Post by queensgirl on Apr 16, 2006 20:51:12 GMT -5
I’ve been watching the early episodes lately, and I’ve noticed something. More than a few times, it seems Maddie worries primarily about whether she finds what the client and/or victim did to be ethical or not, and she’ll talk about for whom she feels sympathy. Being able to justify a person’s actions can be a big problem for her. Later on, this changes a little: note her acceptance of the McLafferty case even though she doesn’t seem to like any of the people involved. Whereas Dave, by contrast, is more businesslike and often opts to take the case no matter whether he finds the clients tasteful or not. It’s not that he doesn’t have sympathy or compassion, I think he looks at it the way cops or lawyers do—you have to do your job, there are certain procedures that must be carried out in order to work, and that’s that.
It seems Maddie often wants to trust people, once they’ve told her their story, and she can be pretty shocked to find out they were up to no good. Either that, or she intensely dislikes them from the beginning, as with Mr. Bower in “The Man Who Cried Wife.” At times like that, it’s hard for her to feel sorry for anyone, and keep her personal anger out of the way, even though certain facts may come up that affect the atmosphere of the case. (Such as, Mrs. Bower was cheating, which in most people’s minds is no ‘reason’ to beat and murder someone but sheds a little light on why James was so angry.) How many times does she say, “We are not taking this case”? It’s a black and white world for her.
In a lot of the cases, there is no clear “good guy”—in true film noir fashion, almost everybody has a bad side! Conversely, once she finds out some of the “behind the scenes” story, she can change her feelings, from abject disgust when she first hears about Paul McCain’s personal behavior in “The Next Murder You Hear,” to being wrapped up in the romanticism of his storytelling once she’s heard his tapes. I wonder if this is because she’d been in the modeling world, having a lot of fun up until the crime that happens to her at the beginning of the pilot, and before that, she maybe didn’t have as much experience with the flip side of human nature. David, on the other hand, had to grow up working-class, in a much different world, and he also had spent a few years as a detective before she walked in the door.
In fact, both ways of thinking, creative and realistic, can be useful, especially when you deal with cases that are based on emotional motives—such as cheating, or cheating that leads to violence. People do a lot of things based on feelings and gut reactions. (Men and women both.) So it’s not as if she’s a third wheel all the time. It’s just that, especially early on, Maddie seems to want so much for things to turn out well. She sort of digs for that good person buried in all the mess, and can be mighty let down when they’re not as they seem. She’s hopeful almost to the point of being a touch innocent, as when she has to figure out what her father did in “Every Daughter’s Father is a Virgin.” No one wants to think bad things about their own dad, but the way she talks about the matter, for most of the episode she’s in denial. She wants to wish it away, rather like she’s a younger girl, still at home and actually thinking of these people the unknowing, ‘surface’ way that kids first become acquainted with their parents. (What? Mom and Dad are part of the real world and sometimes they do bad things? Oh no! They’re going to break up! They’re going to leave me!) It’s as if she doesn’t want to acknowledge that even ‘nice’ people can do ugly things, and she wants to be protected from this aspect of them. Or, she expects people to react one way all the time, always good or always bad, and she doesn’t see that they may be some of both. As she gains experience as a detective, things change a little, but it takes time.
Maddie is very skeptical in certain matters—religion, spending decisions for the company, etc.—but not in others. For all that she’s sometimes labeled cold and unemotional, it’s clear that it’s not true—it’s just that her emotions tend to come out in the case. They are reflected in the way she reacts to the people around her.
It seems Maddie often wants to trust people, once they’ve told her their story, and she can be pretty shocked to find out they were up to no good. Either that, or she intensely dislikes them from the beginning, as with Mr. Bower in “The Man Who Cried Wife.” At times like that, it’s hard for her to feel sorry for anyone, and keep her personal anger out of the way, even though certain facts may come up that affect the atmosphere of the case. (Such as, Mrs. Bower was cheating, which in most people’s minds is no ‘reason’ to beat and murder someone but sheds a little light on why James was so angry.) How many times does she say, “We are not taking this case”? It’s a black and white world for her.
In a lot of the cases, there is no clear “good guy”—in true film noir fashion, almost everybody has a bad side! Conversely, once she finds out some of the “behind the scenes” story, she can change her feelings, from abject disgust when she first hears about Paul McCain’s personal behavior in “The Next Murder You Hear,” to being wrapped up in the romanticism of his storytelling once she’s heard his tapes. I wonder if this is because she’d been in the modeling world, having a lot of fun up until the crime that happens to her at the beginning of the pilot, and before that, she maybe didn’t have as much experience with the flip side of human nature. David, on the other hand, had to grow up working-class, in a much different world, and he also had spent a few years as a detective before she walked in the door.
In fact, both ways of thinking, creative and realistic, can be useful, especially when you deal with cases that are based on emotional motives—such as cheating, or cheating that leads to violence. People do a lot of things based on feelings and gut reactions. (Men and women both.) So it’s not as if she’s a third wheel all the time. It’s just that, especially early on, Maddie seems to want so much for things to turn out well. She sort of digs for that good person buried in all the mess, and can be mighty let down when they’re not as they seem. She’s hopeful almost to the point of being a touch innocent, as when she has to figure out what her father did in “Every Daughter’s Father is a Virgin.” No one wants to think bad things about their own dad, but the way she talks about the matter, for most of the episode she’s in denial. She wants to wish it away, rather like she’s a younger girl, still at home and actually thinking of these people the unknowing, ‘surface’ way that kids first become acquainted with their parents. (What? Mom and Dad are part of the real world and sometimes they do bad things? Oh no! They’re going to break up! They’re going to leave me!) It’s as if she doesn’t want to acknowledge that even ‘nice’ people can do ugly things, and she wants to be protected from this aspect of them. Or, she expects people to react one way all the time, always good or always bad, and she doesn’t see that they may be some of both. As she gains experience as a detective, things change a little, but it takes time.
Maddie is very skeptical in certain matters—religion, spending decisions for the company, etc.—but not in others. For all that she’s sometimes labeled cold and unemotional, it’s clear that it’s not true—it’s just that her emotions tend to come out in the case. They are reflected in the way she reacts to the people around her.