1-11: "Silence Of The Lamb" 2005.01.04 - TWoP Forums:
-I have a big Logan-sized hole in my heart. Rob Thomas, please make it go away!
-And, hey, great title but when exactly was Lamb 'silent'? I was wondering that.
--I did love that Keith figured out the case, though; loved that he did it even when Lamb was certain that Porn Guy was the killer (I WANT A LAWYER, hee). Anyway, that was when Lamb was silenced. you mean by Keith, not by the worm guy? writing he wanted a lawyer rather than confession. there we sort of saw Lamb silenced. but we did not see his reaction to Keith getting the killer. I don't like the title much.
-This epi was okay. A few really good emotional moment with the "school" plot, and a so-so "cop" plot. Really my big problem is that the character of Lamb is drawn a bit confusingly. He's a dumbass one moment and a not-so-dumbass the next. Also... he's not nearly a good enough actor to fit with this cast.

-I was confused when Veronica said something about Mac having had a choice in all of it, and there was a reason why it was kept a secret. yeah me too. huh? Did she mean that four-year-old Mac was asked where she wanted to live or something?
--I think she meant that Mac always had the choice not to find out more. Veronica warned her it was big. yeah ok.
-One thing I have to say... the casting of the various parents and siblings for the switched girls was incredible. Awesome. The story only worked because of it. You could see that there was absolutely no way that Dark-haired mom was fooled for even a second, nor any expectation that she ever thought that Mac was. That moment was absolute genius in an otherwise average episode. A lesser show wouldn't have dared base something like that on mere looks, of both the physical and significant eye-contact variety.
-. If they really wanted to explore this storyline further, which I would assume they did if they planned on keeping Mac as a recurring character do they? I sort of expect not but then with Mac on the show for the next two years they must at least mention it? I'm int to see!, I would think they'd be less shallow with their characterizations. I did like the casting of Mac's biological mother and sister, but even that seemed heavy-handed, as if we wouldn't notice the family resemblance if they didn't all wear their hair the same way.
-Great casting on Mac's biological mother, and especially her sister- the resemblence was striking. And The Westing Game rocks. I hadn't realized the connections.
-Ooh, and I LOVED The Westing Game! And it's even a good choice of a book, since it's a mystery with a kid/teen protagonist! Ooh, and I think it had secret identities, which makes it even more appropriate.
--The Westing Game, written by Ellen Raskin, is a phenomenal kids book and a great choice for the episode... it's about a group of people (with a young teenage girl protagonist named Turtle) who try to solve a murder mystery. I'll spoiler tag the rest in case anyone wants to read it...
The person "killed," Sam Westing, is actually one of the participants in trying to solve the murder. He's there to observe the rest of the bunch and try to both encourage and discourage the others from finding out who "did it." Turtle ends up figuring out the puzzle, but elects not to tell anyone else involved in the game, figuring that it's better for them not to know and live their lives normally. Oh, and there's a big old million dollar prize attached to it.


-For the record, I found the girls being kept in that trunk until they suffocated quite a lot more creepy than Haaron getting gutted. Don't think it needed to be pulled, but ultimately it was a bit darker, especially with the babyswap plot in there as well. Quite dark.

-Considering that Jake Kane automatically assumed that his wife had something to do with Lianne's disappearance (Re: Pictures), one has to wonder what kind of motive Weidman had in this whole thing.

-I think that Veronica's confrontation with Jake in the previous episode would have been alot more powerful if the episodes were shown in order. This episode ends with the badass VMVO "Two words for you Clarence Wiedman....game on." Based on this VMVO you would think that Veronica would be ready, willing, and able to confront Clarence and Jake about the photos. However during the "next" episode, she is on the verge of tears when she confronts Jake. The contrast between the badass VMVO and teary eyed Veronica is a reminder that no matter how tough of a front she puts up, she is still just a kid who lost her best friend, her boyfriend, her mom, and possible her dad.

6
-The scene with the birth mother didn't do much for me since if she really cared, she'd publicly acknowledge Mac as her daughter, or have taken steps to get her child back once the mix-up was discovered and then sued the crap out of that hospital. She could care very deeply, but still be a kind enough person to not do that to the other family. Clearly the two families loved the daughters that they had wound up with very much and wouldn't want to lose them. But, it's pretty easy to see that there'd be a real connection if you were to meet the daughter that you'd lost and I'm sure there's all sorts of guilt involved in that. You have a daughter and the parents of your biological daughter have her and are clearly good to her, but you still have to feel like you've abandoned your child. I'll bet it's tough. That's the only part of that storyline that really rang totally true for me. The only thing I question is how they can all live in the same town. I might have taken my child and left if I were either of them. eta, Benito summed that up pretty well.
Benito: In my opinion, it's a real stretch to say that she didn't care because she chose to keep the daughter she'd raised. I don't think we can assume that the blonde baby was the kind of monster she is as a teen when she was 4 years old, and my assumption is that the family loved her. But it's natural to have regrets, and especially clever that Mac looks SO much like the Dark-haired mom and Dark-haired-Sis that it was kind of shoved in their faces with no opportunity to hide those regrets. Also, the presense of the sister would, I assume, throw another emotional weight at the Mom--the "have I kept her unfairly from her sister" card. The sister was young enough that she obviously didn't exist at that time when the switch was discovered.


-I liked Big Dumb Cop because he seemed like he was fully aware of how goofy he was, and self-awareness is always interesting. I liked: after V says "a cop that rocks, wow" his "Trying to cover all fantasy bases."
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