Caltrops - The Netflix Instant Forum





	[quote name="Mischief Maker"]...because it's <I>real!</I> It's a reality show about crazy people who hoard shit, regardless of whether its actually valuable or even if it's harmful. It starts out merely playing on the claustrophobia element. Shit is just piled up to your waist, the cameraman is having trouble keeping his balance, people are precariously walking down basement steps completely covered with soiled clothes. Then it plays up the filth element. Childrens' rooms are strewn with month old cheereos, cat litter boxes are overflowing, rotten squashes have melted into the hardwood. Then they focus on the food-hoarder woman and I was screaming and shielding my eyes when the cleanup guy scoops a decayed pumpkin off the floor with a shovel and the woman says, "wait! Let me see if I can salvage some seeds!" and starts picking through the rotten mess with her fingers. This is "Two Girls One Cup" for germophobes. What's even better are the people enlisted to help these miserable bastards. Guys who specialize in cleaning out condemned homes run outside dry-heaving. Psychologists wearing nice clothes who are doing this show to get exposure for their practice stand bolt-upright trying their damndest to appear serene and supportive when every square foot of these houses makes their gorge rise. "Are you sure you want to keep this milk? It expired 3 months ago." "If it isn't puffy, it's still good!" The Hoarders just shrug their shoulders at it. The big common element I've seen out of them is they all seem to be children of poor parents, especially depression-survivor parents, and the big thing with the shit they accumulate is that they got it for cheap or for free and they're hanging onto it "because they might find some use for it." It's kind of sad, these people are usually dirt-poor because of all the money they spend on shit when it's sales-priced, but the reason they accumulate this shit is as a cushion against poverty in the first place. Once the (literal) shit starts getting shoveled out of their house the Hoarders start freaking the fuck out. One guy with 5 empty fishtanks in his house, some of which are cracked, gingerly agrees to let the tanks get removed from the house. He asks what's going to happen to them and when he learns it's getting taken to the dump he blows his stack. "No! I thought they were going to be put to some use!" The food hoarder has the contents of one of her fridges sitting in an ice chest outside. Everyone but her is leaning away from the chest and the smell that emanates from it. Her son tells her "mom, I'm not letting you eat any of this. I'll buy you some new food." She all but cradles the box of rotten food to her chest defensively. "I don't want you spending your money on me! Let me just look through to see if there's anything that's still good!" Yeesh! The things that fear of poverty will drive some people to do. And this was just the pilot! It was certainly a harrowing experience to watch, but I wouldn't call it wasted. As I type this post with raw hands, every dirty dish in my apartment has been cleaned, my junk mail pile has been sorted through, and the bathroom tile I've been putting off cleaning is sparkling.[/quote]