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dangermousieI watched Return of the Kane last night. This is yet another ep (like WoC) where the B plot is what makes the ep, no matter how good the A plot is (I love the Wanda/pirate points story, but for me, this ep is all about Logan and Aaron).
Thoughts on rewatch? It's just as great and as hard to watch as it was the first time. In fact, that scene with Logan at the end remains one of the only two scenes in VM that not only make me acutely uncomfortable to watch but also make me peer through my fingers and feel faintly sick. The other one is Dick's behavior to V at Shelley's party (I know they would never do it because they like Dick's secondary character assholish clowning too much, and because I don't see V as telling him in detail about the night unless pushed very hard, but I would love to see Logan finding out about Dick's role in V's rape. He cut Dick dead and told him to get out when Dick only said something about V. If Logan finds out about the party stuff, Dick is looking at some medical attention).
But yes, the scene at the end. Horrible, horrible, horrible. There is so much wrong about it, but oddly enough, it's not the beating itself that is the worst (to me), even though I have problems with corporal discipline in any event, and I am certainly appalled at it being used on a 17 year old (four year old? OK. 17? No way), not to mention that I am still horrified that we see Logan take his shirt off so Aaron is whipping his back which is just...Anyway, there are three things that bother me even more, and here they are in order from most to least:
1. The fact that his mother, his mother is sitting right outside the door, immaculately dressed, not a hair out of place, sipping her drink and looking peaceful and relaxed (probably with the help of various substances) as she listens to the blows Aaron is delivering to Logan, in the next room. That, to me, is the most horrifying thing about the whole thing.
2. The fact that Aaron makes Logan pick the belt. Somehow, if Aaron took off his own belt to beat Logan it would freak me out less. I just find it sadistic, to make the victim pick the method of his punishment. Logan's face in his father's closet just kills me. He is both steeling himself, and is terrified and resigned. And the fact that he is picking the belt like this, no fuss, routine, tells its own terrible story.
3. The reason Aaron is punishing Logan. It's not for anything wrong that Logan had done (bumfights) it's for showing him up in front of people and pledging some of his money to charity (that Aaron can well afford) in a way that leaves Aaron unable to back out. I don't' think Aaron would care if Logan was Jack the Ripper as long as it didn't embarass him or cost him anything.
And this episode reveals and explains so much about Logan. No wonder he is a messed up kid, above and beyond Lilly's death. Look at his family! This ep actually continues the theme of being made so much by our backgrounds and circumstances and how our environments shape us. Logan (unlike Veronica or Duncan) has no signposts about how to be a good human being. He has no role models, he has never been brought up in any way, he has no guidance. He has to learn about being a person on his own. And the fact that he can do that, the fact that Logan, messed up as he is, is the person who takes the gun away from V in NP and who takes such care of her, heck, the fact that he is actually a person, not a psycho of some variety, is pretty amazing. And of course RotK explains so much about Logan's driving need for love: he gets none at home, after all.
His behavior with the veteran bum actually shows he is capable of learning. He is intelligent and can think about himself and be introspective (unlike someone like Dick who will never change because he cannot comprehend things enough to think about wanting to change. He would be uncreative even in crime, actually). He can do, and has done, wrong, but he is capable of changing and repenting and bettering himself. And if and when he realizes he did something wrong, he owns up to it (e.g. telling V about GHB), he doesn't cloud himself with self-delusions. I think Logan is clearer on what he wants, really.
I love love LOVE Harry Hamlin as Aaron. He is just perfect and he both amuses me and freaks me the hell out. That scene where Logan comes home, holding his shoes in his hands? He is terrified out of his wits and during that whole scene with Aaron, you can see him hunch his head in, trying to shrink into himself, become inconspicuous. And his reaction by being pushed by Aaron is (before the end) appears disproportionate but...
Also, I've noticed this time that Aaron has picture of himself all over the house (in the above scene he is sitting next to a portrait of himself). Quite telling.
And of course it's this ep that brings to the forefront theme of parents and fathers (which continues into S2). We have the excellent father (Keith), we have the flawed (pushing his son too hard) but loving father (Jake) and we have the father from hell (Aaron). I love the conversation Jake and Duncan have in the car (and not just for the foreshadowing with the 'beach bum' and 'find something you are passionate about' stuff), because you see the easy love and care the two have for each other. I actually really love Jake, and I love that with all their flaws, family is paramount to the Kanes (which is why I think they take care of on the lam Duncan though we see no evidence one way or another. How would he get $$$ otherwise. I get the feeling sooner or later stuff will get cleared up and D will come home). And the bitter irony in Keith's jokey statement (when V makes desert for dinner) that if child services found out, they'd come and take her away, when contrasted with the fact that child services certainly should have taken Logan away from his parents but no one would even look at them because of money and prestige.
Overall, VM makes me think of a pond after a rock thrown in. All we really see are ripples from one traumatic event (Lilly's death) but the more we watch, the more we discover what it was like before this explosion (I also love how VM shows that normal people get really screwed up by traumatic events). We don't get a capsule summary of each character at the beginning, the way so many shows do it. We are shown a glimpse and then we gradually piece together the person. Veronica at the pilot is not who Veronica is or will be, it's who she is at that moment. And the same is true for Logan and everyone else. They are people in flux.
I also love the fact that RT does not hammer the abuse point home, and that it's not used to excuse but to explain Logan.
Thoughts on rewatch? It's just as great and as hard to watch as it was the first time. In fact, that scene with Logan at the end remains one of the only two scenes in VM that not only make me acutely uncomfortable to watch but also make me peer through my fingers and feel faintly sick. The other one is Dick's behavior to V at Shelley's party (I know they would never do it because they like Dick's secondary character assholish clowning too much, and because I don't see V as telling him in detail about the night unless pushed very hard, but I would love to see Logan finding out about Dick's role in V's rape. He cut Dick dead and told him to get out when Dick only said something about V. If Logan finds out about the party stuff, Dick is looking at some medical attention).
But yes, the scene at the end. Horrible, horrible, horrible. There is so much wrong about it, but oddly enough, it's not the beating itself that is the worst (to me), even though I have problems with corporal discipline in any event, and I am certainly appalled at it being used on a 17 year old (four year old? OK. 17? No way), not to mention that I am still horrified that we see Logan take his shirt off so Aaron is whipping his back which is just...Anyway, there are three things that bother me even more, and here they are in order from most to least:
1. The fact that his mother, his mother is sitting right outside the door, immaculately dressed, not a hair out of place, sipping her drink and looking peaceful and relaxed (probably with the help of various substances) as she listens to the blows Aaron is delivering to Logan, in the next room. That, to me, is the most horrifying thing about the whole thing.
2. The fact that Aaron makes Logan pick the belt. Somehow, if Aaron took off his own belt to beat Logan it would freak me out less. I just find it sadistic, to make the victim pick the method of his punishment. Logan's face in his father's closet just kills me. He is both steeling himself, and is terrified and resigned. And the fact that he is picking the belt like this, no fuss, routine, tells its own terrible story.
3. The reason Aaron is punishing Logan. It's not for anything wrong that Logan had done (bumfights) it's for showing him up in front of people and pledging some of his money to charity (that Aaron can well afford) in a way that leaves Aaron unable to back out. I don't' think Aaron would care if Logan was Jack the Ripper as long as it didn't embarass him or cost him anything.
And this episode reveals and explains so much about Logan. No wonder he is a messed up kid, above and beyond Lilly's death. Look at his family! This ep actually continues the theme of being made so much by our backgrounds and circumstances and how our environments shape us. Logan (unlike Veronica or Duncan) has no signposts about how to be a good human being. He has no role models, he has never been brought up in any way, he has no guidance. He has to learn about being a person on his own. And the fact that he can do that, the fact that Logan, messed up as he is, is the person who takes the gun away from V in NP and who takes such care of her, heck, the fact that he is actually a person, not a psycho of some variety, is pretty amazing. And of course RotK explains so much about Logan's driving need for love: he gets none at home, after all.
His behavior with the veteran bum actually shows he is capable of learning. He is intelligent and can think about himself and be introspective (unlike someone like Dick who will never change because he cannot comprehend things enough to think about wanting to change. He would be uncreative even in crime, actually). He can do, and has done, wrong, but he is capable of changing and repenting and bettering himself. And if and when he realizes he did something wrong, he owns up to it (e.g. telling V about GHB), he doesn't cloud himself with self-delusions. I think Logan is clearer on what he wants, really.
I love love LOVE Harry Hamlin as Aaron. He is just perfect and he both amuses me and freaks me the hell out. That scene where Logan comes home, holding his shoes in his hands? He is terrified out of his wits and during that whole scene with Aaron, you can see him hunch his head in, trying to shrink into himself, become inconspicuous. And his reaction by being pushed by Aaron is (before the end) appears disproportionate but...
Also, I've noticed this time that Aaron has picture of himself all over the house (in the above scene he is sitting next to a portrait of himself). Quite telling.
And of course it's this ep that brings to the forefront theme of parents and fathers (which continues into S2). We have the excellent father (Keith), we have the flawed (pushing his son too hard) but loving father (Jake) and we have the father from hell (Aaron). I love the conversation Jake and Duncan have in the car (and not just for the foreshadowing with the 'beach bum' and 'find something you are passionate about' stuff), because you see the easy love and care the two have for each other. I actually really love Jake, and I love that with all their flaws, family is paramount to the Kanes (which is why I think they take care of on the lam Duncan though we see no evidence one way or another. How would he get $$$ otherwise. I get the feeling sooner or later stuff will get cleared up and D will come home). And the bitter irony in Keith's jokey statement (when V makes desert for dinner) that if child services found out, they'd come and take her away, when contrasted with the fact that child services certainly should have taken Logan away from his parents but no one would even look at them because of money and prestige.
Overall, VM makes me think of a pond after a rock thrown in. All we really see are ripples from one traumatic event (Lilly's death) but the more we watch, the more we discover what it was like before this explosion (I also love how VM shows that normal people get really screwed up by traumatic events). We don't get a capsule summary of each character at the beginning, the way so many shows do it. We are shown a glimpse and then we gradually piece together the person. Veronica at the pilot is not who Veronica is or will be, it's who she is at that moment. And the same is true for Logan and everyone else. They are people in flux.
I also love the fact that RT does not hammer the abuse point home, and that it's not used to excuse but to explain Logan.
