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Since I talked about Dr. Phil in my previous blog, I’ll continue with TV shows and my observations.
My husband and I regularly watch a show called “The Closer” on TNT. We are both interested in crime shows and how the criminals get caught. The show on Monday night had an interesting story line with adoption as a main component.
The show started with a missing 13 year old boy. The first few minutes of the show had me guessing at the remaining story line in ways that the average viewer would not have even considered.
The main character of the show, Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick, was interviewing the parents of the missing boy. Interviews continued and included a neighbor and the boy’s sister. Her hostility was quite clear when she said that the adopted boy was not her brother. She took the detectives to the boy’s room and what she showed them would make any parent squirm. The walls of the room were covered in drawings that were both frightening and gruesome.
As the storyline progressed the mental health and RAD prognosis was described, but never named. Things like animal killing and being a sexual predator were quite freely discussed and were essential to where the story line ended.
One of the parts in the show brought up a well known debate. I hit my DVR button to record it after I heard it. Chief Johnson and another officer, Lieutenant Tao are discussing some things involved with the case.
Chief Johnson: What makes a child go bad? Nature or Nurture?
Lieutenant Tao: Unfortunately Chief, by the time we get involved, it doesn’t matter.
There may lay the answer that we have all been looking for. By the time we get involved in a child’s life, it doesn’t matter if it’s nature or nurture, just that we help the child if possible.
If you didn’t see the show and want to, stop reading here because I’m about to reveal the ending.
The missing boy was found dead, and it was revealed that his father had killed him. The mother details a long list of cruelty that the child had inflicted on animals and all the interventions that they had tried. The actress’s portrayal of the anguish of a mother is wonderful. I have talked to mothers with that same frustration and anxiety. The feeling of helplessness is one I have listened to often. The father snapped after another act of animal killing by his child.
I’m not sure what I think of this particular episode of the show. The emotions of the parents are well played. Bringing some of the severe issues involved with adoption and attachment issues to a more public arena is not a bad thing. However, like almost every time, I would have liked to have seen more information about the issues, but that doesn’t usually make for very entertaining TV.
If you get a chance, watch the episode if it comes as a repeat and judge for yourself.
Then there was the last scene where Brenda and Fritz decide to move into a “smaller” home without “good schools” near by because there is the insinuation that they will not have children by pursuing adoption since Brenda is preimenopausal. Did this case about the “adopted” child scare them off? Stay tuned…… This is my favorite show right now, the entire cast is fun to watch.
We have watched this show for a long time, and this episode was no exception. The anguish of the parents was, as you say, well portrayed by the actors. There was no sympathy shown to the parents for what they did – nor should there be – but it would have been good to explore what drove them to that degree of desperation. I only wish that they had named RAD, and given more information about it. However, there is only so much they can cram into an hour-long episode.