Of Swords and Parasols

pics 's lengthy-ish pimp post.

In between finishing The Inside and my writing about it, prozacparkhad me watch P2 a movie featuring Rachel Nichols (also the star of The Inside) running around in a lowcut white dress (after being put in the dress by what may have been her rapist) through a parking garage in a neverending state of eroticized terror. I’m told Rachel Nichols actually made them tone that down. Needless to say, between that and the supergruesome deaths and gratuitous bloodsplatters, I was reminded of what I don’t often watch thrillers or horror movies.

Anyway, the movie made me realize that, for all the blonde heroine of The Inside has a tendency to be terrorized and/or abducted, it’s never sexualized. In fact, you could say it’s desexualized. Which is oddly refreshing.

Anyway, The Inside is not my typical kind of show. The series is about the FBI’s special Crimes unit, headed up by a man named Web. Web is most kindly described and diabolical. He believes that the best people to solve crimes are people with severe issues themselves. His crowning achievement, therefore, is personally stamping the approval papers of Rebecca Locke. When she was 10, Rebecca was kidnapped and held captive for 18 months, until she returned home by herself, with no memories of the time she was gone. Needless to say, that leaves you with Issues, and Rebecca has grown up with not only a severe detachment from the world, but also with a detachment from any sense of self or identity.

At first glance, Rebecca is rather bland and foolish, almost a stereotype of the female lead who can’t stay out of trouble. After a few episodes, however, it becomes clear that that isn’t what’s going on. In fact, she seems to throw herself into the role of victim, not because she wants to be a victim, but because she can bring the victimizer down from that perspective, as she did once before. Early in the series, she says that the person truly in control of a situation is the apparent victim, and for her, at least, that’s true. That, however, is only the tip of the iceberg of crazy that is Rebecca Locke, and the 13 episodes really only begin to delve into her issues.

To be honest, I hated most of the episodic plots, no matter how well done they were. The focus, however, was not on the Killer of the Week, but on what dealing with the Killer of the Week does to a person. And now, a roll call in pictures.

( pictures )