S01.E06: The Fugitive

[Mabinogia]

I think they are trying to do the slow build with Carter realizing Lori isn't all that, first with Max talking about Lori and Carter being all "who?" for a moment, then feeling guilty about it. That shows that Carter is actually forcing herself to not move on from Lori, which was interesting to me. And then this past ep when she did not seem at all into the stupid, trite, forced "love you more" crap they used to do. Which, seriously, when something like that becomes that routine it looses all meaning anyway.

 

I would not expect Carter to be on board the "Lori is bad" train after a few weeks, even months. I think that kind of de-programming, which is what it is, would take years. She's been this woman's daughter for over 2/3 of her life. You don't just move on quickly from that. Hell, children who have been beaten will still defend their parent and in Carter's mind Lori is her parent and never mistreated her. And this mean "real mother" of hers is all "rules rules, I care about your safety" blah blah which, for a kid who seems to have just done whatever the hell she pleased whenever the hell she pleased, must seem like torture.

 

But when Carter finally does come around, I won't see it as coming from no where. I've seen the very small building blocks in the past two eps, which is good for me because I don't think I could tolerate Carter much longer if she wasn't slowly starting to change her opinions on everyone involved.

[FAU]

I think they are trying to do the slow build with Carter realizing Lori isn't all that, first with Max talking about Lori and Carter being all "who?" for a moment, then feeling guilty about it. That shows that Carter is actually forcing herself to not move on from Lori, which was interesting to me. And then this past ep when she did not seem at all into the stupid, trite, forced "love you more" crap they used to do. Which, seriously, when something like that becomes that routine it looses all meaning anyway.

 

I would not expect Carter to be on board the "Lori is bad" train after a few weeks, even months. I think that kind of de-programming, which is what it is, would take years. She's been this woman's daughter for over 2/3 of her life. You don't just move on quickly from that. Hell, children who have been beaten will still defend their parent and in Carter's mind Lori is her parent and never mistreated her. And this mean "real mother" of hers is all "rules rules, I care about your safety" blah blah which, for a kid who seems to have just done whatever the hell she pleased whenever the hell she pleased, must seem like torture.

 

But when Carter finally does come around, I won't see it as coming from no where. I've seen the very small building blocks in the past two eps, which is good for me because I don't think I could tolerate Carter much longer if she wasn't slowly starting to change her opinions on everyone involved.

 

That's not build up and all her character did is say that Lori is her real mom and that she wants to go to her.  She only forgot about her for 1 scene and then went back on the Lori bandwagon.  She has not asked any questions about the kidnapping at all, the situation barely even fazes her even though she should at least be curious and the show did not express any doubt/uncertainly where it would be real build up instead of this nonchalant bs and wasting screen time on her friends like the 7 minutes of Heaven bs scene.  She did go into the love you more crap, in the sneak peek, she's even packing her things and still deciding on things.  The build up is not sufficient because the writers didn't properly set this all up, that's why it lacks the believeability it needs to pull this off.  Her character barely even cares about what's going, she's either with her dumbass friends wasting time or she's on the Lori bandwagon.  Her character lacks the depth/development that is sorely needed especially with a premise like this that they've wasted.  We don't see how this affects her character, the writers just lazily throw teen rebel cliches and contrived drama on her, all repeating Lori is her real mom and that she wants to be with her on a 1 track mind and the other characters pretty much go along with it.

Edited August 9, 2014 by FAU

[David T. Cole]

Since you asked: How do I put someone on my ignore list?

[ihavenoidea]

 

But when Carter finally does come around, I won't see it as coming from no where. I've seen the very small building blocks in the past two eps, which is good for me because I don't think I could tolerate Carter much longer if she wasn't slowly starting to change her opinions on everyone involved.

Totally agree.  Carter is getting on my nerves, but it would be totally unreal if she was automatically ready to accept her new family.  I've read about real life cases where kids were kidnapped or switched at birth and a lot of times those things end sadder than you'd think they would.   

 

I like how you can just tell by Carter's face her feelings are changing.  If she accepted Elizabeth and the family right away it wouldn't be much of a show. 

[FAU]

Totally agree.  Carter is getting on my nerves, but it would be totally unreal if she was automatically ready to accept her new family.  I've read about real life cases where kids were kidnapped or switched at birth and a lot of times those things end sadder than you'd think they would.   

 

I like how you can just tell by Carter's face her feelings are changing.  If she accepted Elizabeth and the family right away it wouldn't be much of a show. 

 

It's the transition/build up leading up to this that's the problem, this was always a predictable outcome.  The writers just aren't able to handle this and the characters come off as awkward and it doesn't help that she doesn't ask any questions about the kidnapping or seemingly care about it at all, what makes it worse is how the other characters just going along with it without calling her out on it.  Carter straight says that it's good that Lori gets away and that she supports her right in front of a cop in a police station no less.  In the real life cases, the family also deals with the aftermath of the situation and it's a struggle for both the victim and the family trying to adjust to their new life style and that should've been compelling to see if that's what we actually got that was brushed over.

Edited August 10, 2014 by FAU

[In2You]

This show is definitely lacking in the build up. No one is saying Cater needs to immediately like Elizabeth. No that's gonna take a long time. What needs to be shown is Carter asking herself why Lori kidnapped her in the first place. Also Carter was taken when she was four years old. So she has absolutely no memory of her family aside from a brief connection with her grandpa? I remember little things from when I was four (the night my little sister was born, when I had the chicken pox, etc); are they trying to tell me there's nothing around that house that could possibly trigger and old memory? 

[FAU]

This show is definitely lacking in the build up. No one is saying Cater needs to immediately like Elizabeth. No that's gonna take a long time. What needs to be shown is Carter asking herself why Lori kidnapped her in the first place. Also Carter was taken when she was four years old. So she has absolutely no memory of her family aside from a brief connection with her grandpa? I remember little things from when I was four (the night my little sister was born, when I had the chicken pox, etc); are they trying to tell me there's nothing around that house that could possibly trigger and old memory? 

 

Exactly, Carter isn't even trying to try and remember other things or even the kidnapping itself.  No questions and other characters are just going along with it.

[Kromm]

Exactly, Carter isn't even trying to try and remember other things or even the kidnapping itself.  

Wait.  You think it would be MORE realistic for her to remember something from when she was 3 years old?

Edited August 10, 2014 by Kromm

[In2You]

Wait.  You think it would be MORE realistic for her to remember something from when she was 3 years old?

She should have at least one faint memory from before she was kidnapped. She wasn't an infant she was 4!

[calliope1975]

I can fanwank that it must have been pretty traumatizing to be kidnapped so maybe she blocked it out. How long did she cry for her mom, dad and family? I presume Lori told her something horrible about her family - either they were dead or didn't want her anymore. Until she accepted Lori was her mom and forgot about her family. 

[In2You]

I can fanwank that it must have been pretty traumatizing to be kidnapped so maybe she blocked it out. How long did she cry for her mom, dad and family? I presume Lori told her something horrible about her family - either they were dead or didn't want her anymore. Until she accepted Lori was her mom and forgot about her family. 

Even if she blocked it out there has to be something in that house that would trigger some emotion. 

[Kromm]

Even if she blocked it out there has to be something in that house that would trigger some emotion. 

And then if the show did that, it would THEN get criticized for being cliched.

[SonofaBiscuit]

At this point, I'm kind of ignoring anything involving Carter and her friends.  I find myself wanting to get back to Max and Taylor's story most of the time.  Poor Taylor is so unassuming that I can totally believe that she still doubts that Max is really interested in her, even after their major make-out session.  Yeah, I think he's going to have to tell her that he wants her for her to get it.

 

Carter didn't seem too excited about her Russian passport.  I kind of wish she would leave with Lori because she's just so unlikeable all of the time.  The problem for me, I think, is that the actress that plays Carter comes off as cold much of the time.  She's not capable of making me feel any sympathy for Carter.        

[FAU]

If you can't post civilly... don't. -DTC

Edited August 11, 2014 by David T. Cole
Putting on Mod Pants.

[In2You]

And then if the show did that, it would THEN get criticized for being cliched.

. This  show is already beyond cliched because of all the drama with Carter's lame friends. Showing something in the house triggering a memory from the past is not cliched it realistic. 

[FAU]

. This  show is already beyond cliched because of all the drama with Carter's lame friends. Showing something in the house triggering a memory from the past is not cliched it realistic. 

 

Exactly, not to mention it would actually relate to the main plot of Carter actually dealing with the aftermath of her kidnapping and adjusting to her situation instead of the ridiuclous nonsense we got instead.

[sparklemotion]

I totally thought she would have had some sort of flashbacks besides hugging the grandfather and recalling him by now. When it comes time to run with Lori I think any tether she has to the family as a whole will be the only thing that keeps her from going. 

[bettername2come]

I totally thought she would have had some sort of flashbacks besides hugging the grandfather and recalling him by now. When it comes time to run with Lori I think any tether she has to the family as a whole will be the only thing that keeps her from going.

 

I'd like to see the birthday party with Taylor trigger some memory. I would think that since she's been celebrating it alone for so long that celebrating with her twin might make her more likely to remember.

[aradia22]

Whew. OK, I don't know if this was just a bad episode or if it just felt bad because I've had a break from the show. It felt like I had missed an episode. It wasn't just an issue with the pilot. The whole show is underwritten with these big gaps. I don't know why there is so little character development. Also, the dialogue was terrible. Bland and obvious. If you're going to have that kind of flat dialogue that communicates so starkly the archetypes and stereotypes and cliches you're working with, you need actors who can deliver that with an honesty and poignancy it doesn't deserve to have. These are not those actors. It started from the first scene with Carter coming right out and talking about not liking to not be in control and then there was that painful, painful scene between Gabe and Taylor. At that point I decided I could watch the episode while doing other things like making lunch and checking my emails.

[Cranberry]

Carter didn't seem too excited about her Russian passport.  I kind of wish she would leave with Lori because she's just so unlikeable all of the time.  The problem for me, I think, is that the actress that plays Carter comes off as cold much of the time.  She's not capable of making me feel any sympathy for Carter.        

 

It must be the material, because I feel the same way about Carter (well, I don't dislike her, but she leaves me cold), yet I loved Kathryn Prescott's character, Emily, on Skins UK. Some of the dialogue from this episode was especially bad. She barely knows Crash; it's way too early for, "You did destroy me, but I've never been happier." Carter didn't get all of the clunkers, though -- as several of you have mentioned, "I was actually thinking how grateful I am to [Lori]" was the worst.

 

And a few months have passed now? I don't understand why the writers rushed through all of the interesting and original kidnapping/re-integration stuff. Why even bother with the "kidnapped kid" backstory if all they wanted to do were typical "teen adjusts to a new life/group of friends" stories that they could have easily accomplished by making Carter adopted or even just the new kid at school?

 

It's not all bad, though. I love Max, and it's almost like his lines are being written by a different, funnier person. I like how sarcastic and just plain over it he's gotten with Lori lately -- "My shift's almost up; not sure the next guy's gonna be up for hosting America's Most Wanted" and "You used to be so cool"/"So did you" were great. I like Taylor and I'm happy that she's over the whole Gabe thing (and that it looks like he won't keep pressuring her to date him). I'm warming up to Elizabeth. David is still the worst, but I'm hoping he goes to the hotel and surprises whatshisface in the room, because that should be gold. Both of those guys are smarmy and I don't really care who "wins." And of course Grant is still the best, although he didn't get much to do this episode. We should see more of him tomorrow during the birthday party episode.

[Machuran]

And a few months have passed now? I don't understand why the writers rushed through all of the interesting and original kidnapping/re-integration stuff. Why even bother with the "kidnapped kid" backstory if all they wanted to do were typical "teen adjusts to a new life/group of friends" stories that they could have easily accomplished by making Carter adopted or even just the new kid at school?

 

It just makes a a complete waste of the kidnapping premise and then they waste time on pointless nonsense with scenes of her friends that don't add anything important or interesting to the series or to her character.

 

 

It's not all bad, though. I love Max, and it's almost like his lines are being written by a different, funnier person. I like how sarcastic and just plain over it he's gotten with Lori lately -- "My shift's almost up; not sure the next guy's gonna be up for hosting America's Most Wanted" and "You used to be so cool"/"So did you" were great. I like Taylor and I'm happy that she's over the whole Gabe thing (and that it looks like he won't keep pressuring her to date him). I'm warming up to Elizabeth. David is still the worst, but I'm hoping he goes to the hotel and surprises whatshisface in the room, because that should be gold. Both of those guys are smarmy and I don't really care who "wins." And of course Grant is still the best, although he didn't get much to do this episode. We should see more of him tomorrow during the birthday party episode

 

Mainly it's because he actually feels like a real character a not an annoying checklist of cliches and stereotypes like some of the other characters.

[aradia22]

 

It's not all bad, though. I love Max, and it's almost like his lines are being written by a different, funnier person. I like how sarcastic and just plain over it he's gotten with Lori lately -- "My shift's almost up; not sure the next guy's gonna be up for hosting America's Most Wanted" and "You used to be so cool"/"So did you" were great. I like Taylor and I'm happy that she's over the whole Gabe thing (and that it looks like he won't keep pressuring her to date him). I'm warming up to Elizabeth. David is still the worst, but I'm hoping he goes to the hotel and surprises whatshisface in the room, because that should be gold. Both of those guys are smarmy and I don't really care who "wins." And of course Grant is still the best, although he didn't get much to do this episode. We should see more of him tomorrow during the birthday party episode.

I think Max is kind of a stereotype. The seemingly dumb guy who has hidden depths and is kind of sweet. The stoner. But they've somehow stumbled into making him a decent character. The actor isn't giving a tour de force performance but some combination of the acting and the writing works for Max in a way that doesn't work for almost anyone else on the show. 

 

David is the worst. Anytime he has the option to not be the worst he doesn't take it. He already went to the station to confront her. She might have made an excuse about her mom and they could have spent time together and started to rebuild (in line with the watching movies together scene). But no, he had to take the key. He always has to go that one extra step. Gabe's dad is terrible but a small part of me still likes him for being the AllState guy before we were stuck with the Mayhem guy who I hate with a passion.