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Look! Another post about Durham County, aka that show none of you are watching because you want me to suffer alone. Or you have some sense of self-preservation, whatever. Really, I should be posting about Leverage because it makes me giddily happy, but my brain right now is weird. And hey, if you do want to play along without watching, any variation of "Well, that was just disturbing" would work as a comment for any given episode of Durham County without having seen a single one. As would "Yes, Mike Sweeney is an asshole".
Right, so, on to the tl;dr about the little show that could...continue to get more twisted.
Well, that was just disturbing. And much like last season I've reached the point where I just can't look away, and I don't know why. I'm in this to the end now, because I have to know. I am finding myself the most creeped out I've been all season, and I just don't even know what to think about what the hell is going on. The hinky autopsy results, along with the dead brothers reveal, combined with Pen's ratcheting up her lunatic manipulations, means I think the odds that the drowning was any sort of accident go way the hell down (and they weren't great to begin with). But oh my god what Pen is doing to her living kid, OH MY GOD. It's like, she has to be more subtle in the way she's merrily twisting all the adults around her, but with the kid all bets are off. I almost sort of wish she would just beat him like a normal abusive parent. It would be less upsetting. With the key and the singing, and the constant drumbeat of terror she's instilling in him, and he's got no defense against this, what she's doing to him. Because Mommy loves him and is only trying to protect him. GAH!
I'd start howling for children's protective services again, but OH WAIT. Mike sent them away, DOUCHEBAG. And what's worse is I can't figure out if he actually believes in Pen's innocence or if he is, at least partly, trying to manipulate her back in some sort of twisted game to find the truth. Either way, he's directly responsible for leaving that poor little kid right in the line of fire. There is more than enough evidence that caution would dictate letting children's services at least get involved. And he didn't even bother to ask to talk to the kid until after he'd already taken away the safety net, WTF? Mike Sweeney, if there's a way to do things wrong, in a manner that will hurt as many people as possible, you are just sure to find it, aren't you? Asshole.
And Sadie. My concern for Sadie is now at an all time high. I actually started crying for real at the "I love you" thing. I cannot believe Ray is getting away with having this much access to fuck with her head, how has no one STOPPED THIS? And I'm hating everyone around her for not seeing what this kid is going through. Save Audrey, who is at least trying to protect her, but has been effectively cut out from the information that would let her, and poor Ray Jr. who is too messed up on his own to really be helpful here. And there is Pen who is seeing it, but using it to her own purposes. And yet, still, Sadie continues to muster up so much awesome...how much do I love her that her first reaction to the charge being dropped is 'what about the woman who was killed? She matters' Yeah, Sadie, she does. Thank you for having a soul, those are in short supply sometimes on this show. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Audrey says something similar in the first episode of this season. Like mother, like daughter...and for all that you see Mike's influence in Sadie? I think she is way, way more like her mother than her father. Mike is fundamentally weak in a way that Sadie is not, and that comes from Audrey.
And, oh, hey, how about that long missing girl we've now added to the mix? I just don't even. Holy crap. Now, I'm pretty sure they aren't going to actually cross that line regarding Mike and have him be either a rapist or murderer in his youth for real, even though they came dangerously close to setting him up on it first season. It's far, far more likely to be Ray's handy work, but doesn't it just speak volumes that my first reaction to Sadie saying "You know Ray is a pathological liar?" was to respond "You know who else is? YOUR DAD". That poor kid is struggling so hard to hold on to the image of her dad as a good man that it's painful. And he just keeps on letting slip that he's not that man in front of her. We will not talk about his reaction to Audrey and Dr. Hotass coming home, because the blinding rage would only result in incoherent keyboard smashing. I love, love, LOVE that Sadie's response was to stay with her mom that night. Good kid.
Audrey continues to be my HERO of the season, and bless her for providing me with my best laughs of the episode, both when Dr. Hotass totally punked Mike when he came to visit her in the hospital and her reaction to Pen's sending flowers, which was SO AWESOME I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. Also, for totally seeing through Mike's bullshit yet again. I was right not to be concerned about her dying, but having everyone believe this was an accident kind of leaves that sword dangling...the only question is who's head is it swinging over?
...and now we go off on a cancer tangent. Because it's been bugging me. That Audrey had a mastectomy means she had breast cancer, and the only way her her condition would have been what it was is if it was stage IV. The problem with that being that stage IV is not curable (hence my total freakouts at the hint of metastasis). However, depending on the hormonal status, location of the metastasis, and response to treatment a person can live for years and years with it as a managed chronic illness, though with a considerably shortened lifespan. I had assumed the show was handwaving this and giving Audrey the magical teevee cure (insert eyeroll here). But. The explanation for her 'accident', that she is still taking the kinds of medications that could lead to it, leads me to wonder if they aren't. It..actually doesn't make any sense unless she's still in active treatment. But they aren't actually addressing it then, either, and I really wish they would. Because if Audrey is facing the reality of living long term with a stage IV diagnosis and she gave Mike the boot and is actively pursuing her own new life? Dude, DUDE...her awesome goes up a BILLION FOLD. They can't have it both ways though, or I'm going to start wanting to hunt down some writers and poking them in the eye. Either she's got the magic, doesn't exist, cure...in which case, stop using it as a plot point...or there's some reality here, in which case, fucking acknowledge it please. Ahem.
...and I think I'm done babbling until the next episode EATS MY BRAIN.
Right, so, on to the tl;dr about the little show that could...continue to get more twisted.
Well, that was just disturbing. And much like last season I've reached the point where I just can't look away, and I don't know why. I'm in this to the end now, because I have to know. I am finding myself the most creeped out I've been all season, and I just don't even know what to think about what the hell is going on. The hinky autopsy results, along with the dead brothers reveal, combined with Pen's ratcheting up her lunatic manipulations, means I think the odds that the drowning was any sort of accident go way the hell down (and they weren't great to begin with). But oh my god what Pen is doing to her living kid, OH MY GOD. It's like, she has to be more subtle in the way she's merrily twisting all the adults around her, but with the kid all bets are off. I almost sort of wish she would just beat him like a normal abusive parent. It would be less upsetting. With the key and the singing, and the constant drumbeat of terror she's instilling in him, and he's got no defense against this, what she's doing to him. Because Mommy loves him and is only trying to protect him. GAH!
I'd start howling for children's protective services again, but OH WAIT. Mike sent them away, DOUCHEBAG. And what's worse is I can't figure out if he actually believes in Pen's innocence or if he is, at least partly, trying to manipulate her back in some sort of twisted game to find the truth. Either way, he's directly responsible for leaving that poor little kid right in the line of fire. There is more than enough evidence that caution would dictate letting children's services at least get involved. And he didn't even bother to ask to talk to the kid until after he'd already taken away the safety net, WTF? Mike Sweeney, if there's a way to do things wrong, in a manner that will hurt as many people as possible, you are just sure to find it, aren't you? Asshole.
And Sadie. My concern for Sadie is now at an all time high. I actually started crying for real at the "I love you" thing. I cannot believe Ray is getting away with having this much access to fuck with her head, how has no one STOPPED THIS? And I'm hating everyone around her for not seeing what this kid is going through. Save Audrey, who is at least trying to protect her, but has been effectively cut out from the information that would let her, and poor Ray Jr. who is too messed up on his own to really be helpful here. And there is Pen who is seeing it, but using it to her own purposes. And yet, still, Sadie continues to muster up so much awesome...how much do I love her that her first reaction to the charge being dropped is 'what about the woman who was killed? She matters' Yeah, Sadie, she does. Thank you for having a soul, those are in short supply sometimes on this show. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Audrey says something similar in the first episode of this season. Like mother, like daughter...and for all that you see Mike's influence in Sadie? I think she is way, way more like her mother than her father. Mike is fundamentally weak in a way that Sadie is not, and that comes from Audrey.
And, oh, hey, how about that long missing girl we've now added to the mix? I just don't even. Holy crap. Now, I'm pretty sure they aren't going to actually cross that line regarding Mike and have him be either a rapist or murderer in his youth for real, even though they came dangerously close to setting him up on it first season. It's far, far more likely to be Ray's handy work, but doesn't it just speak volumes that my first reaction to Sadie saying "You know Ray is a pathological liar?" was to respond "You know who else is? YOUR DAD". That poor kid is struggling so hard to hold on to the image of her dad as a good man that it's painful. And he just keeps on letting slip that he's not that man in front of her. We will not talk about his reaction to Audrey and Dr. Hotass coming home, because the blinding rage would only result in incoherent keyboard smashing. I love, love, LOVE that Sadie's response was to stay with her mom that night. Good kid.
Audrey continues to be my HERO of the season, and bless her for providing me with my best laughs of the episode, both when Dr. Hotass totally punked Mike when he came to visit her in the hospital and her reaction to Pen's sending flowers, which was SO AWESOME I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. Also, for totally seeing through Mike's bullshit yet again. I was right not to be concerned about her dying, but having everyone believe this was an accident kind of leaves that sword dangling...the only question is who's head is it swinging over?
...and now we go off on a cancer tangent. Because it's been bugging me. That Audrey had a mastectomy means she had breast cancer, and the only way her her condition would have been what it was is if it was stage IV. The problem with that being that stage IV is not curable (hence my total freakouts at the hint of metastasis). However, depending on the hormonal status, location of the metastasis, and response to treatment a person can live for years and years with it as a managed chronic illness, though with a considerably shortened lifespan. I had assumed the show was handwaving this and giving Audrey the magical teevee cure (insert eyeroll here). But. The explanation for her 'accident', that she is still taking the kinds of medications that could lead to it, leads me to wonder if they aren't. It..actually doesn't make any sense unless she's still in active treatment. But they aren't actually addressing it then, either, and I really wish they would. Because if Audrey is facing the reality of living long term with a stage IV diagnosis and she gave Mike the boot and is actively pursuing her own new life? Dude, DUDE...her awesome goes up a BILLION FOLD. They can't have it both ways though, or I'm going to start wanting to hunt down some writers and poking them in the eye. Either she's got the magic, doesn't exist, cure...in which case, stop using it as a plot point...or there's some reality here, in which case, fucking acknowledge it please. Ahem.
...and I think I'm done babbling until the next episode EATS MY BRAIN.