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Post by LOCIfan on Nov 13, 2006 0:16:20 GMT -5
Excellent, Janet! I especially noted your insight on young Henry, I missed that bit about his eating first, before looking for help--hmmm...more thinking about the "Head vs. Heart", push and pull... I liked this part of janet's analysis too. It makes sense that Henry, whose primary caretaker was emotion-driven Charlene would have been influenced by that and would grow up to know that his mother is mercurial and that he can't get all worked up every time she pulls a melodramatic stunt. So I can see him waiting to call 911 until after he'd eaten all the food.
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Post by Patcat on Nov 13, 2006 10:18:51 GMT -5
Yes, Janet, a great post as usual. But your analysis does bring up my one serious qualm with this episode--I do not understand what brought Adlai and Charlene together.
Patcat
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Post by caseyswife on Nov 13, 2006 12:11:26 GMT -5
Janet, thank you so much for your insights. You always make me watch these episodes with a different eye and see things in a new and interesting way. And I agree with my fellow posters - I hadn't thought of poor Henry's eating all the food before calling 911 as an indicator of his development until you pointed it out so eloquently! Kudos to you, girl, and I look forward to your take on the rest of S6... caseyswife
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Post by sobergal95 on Nov 13, 2006 17:29:02 GMT -5
He likes to be needed and she is needy? I think Goren says something to that effect. Jules, Adlai's father also makes a comment to the effect: "When Adlai commits to something its final". (not quite the exact words). They went to marriage counseling and he wanted to talk about the lover. Goren describes her as a full on borderline. My mother is diagnosed with "Borderline Personality Disorder", though I am not entirely sure that's what she has. I've done some reading and after this episode some more quick reading on the web, and I would imagine when the couple first met, Charlene's "dramas" were somewhat exciting and passionate for such a straight arrow as Adlai. I would think escpecially with a child, he felt the need to stay and try to "fix" everything; it seems his past MO as well. My mother still sometimes tries to create "couple drama" despite the fact she and her last husband divorced 7 or 8 years ago and he has remarried. I'm not so sure my mother fully falls into the diagnostic pattern for this disorder, but she certainly comes close. Also, they tend to be what the pros call "crazy making", where they are able to shift the blame for their erratic behavior onto you so it (whatever the nutty situation is) becomes your fault. The trick is to create boundaries (and trickier maintaining them) so that it doesn't effect you too much. I'm still in therapy and actually living with my mom right now, so give me a few more years and I'll let you know if I get better. As for the little boy eatting the food, I can imagine that over the couple days, Charlene did reply with something like "Mommys busy, make yourself something" and having lived with her all his life it wouldn't seem all that wierd to him to do so. Unfortunately, I foresee years of difficulties ahead for young Henry.
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Post by LOCIfan on Nov 13, 2006 23:58:55 GMT -5
Yes, Janet, a great post as usual. But your analysis does bring up my one serious qualm with this episode--I do not understand what brought Adlai and Charlene together. Patcat Patcat, I've read that buttoned down, straight arrow types frequently end up with borderline partners. Sort of an "opposites attract" kind of situation. The borderline gets stability from the straight arrow and the straight arrow gets excitement from the borderline. In this particular relationship, I think Adlai was attracted to Charlene's ability to express and act on her emotions without shame, as well as her ability to break the rules without shame -- both things it seemed Adlai had difficulty doing. And the fact that she was always manufacturing situations that required him to "rescue" her. He seemed to have something of a white knight complex, coming to Ted's rescue, the rescue of the little children on the reservation, rescuing Charlene (maybe initially from what she described to him as a bad relationship). To Adlai, I could see Charlene seeming like an unpredictable breath of fresh air. I can picture the way these two came together at the beginning of their relationship. I also got the impression that they actually enjoyed each other's company. Adlai obviously loved Charlene, and while Charlene had a funny way of showing it, she seemed to act out only when she felt she wasn't getting enough attention from Adlai, as opposed to acting out in ways intended to push him away. For her part, I think Charlene was attracted to Adlai because he was so steadfast. There was practically nothing she could do that would drive him away. No matter how she tested him, he remained steadfast. She pissed off his entire family (including mighty Jules), she remained steadfast. She'd made "suicide" attempts before, he remained steadfast. She had an affair, he remained steadfast. The ONLY thing that ultimately succeeded in pushing him away was his death. And that was something she, in true borderline fashion, fantasized out loud about in the presence of the wrong obsessive compulsive loon. My 2ยข
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Post by Patcat on Nov 14, 2006 9:47:35 GMT -5
I could see Adlai marrying a graduate student with Charlene's characteristics, but I still wonder where he would have met her. I see two people with absolutely nothing in common.
But it's a minor point really for the story, which I like a lot.
Patcat
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Post by sarahlee on Nov 14, 2006 22:33:15 GMT -5
Opposites attract...
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Post by deathroe on Mar 31, 2007 13:47:01 GMT -5
Wasn't able to find this elsewhere in the thread, but I apologize if it's been covered:
Bedfellows and Hitchcock's *Strangers On A Train*:
I rented this because I wanted to see if there were connections other than the overt storyline (in the 1961 movie, a man meets a tennis star on a train and suggests that they commit "criss cross" murders that would improve their lives. "Bedfellows" uses the same story line, with two sisters-in-law who "need" murders committed; there is a direct reference to *Strangers on a Train* in the episode's denouement when Goren finds the movie, which Lina has rented for Charlene, in Charlene's home.)
I found that there were two ways in which the writers used *Strangers On A Train*: (1) motifs and (2) family figures and relations.
(1) motifs:
(a) carousel--carousel music is used extensively in the murder and final scene in *Strangers*. We see the two young boys on a carousel in Bedfellows. (b) tennis--we see the brothers, Ted and Adlai, playing tennis in the first scene in Bedfellows. In *Strangers*, the protagonist is a tennis star.
(2) family figures and relations: more complex adaptation, but still credible borrowing.
(a) In *Strangers*, the protagonist's girlfriend's father is a Senator who declaims truths, somewhat like Adlai and Ted's father. (b) There is a focus on sisters in *Strangers* because the girlfriend's sister helps to discover the murderer. (c) The antagonist wants the protagonist to murder his father.
More directly: (d) The protagonist's wife is a chronic cheater, similar to Charlene.
(to reference another thread ... I couldn't find anything about water or a watering can. I might not have been looking hard enough.)
I have twice as much as this on an index card. I'll add to it when I get someplace with a power outlet *g* I thought Bedfellows was a neat twist on a classic movie, even if, as with certain others of the endings on CI, it suffered from being somewhat contrived.
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Post by DonnaJo on Mar 31, 2007 14:31:18 GMT -5
So, instead of a "ripped from the newspaper headlines" plot, we had a "ripped from the video store" plot. Seriously, excellent job, deathroe! Such research. It appears you are as obsessively in love with CI as the rest of us. Wow, they really borrowed quite a few characters & ideas from the movie. I wish I would have been familiar with the film before seeing this episode. It would have been more entertaining watching it with that knowledge in mind. Question...Is there a character in the movie like Goren? An Inspector or Investigator who is on the case?
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Post by Patcat on Apr 1, 2007 5:26:24 GMT -5
Good analysis, but just a couple of points. I think the Hitchcock movie was made in the 1940s--one of the leads of that film, Robert Walker, was dead long before 1961.
And that film is based on a novel by, I think, Patricia Highsmith who specialized in squirmingly ambivalent characters and situations.
Patcat
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Post by deathroe on Apr 1, 2007 9:03:37 GMT -5
'51! Please excuse me--I was typing fast and still am
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Post by deathroe on Apr 1, 2007 11:08:28 GMT -5
There are two police inspectors in the movie who follow the protag. around, but they're not Goren-like that I could see. I have more notes on the similarities to post or to add to my last post ... somewhere in a stack of index cards on my floor *g* It's a good movie although not my fave Hitchcock. I would like to read the original Patricia Highsmith book that Patcat mentioned. ""Ripped from the video store"--I love it. I do find CI's borrowings obsession-making (among other characteristics)--"Cruise to Nowhere" from last year is very clearly ripped from *Hamlet* ... that's another one that springs to mind
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ladyday
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 53
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Post by ladyday on Apr 2, 2007 7:08:02 GMT -5
Deathroe, I enjoyed your analysis of the similarities of the movie and the episode. I saw the movie many years ago, but recall many of your points. I look forward to reading the rest of your "report".
Regarding how the "opposites" found each other to attract, I suspect that Charlene spied the shy historian perhaps at some social function with her physician fiance. Her stock and trade is manipulation to get her needs met. It would be foolish of her to "act out" with Adlai showing all of her emotional deficit, until she gained his trust.
Being in beauty pageants and sales work, she would need to know how to present a package, herself. She would also need to understand how to assess a mark. It would be difficult for Adlai to conceal his pathology of being a "fixer". He would see no need to attempt to deceive her.
She would appear lovely, vulnerable, and in need of saving from a "bad relationship", when in fact, she was merely trading up.
However, I must add that Charlene appeared more concerned about her emotional need than those of her husband, child or lover. She was upset that her husband died and left her. She was likewise upset about Lena taking her son because she did not want to be alone. She was clueless that Henry lost his only dependable parent. She made no attempt to comfort him.
Even though there was a great sum of money at stake, her emotional needs were paramount.
Between Charlene and Jules, poor Henry is destined for many years of therapy, if he is lucky. If not, there will be serious problems. His poor little cousin doesn't stand a chance. Father dead, mother in prison for killing his father and beloved uncle. Grandfather, probable guardian, making him the resident scapegoat.
It was an interesting episode. I always love Rip Torn.
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Post by DonnaJo on Apr 2, 2007 8:23:14 GMT -5
When Goren remarks, "The problem with being a scapegoat is that you get tired of being blamed for everything," he is not just talking about Jules. His expression indicated that he knows the feeling all too well, either from his father or his mother, or perhaps both.
Perhaps, like Goren, the scapegoat grandson will overcome his obstacles and turn out to become a stable, responsible adult.
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Post by Patcat on Apr 2, 2007 8:26:14 GMT -5
Goren--responsible yes (maybe too much so)--stable, well most of the time...
Patcat
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