VMars in review: 1x03 "Meet John Smith"
Nov. 23rd, 2005 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wisdomeagle[spoilers through "Leave It To Beaver". You're familiar with the incestuous themes by now, right. (K/V, D/L, D/V, etc.)]
Deja vu. Googling those lyrics, and thinking about Spike, at the same time. (Just got a reply to a comment in which I mentioned Spike...) OMGWTF?
Anyhow, that aside. I watched half of "Meet John Smith" two nights ago? And the rest last night? I can't remember now! I know I've watched the whole thing, though, and in two parts. So here are some ongoing thoughts on the season:
1. I think this is the episode that really made me fall in love with the show and the characters my first time through. I'll say it again: Duncan sitting on the bleachers with six guys and feeling show-tunes coming on? OMG LOVE. I mean, Duncan isn't perfect, of course, and he's not my favorite character, but nothing makes me love him more than the Grease ref. I really like most of Duncan's arc in this episode, actually. We've got perfect crazy!Duncan -- a little obsessed with his sister, a little obsessed with his half-sister, a little wacky, very spontaneous... just love. Just love all around.
The first time I saw this episode I was really offended by the suggestion at the end that Duncan's decision to go back on anti-depressents was a bad one. But now I'm not so sure. I mean, I still don't think that anti-depressents are bad evil wrong, but I see where they're a part of a culture that doesn't deal healthily with grief. There's something totally twisted about the whole 09er attitude, and that's one of the themes of the show of which pill usage is a symptom. It's not about pills per se so much as it is about Duncan, his relationship with his family, and the culture of narcotics where alcohol-violence-meaningless-sex-pills are solutions to problems. (OMG I sound just like, I dunno, my aunt or something.)
Anyhow, Duncan has these deeply problematic relationships with his parents -- and now that we know the Kanes are innocent -- well, sort of innocent -- their relationship becomes so fascinating, because Celeste and Jake are deeply protective of both their children -- there's that gorgeous scene in "Leave It To Beaver" where Jake Kane tries to, like, kill Aaron Echolls in that, "You killed my daughter prepare to DIE" way -- and yet the relationship is also so unhealthy. Jake is really interesting to me on this rewatch. He seems one of the most flawed-but-not-evil characters we've got; Celeste is more of a one-note character but Jake's motivations seem so much less clear-cut -- his affair with Leanne, his love for his children, his twisted CNP* desire to have Duncan succeed exactly the way he did...
And then there's Duncan, who's stewing in his conflicting desires, his crazy love for Veronica, his subconscious belief that he killed Lilly -- S2 makes us contemplate whether there really is a Lilly!ghost haunting Neptune, but the particularly vivid withdrawl dream scenario seems to make just as much sense here... and oh, the 'cestuous nature of that dream. I'm sure we've all noticed this and squealed.
The Justin and John/Julia storyline is one of my favorite B-plots in the whole season. It's just. Great. I also love the parallels Veronica draws between John/Julia and her mother. And the "Three hours. That's how far your dad drives every week just to see you for a few seconds." !!!!! That's possibly just the best thing ever. It's just fabulous... fabulous.
But the real kicker for me is, of course, "The hero is the one that stays. The villain is the one that splits." I just die. I love that line so much. I love Keith so much. I love that scene where they're almost but not quite honest... I love the way V's still keeping from her father how she's trying to find her mother... I love Keith admitting that V needs someone to talk to and that he can't be that someone. (When he said that? He reminded me of a West Wing character, all competent and with the wordage.
But yeah, my relationship with this show is deeply complex, what with the over-identification with Veronica and her family situation, the love of the 'cest, and, well, that's just about enough complexity, now isn't it? I really really feel the way that the two of them are struggling to make a family, though, and to deal in their own ways with Leanne leaving. Keith moving on, Veronica chasing the storm.
And randomly, there's Wallace, who hasn't yet realized that he's going to be Veronica's gofer and whipping boy this season. I really love that -- that he's so loyal? And that he's got a breaking point and Veronica keeps pushing right up against it.
*Concerned Neptune Parent -- in my hometown, Marlboro, my family called parents like Jake CMPs -- there were a lot of them. The "Doctor Lawyer Injun Chief will my child get into Harvard if he gets a D- in fingerpainting" crowd. Neptune doesn't always seem familiar to me, but in some ways... it's just like home. See also "Kanes and Abel's" and the scholarship competition.
Deja vu. Googling those lyrics, and thinking about Spike, at the same time. (Just got a reply to a comment in which I mentioned Spike...) OMGWTF?
Anyhow, that aside. I watched half of "Meet John Smith" two nights ago? And the rest last night? I can't remember now! I know I've watched the whole thing, though, and in two parts. So here are some ongoing thoughts on the season:
1. I think this is the episode that really made me fall in love with the show and the characters my first time through. I'll say it again: Duncan sitting on the bleachers with six guys and feeling show-tunes coming on? OMG LOVE. I mean, Duncan isn't perfect, of course, and he's not my favorite character, but nothing makes me love him more than the Grease ref. I really like most of Duncan's arc in this episode, actually. We've got perfect crazy!Duncan -- a little obsessed with his sister, a little obsessed with his half-sister, a little wacky, very spontaneous... just love. Just love all around.
The first time I saw this episode I was really offended by the suggestion at the end that Duncan's decision to go back on anti-depressents was a bad one. But now I'm not so sure. I mean, I still don't think that anti-depressents are bad evil wrong, but I see where they're a part of a culture that doesn't deal healthily with grief. There's something totally twisted about the whole 09er attitude, and that's one of the themes of the show of which pill usage is a symptom. It's not about pills per se so much as it is about Duncan, his relationship with his family, and the culture of narcotics where alcohol-violence-meaningless-sex-pills are solutions to problems. (OMG I sound just like, I dunno, my aunt or something.)
Anyhow, Duncan has these deeply problematic relationships with his parents -- and now that we know the Kanes are innocent -- well, sort of innocent -- their relationship becomes so fascinating, because Celeste and Jake are deeply protective of both their children -- there's that gorgeous scene in "Leave It To Beaver" where Jake Kane tries to, like, kill Aaron Echolls in that, "You killed my daughter prepare to DIE" way -- and yet the relationship is also so unhealthy. Jake is really interesting to me on this rewatch. He seems one of the most flawed-but-not-evil characters we've got; Celeste is more of a one-note character but Jake's motivations seem so much less clear-cut -- his affair with Leanne, his love for his children, his twisted CNP* desire to have Duncan succeed exactly the way he did...
And then there's Duncan, who's stewing in his conflicting desires, his crazy love for Veronica, his subconscious belief that he killed Lilly -- S2 makes us contemplate whether there really is a Lilly!ghost haunting Neptune, but the particularly vivid withdrawl dream scenario seems to make just as much sense here... and oh, the 'cestuous nature of that dream. I'm sure we've all noticed this and squealed.
The Justin and John/Julia storyline is one of my favorite B-plots in the whole season. It's just. Great. I also love the parallels Veronica draws between John/Julia and her mother. And the "Three hours. That's how far your dad drives every week just to see you for a few seconds." !!!!! That's possibly just the best thing ever. It's just fabulous... fabulous.
But the real kicker for me is, of course, "The hero is the one that stays. The villain is the one that splits." I just die. I love that line so much. I love Keith so much. I love that scene where they're almost but not quite honest... I love the way V's still keeping from her father how she's trying to find her mother... I love Keith admitting that V needs someone to talk to and that he can't be that someone. (When he said that? He reminded me of a West Wing character, all competent and with the wordage.
But yeah, my relationship with this show is deeply complex, what with the over-identification with Veronica and her family situation, the love of the 'cest, and, well, that's just about enough complexity, now isn't it? I really really feel the way that the two of them are struggling to make a family, though, and to deal in their own ways with Leanne leaving. Keith moving on, Veronica chasing the storm.
And randomly, there's Wallace, who hasn't yet realized that he's going to be Veronica's gofer and whipping boy this season. I really love that -- that he's so loyal? And that he's got a breaking point and Veronica keeps pushing right up against it.
*Concerned Neptune Parent -- in my hometown, Marlboro, my family called parents like Jake CMPs -- there were a lot of them. The "Doctor Lawyer Injun Chief will my child get into Harvard if he gets a D- in fingerpainting" crowd. Neptune doesn't always seem familiar to me, but in some ways... it's just like home. See also "Kanes and Abel's" and the scholarship competition.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-24 05:47 am (UTC)I remember feeling deeply ambivalent about the antidepressants, too, which was probably the point. Presumably he's already taking something, or having some kind of treatment, for the epilepsy? On top of the murder and his sister and all the other issues that crop up in S1. Ouch, ouch, ouch. His mom, however, seems to have this attitude that the pill will fix things--I can't remember if it's in this episode, but the one where his parents are at opposite ends of a very long table while he sits at the midpoint--where they discuss him as though he weren't there...I'm surprised he's not more messed-up. I loved him in the moment he got his dad to step out so he could (finally?) ask the doctor what the effects of going cold-turkey on the medications might be.
Anyway, I love reading your posts--you pick up on so many interesting things. :-)
(Only VM icon I have at present.)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-24 06:08 am (UTC)I also really do love that moment when he has his dad step out of the room. And seriously, I love the way Duncan's all crazy in the head and yet knows that and is trying to figure out what to do about it. You make a good point about Celeste wanting to Make Everything Better with pills, which is so very much like her. I guess it's all about the camera's eye; we've got V's voiceover telling us that Duncan is "pretending that the rubble is still the mansion he remembers" or something, but that's really Celeste's way of looking at it, and her motivations are so much less noble than Duncan's; she'd like a pretty sheen on everything and Duncan's grief offends that sensibility...
I'm glad you're enjoying them; it's taken till this, my third watch-through, for me to really grok some of the subtler aspects of what's going on. And *god* do I love this show. :)