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Sep. 16th, 2017 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsTV commentary:
American Vandal- You know, I said I wasn't going to spoil this series, but I want to talk about the last ep. So, I had weird feelings about the last ep, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now. And I think it was that it was that there was a shift in tone. I mean, the rest of the series, its all, "Let's solve this mystery!" with some funny jokes thrown in. Its satire.
But I guess the last ep felt less... satirical? I dunno, it felt like it played straighter than the previous eps- like there was funny stuff, sure. But it was more, "We proved Dylan's innocence, here's the aftermath, and its all kinda messed up!" I mean, up until this last ep, you don't take things too seriously, but I guess here things feel more grounded?
I mean, if you ran with the conceit that this was real, there were always high stakes. Like the question, "Who drew all the dicks?" seems like a silly premise for a "true crime documentary", but that was over 100K in damages, and therefore a felony, so Dylan was facing some jail time. Which I guess goes to the heart of why the last ep felt different.
As a satirical character, its easy to laugh at Dylan all, "Ha, what a dumb-ass!" And the whole point of Peter's documentary was about trying to show people being quick to assign guilt because of expectations, but it turned into a whole nature vs nurture thing. And sadly, the documentary itself played into all that.
Like when Dylan was proven innocent, things took a dark turn. Proving his innocence involved exposing Mack for cheating on him. (more on her later) So that already sucks for him. He wanted to get his apology from Shapiro for wrongfully accusing him because of her pre-conceived notions of him, and while she did apologize, it was only for blaming him when he was innocent. She's not sorry for thinking he's a loser, because she still thinks he is.
We find out he's never seen the documentary. At first he says its because he knows the ending, but we find out its really because he was kinda nervous to see what people were saying about him. And then at the after prom party his worst fears are realized when he finally asks to see it. And he sees everyone thinking he's a stupid loser. So between that, losing his gf, not getting into college, it dawns on him he's not going anywhere.
So since people expect him to be a fuck up, in the end, he fucks up. He vandalizes Shapiro's house, using the tricks he learned from the documentary to draw the dick differently. Unfortunately, the neighbor's house had cameras. So he's caught, and all this was for nothing.
Which brings us to the actual culprit, Christa. I guess that's the other thing that makes the ending feel weird. Peter and Sam pretty much figure out it was her, they have a good theory, but we don't see if anything comes of that. She's graduated, so I'm not sure the school can do anything to her (can schools retroactively expel you?), but again, the crime was an actual felony. Will it be pursued, or will it be just ignored because unlike Dylan Christa is a good girl with a future.
Since this last ep is presumably being seen by the rest of the world, will this accusation follow her? Like maybe the school and the teachers let bygones be bygones, but we all know how the internet works. Will she start facing harassment from a bunch of strangers. Will it cause trouble for her where she goes to school?
And there's her reason for doing it. I think throughout most of the series, the presumption was that Dylan was being framed on purpose. Someone didn't like him and came up with this prank to get him in big trouble. But he was just an unintended consequence- Alex thought he saw him, which started the ball rolling on this whole thing. Which is another thing, Alex was painted as a lying liar, possibly doing it for attention. But he wasn't totally making things up. He was pressured into making an accusation, and between that, not getting a good look at the guy, and Dylan's reputation, Dylan was an easy scapegoat. So he legitimately could've thought it was Dylan. He may be a consummate liar, but not about this.
But I digress, yeah, the real reason is much darker. So in revenge for Christa's crusades messing with his shit, when she tries out for the football team as kicker, he has her physically assaulted by another player, and presumably threatens her. The administration not only sweeps it under the rug, but makes him, someone who would have a player attack a girl, who bangs students moms, freaking teacher of the year.
(As a light aside, what's up with not getting a good look at Peter's hot mom? Like her pic makes her look hot, but I guess we don't really see her when she goes in to see his principal. Why tease her as being the hottest mom and not show it?)
So its just a depressing end to a funny series all around. And not just because Dylan's life is ruined, and the whole motive behind the vandalism turns out to be pretty dark.
And its not only that. We start to see the reality behind the other characters as well. So like Mack, she was seemingly this cool chick. You see her, and think Hot Gamer Girl, nice! But hearing her life story paints it in such a sad light. She was so fucked up by her parent's divorce that she went from straight-A student to burnout. Even her hobby is incredibly sad- video games were a retreat for her from the mess her life had become. In the real world, things suck to her, but online, she was like this awesome gamer goddess.
Even the minor characters, we see how this documentary has messed things up for them. Like in the previous eps, Sara hooking up with lunch guy was played for laughs. But then at the afterprom party, Sara calls Peter out for basically exposing her whole sex life to the world. Like her father now knows she's fucked like 15 guys. And there was really no point to putting her sex life out there, it really had nothing to do with the case.
All in all, I still recommend it as a series. I dunno if I should have expected a cleaner resolution, and maybe that's why the finale seemed weird to me.
American Vandal- You know, I said I wasn't going to spoil this series, but I want to talk about the last ep. So, I had weird feelings about the last ep, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now. And I think it was that it was that there was a shift in tone. I mean, the rest of the series, its all, "Let's solve this mystery!" with some funny jokes thrown in. Its satire.
But I guess the last ep felt less... satirical? I dunno, it felt like it played straighter than the previous eps- like there was funny stuff, sure. But it was more, "We proved Dylan's innocence, here's the aftermath, and its all kinda messed up!" I mean, up until this last ep, you don't take things too seriously, but I guess here things feel more grounded?
I mean, if you ran with the conceit that this was real, there were always high stakes. Like the question, "Who drew all the dicks?" seems like a silly premise for a "true crime documentary", but that was over 100K in damages, and therefore a felony, so Dylan was facing some jail time. Which I guess goes to the heart of why the last ep felt different.
As a satirical character, its easy to laugh at Dylan all, "Ha, what a dumb-ass!" And the whole point of Peter's documentary was about trying to show people being quick to assign guilt because of expectations, but it turned into a whole nature vs nurture thing. And sadly, the documentary itself played into all that.
Like when Dylan was proven innocent, things took a dark turn. Proving his innocence involved exposing Mack for cheating on him. (more on her later) So that already sucks for him. He wanted to get his apology from Shapiro for wrongfully accusing him because of her pre-conceived notions of him, and while she did apologize, it was only for blaming him when he was innocent. She's not sorry for thinking he's a loser, because she still thinks he is.
We find out he's never seen the documentary. At first he says its because he knows the ending, but we find out its really because he was kinda nervous to see what people were saying about him. And then at the after prom party his worst fears are realized when he finally asks to see it. And he sees everyone thinking he's a stupid loser. So between that, losing his gf, not getting into college, it dawns on him he's not going anywhere.
So since people expect him to be a fuck up, in the end, he fucks up. He vandalizes Shapiro's house, using the tricks he learned from the documentary to draw the dick differently. Unfortunately, the neighbor's house had cameras. So he's caught, and all this was for nothing.
Which brings us to the actual culprit, Christa. I guess that's the other thing that makes the ending feel weird. Peter and Sam pretty much figure out it was her, they have a good theory, but we don't see if anything comes of that. She's graduated, so I'm not sure the school can do anything to her (can schools retroactively expel you?), but again, the crime was an actual felony. Will it be pursued, or will it be just ignored because unlike Dylan Christa is a good girl with a future.
Since this last ep is presumably being seen by the rest of the world, will this accusation follow her? Like maybe the school and the teachers let bygones be bygones, but we all know how the internet works. Will she start facing harassment from a bunch of strangers. Will it cause trouble for her where she goes to school?
And there's her reason for doing it. I think throughout most of the series, the presumption was that Dylan was being framed on purpose. Someone didn't like him and came up with this prank to get him in big trouble. But he was just an unintended consequence- Alex thought he saw him, which started the ball rolling on this whole thing. Which is another thing, Alex was painted as a lying liar, possibly doing it for attention. But he wasn't totally making things up. He was pressured into making an accusation, and between that, not getting a good look at the guy, and Dylan's reputation, Dylan was an easy scapegoat. So he legitimately could've thought it was Dylan. He may be a consummate liar, but not about this.
But I digress, yeah, the real reason is much darker. So in revenge for Christa's crusades messing with his shit, when she tries out for the football team as kicker, he has her physically assaulted by another player, and presumably threatens her. The administration not only sweeps it under the rug, but makes him, someone who would have a player attack a girl, who bangs students moms, freaking teacher of the year.
(As a light aside, what's up with not getting a good look at Peter's hot mom? Like her pic makes her look hot, but I guess we don't really see her when she goes in to see his principal. Why tease her as being the hottest mom and not show it?)
So its just a depressing end to a funny series all around. And not just because Dylan's life is ruined, and the whole motive behind the vandalism turns out to be pretty dark.
And its not only that. We start to see the reality behind the other characters as well. So like Mack, she was seemingly this cool chick. You see her, and think Hot Gamer Girl, nice! But hearing her life story paints it in such a sad light. She was so fucked up by her parent's divorce that she went from straight-A student to burnout. Even her hobby is incredibly sad- video games were a retreat for her from the mess her life had become. In the real world, things suck to her, but online, she was like this awesome gamer goddess.
Even the minor characters, we see how this documentary has messed things up for them. Like in the previous eps, Sara hooking up with lunch guy was played for laughs. But then at the afterprom party, Sara calls Peter out for basically exposing her whole sex life to the world. Like her father now knows she's fucked like 15 guys. And there was really no point to putting her sex life out there, it really had nothing to do with the case.
All in all, I still recommend it as a series. I dunno if I should have expected a cleaner resolution, and maybe that's why the finale seemed weird to me.
