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So pictures of Flack's Barbie doll have started cropping up on the 'Net, and I have resolutely avoided them. I'm operating under the assumption that if I close my eyes, jam my fingers into my ears, and scream, "LALALA!", it won't happen. Mature? No, but it's the only coping mechanism left in my arsenal; the others have been battered to smithereens by shoddy continuity and the heinous crime of character assassination. If the rumors of Flack flirting with Angell are true, maybe Barbie will be a one-off whom we'll never see again. If she's not, that doesn't speak well of Flack. In fact, it paints him as an opportunistic asshole. But then, if he is involved in a conspiracy this season, they'll have no qualms about divesting him of the rest of his decency.
Decency. That's what bugs me about the notion that Flack might be involved in a coverup. Flack has always been the Everyman, the street cop with a juco education(Flack says high school and may have been grandfathered in because of his dad, but NYC police regulations require two years of college or military service) and a fine sense of fundamental decency. You don't hit women or children. You don't cheat on your spouse. You don't prey on the weaker and defenseless. You don't kill. You respect the law and revere the badge. If Flack were to engage in a coverup, his decency would be tainted, and the contempt he showed criminals would ring hollow because he could no longer claim the moral high ground with any conviction.
Actually, this should be true for Mac as well after "...Comes Around", when he knowingly concealed knowledge of a crime in order to hoist his sanctimonious ass out of the sling, and for Stella after "Cold Reveal", when she allowed a murderer to flee because she was her "sister" and the killing was "justified." Neither can or should be allowed to sit on the high horse, and yet, both their saddles are still firmly in place because while the show craves the adrenaline high of Teh Drama, it wants no part of the requisite fallout. It wants its viewership to have the recall and critical thinking capacity of lab gerbils that have repeatedly undergone shock treatment. So Mac and Stella retain their crowns as Our Intrepid Heroes even though they are as duplicitous as the crooks they catch.
Flack was the only true Good Guy left, and if he immerses himself in a coverup to save his job, his girlfriend, or his father's reputation, he'll be as tarnished as Mac and Gerrard and Stella. No more white hat, and no more credibility in his snark. Just another little Napoleon full of empty words.
Another TV hero bites the dust. One can only hope that fannish interpretation has been warped by Squee Goggles, and that there is no Great Conspiracy 2007.
I want my TV hero, dammit. All the real ones are gone.
Decency. That's what bugs me about the notion that Flack might be involved in a coverup. Flack has always been the Everyman, the street cop with a juco education(Flack says high school and may have been grandfathered in because of his dad, but NYC police regulations require two years of college or military service) and a fine sense of fundamental decency. You don't hit women or children. You don't cheat on your spouse. You don't prey on the weaker and defenseless. You don't kill. You respect the law and revere the badge. If Flack were to engage in a coverup, his decency would be tainted, and the contempt he showed criminals would ring hollow because he could no longer claim the moral high ground with any conviction.
Actually, this should be true for Mac as well after "...Comes Around", when he knowingly concealed knowledge of a crime in order to hoist his sanctimonious ass out of the sling, and for Stella after "Cold Reveal", when she allowed a murderer to flee because she was her "sister" and the killing was "justified." Neither can or should be allowed to sit on the high horse, and yet, both their saddles are still firmly in place because while the show craves the adrenaline high of Teh Drama, it wants no part of the requisite fallout. It wants its viewership to have the recall and critical thinking capacity of lab gerbils that have repeatedly undergone shock treatment. So Mac and Stella retain their crowns as Our Intrepid Heroes even though they are as duplicitous as the crooks they catch.
Flack was the only true Good Guy left, and if he immerses himself in a coverup to save his job, his girlfriend, or his father's reputation, he'll be as tarnished as Mac and Gerrard and Stella. No more white hat, and no more credibility in his snark. Just another little Napoleon full of empty words.
Another TV hero bites the dust. One can only hope that fannish interpretation has been warped by Squee Goggles, and that there is no Great Conspiracy 2007.
I want my TV hero, dammit. All the real ones are gone.
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