I LOVE the new graphics, but the new format is making it very difficult for me to post now. The screen just literally deleted the post I was working on! So I admit before continuing that I am ALREADY beasting out, so to speak.
So I freely admit to already being irritated (see above). To be taken out of context repeatedly by posters and then to have someone actually AGREE with me, only to credit SOMEONE ELSE with my point is currently chafing. Please forgive me if I end up not being as polite as I should. Been a BAD day. I love all my fellow posters, so PLEASE understand my mood if I end up getting cranky as that is NOT the intent. Just my disclaimer, in case I DO come off sounding more miffed then I mean to. I LOVE the discussion going on, even when at MY expense by people taking individual sentences OUT OF CONTEXT from my posts in order to mean something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT then the post taken as a whole.
First up: To all the people on the Open Window thing.---HOW MANY people took ONE sentence out of my post AND OUT OF CONTEXT? How about reading the WHOLE thing, please. The POINT that I was making was NOT that the window should just be closed. THAT IS stupid since the bullet went through glass, foam, bedding, tv screen at the hospital to murder Agent Thomas.
My point was that without having a plan of attack (or protection), the two were by an Open Window, clearly visible, and a clear and easy target, ESPECIALLY when asleep! They shouldn't even be in the apartment at all right then, to my way of thinking. Be the first place Bob and Carol would KNOW to find them. If they are going to be in the apartment, they should AT LEAST be out of the line of sight of the window. (I think in my original post I aluded to sleeping bag where couldn't be seen--plus, would be great excuse for VinCat to be on top of each other, literally! HAD to go there after the day I have had!)
Vincent CLEARLY has sniper-like skills, as we saw in "Kidnapped," so he of all people should know that he and Catherine make EASY TARGETS, especially if asleep in the first place by the window--Vincent would have to wake up to "hear" the bullet coming with his beastly senses. Just saying. I was with Catherine, if her point was that a better plan should be in place AND more precautions towards their safety taken. Bob and Carol would most likely want to take them out where there would be little witnesses--and the apartment certainly qualifies.
And that gets into my NEXT point: that IS my concern regarding Vincent's avoidance issues. Bob and Carol will NOT just go away. But because a couple of weeks has passed, Vincent isn't showing the concern that he should. Again, the AVOIDANCE issues problems that I discussed in my post(s).
And to BILL THE BEAST: I did NOT mean to come across as unsympathetic to Vincent. I KNOW he has been severely traumatized overly MULTIPLE years, including forced isolation and being unable to be there for the few remaining family members he did have. So my heart has ALWAYS broken for Vincent's plight. That said, it doesn't mean he should IGNORE problems or continue with the documented Avoidance Problem, WHICH HE DOES ADMIT/ALUDE to in the counselor's office. Many war veterans have PTSD, but they help address the problem through therapy and have plans in place for ways to cope. I really DID think the therapist's office was the right idea for VinCat in this episode, given the severity of their issues that seem to have progressively gotten worse from season to season AND especially through THIS season. (And I FREELY admit that it may be missing Jennifer and Sherri's way of handling VinCat that somehow provided enough VinCat sweetness and romance to allow you to "overlook" the fact that these same issues have been causing Howling Moments for VinCat since Season 1. Something to think further about and analyze for another time!)
Vincent so desperately wants normal. I GET WHY. But as Vincent supposedly came to realize in 301, that is never really fully possible. And if people want to blame Catherine, then I say the following: he CHOOSES to be with her, KNOWING her dedication to helping innocents and her determination to see this whole experimentation on people thing through. PLUS, if was VINCENT in 215 that said he WANTED to protect the victim and ensure that he didn't "go through the same things that I did." So this really SHOULD be in-line with what Vincent really wanted FOR HIMSELF, as he tells Catherine in 215.
So my issue is that BOTH Catherine and Vincent KNOW their "fatal flaws," and there has been an emphasis THUS FAR through Season 3 that these same issues continue for both--in Vincent's case, it is the Avoidance Coping Skill. I GET WHY this has been his go-to for so long because it HAD to be with Muirfield and the like--you could never win that battle, so you had to avoid it entirely. But this episode showed FOR ME an almost escalation of the problems that have occurred rather than the opposite. (So I was like, "where is the progress?" Again, just my uneasy feeling for how this is being treated currently.)
But for Vincent AND Catherine, they have to address their issues. And I certainly did NOT see that as "co-dependency." My original post stated how I expected Vincent and Catherine to be more co-dependent by this time, knowing and vocalizing their issues the way they have been doing. HOWEVER, the two have made little to no progress in this as the same issues keep coming up time and again, episode to episode, and they seem to be moving farther apart from one another rather than co-dependency. They need to learn to have faith in one another and to plan TOGETHER, not avoid.
So BILL THE BEAST, that was actually MY POST and MY POINT earlier that I thought the counselor had it wrong, and that it was actually the opposite from being too co-dependent. I still think VinCat need a little more of that co-dependency and coming together than has been, up to this point!
And I LOVED the poster that said that they have flipped what is considered the traditional male/female relationship issues on BATB (PLEASE take credit for it, whoever you are--I can't remember who originally posted it and due to the new graphics not liking my current office computer, it would take an hour to go back and find it, at least, or I would go back to find it and give it justice!)
And obviously, Catherine is going to run roughshod over the wrong person when pursuing a lead and end up paying for it at some point in the future. The writers can't make it any clearer that beast issues and Catherine's aggressive handling of said issues are once again going to cause Catherine to run afoul of the law and at risk of losing her job. (This is MY OWN THOUGHTS and NOT based on any spoilers for upcoming episodes. Catherine has just come too close to the edge too many times for it NOT to come back against her, sooner or later.) That is Catherine's potential fatal flaw.
HOWEVER, that said, THAT WAS what made me SO UNCOMFORTABLE about this episode as relates to Catherine. BECAUSE SHE WAS RIGHT! And her aggressive tactics GOT THE JOB DONE in the end, ESPECIALLY given the time constraints surrounding the heart.
And had Catherine NOT been aggressive, JT would have never tested the heart AND CURED it (so the guy would have died then, since that was the heart he was originally going to get). ADD that to the fact that VinCat would most likely have never FOUND the heart OR figured out that the wife was behind it in the first place.
And CATHERINE'S TACTICS WORKED all throughout the episode. She has GOOD INSTINCTS that will NOT let her go! She has to see the whole thing through to the end, AND THAT IS THE REAL REASON THE MAN WAS SAVED, because had Cat not figured out that the wife was involved AND RETURNED VINCENT TO THE HOSPITAL, the guy would not have been saved due to the WIFE'S actions.
And the wife was LOOKING for an angle to benefit from her husband's death. She needed SOMEONE to sue--she would have gone after the hospital, regardless, since the husband's WILL left her with nothing. (Though WHY the husband would do this to his "beloved" wife of 20 years did not make sense to me. I get he wanted to donate something, but to not give ANYTHING to the woman that was BY HIS SIDE, giving him comfort, aid, support and keeping him happy throughout the years and helping him get his company going! How did he THINK she was going to take that! "Hi honey, I want the dolphins to have my money and you go back to living a life you aren't used to without luxury in your old age, although you helped me throughout so that I could have the company I have today! Aren't you ever so happy, dearest?" SERIOUSLY???)
So what I traditionally LIKE about Catherine: she doesn't give ANY preferential treatment to any suspect, regardless of age, race, condition, creed, etc. When someone is a suspect, she interrogates them and sees it through. And the guy HAD used his money and status to violate the law. So my sympathies WERE NOT with him to begin with (plus, Stephen McHattie's Gabriel killed my beloved BATB Series-1 Catherine. SO HE HAD IT COMING! So on behalf of her, GO CURRENT CATHERINE and put him in his grave! --Sorry, that just came from my ORIGINAL BATB place!! HeeHeeHee! Glad THIS Vincent was actually able to save the CHARACTER, as he obviously was trying to make his life count).
But THERE is where the problem develops---they AREN'T in an interrogation room at the time. And the guy has a known heart condition. We all KNOW how that lawsuit would have gone down! Certainly not in the police procedural manuel. But going through the "proper channels" would have actually resulted in the guy being dead due to the untested heart, had it not gotten stolen. So the problem is that Catherine ends up doing right in the wrong way. AND YES, ARWENFAN, I ADMIT THAT I ALSO THOUGHT OF THE stealing of Vincent's photo in Season 1. Catherine's aggression may get the job done in the end, but the uncomfortableness remains. (Who else will admit to thinking of the lyrics from OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" --"I feel so right, doing the wrong thing. . . " and "I feel so wrong, doing the right thing.)
(And yeah, it WAS also supposed to be date night. That was bad of Catherine. Either it is a date or it is a case--learn that NOW! Trying to blend business and pleasure never serves anyone well in television UNLESS they are the bad guy! OF COURSE that would cause issues. And I maintain that had Sherri and Jennifer still been with us, that scene would NEVER have played out that way. At least, not this many years into the relationship!)
What it comes down to for me: I felt there was a lack of progress in dealing with issues that have occurred for BOTH VinCat since Season 1--and it seemed to be driving them further apart then closer together. I just didn't see the resolution that the therapist (and VinCat) seemed to see at the end. And that ending scene served to prove the point to myself--Vincent still avoiding the Bob/Carol thing. But Catherine lets him distract her because WHAT A WAY TO BE DISTRACTED! However, that Avoidance thing and not coming up with a plan of attack means the ENEMY will come up with a plan FIRST, and you will be on the defending side of it VinCat. And that has NEVER worked out well for you --think "Heart of Darkness" and numerous other BATB examples!
So I just felt the episode spent WAY more time showing what was wrong then what was right. And the emphasis was on the same problems previously seen with little to no progress. I want to ENJOY A CLOSER VINCAT, not worry that these issues can't be so seemingly easily solved through 1 therapy session particularly when you knew the issues going in!
However, hopefully a few more viewings of the episode will make me see it in a different light. I certainly enjoyed many moments in it! Still love Season 3 for what it has given. Still want MORE VinCat happiness and love and a little less squabbling. YES, arguments can be HOT--think of that argument in the Gentleman's Club in Season 1 where Vincent told Cat she couldn't see Gabe. So hot and practically want to tear-their-clothes off passionate arguing. Again, HOT! Much of the arguing in THIS episode was either meant to be comedy only or hurtful to the fact that more than Catherine was stinging from some of the comments. Wasn't hot for me.
SO I WANT TO SEE MORE ACTUAL CO-DEPENDENCY BY WAY OF A COMING TOGETHER AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING between VinCat that is more than just the sex. Because it was NEVER just about the sex on BATB--VinCat CONNECTED on so many more levels. AMPED UP ROMANCE was behind their actions, even BEFORE the sex. So More ROMANCE. (But yes, had that last scene gone on longer, I might have felt better. I DON'T LIKE when VinCat arguing is more than VinCat loving!