S01.E10: A Cry For Help

[formerlyfreedom]

After a series of harrowing attacks befall two seemingly random victims, the TAU desperately searches for a connection between them before the elusive stalker strikes again.

 

 

[Pepper the Cat]

Booooring.

I felt no connection to the victims or stalker. And the whole timeline confused me. Why wait so long for retribution? Why now? Why not years ago?

I am not sure why I am still watching

[MomHasCooties]

Yay Beth!  You finally asked for help!  You still need a very large dog.

[Texasmom1970]

Positives:

Glad when Beth told her friend she didn't go into denial and defend the crazy!

No Elizabeth Rohm, she drags down the show big time!

Negatives:

Did not like the victims, wait criminals, whatever I hate that all three of them couldn't be charged with something. Stupid statute of limitations!

[joelene]

'Twas alright. The stuff with Beth, Her Friend and Her Stalker (someone write a script for Lifetime) was good. The case was a bit weak but I liked that they got the rapist on charges in the end. I liked Beth's fight with the stalker even if I was scared she might break one of her arms in half while fighting her.

Elizabeth Röhm is being phased out, right? The producers gotta know her character ain't working out.

I hope they up the situation with Beth's stalker (I really need to start learning these characters names, I only know Beth and Janice) now and that it's over well before the season finishes so we can move on to the next person on the team being stalked. We all know it's gonna happen once Beth's stalker is disposed of.

Edited December 4, 2014 by joelene

[Whimsy]

Booooring.

I felt no connection to the victims or stalker. And the whole timeline confused me. Why wait so long for retribution? Why now? Why not years ago?

I am not sure why I am still watching

 

I agree, it was boring.  I guessed the high school connection as soon as the girl at the salon was attacked, but I thought it was due to bullying or something.

 

They did explain why it was so long for retribution, though.  The friend (Meg?) turned into a drug addict after the rape and died recently.  Her death was the catalyst for the attacks.  Still found it boring and dumb, though. 

 

I also don't get why Beth can't just get whats-his-name thrown in jail.  He is a habitual stalker.  He needs to be put away.

[shrewd.buddha]

I'm liking the progress on the Beth-Stalker story line -- I was dreading that it would drag out all season .. But I suppose parts of it still could. 

 

We were yelling to the television because this week's stalker/victim got into a hand-to-hand fight with Beth-Nikita!! No way Nikita was going to lose -- but it was weird how they were done just as the other police officers showed up (that's TV trope for you ..). 

 

There was also some eye-rolling when the petite Stalker-of-the-week (and victim!) was manhandling the two 200+ pound men. A black belt in karate gives you skills, but not super strength... 

 

To me, the show seems be be hitting its stride. It's the sort of guilty pleasure I can live with (can't handle ABC's over the top soap opera style shows). But I do wish that CBS procedurals would add just a bit more realism when it comes to how slow and messy the legal system can be. I'm sure it's more satisfying to have the episode end with a clear resolution and a bow on top (Beth delivers justice to the stalker/victim before she even gets charged with a crime!).  ...But I think it might be more attention-getting to show how horrifyingly ineffectual the legal system and law enforcement can actually be at times.  

Edited December 4, 2014 by shrewd.buddha

[thuganomics85]

I did like some stuff in this one.  I did like that Beth's friend automatically believed her about Perry being a stalker (granted, with all that evidence, how could she not?).  I also liked that instead of going the obvious route of having Beth finally relent and ask Jack for help, she went to Janice instead.  I hope this gives Janice more to do; although, I certainly hope this is going to end with something crazy like Perry hurting or even killing her.

 

I guess the he case was interesting in that the "victims" were actually criminals that did a horrible act, and the "stalker" was a victim, but nothing about it was too surprising.  I figured they would capture her in the end, but find a way for the rapist to still go down.  Although, it sounds like the bus driver and hair-stylist are still going to escape.

 

The Beth fight scene was fun, but they clearly aren't up to Nikita standards.

 

Another episode with no Elizabeth Rohm.  Why is she a regular, again?

[TaraS1]

Like shrewd.buddha, this show has turned into my guilty pleasure procedural.  The writing isn't great, but I like Maggie Q and the rest of the supporting cast enough to make up for that and for my dislike of Dylan McDermott.  And heck, even he has been less annoying in these last couple of Rohm-less episodes.  It's kind of nice to have a show that you're mindlessly entertained by, but have no emotional investment in.  I tried that with Elementary and ended up hating everything about that show except Lucy/Watson, so I'm happy to just go through the motions with Stalker.

 

I really like the actress playing Beth's friend. I thought she did a nice job with the reaction to finding out who Perry really was, and as others said, I liked that she believed Beth right away, realized he'd gotten the alarm code from her phone and was so apologetic.  The guy playing Perry is great too, I'll miss him when he eventually has to die.

[webruce]

Beth broke the news to Tracy Wright about 'Brody". Told her that he was actually Perry Whitley. It is good that she believes Beth, her old friend, instead of she can't believe her nice boy toy could be so bad. Tracy also won't think that Beth is jealous of her happiness. Some shows go to far on that line of thought. I worried that Perry would hurt Tracy. He still might. But her turning him off, must have made him aware that Beth told Tracy? How did he know Beth knew? His in public talk to her made him think he was safe. But Beth's warning had to spook him. "People are watching!" Beth's reply, "They won't always be!" Perry returns with, "I can't wait!" To me either the guy is naive/stupid, or over confident.

Nice that all 3, Jack,Janice, and Ben can see something is up with her. Also nice that she finally confided in Janice. But will someone be hurt before Perry is taken down?? Also surprised that Beth did not tell Dep. Chief Diane Kindrick about this last confrontation? Does she have someone investigating Perry? Or some Detectives/PD watching him?

The COTW was interesting. First the bus driver Henry White, had sex on his bus with Nora Garcia. Then he thought she came back later and beat him up. A 2nd time she nailed his hands to the head boards.But we saw not much blood on the head board. There was more on the pillows. He swore to Police that it was Nora. Was he just not wanting to admit it was former school mate Cori James, or did he really think it was the same girls he was with on the bus? The 2nd victim was Hairdresser Sophia Mason. This was after he colored (Danielle),Cori's hair blonde. Sophia should have called 911,and turned on the lights as soon as the hairdryer turned on. Granted she would have not stopped Cori, but it may have scared her a bit. Cori threw bleach in her eyes, stripped her and cut her hair. Hubby Scott, was there at hospital. Should have figured something was up. Barbara James, the mom, tells about Cori and her friend Meg that were raped at a school dance. Meg had since ODED and Cori went on a rampage. The blackened out pictures in the School Yearbook helped a lot. She is a black belt. It took a long time for the team to get Sofia and Henry to admit what happened. So the nailed hands was for Henry holding Meg and Cori down as Scott Mason raped them. He wanted to be cool. And the liquid in the eyes of Sofia for just watching her bf rape them. She didn't want to loose him. So Cori at the bar is picked up by Scott. But when they make out at the Botanical Gardens he knew who she was. But she holds him in the pond to try and drown or make him confess? Also trying to cut off his thing was a good idea, lol I liked the chase and fight between Cori and Beth. Cori not wanting to hurt her and Beth replied you won't. Cori tells Beth in interrogation that she wouldn't ask for help. I said to the screen, "Listen to her Beth!" She was afraid of what her mom would think. I thought maybe Barbara would come and talk her daughter into telling the whole story. Lucky the 3 didn't get off on the case. Scott it was found, raped a 15 year old also. So atleast Scott goes away.

[william0102]

So glad they had Beth go to Janice for help and not DM's character. We got some (way too short) fighting! I don't care, I was happy to see Maggie get to do some fighting, even if I know she can do much more than what was shown.

Didn't really care about the case of the week, although the "stalker" made me feel sympathetic for her, so I was happy Beth found a way to charge the rapist. I wish there had been some way for the writers to make me feel sympathetic for the wife. In theory I should have felt bad for her, the rapist has been her entirely life basically, and probably has slept with her when she hasn't wanted- which is rape, and he hurt/raped all these other girls throughout their entire marriage. I should have felt sorry for her, but I didn't. Would it have been too hard during the attack at the salon to have her call out her husband's name kind of fearfully? She can be scared of him and still "love" him. I think the writers were trying too hard to keep the husband's secret for their  "big shocking reveal", and it really hurt the rest of the story.

I'm not looking forward to next week if I have to see DM's character and the kid together on my screen for more than 2 minutes.

Edited December 6, 2014 by william0102

[gaPeach]

How did neither one of the classmates not recognize her?  I could see if the bus driver guy didn't but the hair stylist??  She saw her face and talked to her how could she not know who it was?   I don't think you would forget the face of a girl you helped your boyfriend/husband RAPE.  And its not like she could have repressed the memory she married the rapist!  Which to me she is worse than the rapist because she is female and should have some kind of empathy towards the rape victim.  She was a cold bitch.

[henripootel]

I also don't get why Beth can't just get whats-his-name thrown in jail.  He is a habitual stalker.  He needs to be put away.

I'm getting a bit weary of the notion (especially in Beth's case) that stalkers are somehow imbued with ninja skills and can do pretty much whatever they want (until after the last commercial break).  Modern surveillance systems must make it pretty hard for these guys and trespassing alone is a serious offense.  Not only that but changes in the law make it easier for homeowners to have guns, and more likely to shoot you cuz they know they'll probably get away with it.  This whole notion that all good people can do is stand there and take it as they creepily menace you is simply ridiculous, but then this show also pulled out the 'rich folks can get away when guilty of murder' trope too. 

 

I too wonder why I'm still watching this show.  For a show that is ostensibly anti-violence-towards-women, it sure does relish its scenes of violence towards women.  

[Mmazeo]

Wish there was a general discussion thread to put this.

I like the show, I do, but I do wish they occasionally changed the formula. Like maybe don't always bust in just in time. Maybe have them be a second too late once and show us how they react to that. Maybe have a case go on for 2-3 episodes. Give us a "talented" stalker that stumps this crew.

Easily the best thing going is the deal with Beth and her friend and the freak kid, but I'm afraid the big discovery just came and went with not enough attention to it.

Oh well. I'll keep watching. I'm enjoying the cast and some of the weekly cases have been somewhat interesting. Could be much better though.