No, you really don't want to see your housekeeper's body. Holy crap this episode was horrifyingly gross.
It wasn't bad, but especially coming after 'Audrey Pauley', there's just no way I can say it was all that good, either.
At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on. Everything seemed to happen way too quickly. So I thought maybe, especially after we were shown people moving very quickly on the street as he watched his Manson-esque alter-ego across the street, that he was somehow able to manipulate time, or was doing so without realising it. And then, of course, Doggett showed up on the scene as a New York cop barely a minute after the murders apparently occurred.
So I couldn't really tell whose point of view we were supposed to be experiencing or why. It would make sense, at least, if he's losing time and escaping into his alternate personality, that it would seem more or less instantaneous to him, but it certainly wasn't clear until about halfway through the episode.
The bigger question was why, or maybe how. This was a lot like the seventh season episode, 'Chimera', though at least in that one, they actually bothered to explain what happened. In 'Underneath', which is also the title of a much better episode of Angel, there's no such science, no explanation. The only scientific investigation is into the DNA evidence, which at first appears to exonerate Fassl while implicating someone closely related.
So I guess his transformation into Charles Manson (seriously, he looked like Manson, and given the serial killer story here, I think the comparison is apt) somehow altered his DNA. Because that makes sense. Actually, I'm not even bothered by the scientific absurdity of it so much as the fact that it's never really brought up once they solve the case and stop Fassl. Also, "There are many more victims than anyone ever knew," is one of the most disturbing lines ever spoken on The X-Files. Not really something you ever want to hear.
But other than the obvious thing we're shown, which is that the two are the same person, just in different modes, we aren't given much of a reason for it happening. Everyone even sees it. A lot of times the show manages to shield the mundanes from these kinds of phenomena, but Fassl's lawyer is convinced she saw Charles Manson.
Also, speaking of the lawyer, I get that some people are just sociopaths and have an apparently insatiable urge to do harm to others, but Fassl's alternate personality, who was also released from prison, could maybe be a little more grateful than just to go on a new murder rampage right away? I know we're terrible about things like rehabilitation in this country, but still, that's a bit of an extreme case of recidivism in going right after the housekeeper and then possibly the lawyer who got him out of prison. You'd think he might have the sense to wait and try not to get caught. But then, serial killers don't exactly think like normal people, do they?
And the other part of this story is also a very real world, human part, but an unfortunate and disturbing one nonetheless, which is Doggett's partner at the time planting evidence. While I definitely believe that planting evidence is wrong and leads to at best an unfair trial, I can understand the motivations behind it. And in this case, it turns out they actually did catch the killer, even if he had no recollection of having committed any crime and even if he looked like someone else while doing it.
Still, as much as I'm not a huge fan of moral absolutes, I kind of like the way Doggett handled this. For all his faults, he does have integrity and he won't compromise that for anything, not even an easy solution on a case. I'm not sure what it really says, though, that in this particular case, they actually managed to get the right guy anyway. And again, that's something that happens in our justice system. Someone handles one thing improperly and in spite of all other overwhelming evidence, a clearly guilty person is set free. On the flip side, the fact that the legal system depends so heavily on getting things right and reasonable doubt also means that it's harder than it might seem for the police to frame someone who really didn't do anything.
Either way, it's an important look at Doggett's character, even if it comes way too late to actually matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment