S01.E06: The Confession

[formerlyfreedom]

When his stalker ups the ante, Ben accepts Detective Cornell's offer of protection for his family.

 

 

[sjohnson]

Cornell Confidential's glimpse of Christy's brother Michael is suggestive. There's a good chance his attitudes were familial and Christy has been reverting back to them in her marriage. 

 

Kevin being so sure because Elaine is kind of disappointing. How did Cornell get onto the blue jacket?

 

Dave coming out to comfort Ben instead of Christy...is the show saying "Bromance comes before the bonds of matrimony." Or is that just the way Dave feels?

I had thought Dave liked most of all the rent, until the emotional baggage got too heavy.

 

Jess trying to rekindle Ben is a little too much star service for my taste. Ryan Phillippe is hot, and Ben Crawford has his good personality points too, and she's hard up with Scott the PTSD nightmare, and sister Nicole hubby snatching, and Tom dead. But it's been over six years! Was Ben really the only time she enjoyed sex?

 

Elaine's reaction to Ben inconveniencing her neighbors just because he's believed to have murdered a child reminded me of that comment by Mel Brooks...Comedy is when you fall into a sewer and die. Tragedy is when I get a hangnail. I'm not quite sure I buy Kevin getting so worked up over her.

 

The big thing I suppose is Ben buying into the notion that he has been making himself the victim. He is being victimized by Cornell and public opinion. But so far as someone taking care for Tom, Ben has neither the legal authority nor the competence to do so, but everything he sees tells him Cornell isn't doing her job. But irrational feelings of guilt after the trauma of torture seem natural to me. Cornell of course could have kept a tail on Kevin, and since she knew from circumstantial evidence that it was Kevin, should have. I think she was hoping Kevin would break him. Historically people who believe in torture's efficacy nonetheless refuse to accept the failure of torture to elicit the desired answer, so it's doubtful she'll investigate further. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

This episode was sick, sick, sick.  Not the kind of entertainment I was interested in.  I was kind of even enjoying the show up until now.  My stomach is still turning.

 

I think the worst part is I found nothing about the first five episodes tone suggesting that the show would go this far at all.  At least, then, I would know what I was getting into.

 

But it's been over six years! Was Ben really the only time she enjoyed sex?

 

Isn't it the bond over finding out that Ben was Tom's father, and Tom is dead, hence, hoping to bond with the only person around who might understand her pain?

Edited March 30, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Samwil]

When is this all going to start making sense.  I have no idea who did it...None!

 

It's killing me not to look at the spoilers.

 

And, is the reporter stalking Juliet Lewis's character or is something really up with her?

[Emily Thrace]

Jess trying to rekindle Ben is a little too much star service for my taste. Ryan Phillippe is hot, and Ben Crawford has his good personality points too, and she's hard up with Scott the PTSD nightmare, and sister Nicole hubby snatching, and Tom dead. But it's been over six years! Was Ben really the only time she enjoyed sex?

I think its less about sex and more about Tom. I think she feels Ben will understand her pain in way no one else will. I mean she can't go to Scott so Ben would be the obvious choice for comfort. Although I suspect she knew who Tom's father was and perhaps has fantasized more than once about them being their own happy little family. I just don't think she thought Ben would leave Christy and was afraid of leaving Scott (I definitely feel like Jess had legitimate reasons to be afraid of Scott). I also think on some level Ben knew Tom was his. I'm just not sure if it was Ben was just to afraid to admit to himself or if it was an instinctive imprinting response and he wasn't really aware of it. In any case their relationship seems a lot closer than Tom being just some neighbors kid. I think he just feels guilty to admiting it now, like if he had taken responsibility for Tom sooner he might still be alive.

 

Has Jess's sister been cleared? If she was boning Scott than she would have pretty much the same motive as Christy. It could be she thought getting rid of Tom would drive Scott away from Jess and get him to move on with her. Plus as his aunt he would have trusted her and she would have had no problem gaining access to the house.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Emily Thrace

[Sandman]

The episode title might as well have been "The Shark," because, baby, the shark, she is jumped. Waterboarding, really? F*ck off with that, show!

[mertensia]

What the hell? Kelvin's been hugging them for years? What the hell?

Waterboarding? Torture? Teleporting police? I just....What the hell?

Everyone in this city is loco. I suggest tactical nuclear weaponry against the city to solve this.

[Blue Plastic]

Well, that was unpleasant and also just filler.  It did nothing, as far as I can tell, to really move the story forward and was pretty over the top.  I could really have done without the water boarding.  It's like once they got the idea to give Ben a stalker, they couldn't resist devoting most of the episode to horrible scenes of violence.

 

For once, I guess, someone that Ben suspected of wrongdoing really was guilty, though.

[Texasmom1970]

When is this all going to start making sense.  I have no idea who did it...None!

 

This is my main problem with this show. I am not stupid and do not want them to telegraph who the killer is, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to suspects or anything pointing toward the actual killer.

Instead all we get each week is Ben going all crazy on a new neighbor/suspect. And then they through in Juliette Lewis trying go look serious and tough popping up being a pain in the ass not really adding anything.

[mwell345]

 

The episode title might as well have been "The Shark," because, baby, the shark, she is jumped. Waterboarding, really? F*ck off with that, show!

By far, one of the dumbest episodes of any show I have ever watched.  Are they serious with this stuff?  Yes, 5 or 6 episodes in and the shark is doing backflips.

 

To think I stopped my binge watching of House of Cards to watch this. No more.   I'll go back to the Kardashians, at least I expect trash from them.

[mertensia]

I think -as "as already mentioned- systematically showing why it can't be someone every episode so it's *suppposed* to make us wonder more and more about Ben. Instead we sit and think "Yahoo. Oh Yay. More filler. My cup just runneth over. :severe eyerolling:."

I will tell you this: whoever thinks that great directorial work is to have Ben stand around looking perplexed ad nauseum is a terrible director.

[Bobcatkitten]

Ugh that was freaking awful. Not sure I will be tuning in again. 

[sjohnson]

In my opinion the show makes sense so far but like most mysteries it's what's withheld that may not make sense when it's finally revealed. 

In particular, Cornell's reasons for ruling out Jess are kept from us. Or why she's chasing after a blue jacket. Perhaps a nanny cam showed somebody in a blue jacket, maybe even a glimpse of the flashlight (i didn't believe the "forensics" line,) and therefore Cornell ruled out Jess? I'm sorry but if you want senseless, you need to watch The Blacklist or The Following or The Americans or Empire. 

 

As for over the top, the married half-siblings already did that. Waterboarding is pretty much an official policy of the US government. And apparently the majority of people approve of torture of Bad People. Which child killers certainly are. And a cursory inspection of news coverage and a few episodes of Nancy Grace remind us that most people have no problem with presumption of guilt. Actually, the show seriously moderated the emotional impact. For instance it is customary to strip torture victims completely naked to humiliate them. Also, Ben didn't break. Instead, the show had Ben himself agree torture was moral if he was guilty (!) And the show apparently thought it was appropriate to view this as teaching Ben a valid lesson about how he wasn't a victim? Perhaps Cornell's willingness to arrest Kevin was unbelievable. 

 

Is the suspense supposed to be over whether Ben did it? I thought this was more Hitchcockian, the suspense was whether the apparently crazed Cornell would railroad Ben. Each proof of innocence is one less chance to escape. I'm not sure whether sympathy for the victim of police is PC in these conservative times but I think that is what the show is relying on. If anything the show is pulling its punches in showing Cornell as Javert, leaving too much of her character undefined on screen to allow that she might be innocent of railroading Ben. Even the online Cornell Confidential is ambiguous on this (although I was pretty sure that it was Cornell who leaked the story.)

[basiltherat]

I thought that, before Kevin's mad spy skilz were outed, that maybe the stalker (or Cornell) had a bug in the murder weapon flashlight.  And that Ben was being stalked through that.  Since he was clutching it as his talisman, it would be his undoing.  I still think the flashlight may not be the real murder weapon but is being used to trap Ben.  Unless it is meant to be the reddest of herrings.  Oy Show.

[Eegah]

Now, I'm quite certain that no one involved with the show intended to give the message that soldiers who come back from war with PTSD are monsters who don't deserve any sympathy, but if you're going to tackle a topic like this, you need to be pretty darn careful about the messages that can be read into your work. It's like that time an atheist writer managed to make an episode of My Little Pony with the message that scientists should admit that God exists.

[truthaboutluv]

This is what I get from the show - it's called Secrets and Lies and so, while there is the larger mystery of who killed Tom, solving that mystery will also expose some of the secrets and lies of all the people in the neighborhood. So everytime Ben starts suspecting someone, something about them comes out and every episode is basically revealing the secrets and lies of someone else.

 

So the neighbors didn't kill Tom but turns out they're half-siblings married to each other and the husband was fired for some misconduct years before. Suspecting the soon to be ex-husband led to finding out he's been banging Jess' sister. And this week exposed the darkness and secrets Kevin was keeping, that is, he was an interrogator for the military who is clearly not above using violent means to get a person to confess. And next week looks like the focus shifts to Cornell's past. So all that I sort of get. 

 

What I don't get though are the motivations for some of the actions, particularly last night's episode. No amount of spinning made Kevin's actions make any sense. So he knew Ben slept with Jess which disgusted him because Jess's husband was "bravely protecting our country" and how dare Ben have sex with his wife. So okay he didn't like Ben because of that. And apparently he was around to witness some moments of Ben with Tom that upset and hurt Scott's delicate feelings. Okay but where in any of that is proof that Ben murdered Tom?

 

That's what matters here.  All the other stuff is irrelevant to the fact that someone murdered Tom and nothing Kevin said and talked about indicated any reason why he would be certain without a shadow of doubt, that Ben was guilty. Absolutely nothing...Hell if anything, most of his observations and memories just made it look like Ben might have wanted Scott out of the way to have Tom and Jess for himself. So where and how does the leap from that to "Ben killed Tom" happen?

 

And that's what truly bothered me about this overwrought nonsense last night. It just didn't make any sense.  Some guy who was supposedly a trained interrogator for the army, so who's super intelligent and covert, makes that giant leap based on such flimsy evidence? And then proceeds to just lose his damn mind, borderline trying to kill the guy, willing to take him from his two other kids and his wife, again based on what proof?

Edited March 30, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[LoveIsJoy]

It's hard for me to be morally outraged by the water torture scenes considering I'm actively watching a show premised upon the murder of a 5-year old boy.  The episode finally answered the questions about (1) why the neighbor seemed to hate Ben so much, and (2) who the stalker was (and why).  From nearly the beginning, I've not been able to take the show seriously, what with the one-note characters (Juliette Lewis's horrible detective; slacker-bro-in-the-guest-house; and bratty, foot-stamping, flouncing teen who looks all of 25....) and the endless dumb decisions by our hero.  I do really get into some shows and have been gutted by some script choices (Richard Harrow's death in Boardwalk Empire and the Lost finale, to name two).   But I'm not moved by this show at all and am just watching ultimately to find out whodunnit.  At which point, I'll probably quickly forget I ever watched or what it was about.  Just that it sucked, mostly.

[JenE4]

(2) who the stalker was (and why).

 

This show is in my tuck-my-daughter-into-bed timezone, so I've never actually seen an entire episode of this show. I always miss the beginning, and if she gets out of bed, I'll miss other parts as well. So last night I missed the beginning AND when Cornell somehow rescued Ben. However, they explained that it was this neighbor who set up the flashlights in the garage--or just that he put cameras in Ben's house and sent that voicemail to Ben from Ben? I guess if he was spying on Ben then he heard that the flashlight was the murder weapon and thus could have set up the flashlights. But, thanks for mentioning it, because I was still thinking that the real killer is still trying to frame Ben and put the flashlights in his garage. I mean, the real killer at least still put the actual murder weapon flashlight in his truck, though. Is that all the killer was supposed to have done and this neighbor did all the rest of it?

[Etta Place]

So, over the course of the last week my husband and I were debating whether or not to give this show one more episode to do something that would justify continuing to watch it. And we agreed that maybe it was starting to go somewhere with Cornell actually investigating or at least seeming interested in whoever was tormenting Ben. And somehow we forgot all about the torture-y preview for this week's last-chance episode.

 

Which means we watched it, and wasted an hour that we could have saved had we remembered that this could only end badly and/or ludicrously. I wanted to like this show, I really did, but this is where we part ways. I have never posted a "I'm done with this show" message, but I guess doing it now just demonstrates how much I wanted to like it. What a shame it had to be so awful.

[Mama No Life]

I'm going to see it through to the end b/c I feel like I deserve an explanation after suffering through last night.  But damn this show is crap.  Waterboarding? Really?

[Ms Blue Jay]

It's hard for me to be morally outraged by the water torture scenes considering I'm actively watching a show premised upon the murder of a 5-year old boy.

 

For me, it's not necessarily about moral outrage.  It's more about what I visually have to watch.  I didn't have to watch a 5 year old boy being killed to watch and enjoy this show and I don't want to see the torturing either.  I understand what the show is about, that doesn't mean I'm not going to be shocked to see this kind of plot point carried out so graphically on the show.  Maybe I could see the police eventually doing something untoward to get a confession, but some random neighbour?  It was really twisted.

 

truthaboutluv, you make several great points.  To believe the flashbacks, Ben always acted like he adored Tom and played with him and cared for him completely out in the open, not like he treated Tom like a horrible secret to be forgotten.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[sjohnson]

"And apparently he was around to witness some moments of Ben with Tom that upset and hurt Scott's delicate feelings. Okay but where in any of that is proof that Ben murdered Tom?

 

That's what matters here.  All the other stuff is irrelevant to the fact that someone murdered Tom and nothing Kevin said and talked about indicated any reason why he would be certain without a shadow of doubt, that Ben was guilty. Absolutely nothing...Hell if anything, most of his observations and memories just made it look like Ben might have wanted Scott out of the way to have Tom and Jess for himself. So where and how does the leap from that to "Ben killed Tom" happen?

 

And that's what truly bothered me about this overwrought nonsense last night. It just didn't make any sense.  Some guy who was supposedly a trained interrogator for the army, so who's super intelligent and covert, makes that giant leap based on such flimsy evidence? And then proceeds to just lose his damn mind, borderline trying to kill the guy, willing to take him from his two other kids and his wife, again based on what proof?"

 

Just goes to show you, being a torturer suggests to me a person who is a moral imbecile, unfeeling, totally convinced by whatever BS rationale is on offer. And while they may be technically skilled or maybe even cunning, someone who can't be objective or really think through what they're doing, because that's not their job. Or simply a sadist who picked a job in his happy place. But even if you don't agree with that, the whole point to using torture is that torture can get proof that orthodox legal methods cannot. The torturers already know the suspects are guilty, that's why they're using torture. And they also don't have anything we can call proof, or they wouldn't need to use the torture, except to terrorize or for fun. 

Also, for what it's worth, Kevin's feelings were clouding his judgment. He identified so strongly with Scott and hated Ben so much because Elaine cheated on him while he was abroad, as Jess did to Scott.

Edited March 30, 2015 by sjohnson

[basiltherat]

Kevin, it takes two to tango, so why not blame Jess and Elaline as well?  And don't tell me you didn't screw anyone your own damn self all those months and years you were away from your home.

 

Ben's closeness with Tom became even more sympatheic when we saw that Tom was created at the same time Ben's wife was unilaterally having an abortion.  Tom was his balm from that hurt, whether or not he realized he was the bio-dad.

[Sandman]

I'm not convinced that Elaine actually cheated on Kevin, but I don't think it matters one way or the other whether Ben was accurate in supposing that Kevin's motive for torturing him was anger over his own wife's infidelity. I think Ben took a shot in the dark, which may not have landed but which Kevin could have taken as Ben mouthing off to him.

But there was no logic in Kevin's supposing that because Ben is the kind of person who could sleep with the wife of a vet, he must be a complete scumbag who would murder a child. Ben was seen in the neighbourhood being affectionate with Tom; Kevin seems to have guessed that Tom was Ben's child long before Ben ever became aware of it. Kevin assumes (I think) that Tom was a source of shame to Ben, even when Ben openly and frequently behaved in ways that must have indicated his neither suspected Tom was his, nor felt any need to cover

up any connection with the little boy.

Personally, I never imagined that the show was making an explicit connection between Scott's service and possible PTSD and his abuse of Jess (and Tom?). I thought he was supposed to have had a rage problem before his tours.; Did I miss line from Jess about Scott's coming back from service damaged? I might have.

[truthaboutluv]

Personally, I never imagined that the show was making an explicit connection between Scott's service and possible PTSD and his abuse of Jess (and Tom?). I thought he was supposed to have had a rage problem before his tours.; Did I miss line from Jess about Scott's coming back from service damaged? I might have.

 

 

I think there were a few comments that indicated he had PTSD and it's the war that messed him up. Multiple people mentioned how amazing he was, an amazing father, would never hurt anyone - I know the older daughter did, the British neighbors, etc. It seemed like he was a well liked guy so I do think it was hinted or suggested that the war destroyed him which is why he went AWOL.

[Sandman]

I thought the comments of others were meant to be more a comment on how the neighbours didn't really know him, in line with the "Everyone has secrets" motif-slash-anvil.

[Laurie4H]

Why does every show I read about always just having people complaining about how bad the show is but keep watching it? This is the only show lately where my ADD hasn't kicked in so I like it. Kind of reminds me of the first season of The Killing where there was a different suspect each week.

[Fable]

I've mostly liked this show, but this particular installment was completely WTF!  I agree this was a shark jumping event, and if I had to go through a full 22 episode season, I would be out the door.  With only 4 episodes left, I'll see it through. 

 

The only saving grace, for me, was the fact that the reporter has something on Cornell.  Bring it on!

Edited March 31, 2015 by Fable

[mostlylurking]

Kevin:  So what if Ben and Jess were fooling around?  What the heck business is that of yours??  And so he has hated Ben for SIX YEARS over this?!  Issues.  I was actually happy when Ben brained him with that rock, he deserved that and more.  Mind your business old man, none of this concerns you!

 

Ben's a dope and a loose cannon, but as has been the case since the pilot, this episode only served to again make me feel sorry for him and hate pretty much everyone else.  Still.  Some more.

[Sandman]

Was Kevin at the dinner party? Is that how he knew about the flashlights? Or was Ben's garage filled with flashlights by someone else (presumably the killer)?

It's hard not to wish that Ben would exhibit a little more self-control, but apparently he lives in a neighbourhood filled to bursting with crazy, dirty-minded douchecanoes. So, yeah -- hating everyone else, trying maintain sympathy for Ben, who's no one's enemy but his own.

[truthaboutluv]

No, Kevin was not at the dinner party. I'm not sure but I think it was leaked to the media that Tom's death was due to blunt force trauma possibly caused by a flashlight. I may be way off but I swear I remember Ben or someone else watching a news broadcast where the reporter mentioned this. So while Kevin may not have known about Ben's flashlight missing, just knowing that's the assumed murder weapon, he put it in the garage to mess with Ben. 

Edited March 31, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[Mama No Life]

So Ben hasn't noticed that Kevin hated him until Tom was killed? Huh?

[nkotb]

I'm in this show until the end, too. Although we do watch this show every Monday night (how'd we live without DVRs?) I actually just thought about checking this forum for the very first time today, and my initial reaction is "wow, you guys sure do remember the characters' names way better than I do". Ben, Cornell & Monkey, that's all I got. I had to go back and look up some of them, becasue "Laura Ingalls" was on a different show, as was "Doc" from "Third Watch", and none of you mentioned either of them. In my defense, Ryan Phillippe is just so distractingly beautiful, I can't always be bothered to remember anyone else in a scene with him.  

[chlban]

I'm going to see it through to the end b/c I feel like I deserve an explanation after suffering through last night.  But damn this show is crap.  Waterboarding? Really?

I just watched the show having recorded it on Sunday. I had to ask myself several times WTF? I have started so many shows in the last year only to be totally disappointed by them. This, sadly, still isn't the worst, but it's bad. Still, I think I am kind of where you are, but I would respectfully recommend recording it to watch later. Trust me that fast forward feature works and you will still understand it a much as if you suffer through the whole hours.

 

I've tried it both ways.

[chlban]

I'm not convinced that Elaine actually cheated on Kevin, but I don't think it matters one way or the other whether Ben was accurate in supposing that Kevin's motive for torturing him was anger over his own wife's infidelity. I think Ben took a shot in the dark, which may not have landed but which Kevin could have taken as Ben mouthing off to him. But there was no logic in Kevin's supposing that because Ben is the kind of person who could sleep with the wife of a vet, he must be a complete scumbag who would murder a child. Ben was seen in the neighbourhood being affectionate with Tom; Kevin seems to have guessed that Tom was Ben's child long before Ben ever became aware of it. Kevin assumes (I think) that Tom was a source of shame to Ben, even when Ben openly and frequently behaved in ways that must have indicated his neither suspected Tom was his, nor felt any need to cover up any connection with the little boy. Personally, I never imagined that the show was making an explicit connection between Scott's service and possible PTSD and his abuse of Jess (and Tom?). I thought he was supposed to have had a rage problem before his tours.; Did I miss line from Jess about Scott's coming back from service damaged? I might have.

This.  Considering how much cheating we have all seen, even if it's only in the news, I don't think anyone would believe that cheating on your spouse=Child killer. I mean, really? Bill Clinton, JFK, Brad Pitt, all potential child killers? That is so beyond absurd it doesn't warrant comment, much less and entire episode.

[sjohnson]

Kevin believes Ben murdered Tom because everybody believes Ben murdered Tom. That's what the media are implicitly saying (leaving a legal out by not saying so in words.) And it's what Cornell has clearly communicated to everyone in the neighborhood by the things she's done, like repeatedly coming back to his house etc. Kevin doesn't need any evidence for Ben's guilt, nor does Kevin need to consider any alternative possibilities. Kevin knows Ben is a Bad Person and Bad People do not deserve presumption of innocence. Nancy Grace makes a living from this principle. Kevin hating Ben personally (and Ben knew this, there was even some throwaway dialogue in previous episode) is just why gets of his ass and does something about it, instead of just ostracizing Ben. 

 

Also, fundamentally torturers are neither good nor intelligent. So I don't see it as intrinsically unlikely that a torturer might want to hurt someone he hates. Nor do I see it as intrinsically unlikely he would no more trouble himself about real reasons to judge said person guilty than he did about any of his other victims. Plus, Cornell's friendly warning (I saw the body language) to Kevin was in context close to an invitation.

[nara]

So Ben hasn't noticed that Kevin hated him until Tom was killed? Huh?

 

First of all, our Ben isn't the brightest of bulbs, so he might not have noticed.  Also, it's likely that Kevin's dislike was more hidden until the murder. 

 

I actually thought that the shark-jumping happened last week with the super-tech-savvy-master-criminal (see the comparison's to Pretty Little Liars in last episode's thread), so I was pleased to see it quickly resolved, waterboarding notwithstanding. 

 

Biggest disappointment was that I thought that Kevin had "real" evidence that Ben was guilty (like seeing him stumbling drunk into Jess's house the night of the murder) so his strange assumption of guilt because Ben slept with a soldier's wife was a let down.

 

I did like the idea of Ben and Cornell having a rapprochement of sorts (due to her offer of protection and her eventually saving him) only to be immediately split apart by the reporter's interest in proving something against her.  I hope that Ben is smart enough to check if the reporter has a personal axe to grind, but I fear that he is not.

 

I also liked the moment when we realized that Dave had inadvertently brought the flashlight back into the house.  I let out a "No!" when that happened.

[Turtle]

I like this show, and I don't even know why. But this episode was tough to watch, mostly because (as someone mentioned above) it felt like a totally different show. So dark, literally and figuratively, and not nearly as whodunnit-ish as the previous episodes. I'm not saying it's been great drama or anything, bu I've enjoyed it for what it is. But tonight seemed like a completely different show, and I didn't really care for it. Going to stick with it because I'm hoping this was a one-off, and because I'm curious about Cornell. I've thought something was off about her from the start, but I also thought it could have just been because Juliette Lewis annoys the crap out of me and this seems to be some of her worst work.

I honestly don't know who to suspect at this point. Or rather, I suspect everyone a little bit but no one a lot.

[CaughtOnTape]

Why does every show I read about always just having people complaining about how bad the show is but keep watching it? This is the only show lately where my ADD hasn't kicked in so I like it. Kind of reminds me of the first season of The Killing where there was a different suspect each week.

 

Not only that, but why all the outrage about a scene depicting torture and waterboarding?  This is a show about the murder of a 5 year old boy and the lies surrounding the main character who has had the finger pointed at him.  If there wasn't some screwed up crap going down in the neighborhood between the neighbors then we'd get what?  Some scenes of kids playing and a few more neighborhood barbecues.  

The point of the show, I think, is that not everything is as it seems.  Who would've ever suspected Kevin of having been involved in the torture of prisoners during war and being seriously unhinged?  No one.

Who would've ever suspected that a married couple were actually siblings?  No one.

Every character on the show has something to hide and so they are.  What that's telling me is that NONE of these people have any right whatsoever to be pointing a finger at Ben for THINKING he's killed Tom when they have their own shady shit happening because if the tables were turned, Cornell could walk into their lives and make some innuendos about why it's plausible THEY could have killed Tom.  Just like she's doing to Ben.

 

I like the show.  I wasn't offended by the waterboarding.  Hey, at least it was almost an entire show of Ryan Phillippe shirtless.  I don't care what they're doing.....

Edited April 3, 2015 by CaughtOnTape

[LeGrandElephant]

I suppose I could arguably be offended by the torture scenes, but honestly I was mostly just bored by them. It took up so much of the episode and was not at all interesting, I was playing with my phone during that whole part.

I did think Ben would confess under torture, on video, and then have to explain he really didn't do it but it was just the torture and threat of death. Thst could make an interesting point about how torture can often result in false information and false confessions. But instead we get the usual TV trope that torture works, because good people will endure torture and risk death to avoid confessing to somethung they didn't do, and presumably bad people who did do a crime will confess under torture. So that was also boring and slightly offensive.

Seems like the show might be slowly going towards Ben and Cornell being allies in the end.

[Madding crowd]

I really dislike torture scenes and especially hate when innocent people are being hounded or tortured. Ben is certainly getting in way too much hell in penance for committing adultery. I believe he is really sorry about his one night stand, and to think his neighbors and pretty much every one hate him so much is just a bit crazy.

 

I do want to find out who did it though and hope Ben gets somehow exonerated. I also think he needs to move on from his marriage, his wife seems cold and doesn't seem to care about him or his feelings. We don't know the whole story, but it looks like she just decided on having an abortion without his input. I know it is a very complicated matter and I strongly believe in the right to choose, but I also think the father's opinion should be considered and weighed in the decision. 

 

Juliette Lewis continues to scowl her way through every performance. She is the wrong person for this part.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Madding crowd

[Fable]

I suppose I could arguably be offended by the torture scenes, but honestly I was mostly just bored by them. It took up so much of the episode and was not at all interesting, I was playing with my phone during that whole part.

 

I wasn't offended either, but I agree, I was bored.  Maybe it would have been more tolerable if it hadn't taken up the entire episode.  It just seemed like there was no plot or character development, just a bunch of torture porn.  Worst episode of the series, if you ask me! 

[Mmazeo]

Man, show not showing our servicemen in a very good light. Scott, the wife beating adulterer and now this nut job freak Kevin. Guy treats his neighbor on his suburban street like a confirmed jihadist and uses the local abandoned warehouse as an Abu Ghraib type deal. Jeez

Still liking the show despite this silly episode. Very intrigued by the ending.

[sasha206]

I wasn't offended either, but I agree, I was bored.  Maybe it would have been more tolerable if it hadn't taken up the entire episode.  It just seemed like there was no plot or character development, just a bunch of torture porn.  Worst episode of the series, if you ask me! 

 

I wasn't offended either.  I just thought it was beyond credulity.  I mean, come on.  It was flat out ridiculous.