Caltrops - The Netflix Instant Forum





	[quote name="fabio"][quote name="Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS)"][quote name="fabio"] [quote]Some unlikeable douche is on the lamb from the government[/quote]Bzzzzt! Sorry, thanks for playing and we have some nice parting gifts. First, he was not 'on the lam,' Michael Westen was essentially placed in the same status that the intelligence community would do to any members of the Impossible Missions Force who were caught or killed: "disavowed." As the story points out, once Westen escaped back to the United States they "dumped" him in Miami and wanted him stuck there. If they had wanted him dead or in jail they could have made him that way or put him in prison. [/quote][/quote] Being able to leave your apartment and go outside might seem like the ultimate freedom to your persona, but most people would consider an FBI tail never allowing you to leave the city tantamount to imprisonment. House arrest at worst, living with parents at best. [quote]Second, he isn't "unlikable," you get to realize the guy is complicated and you see that he tries to do the right thing, including avoiding killing people. That gives him that slight edge that makes you want to like him. The producer took another page from <i>Mission Impossible</i> in that - like the character of Batman - Westen never crosses the line: he never kills anyone. He has only killed one person directly, and that was while the person was trying - and almost succeeded - to kill him. And it wasn't murder, he only killed the guy because he was still trying to do the same to him. [/quote] The thing is the whole helping people out part isn't believable. A retroactive attempt to make his character likeable. I never bought it and it's a feeling never shaken even after an entire season. They introduce him as a John Edwards caliber douche making money drops to Nigerian warlords then immediately transition him to readily helping elderly widows for $250 a week ($500 per job, half of jobs payment refused. Those sangrias they suck down are $10 each!) while continuing to be a John Edwards douche. There's no Col Hannibal paternal warmth for his comrades, just an emotionless sociopathic drive to use them as assets, reluctantly helping them with favors only because it'd mean losing them as tools to be used if he didn't. It becomes apparent around the 5th time his "friends" and family are put in danger by association. Each time he realizes he must break off contact and distance himself to keep them safe...for about 5 minutes before going back to using them. The season 1 to 2 transition was the height this silliness. It's hampered by being a primetime show. If they had just gone with the opening tone they could have had some season 1 Dexter spy action. [quote]Westen's actions in not killing people mirror something that the IMF also did with lots of other people; they would get them to betray their organization and be left holding the bag, whereupon that person's organization would dispose of the person - usually by killing them, although it's not explicitly stated - off-camera.[/quote] From the guy who equated drunken hookups to rape, setting someone up to be certainly murdered by others is pretty much murder in itself. Arguably in the legal sense (first degree), definitely in the moral sense. Someone didn't do enough 60s television research. IMF framed people so it wouldn't be traced back to their government, not out of any moral obligation. They stated such right in the 2nd episode, man! [quote][quote]Every time I want to believe television has gotten better, I remember that Mission Impossible never had to freeze frame on every new character entrance to put their name and "title" up in subtitles. [/quote]It's a gimmick, and as you seem to have pointed out - then subsequently forgot - it provides a bit of comic relief. [/quote][/quote] I got the intention, thanks. Much like calling the cops over pot in <i>Breaking Bad</i>, it still counts as a strike.[/quote]