Comments | amonitrate: We Do What We're Told...Burnett episodes part II

amonitrate

We Do What We're Told...Burnett episodes part II

Feb 18, 2007 11:48

Have a headache, and the cat has taken up residence on my chest, which makes typing a challenge. But I'm game.

So while I watch these episodes I just can't get that Peter Gabriel song out of my head, the one they play during the original Hackman episode when Sonny realizes he's been had. The chorus is an eery voice intoning "We do what we're told ( Read more... )

vice, recap

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And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 22 2007, 18:21:54 UTC

This story arc is crying out for the type of essays that render a person fit for only one thing: grad school. I can see at least 4 separate digressions I could take ( ... )

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Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 02:16:00 UTC

I pulled up my TP DVDs tonight and you're right about Cooper's supervisor not appearing in the Lodge dream connected to Episode 3; also I screwed up on where the Lodge first appears--it's Episode 2, not 3.

I think I'm onto something here, but I'm not sure what. I'm trying to think how they're completely unalike, and I see what you're saying about Gina and Trudy; I don't know what to think of them being veiled either. I'll ponder, but yeah, it's odd. Is them + Caitlyn's absence pointing to Sonny being married to his job, to his squad, more than her?

You've gotta be right about Caitlyn's absence being important to the heart of the amnesia, but I can't put my finger on exactly how. I may just have been bloviating wildly on my lunch hour. :)

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 02:34:12 UTC

Well, I think I'll write more about this later; but I see Crockett's amnesia and becoming Burnett as almost two related things instead of one single event. Amnesia can be physical (due to injury) or psychogenic (due to stress/trauma) as well as messy combinations of the two. Which I think is most likely in this case. I think the injury caused the initial amnesia in Mirror Image; then Crockett's unconscious inability to face what happened to Caitlin and his subsequent murder of Hackman might have caused him to both a)be unable to access his past and b)"create" the persona of Burnett, the one we see in Hostile Takeover, the man in control.

Even when he starts to remember he doesn't have flashbacks to either Caitlin's death or his killing Hackman. Perhaps oversight by the writers; if I'm fanwanking I see it as significant.

More later. It's all about the line he crossed when he killed Hackman and his guilt over Caitie. IMO, of course.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 02:39:25 UTC

I need to get caught up on my MV viewing! I'm wondering if the Hackman/Caitlyn things come back at all from here to Freefall, or at least through Bad Timing. Must. Watch.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 02:53:34 UTC

They don't... it's subtext. Or sloppy writing. You don't just kill off a guy's wife, who was present for half a season, without there being some kind of effect. I think they wanted to simplify the plotline after "Hostile Takeover" - even though they make gestures toward dealing with the aftermath Sonny does seem to get off lightly. I missed taping the ep after "bad timing" so I don't know if there was any Burnett references; it seems to be a Tubbs/Castillo ep, though, from the one description I could find.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 02:59:23 UTC

It would seem weird to have this woman who totally changed Sonny's life get murdered, die in his arms carrying his unborn child, have him hunt and kill the murderer (violating tons of actual and personal laws), give him a PTSD episode arc and then turn around and be like, "And then he and Rico went back undercover and shot some bad guys." I would chalk it up to sloppy writing, but this last season starts to focus on the pain of the main characters so much that I feel like I, as a painintheass fangirlcritic, am missing some central element as to why Caitlyn disappears without a trace. Like if I keep banging my head against Season 5, Michael Mann will appear to me in a dream and explain it all.

He'd even apologize for the movie, which is how I'd know it was a dream. Oh....

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 03:04:58 UTC

Well, Michael Mann wasn't really running the show after season 2 as far as I remember.

There might be more about Caitlin later, I don't remember. But also, this kind of seasonal arc wasn't that common at that time so there might have been network pressure to tie it up. Angel was getting that kind of pressure as recently as a few years ago. Networks like the eps to be standalone, makes syndication easier.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 03:07:14 UTC

But he was responsible for the movie. For that alone he gets to don the robes and make a dreamtime appearance explaining his conduct.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 03:39:56 UTC

oh the movie. I was so disappointed. I don't know why they bothered calling it Miami Vice. Not that I was expecting it to be the same; but.. .but...

I did an image comparison of the two Crockett/Tubbs pairs here:

http://amonitrate.livejournal.com/65435.html

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 03:56:00 UTC

Of course, having said that, I'm watching "Back in the World" and lo and behold, Switek in full leather gear. No, no subtext to see here. Move along.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 02:08:48 UTC

You’ve a great start on #1. I am dying to do that essay on mirrors. I started collecting images at one point from the first two seasons, when it’s especially prevalent. Another time.
Music, ah. That’s a great topic too.

I have no pop culture theory background, so take everything with a grain of salt.

In response to your MV/TP analysis: it seems to me that the similarities speak to something else, something I can’t put my finger on, an overarching theme. Grr. I’ll think more on this.

Some things I noticed:

In the Lodge/Beach, characters who are dead in reality, are free to appear--Laura Palmer as mentioned earlier, and yes, I firmly believe that the veiled man in black on the beach is Zito. Same height/build, only dead main character so far (no, Caitlyn doesn't count. Sorry Sheena.) and, most telling, he's standing next to Switek. Well, I have to disagree that Caitlin isn’t important as a dead main character, because I think she’s at the heart of why Sonny became Burnett. There are also the veiled women, which I took to be Trudy ( ... )

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 02:19:35 UTC

The whole question of whether Burnett is a personality has very little to do with connections to TP, but I wouldn't agree that EvilCooper is the victor. I think there's definitely a parallel with the escape of the doppelganger and at least the struggle to recapture said doppelganger. At the very least both Crockett and Cooper have an extended period where their evil twin is out running around while they've been taken out of the normal flow of things.

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 02:28:18 UTC

yes. But TP ended with Cooper's doppelganger out and himself trapped in the Lodge. At least, that's how I interpreted it. If the show had continued I think there would have been a plot where DoppelCooper was recaptured and contained ( ... )

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us oddmonster February 23 2007, 02:33:56 UTC

That's a very interesting way of looking at the beach, and one that I totally overlooked. Lemme have a think on it and get back to you.

Cooper has helpers up the yinyang in The Waiting Room: once you've seen the whole series, you can actually interpret all the pronouncements by the dwarf as warnings to Cooper about things to come; Laura gives him a hint about the cocaine angle; the One-Armed Man points Cooper directly to Bob, who then goes all mental and admits to killing Laura.

*reviewing TP tapes mentally*

Y'know, we'll have a much better time resolving our doppelganger issues on April 7...

Re: And then it went sort of all meta on us amonitrate February 23 2007, 02:38:36 UTC

really... is something happening on April 7?? Is it the release of TP season 2? I hope I hope I hope? I don't actually have access to TP right now so I'm working on memory here.

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