Clip of the Day, Feb. 19, 2011

I don't know how this happened but I must have forgotten to put up TWO clips yesterday....so I will do two today. Besides, I LOVE THIS PART of the story so much.



OMG. Here is where Rebecca starts to realize that she's basically a goner. Todd has a "final solution." It's SO beautifully and painfully unwrapped by Roger here. I think some of us have already discussed what he "really meant" but to me, it's very clear that his intentions were to kill her and turn the gun on himself. It gives me chills thinking about it, since we hear stories like this in the world around us. What do I really think? At the last minute, he would not have been able to take her life. However, I am pretty sure he would have taken his own.

Now onto the clip standout moments. Even as she is crying after seeing the gun and realizing what he means, he comforts her. OMG. No one could have played this QUITE the way Roger did. He's just got the ability to be so much in one minute.

"There is a way for us to stay together. Let's go to the back room." Poor Rebecca, she is so lost here. She's sure that it's the end for them. And she was probably right if not for . . . knock knock knock......POWELL. (WHO SENT HIM???? I mean why not send someone, anyone, else???)

"Your father wants to see you."

"He wants to see me dead. He wants to see me in prison."

"I'm not kidding you, the guy's a total wreck."

Softens. "What's wrong with him?"

These three sentences and how they are delivered say so much. Todd sees his father as hating him, wanting him gone, and at the same time, his first impulse is to ask what has happened to him. Typical abusive parent-child situation.

"Save your soul, Todd."

"You can't save what you don't have anymore." Whoa. He's at rock bottom. I do love this whole thing.



I JUST LOVE when Todd lets Rebecca go. Before he does, you just get the feeling he is going to shoot them, and then...MY MOMENT! He grabs her and kisses her forehead that way he does and if you were not in love yet, it's over now. That forehead kiss and his obvious love for her shows the viewers that he is NOT the monster we think. He's a monster of a different kind, more of a Frankenstien than a Dracula, if you catch my drift. He's not cold-hearted and ruthless, he has compassion and love in him, and Rebecca has put it there. Bravo to these two and LONG LIVE THIS STORY! And if you can think of something more beautiful than this man's face, just let me know what it is.

It almost seems that directly after she leaves, he is resigned to stopping the violence. He lowers the gun, and he starts to TALK and LISTEN to Powell. Yes, ok, he does have his value a LITTLE here. In desperation, there are not many paths he can choose at this point, and it does look bad for him. Rebecca was basically saying that no matter where he ended up, she would be there for him. He knows it is the first time in his life that has happened.

And then . . . BO MAKES NOISE. "YOU SOLD ME OUT!" PETE-ISH. Wow.

I love this whole sequence. Rebecca struggles to call the police and report it. Powell struggles to talk Todd down. Bo screws up and a battle ensues! This is must see TV, as Juju says! We thank her again for her time and commitment to the Todd story.

YES AGAIN, when faced with the choice of SHOOTING POWELL, or not, he chooses not. He engages in a fist fight, while holding a deadly weapon, but does not kill. He does not choose to kill as a first instinct, and not even a last. Has an opportunity to shoot Bo dead, and doesn't. Why? He's just not a killer. He's a pawn of his own pain and torment. CRAZED BUT GORGEOUS at 4:47! Whoo hoo.

During this struggle between Bo and Todd for the "gun" that Powell "sleeps" through, I cannot help but think of two things. Todd, just having been in prison for rape, and Todd on his birthday when he was 14. If you have followed his story, then this scene is particularly upsetting. Of course, the first time watching, you might only glance over the idea of what may have happened to him in jail. However, when watching it AFTER having seen and heard his whole story, it can almost make you sick. He's despairing to get Bo off of him, but basically powerless in his grip. Roger plays it BEAUTIFULLY, almost as if he knew what was coming in his story 5 years down the road. This is why today's viewers have NO CONCEPT of what Todd's own sexuality issues are, and take the current portrayal as an "evolved" Todd. No. Completely erroneous.

Unfortunately, we are interrupted by Marty's reminiscence of Suede. Now, this partially works because it is there to COUNTER what we are ABOUT to see with Todd; to show that he snuffed out a life himself, and therefore, deserves the same. But....I don't know, for me, it interrupted the flow of the story in the cabin and what was unfolding there.

I do LOVE the song though. "Teach Me How To Dream" can still make me teary-eyed on the right day.

FAIL: Two non-law-enforcement people trying to negotiate a hostage situation; it actually working until one of them squeaks a boot; the law enforcement officials being so bad that these lay people HAVE to do this; and Suede in general.

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