Episode Discussion 3x10

[orockthro]

Well dudes, it's that time... tonight is the final ep of the three parter, episode 3x10, "The Devil's Share." Let's talk about it!

Spoilers below! 

It's been a rough week, my poi buddies. <3 Are we all still here? 

Comments

Re: sorry to rain on the relieved-and-pleased parade

[aprilvalentine]

I'm not sure Reese even kneecapped any Marshals -- he seemed to be going to special efforts to be gentle with them, blinding them with the flares and then putting them down mostly with his fists.

Yes, I agree. That's why I found your comment about the murder and torture of them to be sort of out of left field. Yes, Shaw shot one (and as she told Fusco, not her first) and Fusco exercised police brutality. Oh, and thinking about it, it would have been less detrimental to him physically if he had just kneecapped them instead of punching them. He was bleeding already but that exertion didn't help and the blood was really steaming by the time he got to Quinn.

Sometimes it upsets me more, sometimes it upsets me less. Yes, that's a personal thing. LIke when a lot of people were upset about him leaving the gun with the husband who'd faked his death so he would have one to go with the one Reese had given the wife. Some viewers were really pissed at him and upset and felt it was him okaying them killing each other.

in the same episode where they're trying to draw some kind of moral line
But it was Finch and Fusco who were drawing the moral line. Reese was in no mood, and no shape physically, to do so. He was going to kill Quinn, but Finch talking him out of it and his gun was empty. And on my re-watch I checked what Fusco said about the guys in the car -- though I can't quote him exactly but it was that they were "lowest of the low" kind of dirt bags, into all sorts of crimes along with providing Simmons with his new fake passport so he could leave the country. And I think maybe Reese just didn't think too much about whether the guy was trapped in the burning car or not when he walked on after getting his info.

But I'm really not trying to dictate anyone else's reactions. Me either. Hope I didn't come off that way. It's all good. We've all been through the wringer these last couple of weeks. I did see some rather surprising reactions on Tumblr before I came here so that may have affected my reading of your comment. Many sides to this coin: there was one who was really pissed and let down apparently because Reese didn't kill both Quinn and Simmons.

My utter relief at seeing Finch and Reese in the same room and a script that finally felt like the POI of first season when it was so edgy and angsty and amazing colored my reaction overall. Those who were more invested in Carter (not that I didn't love her but she wasn't central to me) probably wouldn't have found everything to their liking in this ep.

Re: sorry to rain on the relieved-and-pleased parade

[enemyofperfect]

Oh, now I see -- I'm sorry, that was supposed to be "[murder] and [torture] and [shooting of US Marshals]", not "[murder and torture and shooting] of US Marshals". My sentence structure could have been more clear.

I agree that Reese wasn't drawing much of any moral line this episode. The problem I have is, I feel like we were supposed to think that because he didn't shoot Quinn, he's been saved from his own worst instincts and everything is basically fine, but to me, all the things he did before then were already bad enough. I wasn't trying to single him out, either: Fusco did draw a line, and he's one of the characters whose behavior I'm upset about.

I do think you're right that Reese abandoned the men in the car out of indifference rather than active malice.

It's definitely been a rocky season for a lot of fans -- I know it has been for me. So I'm glad we can have different takes on an episode without adding to the stress by taking it out on each other. :)