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Short but spoilery



Colour me totally unsurprised that the writers decided that at least one of the rapes would turn out to be a hoax committed by (at least) one of the Lilith House Women's Libbers.

Date: 2009-01-09 07:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scifantasy.livejournal.com
There was a certain amount of consternation about that from fans when it came out. I remember saying before that reveal that one concern I had was, it might cast doubt on the asshole who committed the other rapes ("he has an alibi for this one, he can't be our guy!").

She wanted to draw attention to the rapes on campus...but that wasn't really an effective way of stopping them.

Date: 2009-01-09 07:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com
Do any of the major villains ever actually do time for the crimes they commit in Neptune? Mooks go to jail but I thought the usual pattern was that the Named Villains always either avoid being charged or escape being convicted thanks to their plus-five Lawyer of Weaselness, only to fall prey to some extra-legal suitable fate like being Blowed Up Real Good by one of their victims or having Clarence Weidman drop by (or in the case of Thumper, being murdered thanks to the efforts of Weevil, the Fitzpatricks, Logan and the assembled tax base of Neptune County).

Date: 2009-01-09 08:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scifantasy.livejournal.com
Do any of the major villains ever actually do time for the crimes they commit in Neptune?

*shrug* That's noir for you.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com
Hey, at least one of the major bad guys in The Maltese Falcon gets arrested. Two if you think [spoiler] counts as a major villain and not just a minion.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scifantasy.livejournal.com
Oh, plenty of people get arrested in Neptune, too.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com
Spade seems pretty sure the person he has arrested will either do time or be executed.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scifantasy.livejournal.com
*shrug* Maybe the sleazy lawyer factor has gone up in the past fifty years. I dunno.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] orangemike.livejournal.com
I believe the lawyer per capita ration has something like quintupled since Hammett's heyday.

Date: 2009-01-09 08:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com
Well, the legal system in Neptune is even more FUBARED than the one in San Francisco in the 1930s. Note that Keith appears to have been the only cop who was both competent and honest (1) and that e.g. nobody objects when Veronica's medical records are used as evidence in Echolls' trial.


1: since he hired the others or at least didn't fire them, what does that say about him?

Date: 2009-01-09 08:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scifantasy.livejournal.com
since he hired the others or at least didn't fire them, what does that say about him?

He's a pretty poor judge of character, or more specifically, he really wants to think of people as competent.

Or, slightly more charitably, he led by example very well, but those who followed him were too weak to continue his example given the laissez-faire leadership of Lamb.

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