S02.E08: Episode 8

[LydiaMoon1]

The show continues to do a wonderful job balancing people believing themselves to be the heroes of their own stories. [….] It's all so well balanced, with people just not willing to look past their personal biases, like the principal of the other school who truly doesn't understand what the problem was with calling the Hispanic kids "thugs."

 

Except, the principal didn’t call the Hispanic kids thugs.  He said that Mateo acted like a thug when he led 2 other students in beating up the black kid who was friendly with Evie.  Therein lies the problem with this storyline.  The Hispanic students talked a lot about the harassment they’d received, but we didn’t see any of it. We only saw Mateo trying to restrict Evie by declaring her the victim of harassment, even after she dismissed it as no big deal.  If Mateo sincerely thought Evie was harassed, he should have reported it to a teacher or the principal.  Instead, he immediately sought retribution on his own (with the help of two other students).  Of course, he got suspended as a result. That’s why I can’t take this protest story seriously.  It could have been a hard-hitting story about racial discrimination and prejudice.  Instead, it’s Much Ado About Mateo’s Control Issues. 

 

Which brings me to why I’m disappointed at how this season has unfolded.  This season reminds me of my last boyfriend.  It refuses to commit.   Like with the Hispanic student’s protest plot, they hint at a story about discrimination…..but it’s really not.  They start to tell a story about a boy getting raped, except……they don’t.  Rape allegations morphed into a story about bullying and homophobia which pivoted and became the story about a school shooting.  Then, even the school shooting was half-hearted.  It wasn’t a mass shooting.  It was Taylor shooting a kid we barely knew and even that was done circumstantially rather than deliberately.  Now Wes (is that even his name?) is dead. Did anyone have an emotional investment in Wes?  >sigh<

 

I think the show was trying for a story that was complicated.  They gave me convoluted instead.

Edited March 1, 2016 by LydiaMoon1

[RedheadZombie]

Neurochick, please read my above post, consensual sex is not rape, once engaged in the act of sex and your partner doesn't say no is not rape. You really need to know about gay sex and what all that it entails.

With all due respect, one doesn't need to have engaged in male on male sex to question consent. Is a gay person then too ignorant to judge consent in a heterosexual encounter? It bothers me that because Taylor is a male, it doesn't seem to matter that he was drugged against his will, and states that he became unable to communicate prior to penetration. Sounds pretty clear to me that any penetrator, regardless of who he's penetrating and where he's penetrating, is guilty of something when they engage in sex with a partner who loses consciousness. As a society we've come to accept that as truth with females, but not males.

[izabella]

It's weird to me that no one, and I mean no one, seemed remotely interested or concerned that Taylor was drugged or that there were drugs at the party.  Not the police, not the school, not the parents.  Sure, why bother investigating where the drugs came from?  I guess if everyone was A-OK with an annual party that includes alcohol, why worry about drugs? 

[Neurochick]

With all due respect, one doesn't need to have engaged in male on male sex to question consent. Is a gay person then too ignorant to judge consent in a heterosexual encounter? It bothers me that because Taylor is a male, it doesn't seem to matter that he was drugged against his will, and states that he became unable to communicate prior to penetration. Sounds pretty clear to me that any penetrator, regardless of who he's penetrating and where he's penetrating, is guilty of something when they engage in sex with a partner who loses consciousness. As a society we've come to accept that as truth with females, but not males.

 

I think Taylor said something like, "I was too messed up to say yes," or something like that.  But, that doesn't mean Taylor was unconscious.  There's a difference between being "blacked out" and being "passed out."  One is conscious, the other isn't.  A person can be in a drug induced or alcohol induced blackout and appear to be fine.  It's weird, it's like part of your brain goes to sleep, but you give the appearance of being okay; and then, when that part of your brain wakes up, you're like "WTF happened, I don't remember anything."

 

Taylor was messed up on drugs, whether that fact was obvious to Eric when they had sex is the question.  

[Woebegone]

I'm reminded of an episode of Poirot where the titular detective watches a murder mystery play and is convinced a certain character was the killer, only to be very upset when it turned out to be someone else. The writers did a bad job, he said. The murder did not match the facts. I wonder how much of that is applicable here.

According to Eric, Taylor was not only not incapacitated, he was directing the action, telling Eric what to do. I can't reconcile that version of events with Taylor's, where he was unable to call out or do anything more than weakly crawl. Someone is lying or misremembering or something because they can't both be true. Aside from that, the other major discrepancy in their stories is who gave Taylor a drink. Eric says he didn't. Taylor said he did. Again, both can't be true.

Interesting fact though: both versions are consistent with Evy's story. The only testimony not consistent with hers is Kevin's. He says when he saw what was going on with Taylor, he tried to help him. But according to Evy, "No one was helping him." Fascinating, eh?

Edited March 1, 2016 by Woebegone

[RedheadZombie]

I think Taylor said something like, "I was too messed up to say yes," or something like that.  But, that doesn't mean Taylor was unconscious.  There's a difference between being "blacked out" and being "passed out."  One is conscious, the other isn't.  A person can be in a drug induced or alcohol induced blackout and appear to be fine.  It's weird, it's like part of your brain goes to sleep, but you give the appearance of being okay; and then, when that part of your brain wakes up, you're like "WTF happened, I don't remember anything."

 

Taylor was messed up on drugs, whether that fact was obvious to Eric when they had sex is the question.  

 

Taylor said he wasn't able to give consent, which means he was uncommunicative at the time.  He was also unable to walk.  Eric left him crying like a "bitch".  I just don't see how this condition would not be noted by Eric.  I just don't see a female being treated in this fashion.  If she says she was given a drug, then someone had sex with her without her expressing consent, most would see that her partner was in the wrong.  That's my ongoing point with this storyline.  It's really going backwards on what society has learned about date-rape drugs, consent issues, autonomy/agency, etc.

[myopinionisall]

As per Evy, she stated that Taylor didn't have anything to drink prior to leaving her to go with Eric, Eric stated he didn't give Taylor anything to drink prior to sex because he was already bussed, enthusiastic about having sex, however I presume, we see Eric offering Taylor something to drink. As a sideline it takes around 20 minutes for any drug or food to be absorbed into the body. So the question is, did Taylor take something prior to going to the party that Evy didn't know about or did Eric give him something before or after the sex. Like I said it takes around 20 minutes for anything to be absorbed. Like Taylor said to Evy "I got messed up so no one would believe anything happened" ie. between Taylor and Eric, a perfect cover story. Also, anal sex depending who is on top, and how fast they get off, sex could last anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes, and if Taylor was guiding Eric during sex, I don't see how it could be considered rape. I think what really happened, is that when Taylor was confronted by his mother, instead of holding strong, and just saying that he was just messed up with alcohol and drugs, he introduced the idea that he was messed with. Thus giving his mother more ammunition to continue with her rant against the school. Later he knew he made a mistake, and all though the episodes he begs his mother to back away, to stop her rant.

Edited March 2, 2016 by myopinionisall

[RedheadZombie]

I've accepted that we may not see any justice on this show, but I really need the truth.  If not, I don't see myself coming back next season.

[sunnyside88]

I hope we get to see or find out what really happened at the party. I think it should be the last scene of the series so we aren't left with anything or at least not left without answers.

 

[RedheadZombie]

I hope we get to see or find out what really happened at the party. I think it should be the last scene of the series so we aren't left with anything or at least not left without answers.

 

I think that would be brilliant.  Unless it's a Gotcha!  I appreciate those in movies but not my TV shows.

[myopinionisall]

I hope we get to see or find out what really happened at the party. I think it should be the last scene of the series so we aren't left with anything or at least not left without answers.

I believe that I saw on the previews that Taylor Cops to all the lies he has put out their, that would certainly clarify what went on with him, Eric, his mother and the police. One other thing that I would like to add to my other posts is that both Taylor and Eric had computers, where as they both could in the beginning of their sexual quest, i.e. their sexual awakening, probable went to the porno web sights, if, and they probably did, research every sexual position and what happens during, i.e. oral and anal sex. So if this is true, it should be of no surprise as to what to expect/encounter during gay sex. One needs to take all this into account when evaluating what really happened between Taylor and Eric.

Edited March 2, 2016 by myopinionisall

[myopinionisall]

Things that need to be shown to make this show somewhat correct. The private school must go after the person that brought the alcohol, drugs and girls to the captains party, i.e. Kevin, the situation between Taylor and Eric must be resolved, the situation between Taylor and his mother must be resolved, and his mother with the school and police. The situation between Eric and his dad, and his homophobic mother and bother. And the new character, Sebastian must be resolved. I think that's about it, anybody has anything else that I've missed please let me know. Thanks

Edited March 2, 2016 by myopinionisall

[Dowel Jones]

Season 1 should be the example here.  If I recall correctly, not everything was resolved at the end of the series.  It was meant to mirror real life, where closure does not always come so easily.