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S01.E08: Skin


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Not a horrible episode, but I am beginning to get impatient with Beth's ongoing arc.  The fact that she hasn't figured out (and acted on) the notion that there's a copycat stalker onto her is the issue. It's like she's hung up on the guy in prison and/or him contacting someone, when it should be obvious that a determined person who was tipped to her previous identity and now obviously has been inside her house could have gotten all the info they needed.

 

I get that there's a theme here that even a strong person can fall prey to a victim mentality.  But it's relentless with her.  The show has to have her swing to being proactive, or they'll lose our interest in the story and our backing of her as a character.

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Agreed, Kromm.  She needs to get a clue soon.  It wasn't that  long ago she was actively trying to get the college guy's stalker focused on her instead of college guy. Now she has a stalker and can't connect that dot? It makes me think she's not very smart but even smart people lose their shit when being stalked.

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I remember a teddy bear being delivered in a box.  A bear similar to the one in her cupboard. 

 

Also, I remember Leave-Town-Or-I'll-Destroy-You woman chatting pleasantly with Donald McDuck.  I thought she was going to go on a date with him!

 

I remember nothing else about an episode I watched only last night, even after racking my brains.  This is the second time this show has failed to leave any sort of mark on my conscious brain.

 

I started watching this show for Maggie Q.  But she continues to deliver wooden performances with wooden dialogue, and with an expressionless face, exhibit all the personality and presence of mind of a cigar store Indian. 

 

I'm done.

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I liked how this episode was Chose your own adventure with different Odd Couples configurations. Beth and Ben together were cute, the Boyfriend and Jack bonding over case was great.

 

The red-herring white supremacist was creepy and more interesting than eventual bad guy, not sure why.

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Guest Accused Dingo

See men can be stalked too.

I am actually enjoying this show more than Criminal Minds which is past its prime. Stalker has fun cases. Three in a row i enjoyed. This ahow is so much better than the stupid critcs said it was.

Edited by Accused Dingo
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If Beth really can't figure out who is stalking her, then she isn't as smart as I thought she was.  I would think the guy whose ass you recently kicked and has a history of stalking, would be your first suspect.

 

At least the victim was male this time, even though I have a hard time picturing Marc Blucas as a former skinhead.  I'm so use to him playing laid-back characters, the idea of a White Supremacist Marc Blucas is an amusing thought.  His former protege though was pretty good.

 

They are totally going to have Jack's ex fall for him again.  Especially since they still seem to be planting seeds to make Troy/Warren Kole kind of dickish. 

Edited by thuganomics85
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I understand why some people think Beth's being stupid, but in her mind, what are her choices?  She can't exactly go to the police, because she is the police.  In fact, she's in charge of the unit that would be handling her case.  She doesn't want anyone to know about her past, probably for reasons exactly like this so that some creep can't somehow find out and taunt her like this.  And as she said in episode 2 (I think): she's a strong, ambitious woman.  Coming forward about a possible stalker would make her seem weak and she'd then be portrayed as a victim.  Now, this isn't true.  She's survived so much, and I don't think anyone in TAU would victimize her or think any less of her.  However, that isn't her perception.  In her mind, her hands are tied.

 

Also, there's no reason for her to think Perry could be behind this.  As far as she knows, while he may have a fixation on her, how would he know about the fire or the teddy bear?  She could chalk her house being rearranged to him, yes, but I don't see how or why she'd make the connection to Perry when the two biggest incidents have been associated with the past stalking incident.  I may have missed something/misunderstood, but that's just my POV.

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They are totally going to have Jack's ex fall for him again.  Especially since they still seem to be planting seeds to make Troy/Warren Kole kind of dickish. 

They could indeed have Rohmbot fall for Jack again, but I think they went way against expectations of her boyfriend being a total dick by making HIM the one to bring up to her that the kid should have a relationship with his Dad (of course with the kid, fulfilling a bad-TV-cliche, overhearing).

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I don't think its so awful that Beth isn't telling anyone but at least don't be a moron. She's a cop who specializes in stalking and knows odd things are happening but she picks up a package from her front door with no address, no postage, not markings at all and brings it into her house to open like it's an amazon order. 

 

When the cop was ranting to the former skin-head victim that this is all his fault and when others were saying they didn't need to help because he didn't deserve it, I wanted someone to stand up and ask what the wife and kid did to deserve it. Even if you buy into the idea that once you have had awful ideas you can never change your mind, that little boy didn't deserve to be terrorized and people who refused to help because he dad was a former skinhead might as well have been terrorizing the kid themselves. 

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Not a bad episode -- it had layers ... if you wanted to look for them ( and they were sort of glossed over). 

The stalking victim was responsible for creating his own monster : he actually recruited a child soldier and then abandoned him, so everyone involved was sort of screwed up. It didn't make sense that the former skinhead was just now getting around to getting his tattoos removed -- but I guess we needed to see him get 'outed' with his shirt off (which was interesting).  Even if the removal is painful and a slow process - it would be easier to have the offensive ones tattooed over with something else -- because his son is seeing those ..

 

Poor Beth (MQ) .. If only she knew some people to talk to that were familiar with stalking..   And being a suspicious stalking victim - why did she not sense something was off with the cardboard box on her doorstep that had no postage information?

C'mon Beth - buy a clue.

Edited by shrewd.buddha
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I don't think Beth's reaction is completely off. She is clearly very traumatized by whatever happened to her (it the trauma is justifiable or not, it remains to be seen). She might be the best cop but when it comes to her own trauma, she is not rational. This is very realistic. We can be completely cool and rational about other people's needs and traumas, we can give advice, bait when it comes to us, we can pretend it is not there, we can avoid thinking too much, we can be in denial. It happens. 

It is frustrating to see her not having a proper reaction and the show is not spending too much time on my theory (HA!) but I don't feel like she is being a total fool for not noticing, or being able to notice yet. I think she will notice and will freak out but still make mistakes.

 

Why can't a stalker go after ER? She is so not necessary in this show and the acting is so bad, there is nothing going for her. 

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I guess they were trying to show how the police in this unit are frail and human too, what with all the reactions to skinhead junior's taunts.  Their interrogations went really badly.  I would like to have seen the interplay had Andre Braugher's character had been in there. 

 

Dickish Tracy seemed to be just a bit outlawish himself.  Yeah, he announced himself at the door of the Asian guys's house, but just booms right in with the lights off and wanders around the room.  Plenty of homeowners would have shot first and asked later.  Bad move there, guy, but of course he's the ex's new boyfriend so he's safe for now. 

 

Wife who has been married to former gangbanger and has presumably seen all of his tattoos (sexy times must be interesting but that's a different story), knows his history, sees a couple of skinhead bikers pull up and says "What's going on?"

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OK I totally didn't get that resolution.The asian guy was traumatized by a previous skinhead attack so he concocted this entire thing from the beginning? What about the bikers at the cookout - just a coincidence? I hate that a show this not-good has me perplexed.

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Saddest part of this episode for me us when they butchered "Hungry like the Wolf" by Duran Duran. I grew up in the 80's, how dare them!

I grew up long before you, and yet I was insulted, too.

Bad cover versions are a trope for this show.

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I think (but I was only half paying attention) that the Asian guy found out about the ex skinhead after he ran out in the yard in a towel. This trigger his PTSD and he startred stalking the family, including planting the bomb.

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It didn't make sense that the former skinhead was just now getting around to getting his tattoos removed

It kinda does when you factor in the cost of removing them.  I'd imagine it's not cheap.  He's removing the publicly visible ones first. (Neck/knuckles) Ones you can hide with clothes can wait.

I think the Asian stalker went off the rails when he saw the tattoos and I think it was amplified by a sense of betrayal. He had thought of Mark as his friend.

At the BBQ, when the bikers came up, he felt empathy for Mark. He'd been in that situation, as the victim of a hate crime.

 

I haven't learned all their names yet, but good for the sidekick who provoked the skinhead simply by speaking in Spanish.

BTW, that guy played a serial killer on Dexter, but I can't remember which one.  Help?

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