Post by queensgirl on Apr 22, 2006 9:16:09 GMT -5
This episode is different from the other one that deals with religion, ‘In God We Strongly Suspect.’ After what seemed to be a truce of sorts at the end of that one, where they got tired of fighting over the subject and just let each other alone, the wound is reopened and suddenly it’s all guns blazing again. This is disturbing.
David starts insulting Maddie when they’re in the car. She hadn't said much to him, except for her wanting to take the case, and that seemed to be a business matter to her. (Newsflash, Dave: she can do that, she owns the company.) Then he starts calling her a heathen and whatnot, which seems not only contradictory to his words at the end of ‘In God,’ “Everybody’s got to make up their own mind,” but is flatly just rude and obnoxious. I don’t mean in just his usual kidding-around way. I mean it sounds like he really hates that about her. He accuses her of thinking she knows everything, of ignoring his personal feelings about the case, and generally not understanding or respecting religious people.
In this he’s a bit of a hypocrite because he’s the last person on Earth who should lecture anybody about morality, and he is taking out on Maddie what is actually his own individual antipathy at the priest’s behavior. Maddie does not believe what he wants her to believe or act the way he wants her to act, but at least he sees her every day. He can’t go ahead and start a fight with the priest, so he uses the nearest convenient target. That’s lazy and cowardly, and just plain mean-spirited. (If she’s such a bad person, why’d she continue to offer him a job despite how they’re always getting into trouble? She stamps your paychecks, buddy—I’d be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you.)
Later in the episode, Maddie actually says she doesn’t think she knows everything. She even tries going to confession, which she doesn’t have to do, especially after David was so rude to her, and even this doesn’t provoke an apology or other acknowledgement out of him. Not cricket!
Also, David ignores the fact Maddie went along on many cases that she found morally objectionable. She didn’t like a lot of the cases, but she’d finish them because he bugged her about it, or she thought she had to in order to “get it over with” and do something for the business. Here, however, for once she is not being a prude, or not so much that she won’t have anything to do with these people. Instead, it’s David’s turn to be paralyzed by the emotional stress. I don’t think Maddie ever really said that she liked what the various people were doing, not in so many words; so why does David jump to the conclusion that she doesn’t even care about the ethical issues at hand? It’s an unfortunate habit of his that whenever pressure and confusion build up over some topic that causes him a lot of pain, he’ll get all angry and squall at somebody else, and whoever crosses his path may have had nothing to do with the original problem. We all get angry, sure, but thrashing around like a loose cannon is unfair and doesn’t solve anything.
Note the contradiction, that David never offers to respect Maddie’s point of view (not since the end of 'In God,' anyway) and never asks her why she’s happy being a nonbeliever, what books did she read about the subject, anything like that. He never goes with her to check out any places or people that have something to do with her beliefs. He can dish it out, but he can’t take it. David charges Maddie with feeling superior to him (I’m not sure that she does), meantime, he clearly feels like his beliefs make him better than her…but that’s okay!
Maddie actually has more trust in the priest than David does. David, perhaps seeing his own persona in this interloping man, guesses that McDonovan is more interested in winning the attention of the woman than anything else including church responsibilities. Maddie’s the one who says McDonovan is an adult who has to take care of himself.
David has a problem with someone he trusts ruining his image of them. Remember how bad he felt when Jillian left. He also said something, unexplored but very telling, about his father “never paying attention” to him and his brother, when he first got to the party in 'The Son Also Rises.' Later on we will see him consumed by anger and jealousy when Maddie rekindles her interest in Sam. David wants to be around people he can trust, and he gets very hurt when his hopes are dashed. It’s been noted that Maddie often looks at people through rose-colored glasses, simplistically hoping for the best from them and not prepared for the other side of human nature, but Dave can fall victim to this attitude too. David sometimes wants other people to “carry” him, and when they let him down (as he perceives it), he takes it as a personal betrayal and lashes out at them.
Although the anger cools off again by the end of this episode, and they go back to their working relationship, flare-ups like this ought to warn you that there’s a reason the old joke says don’t discuss politics or religion.
David starts insulting Maddie when they’re in the car. She hadn't said much to him, except for her wanting to take the case, and that seemed to be a business matter to her. (Newsflash, Dave: she can do that, she owns the company.) Then he starts calling her a heathen and whatnot, which seems not only contradictory to his words at the end of ‘In God,’ “Everybody’s got to make up their own mind,” but is flatly just rude and obnoxious. I don’t mean in just his usual kidding-around way. I mean it sounds like he really hates that about her. He accuses her of thinking she knows everything, of ignoring his personal feelings about the case, and generally not understanding or respecting religious people.
In this he’s a bit of a hypocrite because he’s the last person on Earth who should lecture anybody about morality, and he is taking out on Maddie what is actually his own individual antipathy at the priest’s behavior. Maddie does not believe what he wants her to believe or act the way he wants her to act, but at least he sees her every day. He can’t go ahead and start a fight with the priest, so he uses the nearest convenient target. That’s lazy and cowardly, and just plain mean-spirited. (If she’s such a bad person, why’d she continue to offer him a job despite how they’re always getting into trouble? She stamps your paychecks, buddy—I’d be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you.)
Later in the episode, Maddie actually says she doesn’t think she knows everything. She even tries going to confession, which she doesn’t have to do, especially after David was so rude to her, and even this doesn’t provoke an apology or other acknowledgement out of him. Not cricket!
Also, David ignores the fact Maddie went along on many cases that she found morally objectionable. She didn’t like a lot of the cases, but she’d finish them because he bugged her about it, or she thought she had to in order to “get it over with” and do something for the business. Here, however, for once she is not being a prude, or not so much that she won’t have anything to do with these people. Instead, it’s David’s turn to be paralyzed by the emotional stress. I don’t think Maddie ever really said that she liked what the various people were doing, not in so many words; so why does David jump to the conclusion that she doesn’t even care about the ethical issues at hand? It’s an unfortunate habit of his that whenever pressure and confusion build up over some topic that causes him a lot of pain, he’ll get all angry and squall at somebody else, and whoever crosses his path may have had nothing to do with the original problem. We all get angry, sure, but thrashing around like a loose cannon is unfair and doesn’t solve anything.
Note the contradiction, that David never offers to respect Maddie’s point of view (not since the end of 'In God,' anyway) and never asks her why she’s happy being a nonbeliever, what books did she read about the subject, anything like that. He never goes with her to check out any places or people that have something to do with her beliefs. He can dish it out, but he can’t take it. David charges Maddie with feeling superior to him (I’m not sure that she does), meantime, he clearly feels like his beliefs make him better than her…but that’s okay!
Maddie actually has more trust in the priest than David does. David, perhaps seeing his own persona in this interloping man, guesses that McDonovan is more interested in winning the attention of the woman than anything else including church responsibilities. Maddie’s the one who says McDonovan is an adult who has to take care of himself.
David has a problem with someone he trusts ruining his image of them. Remember how bad he felt when Jillian left. He also said something, unexplored but very telling, about his father “never paying attention” to him and his brother, when he first got to the party in 'The Son Also Rises.' Later on we will see him consumed by anger and jealousy when Maddie rekindles her interest in Sam. David wants to be around people he can trust, and he gets very hurt when his hopes are dashed. It’s been noted that Maddie often looks at people through rose-colored glasses, simplistically hoping for the best from them and not prepared for the other side of human nature, but Dave can fall victim to this attitude too. David sometimes wants other people to “carry” him, and when they let him down (as he perceives it), he takes it as a personal betrayal and lashes out at them.
Although the anger cools off again by the end of this episode, and they go back to their working relationship, flare-ups like this ought to warn you that there’s a reason the old joke says don’t discuss politics or religion.
I would not call David a fanatic, IMO he was just wrong about insisting on calling it God.
