand twist. As the title of this episode suggests Jamie is not left out from speculation: Jamie helped push through Ames' contract for the Waterfront Project. Holder and Linden go back to the campaign office to speak with Jamie and learn that Richmond was unaware of Jamie's intent to sway one of the Mayor's backers by helping Ames out with expediting the contract.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This idea also surfaces: </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What if Gwen and Jamie did it together?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Linden and Holder head to the yacht club valet and find the campaign car was driven by Gwen Eaton to the club. This is the car Rosie Larsen's body was found in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meanwhile, Mitch is home on Halloween night and in many ways her arrival is more of a disruption and is mostly welcomed by her youngest son, Denny. Terry is less then thrilled, and Tommy, her oldest son remains angry at her abandonment and subsequent return. Mitch seems to expect everyone in the household to continue living as if she never left. When Mitch brings Denny home from school he asks his Aunt Terry to make him a grilled cheese sandwich. Mitch offers to do it, but Denny like the way Aunt Terry makes them. Terry reassures her that they'll be happy to have her back cooking after all the grilled cheese sandwiches they've been eating lately. This slight jab of truth and anger brings out this exchange between characters:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You know, I found a new place to live not to far from here." (Terry)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"This yours?" Mitch holds up a bra.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Oh, yeah, I just put some of my stuff in twith the laundry. So I guess you guy's will be busy moving soon so I better get my ass in gear."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Moving?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I thought that since you were back-"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What house? What are you talking about."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'I'm sorry, I thought that you knew. I found out by accident. You should just talk to Stan about it."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Yeah, yeah I will.'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Don't be mad at him. We all did the best we could while you were gone. It was hard. Stan, the boys, they needed-'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'What, Terry? They needed what? You have no right to judge me... you don't know what it's like, you don't have a family you don't have children. It's like, what do you know about any of this?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'What I know is, I've been working my ass off to keep this family together while you were trying to 'find' yourself on some vision quest. You still had so much, Mitch, And you walked out. You walked out."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Later, Mitch confronts Stan about the house, realizing she should have trusted him that their money didn't go toward illegal activity, but into a home with a backyard. Stan sees this new home as a fresh start for the family, but Mitch sees it another way:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">".... I came back to be here. With you and the boys... I don't want to leave this, I don't want to leave her behind."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan comes clean with his feelings:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You know there's no moving on. As long as we're here, in this house... Yeah, I think we should move on. You don't have a right to look at me like that. What I've been through these last few weeks... you're the one who left. The boys, the boys needed you. I needed you and you walked out. I was the one who stayed."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mitch is entitled to believe that the role of mother gave her the right to leave (just as Sarah's role as mother allowed her to say goodbye to Jack) that she loved her daughter more than Stan simply because she's blood and technically Stan was her step-father. His anger toward Mitch is more than warranted as her decision to leave the family was of her own accord.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So who killed Rosie Larsen? Tonight is the big reveal, the season finale of AMC's <i>The Killing</i>, and unfortunately, the last episode. This program has been incredibly sustainable through great writing, storytelling, and acting; it's a terrible shame that a smart, literary drama was not renewed another season. My post on the finale will publish tomorrow night (6/18 after 9PM). I hope to continue posting occasional writings on the show, specifically criticisms in relation to family, politics and feminism. I've always viewed <i>The Killing </i>as a good, compelling read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What's for dinner:</i> grilled cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-86358773524521912652012-06-10T18:03:00.001-07:002012-06-10T18:31:40.837-07:00Manipulation & Bullies On AMC's The Killing: 72 Hours & The Bulldog<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like a dream: Linden slowly awakens, feels a bump on her head. Notices bars crossing the windows. She rises from a hospital cot. her movement at first appears unnatural, almost alien. Her pace quickens down the hall to a locked doorway and on the other side we read "Psychiatry Acute Ward."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Linden was knocked out after breaking into the 10th floor of the casino. Chief Jackson claims Sarah tried to kill herself and now Linden is on suicide watch. We could see the breakdown coming, but who knew Sarah would actually be hospitalized under false pretenses? Through this episode Holder makes every attempt to have her released: he makes demands on Lieutenant Carlson; visits Regi, but she refuses to help insisting this is what Sarah needs. As the episode unravels and Holder begins putting two and two together regarding the Waterfront Project, he manages to convince the Lieutenant to have Linden released, which can only be done by her doctor. And here, most clever I think on the part of the writers, we see Rick, Sarah's fiance come to the hospital and sign the papers ("She know I'm here... I"ll help get her out, but I can't be involved anymore. She's your responsibility now.) Dr. Rick Felder. Throughout the hospital scenes Sarah's ability to use manipulation as a strategy for survival becomes more evident and by the time Felder arrives we as viewers can see how easy it was for him to love her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At first Sarah is belligerent, wanting only to accomplish one goal: leave the hospital and continue working the Larsen case. Dr. Carey is "...not here to keep you against your will..." and she works very hard to retrieve information from Sarah, tap into her deeper emotional being that causes the unhealthy obsession she's developed with the Larsen case, and one from her past. The mysterious drawing we've seen since the beginning: the treeline. Questioning continue on both sides as Dr. Carey slowly draws out a response here or there, connecting Sarah's cases to her own childhood:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Why do these two cases mean so much to you?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Impatient pause of silence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I've been cooperative, I've answered your questions and now I'd like to know when I'm getting out of here."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The doctor suggests taking a break, but Sarah is angry: "No- <i>you</i> said all I had to do was talk and then you'd let me go."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Well, I think you need to stay here for a little bit longer."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"How much longer?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Possibly through the end of the week. You need to rest, eat, get into a normal routine."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You can't keep me here. I did what you asked. I answered your questions, and now I need to leave."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It's not a punishment to be here-"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You can't keep me here! I need to get out of here right now. You lied to me...don't you touch me... what are you doing.. you promised me... I shouldn't be here."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Between intermittent dialogue Sarah is carried out of the office by hospital staff. Here, we see the breakdown occur: she is trapped, cannot work on the case, but it is possible that her own childhood memories are coming into play here; the abandonment she felt by her mother and discovered by child protective services alone in that apartment. It's almost as though she is that child again, but also speaking for the other children she has met along the way either living or deceased; their cry too: "You lied to me... don't you touch me... what are you doing... you promised me... I shouldn't be here."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After dinner, Sarah is more willing to speak to Dr. Carey, but whether she does this to appease the doctor or because she wants to talk, is unreadable. She talks about the Larsen case, which Dr. Carey connects to Adrian, the little boy who continually drew the treeline picture when Sarah found him. And then Dr. Carey brings up Sarah's mother.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Sarah, maybe, what they went through is something you relate to. Have you ever thought about that?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What? I told you why it matters." (The change in Sarah's tone here signifies manipulation; she appeared passive, spoke quietly with a shaking voice, but suddenly turns solid and cold without warning.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Let's talk about your mother. Why she abandoned you."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You sit there in that chair across from me thinking you'll get to the heart of it. That you can help me, that you can save me. You must feel good thinking that. Justifying your little life like that."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As they continue to discuss Sarah's past, a hospital worker comes to the door. Once the opportunity to leave arrives Sarah shuts down, weighing her options quickly and again, she rises, exits the room, walking quietly; she has escaped her memories and no longer needs to reveal anything. When she sees Rick it is possibly one of the saddest moments of the series. As Sarah comes down the stairs, the Linden we know well in her usual jeans, sweater and winter coat, she sees Rick signing the papers at the desk window. Her eyes widen, he smiles at her slightly and signs the papers as her hands touch the glass, reaching out to him. By the time she enters the lobby Rich is gone. We see her glance about the room, her face sullen, the dark cavernous circles beneath her eyes quiver with a chance of tears, until her face falls on Holder. They exit and it's back to 'normal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And that brings us "The Bulldog."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> *********************************</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last week's episode, Bulldog, is a testament to the word "boss." Characters flex their intimidation muscles with threats and determination: Linden and Holder get the federal warrant through a request to Gwen, which she successfully obtains by threatening her father by going public with Mayor Adams' sexual assault all those years ago. Mayor Adams invades Richmond's campaign office, revealing to Darren that he knows where he was the night of the Larsen murder and if he doesn't resign, the Mayor will reveal how "weak" Darren was to attempt suicide and he'll never practice politics again. Perhaps the greatest threat of all, Yanik's visit to Stan's place and his threat against Stan's family if he does not take someone out on Yanik's behalf. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I learned from the best."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> -Gwen Eaton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thanks to Gwen, the federal warrant is granted. Linden, Holder and the FBI enter sacred ground and head to the casino's tenth floor to start digging and uncover the single piece of evidence that may be the final link between politics and the Larsen murder. Last week left us with the image of contractors working in the room, pounding nails, laying plywood. Linden directs the FBI to tear up the floors. As Chief Jackson looks on exhibiting anger and confidence that nothing will be found, Linden finds the key card, but admits nothing. One of the best scenes of the episode is when Chief Jackson is shown the security tapes and we see Linden holding the card up to the elevator camera, smirking all the while as she places it into an evidence bag. In Holder's car they discuss the limited options they have in using the card to gain justice, but they can't get the blood on the card tested, or turn it over the the Seattle Police; Linden began the play in the elevator, revealing her findings and now, with the election in 24 hours, and the Mayor's threat against Darren to back out of the race or else, the biggest curiosity is, who does the card belong to?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You have until 9PM to withdraw from the race. Or by then the whole country will know what a coward you are."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> -Mayor Lesley Adams</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During the course of tonight's episode, Mayor Adams shows up at Richmond campaign headquarters and reveals to Darren that he is aware of Darren's whereabouts the night of the Larson murder. Darren tells Gwen and Jamie that he's going to withdraw from the race. Darren explains where he was that night, that he tried committing suicide. After Jamie storms out of the office, Darren tells Gwen "I wasn't planning to do anything." Later at the rally, Darren Richmond dispels all rumors on his whereabouts the night of the Larsen murder:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Most of you know that I had a brush with the law recently... I was released because I had an alibi, which was sealed..." Although Jamie believed this announcement to be political suicide, it actually presented Darren as more of a human being than the Mayor ever could be. "Everyone of us has stood on the bridge, at one time or another." The act of giving up, but then realizing your purpose and why life must continue upon finding the strength in your weaknesses. At the end of the episode we see that the key card does not open the Mayor Adams' office, but someone else that will not be revealed until next week... however, we know from the contents of the office that it belongs to someone working the Richmond campaign. Is it Jamie? Gwen? The idea of someone in the Richmond camp playing both sides was presented in season one through the email communication that connected Eutanis' nephew to the Mayor. Now, we see a far deeper cut and previews for next week suggest Linden is either going to Mayor Adams to make a deal "We have a common enemy" or she too, will play both sides, roll the dice, see where guilt rises from the water..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"If anything happens to me, I want you to take care of the boys... you're good with the Ter- and they love you. You're a natural."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> -Stan Larsen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Janik Kovarsky, Alexi and another Russian mob cohort shows up at Stan's place. Janik dismisses his henchmen, telling them to take Stan's dog for a walk. Janik demands that Stan kill someone and basically threatens to kill Stan's family, even their new bulldog, if he doesn't follow through with the kill. A devastated Alexi overhears Stan admit that he killed Alexi's father <i>on Janik's orders</i>, foreshadowing what is to come. Later, after a brief scene in the park, Stan leaves Terry with the boys, dressed in their Halloween costumes, stating his wishes if anything should happen to him. We know Stan leaves for the kill. He waits for the victim outside the man's home and heads to the rear of the car where he sees a baby girl in the backseat, a reminder that this is where it all begins- each character a product of their own environment. With defeat, Stan begins to back away, but the victim sees Stan's gun in the sideview mirror. Stan beats his head against the steering wheel, telling him to get out of Seattle and never come back. Next we see Janik get in his car after watching this scene between Stan and the target unfold. A gun immediately goes to the back of Janik's head and guess what, it's not Stan, but Alexi. He takes revenge for his own father's murder and kills Janik. Stan is free (not from the law) or so we hope, but what will happen to Alexi?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Suggested meal: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, corn, a roll and a slop of gravy eaten very quickly.</i></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-44506592130312702282012-05-27T17:59:00.001-07:002012-05-27T17:59:58.923-07:00And the second time it wasn't that hard... : The Kids On AMC's The Killing Are Not Alright<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">AMC's <i>The Killing</i> is no longer about the Rosie Larsen case. With each episode we have seen the influence of adult children on their own, exploring the detrimental side effects of bad decision making, loss, but even more so, the cycle of behavior that began in their own childhoods into this adult world an how their behaviors filter down into their children's lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I've taken some time to digest the outcome of Sarah's relationship with Jack (Off Reservation). The ending was predictable; Linden's interrogation of Alexi (episode Ghosts of the Past; see May 6th post) was a step toward the outcome: we witnessed the sad, heart-breaking good-bye between Sarah and Jack, placing him on a plane to his father's in Chicago. Sayonara, Hiawatha brought us back to the reality of loss as Sarah finds Jack's shirt and/or jacket in the backseat of her car. She pulls it to the front seat, stretching it out in front her saying her son's name, then grasping the shirt with love and tears. Holder finds her asleep in her car the next morning. Sarah's life has never changed from her own childhood- transient, unfulfilled and an inability to accept the love of others. One can assume that Jack, with the exception of the occasional phone conversation is out of the picture in the filmic world of<i> The Killing</i>. He is still in Sarah's life at arm's length, but one can only hope that his experience of living in hotels, being in unknown constant danger due to his mother's actions involving the Larsen murder, and her physical and psychological absenteeism will become memories that Jack can digest as a young man through other avenues including therapy. <i>The Killing</i> makes you care for these characters, examine the root of social problems in America: the foster care system, the lack of justice surrounding the death of children. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last week's episode, "Sayonara, Hiawatha" continues with Linden and Holder following the latest clues concerning the Larsen case despite the fact they no longer have access to the files, which have mysteriously 'disappeared' as they were never received by county. All of this follows the vicious assault committed by Chief Nicole Jackson's people and left him for dead on reservation land. When Holder went to the station Lieutenant Carlson told him he was off the case and that Linden was bad for him. "Do you know she spent a month in a psyche ward due to a previous case?" Finally, we receive a strong indication of the approaching breakdown in Linden's life. There was certainly breadcrumbs leading up to this revelation, but it was still unknown as to what degree her life had been altered so severely by a previous case, but the continuing storyline and character development have quickly led us down this path to discovery this season. When Holder receives this information he appears shocked, suddenly realizing who his partner is and what she has experienced. Holder's obtuse affection for Linden reminds us of his own upbringing: raised by his older sister (who we finally met in the Off Reservation episode while he was recovering in the hospital following the assault) only to let her down through his addiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With Linden and Holder no longer legally attached to the Larsen case, they take matters into their own hands through Linden's directive. Holder, breaking and entering into Gil's apartment, tears the place up. We don't see any of this off-screen activity, but Gil walks into his place and realizes someone has been there only to hear the slight sounds of Holder eating Gil's leftovers at the breakfast table. Holder basically threatens Gil wanting access to the Rosie Larsen case files. Linden plots to return to the reservation; they need to access the 10th floor of the casino in order to gain the next possible clue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Meanwhile, Stan Larsen continues to keep himself in control and work on his own to find more information on Rosie's murder. Unfortunately, his previous announcement to offer a reward brings only greed to his door steps (Keylela). His oldest son, Tommy, has been having trouble in school with other students picking on him over Rosie and the possibility that she was a prostitute. Anger and frustration builds in Tommy and Stan gets called to the school (Sayonara, Hiawatha) only to discover that Tommy has been suspended for killing a nest of baby birds, "Boy's will be boys." Stan's focus on trying to unearth Rosie's killer causes his neglect for the boys to grow. Stan believes that he can still provide for them, take care of the family business, but truthfully he cannot do all of this on his own. Terry is no longer in the picture, and as we know Mitch left the family, creating a deeper chasm of loss for the boys. Walking from the school to the truck Stan lays down a series of punishments for Tommy and an argument ensues between them, the kind of painful words said in moments of anger that children never forget:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tommy: "You would never do something like this to Rosie... I hate her and I'm glad she's dead." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan: "Because Rosie never pulled crap like this."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tommy:"She did a lot worse. Everybody at school know's what she did."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan: "Shut your mouth."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tommy:"I hate her and I'm glad she's dead." Stan slaps Tommy, Tommy throws punches at his father. "I hate you. I wish I could leave you like mom did. I hate you."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan: "Guess what, I hate you to. Do you think I wanna be here? I don't have a choice and neither do you. Now get in the truck."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Forgiveness comes later in the episode before dinner:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan: "I love you boys. You will never be alone, I promise you that."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Denny: "Does mom still love us?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stan: "Mom didn't leave because she doesn't love you. Mom left because she has stuff to figure out."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tommy: "I miss her. I miss Rosie."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> However, these verbal exchanges never leave you as a child and stay with you growing up. The words between Stan and Tommy back at the school will not be forgotten, and unfortunately hate is a more powerful than love. Nothing is easy in this world except physical and emotional neglect between adults and their children. Although we don't know much about Stan's childhood or his background as a young man, we do know that there is a chance he murdered Alexi's father, which damaged Alexi tremendously. Thus far, his actions during the course of season one and season two have only suggested his ability or wanton desire to kill another human being (i.e. the attack on Bennet Ahmed in season one). Other adult characters in the show also provide examples of the broken nature in which they continue to live in the memory of their childhood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gwen meets with Mayor Adams at Richmond's office, suggesting she has a proposal for him. Here, we witness yet another example, this time of an adult child damaged by a parents' secret. Gwen's intention is to try and blackmail the Mayor by recalling an incident from her childhood:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I've been thinking a lot about the summer before my freshman year of high school. Dad was running for senate. You were working on that campaign, spent all that time at our house. That night after the rally... I was fourteen years old... I wonder how my father will see it ." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You think your father didn't know?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Gwen's face hits the floor we realize this suggestion, and likelihood, of rape was known by her father all along; a memory that has obviously haunted Gwen for many years. He allowed his daughter to be used for political gains. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sayonara, Hiawatha is all about secrets- the secrets we keep to protect others, but when the truth is revealed, such as Rosie's discovery that Stan was not her real father, Gwen's rape, Tommy's painful inability to cope with the death of his sister and his mother's abandonment. Linden's decision to let Jack go. There is nothing one can do, but continue watching the emotional evolution of these characters and the consequences of their actions. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recommended meal: Leftover dinner for breakfast served cold.</span></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-16513827361219774572012-05-06T19:04:00.000-07:002012-05-27T16:37:56.377-07:00Rich's Transgressor Mother & AMC's The Killing<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NOTE: <i>Spoiler Alert</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Some friends of mine recently granted me a book on loan: <u>What is Found There, Notebooks On Poetry and Politics</u> by Adrienne Rich. I've been skipping around, tackling each essay as my interests sway in different directions. <i>The Transgressor Mother</i> opens with commentary on Costa-Gravas's film <i>Missing</i> which stars Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon and leads into a slightly comparative discussion on the political feminist discourse between film and a collection of poetry: "...a woman's life vaguely unfolding until shocked out of innocence into politics, much as Costa-Gravas's straight American father is shocked out of innocence into politics..." (146-147. The poet in reference is Minnie Bruce Pratt and her prize-winning collection <i>Crime against Nature</i>. Now my point is not to necessarily continue this discussion, but this statement in Rich's essay took me elsewhere: "When an undomesticated woman refuses to hide her sexuality, abnegate her maternity, silence her hungers and angers in her poetry, she creates... a force field of extraordinary energy" (158). Rich is talking about the political nature in which poetry evolves into a stream of a woman's truth-telling; there is no hide-out because the voice is strong, vapid. This idea is not only present in poetical works, but in the portrayal of a televised female character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> AMC's <i>The Killing</i> has one of the most interesting female characters on television: Sarah Linden. She is a single mother, a working mother. Her position is homicide detective for the Seattle Police Department. At the beginning of season one we see a woman in love, engaged, preparing to leave the job and move her life and her son Jack to Sonoma, California. Slowly but surely Sarah gets sucked deeper into the Rosie Larsen murder case and becomes completely engendered by every aspect of Rosie. Somewhere in the background, in the life of Sarah Linden is a secret that reveals an unknown breakdown or attachment to finding dead girls. Her sympathy, possibly love, and absolute desire to find Rosie's killer overrides even the love and attention her son needs. Her engagement eventually falls apart, and her complex relationship with Jack becomes even more so. But Sarah cannot escape herself; she is a survivor of the foster care system, knows the ins-and-outs incredibly well as if she is still living that life. She makes emotional connections with broken children and on-the-job situations that take her mind back to her past. In a recent season two episode, "Ghosts of the Past," Sarah interviews Monica, a woman who supposedly lost her husband at the hands of Stan Larsen, but also gave up her son, Alexi, after her husband was murdered. After Sarah recognizes a cereal bowl near the kitchen sink she joins Monica at the table: "I have a son too. And I worry about the ways I've let him down. Times I wasn't there for him. I know what it feels like to... to think you've failed your child." Sarah is using her experience to not only manipulate the emotional charge, but also relives the fact that she almost lost her own son once, and here Sarah is, obsessed with her work while her son is not feeling well and needs her attention. She denies the love of her own child in order to pursue the discovery of another child's death. Later in this same episode Sarah interrogates Alexi again, relating her experiences this time as a child to Alexi, but then brings mothering back into the dialogue: Child Protective Services, Larkspur, King County Juvenile Detention... you get around Alexi. [Pause] The worse food's at county. Those bologna sandwiches- forever cheese." And here Alexi straightens himself with discomfort at her knowledge. Sarah continues: "Case number 78-203. Funny how it never leaves you like a nickname." Sarah continues, bringing up Stan Larsen and what he did to Alexi's father eventually leading to his statement: "Left you with that emotional cripple, your mother. She gave you up, Alexi. And the second time it wasn't that hard for her. There's no way she had your back, ever. My mom too. CPS must have come five or six times, I tried to cover it up, knew the foster house was going to be worse and it was right right? Kids aren't fools we know. Must have run away half a dozen times but in the end she gave me up that's what they do." While all of this is going on Sarah knows that once again she is at risk of losing her son for the second time, but the silence of her hunger is work, specifically solving this case. Whatever happened to her as a child is a constant bridge between herself and the survivors and victims of abuse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> At the end of last week's episode, "Openings," Sarah discovers that someone has been in their apartment. The haunting illustration of trees that we've observed since season one is hanging on the refrigerator door. Sarah and her son Jack, at this point, feeling better, flee the hotel room they've been staying in (since the engagement ended they never moved into an apartment or permanent residence) and stay overnight at Holder's apartment. Here, Jack has moments of stability: a Monopoly game with Holder, laughter, a sit-down meal. Sarah's obsession, her undomesticated life does not allow Jack to finish his breakfast. She tries to keep Jack safe, take care of him, but political and emotional state is re-focused. No sooner do they settle into the next hotel (tonight's episode, "Keylela") she is out the door following the next clue. Is Sarah a bad mother? No. Does she love Jack? Yes. Is she willing to risk losing him again because of her job? Possibly. When Child Protective Services arrives at their hotel to inspect their place of residency and interview Jack regarding reports of neglect, Sarah tries to shut them out. She is all too aware of what this means. She knew they had to keep moving for the sake of safety; to stay together. "I need you to stay on this side of the room, and not talk to your son." A few moments later Jack says with emphasis that he needs to use the bathroom. Earlier in the episode when they arrived at the hotel Sarah points out that if there's a fire he should exit through the bathroom window. At the onset of the CPSs' interview, he does just that; Sarah fakes a phone call and they both meet at her car and flee the scene. This is ultimate risk. Her son is in complete emotional pain slumped over, crying; pulls away from her attempt at comfort, which for her always appears minimal. Sarah has never been portrayed as a 'loving' character except in the arms of her fiancee in season one. But it is not that she doesn't love her son. Her experience as a child is replicated in her own mothering: a sad, untouchable life that remains unknown to us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>For Dinner: Room service for one along with one pay-per-view movie.</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-7410515433240684232012-04-29T17:57:00.003-07:002012-04-30T07:39:11.985-07:00We Gathered About Her<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Sherwood Anderson's story <i>Death in the Woods </i>(1933)<i> </i> is that of an abused woman, yet one who continues to take care for those who ingratiate her with violence and unlove. The weight she carries on her back is not only that of food or supplies, but the weight of life's experiences from a young girl to the stooped shoulders of a tired old woman. When I read this story I think of my grandmother. When I read this story I think only of her each time, no one else and I don't think I repeat in my head,<i> Hey- remember how this reminds you of your grandmother?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> My grandmother was a strong woman in many ways: mother of eight children, my mother being the oldest. She often sat at the head of her kitchen table although she was never quite in charge. She smoked a lot, one Marlboro after the next; constantly re-heating the same cup of tea, something she came to do when her children got her a microwave for Christmas one year. She always drank Red Rose Tea; she collected the tiny ceramic animals that occasionally lived inside the rectangular box. There was a whole menagerie hanging out with her spoon collection; a green sea turtle in Kansas, Noah and his Wife in Tallahassee, Florida. Her curation is truly memorable. My grandmother was a woman very much like the old Grimes woman in Anderson's story: "People drive right down a road and never notice an old woman like that" (51). She walked many miles when she had no means to drive. Her soft voice was like a string orchestra in constant rehearsal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> People knew my grandmother, but for different reasons. Through family stories I picture her brother punching her husband in the face after he beat her. "They fought sometimes and when they fought the old woman stood aside trembling" (53). Long after divorce she wanted to work, but had never had a job. She worked as a nanny for a while, even went on a cruise with the family, I think. Then at a beauty company, although I am unclear in what capacity. She could not function in the day- to-day life of a working woman, whose children were grown and all but, maybe one, still lived at home. But soon he left, too. Hers was a life of stock pot cooking; she never got used to making a meal for one. In some ways the hard-working, worrisome Grimes symbolizes my grandmother's inability to work: "She had a few chickens of her own and had to kill one of them in a hurry. When they were all killed she wouldn't have any eggs to sell when she went to town, and then what would she do?" (53).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> My grandmother spent hours worrying about everyone, especially her children. She often worried about money, but usually got through each month on government assistance. She saved a lot of things like Johnny Cash records she eventually sold. When she spoke she was quiet and mumbling: "She had got the habit of silence... she went around the house and the barnyard muttering to herself" (53). Many times I listened, but seldom understood what she said. Silence is the aftermath of violent earthquakes; it comes between the push and shove, the verbal manipulations. I do not know of any of this first hand as her life in my palms is a hand-me-down, but I have a distinct memory, a muttering about "...that's what I thought love was..." Her own unlove began in a field where Anderson's story ends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I think she was happiest taking care of others, whether she was appreciated or not. You could rarely escape her kitchen without a bite to eat, whether leftover spaghetti, or a scoop of chocolate ice cream with a dollop of whip cream. Her cabinets were filled with dishes, bowls, recycled corned beef jars used for drinking, or holding spider plants. She had sets for twelve, maybe more, but always drank from the same tea cup and used the same spoon, rinsing them between servings. She was diagnosed with stage four cancer a few years ago, and suddenly her body became lighter, "the pack on her back" (55) became lighter, and walks to town in bad weather were gone. I loved my grandmother, did not spend enough time with her. I experienced many emotional journeys, all the zigzag stitching I could handle. Before she passed, each of her children came to see her one last time. "The scene in the forest had become for me, without my knowing it, the foundation for the real story I am now trying to tell. The fragments, you see, had to be picked up slowly, long afterwards" (59). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I have read Anderson's story many times. I want to write about the men and dogs in that fiction as I remember hearing them bark down the street from my grandmother's house, but this isn't the right moment. My grandmother was a writer herself, always jotting things down on bits of paper, her own thoughts, or lyrics from the radio. She liked flowers we thought were weeds; she liked sitting in the sun.</span><br />
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<i>Recommended drink: Red Rose Tea, tan with milk. Re-heat in microwave only.</i><br />
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Source: Charters, Ann. <u>The Story and Its Writer, an introduction to short fiction, 4th ed</u>. Boston, MA: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-14526068869674487932012-04-29T14:19:00.001-07:002012-04-29T14:28:51.140-07:00Latest essay on RadiusLit<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Please check out my latest essay for Radius) From the Center to the Edge. This work focuses on "Donut Parade" by poet Laura Read from Jelly Bucket:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.radiuslit.org/">http://www.radiuslit.org/</a></span>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-57804875193346726172012-04-22T04:58:00.000-07:002012-04-22T15:33:21.688-07:00The Original Money Shot: Usurping Male Power in Art and Pornography<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before trekking out to Northampton, MA for the latest show at <a href="http://www.shopfoe.com/">FOE Gallery</a>, I perused their website to see what was on view: de la calle: Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Jessica Sabogal and the ASARO Collective. I was completely struck with immediacy at the depth and power of <a href="http://jessicasabogal.com/">Jessica Sabogal's</a> "The Original Money Shot," an airbrushed work of art featuring a woman on all fours, posterier in the forefront. Other works in this show include a nude woman in pose and each one conveys extreme thought and requests emotional response. But "The Original Money Shot" struck me so deeply; it is a work that in some ways you want to examine, but do not necessarily want to be seen viewing. However, you have to find the power within yourself as a woman to absorb the meaning and there is no denying the connection to the power of our own sexuality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The money shot is male concept: the pornographic detail of male dominance over woman, reaching his own self-pleasure on camera. Here, Sabogal's piece articulates a sexual pathology suggesting that male orgasm is not reached without the pleasure a woman gives him, but also that woman is completely capable of pleasuring herself without man; the threat of female empowerment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The current show is on view through May 5th, 2012. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-56649447007780607412012-04-15T19:33:00.001-07:002012-04-22T15:32:49.935-07:00Why I Continue Watching AMC's The Killing<div>
<i style="font-weight: bold;">Spoiler Alert</i> </div>
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Since last year's season one finale of AMC's <i>The Killing </i>negative commentary continues to appear and according to <i><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/killing-season-2-premiere-ratings-306883">The Hollywood Report</a>er</i> ratings dropped 19% from the end of season one to season two's premiere. As a viewer I never anticipated a big reveal at the end of season one, never expected an answer to the hovering question: Who Killed Rosie Larsen?<br />
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If there is any criticism to offer on season one it is the show's ability to kill story lines. After Bennett Ahmed was nearly beaten to death by Stan and Belko, the last we see of Bennett is Stan staring at him in the hospital. We never discover whether Bennett lives or dies (at least not that I recall); any connection between Rosie and Bennett, or Bennett's wife, a dead plot line. And by mid-season it was as if the high school no longer existed, the idea of youth is a far gone conclusion with any ties between Rosie's best friend Sterling, her ex-boyfriend Jasper, and her kindness to tweeker Kris. I keep hoping some of these youngsters will reappear during the course of season two (and we get a glimpse in episode four, Ogi Jun- thank you!). And let's not forget the investigation at the Green Street Mosque which lead Linden and Holder to 106R Renton Street, where they break in and uncover a make-shift girl's bedroom in a meat-packing plant. Will resolution eventually arise from that plot line? Yes, we did learn what purpose the space served and Bennett's role, but what happened? Regardless of these faults, the show continues to erect monumental strides in excellent storytelling. These characters are broken people, each one possessing secrets and intense moral conflict slowly coming to fruition before the viewers eyes. The show, the storytelling is worth time spent in front of the television. </div>
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Season one moved at a much slower, more calculated pace causing realistic riffs in the stages of grief and emotional detachment: we as viewers know how Rosie died, the details of her last breaths in the trunk of a Richmond campaign car. We do not know what lead up to that point except that she was chased and before that she returned a book to Bennett Ahmed's apartment, and prior to that attended the Halloween Dance with her best friend Sterling. Stan and Mitch Larsen seem to move in slow motion as they come to bury their daughter; no emotional understanding is eminent. Each episode revealed tidbits of information about where Rosie was before she died, who she was connected to, and eventually we discover why those amazingly expensive shoes were with her in the trunk of the car. Or at least why she owned them. Season two is moving faster. The premiere returns to Belko shooting Darren Richmond, the aftermath of the shooting; once again, Sarah abandons a flight to Sonoma, drags Jack off the plane when she gets a call that the toll camera was disabled or broken; Holder's character is completely under fire, mostly due to his inner-self realizing mistake after mistake he continues to make: his trust in Gil, a former colleague and mentor in narcotics, and also his NA sponsor basically tells Holder he's a no good tweeker with no chance of advancement, that he received his homicide badge because of Gil's connections. Belko kills himself in a quasi-hostage situation at the station. Darren is paralyzed from the waste down and so on. Each episode thus far in season two has contained an abundance of new information regarding the Larsen case as well as character development: we've learned more about Stan's involvement in the Polish mob and what he supposedly had to do in order to get out: murder. According Linden's FBI friend they never linked Stan to Piota, the man he may have killed. And suddenly by the end of tonight's episode we learn that conspiracy and vengeance are truly viable options in the killing of Rosie Larsen.</div>
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<i>The Killing </i>is an incredibly detailed story, and views like a great unraveling novella that is read with attention. Pay attention, the details continue to roll out page after page, scene after scene.It's worth the watch, worth the wait.</div>
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Menu items include coffee-to-go, Funions with nicotine gum for the ride.</div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673890497265022601.post-53310941520065668742012-04-13T17:01:00.001-07:002012-04-15T17:10:57.192-07:00Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman, Random House, 1967.<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #dbeae2; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Before Bettina "Tina" Balser became Mrs. Jonathan Balser, she studied </span><a href="http://ballardstpoetry.livejournal.com/tag/feminism"><span style="color: #182f23; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Art History</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">, shared an apartment with another female artist for nearly two years until her father finally convinced that starving was no way to live regardless of their monthly lunch dates and the cash he would slip her to help out. Their father-daughter relationship is strong, so Tina takes her father's advice and moves back home, gets her 'headshrinked' where she's told her art is basically shit, takes a secretarial course to get a 'real job' and eventually meets Jonathan- an idealistic </span><a href="http://ballardstpoetry.livejournal.com/tag/feminism"><span style="color: #182f23; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">lawyer</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> working in the District Attorney's Office. <br />
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After the birth of their first child, he leaves that position for corporate law and soon baby number two is on the way. At the same time, Jonation makes partner in his firm, and his father dies, leaving him $90,000. And then he changes, causing everything in Tina's life to alter dramatically. Jonathan becomes a social climbing wanna-be with the New York elite, attending parties, talking with producers, writers and wealthy uptown folks that have little interest in him, but will take his money to finance theater and invest in stocks. He insists his wife keep up with 'what's happening' by reading art magazines. He requires Tina to decorate the house with real antiques and art: ""What I want is a place that is a mixture of things-antiques, but real antiques, no reproductions, the best of the modern designer's, like a Barcelona chair, only no a Barcelona chair because everybody has them, and a lot of really first-rate art-a place that has that great, rich, eclectic look..." (41-42).<br />
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As the novel builds and builds around Tina's need for pills, her growing hatred of her husband and his boring, eye-rolling requests for an 'ole roll in the hay,' her psychological push over the edge grows near. She has an affair with playwright George Prager. The sex is fantastic, but he's a prick and perhaps even more so than Jonathan. My frustration with Tina heightened with her choice of lover; she's already married to a verbally abusive man with nothing but disregard for her as a woman and a person, and she seeks 'refuge' with a man who is crude and also very controlling. As the affair continues Tina begins to break down further due to her fear of pregnancy by her lover: "Twelve days late the curse is, counting today" (281). She confronts George and he practically spits in her face telling her to see an abortionist if she's so concerned.<br />
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A major event that occurs shortly after this scene is the elevator fire in Tina's building. As she is running down the emergency stairwell she is stopped by ex-Ziegfeld girl Carrie O'Sullivan. Realizing the fire is under control, she accepts an </span><a href="http://ballardstpoetry.livejournal.com/tag/feminism"><span style="color: #182f23; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">invitation</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> into Carrie's apartment along with some other women in the building and while there she "...became aware of the physical sensations I was having and what they meant... I'd been having a marvelous time. I dragged Folly [her poodle] away from Carrie, said goodbye to all the ladies in rollers and slacks and Brunch Coats... walked back up the two flights to our apartment and confirmed the good news" (294). Yes, her period arrived, she is not pregnant, and because of this and the 'group session' with Carrie and the women and Tina writes "... I know at last what I'm going to settle for and who I'm going to be. Who? Who is that? Why, Tabitha-Twitchit-Danvers, of course. The lady with the apron. And checklists. And keys. It's me. Oh it's very me, and I can't for the life of me see why I didn't realize that before.. I suppose, for one thing, Jonathan wouldn't let me. It hardly fits his image of what a wife of a Renaissance Man should be. Well, I've tried to be his image, tried to be a lot of things, but now I know. That's who I'm going to be, and if Jonathan doesn't like it he can lump it. Tabitha-Twitchit-Danvers-Me" (295).<br />
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Part of me wishes the novel ended there because this last paragraph is brilliant and although I 'hope' it is not so tidy an ending as many good novels do as does this one, it ends on a note that is not the end and questions whether Tina will ever be happy. Jonathan admits they are broke, had an affair and got his head-shrinked only to find out that he's the problem in their marriage. This late evening conversation between Tina and Jonathan is all about him; she decides not to confess her own affair: "Though I knew it might help him, might make him feel better about himself if I too Confessed, I decided I would never tell him about George. What for? I had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, once his brief spell of feeling better about himself was over" (305). Here, Tina is not so convinced that all her Jonathan's confessions are going to change a thing. Fresh start or not.<br />
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There is so much to discuss and consider after reading this novel: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #dbeae2; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 30pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Why settle on being the anxious Tom Kitten mother and dark and narrow Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #dbeae2; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 30pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Although my entry focuses on Tina and her husband, the relationship she maintains with her two daughters is most intriguing. They push her around and treat her with disrespect just as their father does until Tina slaps one of them across the face and the conversation between them is not of a child and mother.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #dbeae2; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Diary of a Mad Housewife is a fantastic novel. While reading it a friend asked me if I thought it would become a classic. I think it's already a feminist classic sharing ranks with <u>The Women's Room</u>, <u>Handmaid's Tale</u>, <u>The Stepford Wives</u>, <u>Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen</u> and many others. <br />
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Have you read <u>Diary of a Mad Housewife</u>? What are your thoughts? What are you reading? Anything strike you lately? I'd love to hear about it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Recommended dish: Waldorf Salad.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0