1775rik

KInd of liked the way they gave the daddy of death no lines.

Price's passionate declaration that he worked for the people of New York City would have been more effective if it were actually true. I know those little things shouldn't get to me, but they do.

I know it isn't wise to expect too much realism, but sergeants don't get promoted to deputy inspector. Wouldn't it have been enough to just say she was going to be promoted to lieutenant. And apparently dual citizenship.

Baker's response to Sid saying everyone was saying 42 was the new 30 was perfect.

I think Nicole is a good person to have in the house. She cares about people and wants to have good relations with everyone. I think being in the house is hard for her. She has to make decisions which put a lot of stress on her. In some ways, I don't think she's really equipped to play this game and make the decisions she has to. But she keeps going forward and finding ways to manage her stress. I don't think she's the best game player. But she tries and realizes she's playing a game. I give her points for effort and for just being a good person. I'm not sure that will get her too much further and I'm not sure playing the game will be good for her in the long run. But I think she showed courage, if perhaps not wisdom, in trying to be selected and has generally conducted herself well.

Is it me, or did Kat, Jessica and Nicole really mess up by not voting to evict Jack. With him gone, even if a six shooter won HOH, there would still have only been 4 six shooter votes to evict a nonsix shooter this week--not enough. Now there will be 5 six shooter votes, a majority, to evict anyone they choose. I know Jessica and Nicole had personal reasons not to support Bella, but shouldn't their games come first?

I don't think Hannah should be blamed for not intervening during the rape because I don't see how she could have done so without putting herself in danger. She obviously could not have subdued Bryce. She could have screamed for help, but its doubtful whether she could have been heard over the party noise. And screaming would have revealed her presence to Bryce. She could have also made a break for the door to try and go for help. But I think it likely Bryce would have got to her before she unlocked the door and escaped, particularly in like of her somewhat inebriated and traumatized condition. Once Bryce because aware of Hannah's presence in the room he might have likely focused his attention on her rather than the mostly unconscious Jessica. Whether Hannah should have reported him Bryce to the police after the rape is a different question, but would still have been too late to help Jessica. In contrast, Justin was in the hall and not in danger in any way. He could have gone downstairs and tried to get others to help him break the door down. Maybe no one would have helped him, but there was no reason he could not try. I don't think Clay can be faulted for not leaving the room. I think he can be faulted quite a bit for leaving the house. Jeff told him to stay but he did not listen. Clay should have been waiting in the room when Hannah came down the stairs. In the condition she was then in, I think she would have been grateful for him to have helped her get home. This would have prevented Jeff's death and the guilt Hannah felt over that, as well as repairing the damage to the Clay and Hannah relationship and the guilt she felt over that. When Clay suggested that Hannah come to the party, he said he would watch out for her. He didn't. He had a reason for not doing so, I just don't think it was anywhere a good enough reason.

I thought the conversation between Hannah and Clay while they were eating lunch told us a lot about Hannah. First, she was pretty perceptive. Even that early in their relationship she realized Clay was scared--something he never stopped being until after she died. To her credit, I don't think she hardly ever thought less of him for it. Second, she would stand up for herself. After he made his, at best, thoughtless remark about it sometimes being better to wait, she did not just become quiet or slink off. Instead, she told him clearly that he had hurt her feelings. He tried to call after her, but, as always, made no attempt to actually go after her.

Have to admit I felt a bit of respect for Clay when he called himself an asshole who watching himself hug rather than kiss Hannah. The hug itself seemed strange--as near as I can recall that is the only time we saw them hug.

I thought this was just a devastating day for Clay, making him recall things he had forgotten about or at least put out of his minds. The first thing was not writing letters to Hannah. The way her summer worked out with Zack, she did not need the letters during the summer. However, when everything went to hell I think she would have remembered getting the letters and that would have meant something to her. When Clay approached her at the lockers on the day she committed suicide, I think Hannah came very close to telling Clay what was going on. While the pain she was in obviously had a large effect on her decision not to talk to him, I think the decision was also heavily influenced by her beliefs that: (1) no one cared enough about her to go out of their way for her and (2) she was such a bad person that they should not have cared about her. Its possible that her recalling Clay care enough about her to write her might have been enough to tip the scales towards telling him. Recalling his failure to write her must have filled him with shame, particularly when he remembers her remark about him being her only friend. [As an aside, I don't find it very realistic on the part of the writers to have Clay not write Hannah. If a girl you are in love with, infatuated with or simply have a crush on ask you to write her, you write the damn letters. I don't think he would necessarily have brought himself to confess his deepest thoughts, particularly about her, but he would have at least written a letter or two filled with chit-chat.] The other, more obvious thing he remembered was her suicidal statement while coming down from Molly. While his failure to take note can possibly be excused as just something that she was saying because she was coming down and did not really mean it, her expression while making the statement was so devastating that it seems it would be hard for anyone to believe she was not at least partially serious. However, at least one character trait of Clay that was consistent up to when Hannah died was his obliviousness. Clay's singleminded pursuit of "justice" for Hannah was at least partially motivated by his feeling towards her. However, I think it may have been more motivated by the guilt he felt because he realized there was so many ways he could have helped her but didn't. His testimony forced him to remember two additional instances when he let her down.

I don't think Ryan gets enough blame for what he did. With the exception of Bryce of course, and perhaps Tyler (who kept Hannah from feeling safe in her own home, I think Ryan's actions did the most damage to Hannah. She obviously felt a large sense of betrayal. But more importantly, after that I doubt that she ever wrote a poem; he therefore deprived her of an outlet to express her feelings. Just as importantly, his actions resulted in her no longer attending the poetry group. By this time I think Hannah was increasingly desperate for human contact. I don't think we ever had any indication that she became close with anyone in the group other than Ryan, but the group still gave her a much needed opportunity to interact with people who gave her human interaction and most likely positive reinforcement. By this time, she could not afford to lose this. I think Ryan's actions also completely deprived her of agency. While the wisdom of the decision can be doubted with hindsight, when Hannah asked Clay to leave the room at Jessica's party, he respected her decision and complied. Despite Hannah clearly making her wishes known to Ryan about the poem being published, he completely disregarded her wishes. I don't think he acted with any malice and was sincere when he told her she would thank him later for what he had done. Sometimes, however, arrogance can inflict as much harm as malice.

I think this was the episode where Clay really let Hannah down. With 20/20 hindsight, he should perhaps have stayed with her at the party, but its somewhat to fault him for obeying her clearly expressed wishes. He also should have talked to her when she approached him and he accused her of making everything about her. But at that point, Jeff's death and Clay's hurt and confusion over being rejected at the party were still very fresh. However, as I understand it, Hannah picked up her check from the Crestmont about three weeks after Jessica's party. During that encounter, Clay was very cold towards her, treating her, at best, as a casual business associate. Both actors were very good in the scene--Clay's indifference and Hannah's wish to engage him and disappointment when he gave her nothing back were both very clear. Go back and look at how fast she spun around when he called her back. It had to be crushing for her discover he only wanted to tell her to return her uniform. At that point, I think Hannah was fairly desperate to find someone who cared for her enough to put themselves out for her. I don't think she needed any grand profession of love from Clay, but she did need to know he cared and would stand by her, Instead, she got nothing but indifference. I think that if she had believed Clay cared about her, she might have called him after the scene with her parents rather than wondering over to Bryce's or, if not, might have called him after the rape. In the second season Zack said that shame burns. I think that if Clay ever looks back on this conversation, he should feel a good bit of shame that burns. His treatment of Hannah was far short of what she had the right to expect from a friend, much less from someone who professed to love her

I thought that in the scene at the theater when she called Marcus was perhaps the only time when Hannah showed contempt for Clay and his lack of courage. After giving Clay a hint by saying Marcus was not her first choice and getting no reaction, I think she thought she had little choice but to call Marcus. After the call was completed, Clay remarked that the setting up of the date between Marcus and Hannah seemed easy. She replied with a fairly withering "it can be." Having Clay be so passive here is at least consistent with his behavior regarding Hannah throughout the show. What really seems unrealistic to me is that someone like Hannah would never have taken the initiative to ask Clay out. As far back as the eclipse when she moved closer to him on the roof, it seemed fairly clear she was interested in him. Contrast her failure to ask Clay out with McKenzie's casually and easily asking out Tyler in season 2. I find her failure to ask Clay out so unlikely as to conclude hat the only reason for it was the plot's need to have them not be together.

I found Hannah's statement that Clay seems less afraid when he's with Skye and that that makes her sad to be fairly heartbreaking. Assuming she's a hallucination, that seems to be Clay's way of acknowledging that he was too afraid with Hannah and that this fear kept him from being the kind of friend (at least) that she needed.