This episode aired on TV in 1998. Landon's going to have a looooooooong wait between then and 2015.
Showing posts with label Landon Bryce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Landon Bryce. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2026
Sunday, January 4, 2026
Landon Bryce (Millennium) X Elly Chandler (Chandler & Co): Trauma Buddies, Not Lovers
Those are lyrics from "Invisible Sun" by The Police. And yes, the asshole who kidnapped Elly would in fact kill her for a cigarette. Hell, he'd kill her for less.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
A Little Bit Off
Dr. Esther Villalobos hoped that the downpour outside would
be sufficient in calming down her next patient. If not that, then the pictures
of fluffy felines mounted on her walls. And if not that, then the musty smell
of old books sitting on her shelves. Then again, perhaps the little things
about her cozy office were just that: little. She knew full well that she had
to be as delicate as possible when handling her newest client.
She remembered watching the media circus unfold on TV like
it was yesterday. Every news anchor seemed to have an obsessive fixation on the
demonic serial killer Lucy Butler. How she seduced and brainwashed her
brilliant-minded abductees into believing their own mediocrity. How she played
“Love Is Blue” by Paul Mauriat over and over again to drive that point home.
But the biggest thing that made Esther squirm in her chair
all those days ago was how the media and subsequent viewers sexualized the hell
out of Lucy Butler, whether it was her natural beauty, her alluring methods, or
just because hybristophilia was still a thing in this day and age. People said
the exact same things about Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, so maybe it shouldn’t
have come as a big surprise. Still, Esther shivered at the thought of
romanticizing such a brutal killer.
“I could definitely use a cigarette right now,” said Esther
to nobody in particular as she sat in her swivel chair tapping her foot.
The nicotine would have to wait a little longer. There was a
halfhearted knock on her door and she said, “Come in”, which the visitor did.
Sure enough, the centerpiece of these Lucy Butler stories, Landon Bryce,
skulked through the office door looking like hell. His blondish brown hair
looked like it hadn’t been combed since god knows when. His Linkin Park T-shirt
and blue jeans were covered in what looked like corn chip dust. Hopefully, that
wasn’t all he was eating lately, but Esther wasn’t banking on any other
answers. After all, the life in his once pretty eyes had been completely
drained and his face sagged to show off his lack of zest for life.
Landon’s most noticeable feature, however, was the bruises
and cuts all over his bony hands. Esther was no detective, but she had to
assume those bloody scrapes had something to do with him getting in fights as
recently as a few days ago. He didn’t seem to notice his own damage as he just
stood in the doorway shivering lightly and staring at nothing like the zombie
he was.
“Good morning,” said Esther in a soft, benign voice that
didn’t betray the fact that she was a smoker. “You must be Landon. I’m Dr.
Esther Villalobos. Please, make yourself at home. There’s a seat on the leather
couch with your name on it.” He was in no hurry to lay down on the couch, but
once he did, he found the comfort he needed to take deep breaths in an attempt
to calm whatever chaos was going on his mind. He still trembled, though.
“Before we begin, do you want some Vaseline for your hands? They look like they
could use some TLC.”
“Huh?” Landon just now noticed the scars on his hand and
languidly answered, “Sure, okay.”
Esther pulled a bottle of Vaseline out of her desk drawers
and squirted a few drops into her patient’s palms. Landon hissed in pain as he
rubbed the grease all over his wounds, but by the time he was finished
massaging his hands, they already looked a little bit better than they did
before. Any improvement was a victory in Esther’s mind.
As Landon laid on the couch allowing his anxiety to wash
over him, Esther sat in her swivel chair with a clipboard in her lap and a look
of concern on her middle-aged face. Her black hair showed a few streaks of
white and her sweater and slacks attire showed off her advanced age even more,
which hopefully translated into wisdom for Landon and therefore into somebody
he could trust with his woes.
Esther adjusted her thin-rimmed glasses. “So, Landon…we
talked on the phone before we made this appointment official. We bounced ideas
back and forth about what we wanted to discuss. From what I can tell, you have
no desire to relive your captivity, so that’s not a topic I’m going to dig too
deeply into. Besides, anybody within the sound of the media’s voice knows
everything they need to know about Lucy Butler’s disgusting behavior. I’m more
interested in what life has been like after Agent Frank Black rescued you and
the other boys. So…I guess my first question to you is…how are you feeling
right now? Take as much time as you need to answer that question. Go into as
much or as little detail as you’d like. This is your session, Landon. You make
the rules.”
Silence hung between them with the exception of Landon’s
deep breathing exercises, though comforting to anybody else, seemed to have
very little effect in steadying his nerves. He had been through a lot, it
seemed. “Well, Esther, I don’t think anybody really cares how I’m feeling right
now…But to answer your question…I’m exhausted…I’m tired of fighting my own
mind…But I know that if I fall asleep…I’m just going to have another nightmare
about that woman…Every time she kissed me…Every time she felt me up…The same
goddamn song over and over again…”
He sniffed a few times in between sentences and wiped a
small tear from his eye before continuing. “You know…I haven’t told anybody
this…But since we’re in therapy…Sometimes…after a really bad nightmare…where
she gets to do whatever she wants with me…I lock the door to my bedroom…draw
the curtains…take my pants off…and…and…” He wiped another tear from his eye.
Esther filled in the blanks of his statement right away and
nodded. “I see.” She wrote down on her clipboard that in addition to PTSD, he
appeared to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, hence the masturbation.
He continued. “I know I shouldn’t be doing that to her…I
hated being in her company…Every time I do it…I hate myself for it…I keep
wondering…if the ceiling fan above my room will be enough to support my
weight…”
“Landon…listen to me. I know suicide sounds tempting, but
it’s not the solution to your problems. You came here today because you wanted
relief from it all. You secretly want to live again. There’s not much life in
your eyes right now…but I can see just enough that you care deeply about your
recovery. Please reconsider.”
“I sometimes wish the kids and teachers at my school would
feel the same way…When I was rescued…I went straight back to that…school…if you
can call it that…I wasn’t ready…I never was…but I didn’t speak up…I was
expected to just soldier on like nothing happened…I wasn’t allowed to ask the
world to slow down for me…And right off the bat…everybody noticed…Everybody
knew…and they teased me for it…Called me every homophobic slur in the book…said
I should have liked being with such a sexy woman…”
“As if being beautiful excuses her appalling actions.”
“Exactly…You know…sometimes…I wish I was ugly…I wish I had a
face full of pimples…a three hundred pound beer gut…not a hair on my head…That
way…nobody would try to seduce me again…Nobody would tell me they loved me
without really meaning it…”
“Landon, I’m going to stop you right there for a moment.
There’s something you need to know about that.” Esther sighed and removed her
glasses. “How attractive you are has nothing to do with whether or not you were
molested. Do you understand? Seduction is just one of thousands of ways in
which someone can hurt you. If someone wants to hurt you badly enough, they’ll
find a way to do it. It’s not you…it’s them.”
Landon sniffled again. “Try telling that to my
ex-girlfriend.”
“You had a girlfriend?”
“I’m not sure I’d call her that, but…after I was rescued…we
went on one date together…When she asked me out…I was having a particularly
shitty day…I leaned against my locker at school just waiting for the waterworks
to come out…She could have greeted me any way she wanted to…She could have said
hi…She could have smiled at me…You know what she did?...She ran her nails down
my back…On one hand it felt like a nice massage…On the other…it reminded me too
much of Lucy…and…I ended up saying yes to her….Like I had something to prove to
all of my bullies…Like I wanted to dispel all of those times someone called me
a faggot or a queer…She said she liked me for my…’experience’…I was disgusted
with her saying that…and I said yes to her anyways…”
Esther took more notes on her clipboard after putting her
glasses back on. “How did your date go?”
“About as well as you’d expect it to…I was all numbed out…I
couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying…or what the plot of the movie
was…Hell, I couldn’t even concentrate in school…That’s why my grades look like
shit…I couldn’t even tell if me and my girl had a good time…But when it was
over…and she tried to kiss me goodnight…I freaked out…Her lips…they tasted like
Lucy’s…All of the sudden…I wasn’t seeing a blond sweetheart anymore…I saw
Lucy…I ran away from her screaming…”
“She doesn’t sound like a very considerate girlfriend to me.”
“That’s why we never saw each other again…But at school…the
gay slurs…the rape jokes…the pushes…the shoves…they started getting worse…I was
constantly throwing up in the bathroom…I was crying my eyes out when nobody
would see me…I would sometimes try to leave school on my own…But it was never
enough…You want to know why I have scars on my hands?...Because one day…after
one of those kids caught me crying…they laughed at me…and laughed…and
laughed…so I did the one thing I knew would get me kicked out of school
forever…I beat their asses…I punched them so hard their noses broke…their teeth
crunched…I kneed them in the balls…kicked them in the ribs…I just kept seeing
red…and it was glorious…It gave me the relief I needed…So beautiful…” He
punctuated that last line with a smile, giving Esther her own form of anxiety
in the pit of her stomach.
“Landon, I’m going to stop you right there for now. You look
like you need to stop as well.” Esther took her glasses off again and folded
her hands in her lap. “You sound like you’re going through some heavy mental
trauma. The lack of concentration, the nightmares, the vomiting, the lack of
eating…you can’t live like this any longer. Something has to be done about it.
I’m not going to lie to you, Landon. The road to recovery is going to be a long
one. It’s going to be tiring. And it’s also going to depend on how far you’re
willing to go to achieve your healing. Tell me, Landon…” She leaned in closer.
“What are you willing to do to make this pain go away?”
The tears came more frequently and Landon gave up on trying
to stop them. “Anything…anything at all…”
“Anything?”
“Yes, damn it, anything!”
“Good…because what I’m about to suggest to you…is so
illegal…that you can’t tell anybody about it. You can only do it while you’re
in my office. If I get caught administering this to you, I could not only go to
jail, but I’d never be able to practice medicine again, which you in turn won’t
find your healing. Are you ready?”
“I’m sick of crying all the time…I want to eat food that doesn’t
taste like my kidnapper…You’re damn right I’m ready…”
Esther pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked a bottom
drawer before pulling out a vaping pen and handing it to Landon.
“Is this what I think it is?...You want me to smoke
marijuana?...I can’t…No, I can’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“Because…I was already in one prison when Lucy kidnapped
me…I don’t need to go to another for smoking pot…”
Esther leaned in closer. “Landon…you said you would do
anything for relief. You’re not going to find that relief in Xanax or
Sertraline. Marijuana has no side effects. It’s not a codependency. It actually
does its job in a quick amount of time. Landon, you’re already in a prison.
You’re a prisoner of your own mind. And that vaping pen? That’s the key to your
cell.”
“Pfft…Yeah right…”
Esther shook her head. “What happened to you, Landon? Before
you were kidnapped and molested, you raged against the machine. You told your
teachers to shove those C+’s up their asses. Where’s that rebellious spirit?”
“It’s gone, Esther. Every time I rebel against the system,
somebody gets hurt.”
“Doing nothing will get even more people hurt.”
“Maybe Lucy was right all along. Maybe mediocrity is all
I’ve got left. Maybe those C+’s on my report card…”
“Enough!” Esther interrupted. “Those C+’s and D-‘s? They’re
just letters on a piece of paper, no different from the other letters. They
don’t determine your self worth. Demonic serial killers with a fetish for bad
music don’t determine your self worth either. You do. You know you weren’t
destined for a boring life. You know deep in your heart you want to save the
world. The more you fight your rebellious urges, the stronger they become. You
may not know it right now, but the world needs your voice.”
“Tell that to the bullies at my…”
“I’m telling you!” Esther snapped. After watching Landon
jump out of his skin, she apologized and fixed her own clothing. “Landon…Lucy
Butler doesn’t love you…and those kids at school? They don’t matter. You do.
Only you get to define what love means to you. Kidnapping someone and sexually
torturing someone isn’t love. Love is free and kind, not forceful and toxic.
You know this in your heart. You still have a heart after all this time. That’s
why you’re here, to help yourself realize it. Please, Landon…you are taking a
big risk by smoking that pen…but no amount of greatness comes without
danger…You…were destined for greatness…”
Judging from the singular tear drops running down Landon’s
face, Esther had hope that she had gotten through to him. And then…he took a
puff of the pen. But when he blew out the vapors, he coughed like he was losing
a lung. Esther said, “Sorry. Takes some getting used to.”
But once the coughing was over, so was the trembling. The
tears on his cheeks were replaced by gentle redness. His once glassy eyes were
closed. His breathing was slow and relaxed instead of labored and intensive. He
seemed to sink to the leather couch in an attempt to fall asleep and hopefully
have a dream about something other than molestation.
Esther smiled. “I’m not going to ask you how you’re doing,
Landon. I already have the answer.”
“I’m in a lot of trouble, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you are.”
“Pfft…Who gives a shit?”
“My next patient won’t be here for a long time. You can take
a quick nap if you’d like. I won’t mind.”
Landon was already one step ahead of her, breathing gently
and allowing his head to roll over in relaxation. If he did give a response, it
was jumbled and incoherent. Esther patted him on the head before sneaking out
of her office and shushing her secretary.
By the time Esther went outside, the downpour had stopped
and the sun was out. But for how long? Long enough for Esther to finally smoke
that cigarette she earned. She pulled out a Camel and lit it with a match
before taking a few drags. Like Landon with his vaping pen, Esther too relaxed
as she leaned against the brick building. But at the same time, she looked at
her cigarette with mild disgust.
“Don’t ever smoke these, Landon. We need that voice of yours
to be as loud as possible…”
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Wrestling With My Mind
***WRESTLING WITH MY MIND***
One day of creative inactivity is unacceptable to me, let
alone four. Creating blueprints for my next novel idea doesn’t count, because
that shit was too easy. I’m so close to putting the finishing touches on Silent
Warrior. Only four more chapters to go and my racecar ran out of gas. I know I
originally said three more chapters, but I’ve decided to add another one to
make sure all of my loose ends are tied up. You want to know what I’ve been
doing during those four days of inactivity aside from creating blueprints?
Wrestling with my mind. It wasn’t a schizophrenic attack, but rather a creative
struggle within my soul.
Wrestling with your creativity can be good for coming up
with story ideas, but when it takes the place of actual work, that’s not a good
thing. I used to do this all the time when I was a teenager. I’d wrestle with
my mind and never get around to writing something that would amount to a Ghost
in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex fan fiction. Back then I wanted to do a
self-insert fic where I was the subject of unrequited love for Makoto Kusanagi.
I ran a bunch of different scenarios through my head and eventually popped
something tangible out. Looking back now, it’s not very good, but at least some
good came from the constant inner turmoil.
In the case of my most recent four days of nothingness, this
running of the gauntlet was a long time coming. It began in mid-February when I
researched an episode of Millennium called “A Room with No View” due to
nostalgic curiosity. I’ve beaten this topic to death with a lead pipe, so to
give you the Cliff’s Notes version of why that episode was upsetting to me, it
was a unique version of the kidnapping trope, this time a beautiful woman
kidnapping a handsome high school boy and giving him lovey-dovey treatment
while in captivity. I saw the Wikipedia article for this episode and figured, I
want to do a story like that too, though with my own spin on it. Thus a novel
synopsis for “Beautiful Monster” was born. But blueprints aren’t anywhere near
as valuable as an actual novel, so it’ll have to be shelved for now.
Less than a week later, I went to see Pop Evil at El
Corazon, a nightclub in Seattle
I spent the next two days wrestling with the awkwardness and
then the following Wednesday I saw Starset at the same venue without incident.
But think about this for a minute: an episode of Millennium, an embarrassing
moment at a concert, and a childhood of rejecting girls as a reaction to my
father’s divorce troubles. Bad timing aside, don’t you think this makes for
some emotionally raw creative fuel? You’re damn right it does. The creative
fuel helped get me through ten more chapters of Silent Warrior, which is a
story about an unconfident high schooler named Scott George getting into an
unfamiliar romance with a younger woman. Pay attention to the theme of lacking
confidence around women, because that’ll come into play multiple times during
my creative journey.
Because of this creative fuel swirling in my brain, I became
obsessed with certain songs in my music library. You all know about “Beautiful
Monster” by Otherwise, but I also listened to a lot of “This Love” by Pantera.
I also listened to a lot of heavy metal songs to bring me back down into bathos
territory. And then I start watching Final Fantasy videos on You Tube and
finding even more vicarious romances to set my mind on fire. Squall Leonhart
and Cloud Strife are both emotionally distant characters who are colder than
Walt Disney (man, I’m really laying that shit on thick!). When they went on
dates with their respective love interests, I felt the terror building up in my
stomach yet again.
And then the scenarios swirled in my head once more. I
actually imagined Squall, Cloud, and Landon Bryce (Millennium) joining a group
therapy session to get in touch with their feelings, y’all (as Dr. Phil would
oftentimes say). And then I imagined myself in a college class introducing
myself as someone who doesn’t open up easily. And then I imagined having a
schizophrenic episode in the middle of a WWE ring with the girls of Absolution
screaming for paramedics.
And while all of this nonstop nonsense is going on, I still
have two novel ideas floating around in my head. One of them is Beautiful
Monster as I’ve mentioned before. The other is Booger the Clown. Let’s compare
and contrast the main characters of both stories. Windham Xavier is an elf
paladin who gets kidnapped by a beautiful vampire named Shelly Atwood so that
the two of them can have a black wedding together. Booger the Clown (real name
Private Andrew Gale) is a depressed birthday performer who picks fights with
orcs because he secretly wants to die. Both main characters are snarky. They’re
both emotionally fucked up for life. They’re both being pursued by beautiful
women. And whatever happy ending they achieve, they’re going to have to earn it
through fire and fury.
Keep in mind that these ideas and dream scenarios are all
invading my mind right when I’m ready to pull the trigger on Silent Warrior.
Four chapters left. Four fucking chapters left, all of which I’ve played out in
my mind many times before and therefore have a solid foundation for how I’m going
to write them. Two chapters are going to be told through Tom Simpson’s point of
view, one chapter is going to be told through Scott George’s POV, and the other
one goes to Alan Young. You won’t get many spoilers beyond that, so cool your
jets, as my mother once told me.
But let’s go back to this theme of being unconfident and
afraid around beautiful women. This is a curse that has followed me for pretty
much all of my life. Even when I was dating a Bremerton
But instead of rolling over and playing dead for a cold
world, I use sexual inadequacy as creative fuel for my emotionally rawest
stories. William Butler Yeats was once told by his crush that if they got
together, he’d have nothing to write about. That doesn’t mean I don’t intend to
date again when the opportunity presents itself. It just means I’m going to
focus my broken heart on getting things done rather than being a perpetual
angsty mope. Like I said, Silent Warrior is four chapters away from completion.
I may write the twenty-fifth chapter today, depending on whether or not my
brain wants to cooperate. I think it will. It’s cooperated with me long enough
to get this blog entry out, so I think I’m good to go for Silent Warrior’s
twenty-fifth chapter. I’m Garrison Kelly and I’ll see you next time!
***NOVEL QUOTE OF THE DAY***
“I know it isn’t fair. I know how hard you try. But if you
want love and affection in this world, you have to earn it by being a good
person, not by throwing a fit.”
-Windham
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Fan Fiction Group Therapy
***FAN FICTION GROUP THERAPY***
I know this blog entry will sound ironic considering my last
one was about how I don’t want to take time to decompress after a negative
event. But just because I don’t want to, doesn’t mean others can’t benefit from
it. I don’t project my insecurities on other people. I will say, however, that
I’ve never been part of a group therapy session before, but I imagine it’s a
lot like an AA meeting or a prayer clique. Since this is my group therapy
session we’re talking about, there will obviously be some differences. For
refreshments, there won’t be juice and cookies. Juice and cookies? What is
this, kindergarten? How about some of the good stuff for a change? Hot wings!
Pizza! Cheeseburgers! No, they’re not healthy for you, but then again, neither
is a sugar-frosted cookie with a billion calories in one serving. The juice
also probably contains high fructose corn syrup, which is worse than sugar in
many ways.
Why am I writing a blog about group therapy? Because in all
my time of taking in fictional stories, I’ve seen a lot of characters who
clearly need it. They’re fucked up, they’re tearful, and for some of them it
may be too late, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. So here it is, ladies and
gentlemen: my fan fiction group therapy roster. We’ll all get together and talk
about our feelings while dining on something other than sugar and corn syrup.
***MILLENIUM: LANDON BRYCE***
I’ve beaten this topic to death in a previous blog entry
where I incorporate Otherwise’s music into the canon. But that doesn’t make
Landon Bryce’s induction into this group any less important. Look at him, he’s
a wreck! He was held hostage by a lovey-dovey demon named Lucy Butler and
brainwashed into believing that he was mediocre instead of brilliant. He could
have gone places. He could have skyrocketed past the glass ceiling.
Unfortunately, we never got to see future episodes of Millennium where Landon
gets to rise above his kidnapping scenario. More than likely, if he believes
the bullshit he was fed while he was being cuddled and kissed by Lucy Butler,
then he’ll have a hard time holding down a job because he doesn’t believe in
himself. He’ll also want to remain single because every woman he goes out with
looks like Lucy in the end. Eat the cheeseburger, Landon. Eat it! It’s soul
food!
***FINAL FANTASY VIII: SQUALL LEONHART***
If you’ve played this videogame before, you might admire
Squall’s ability to give absolutely zero fucks about the people around him. No
emotional attachments, no love interests, no friendships, just Squall Leonhart
and a Linkin Park CD, though Linkin Park’s first album wouldn’t come out until
a few years after Final Fantasy VIII. But really, can you blame Squall? He grew
up in an orphanage and was left behind by the one person he thought he could
trust: his older sister. He doesn’t want to get his heart broken again, so he
tells the world to fuck off. Is anybody really that independent? Human beings
are social animals by nature, so all of this wall-building has to make Squall
lonely and depressed deep inside. He can fantasize about isolation all he
wants, but even he wouldn’t be able to survive such an environment. Have a
slice of pizza, Squall, and think about your future.
***FINAL FANTASY VII: CLOUD STRIFE***
He couldn’t save Aerith, he couldn’t save himself, and he
still has no fucking clue what “Dilly Dally Shilly Shally” means. Not even the
love of Tifa Lockhart can snap him out of his depressive funk. In fact, the two
might be having marital issues that they can’t work out on their own, so
perhaps group therapy will be Cloud’s saving grace. He’s got a lot to talk
about whether it’s his past battles, his love triangle, or being washed up in a
river full of toxic waste. And when he holds a chicken wing in his hand and
tries to take a bite, the other group members will notice how aggressively his
hand is shaking. It could be PTSD. It could be depression. Or it could be a
case of not having anymore fucks to give.
***PINK FLOYD THE WALL: PINK FLOYD***
I’m talking strictly about the adult character in the movie,
not the actual band members, although Roger Waters in particular could use some
group therapy. But it’s true, the adult version of Pink just needs someone to
talk to about his lost father or his abusive teacher or his cheating wife or
his smothering mother. But instead, he builds a wall around himself and lets
nobody in, not unlike Squall Leonhart. Within the confines of this wall, he
goes bat shit insane and smashes his hotel room to pieces. How do you convince
a guy with this much insanity to join a group therapy session? It’s not easy,
but I hear the Sparkling Ices taste quite lovely, especially the out-of-stock
green apple flavor.
***STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3: CODY TRAVERS***
Everything seemed to be going Cody’s way, especially in his
original videogame Final Fight where he rescued his girlfriend Jessica and
freed Metro City
***OBSELIDIA: GEORGE***
I’ve also talked about George in another blog entry, but to
bring you up to speed, he starts out in the movie thinking love is obsolete
since it’s just chemicals in the brain fucking with you. He worked in a library
and a female customer flirted with him only to be turned down for that specific
reason. And then George meets his philosophical equal in Sophie and the
anti-love myth is dispelled forever…at least until Sophie is revealed to
already have a boyfriend by the movie’s end. Poor George. Poor, poor George.
Have a seat next to Cody and enjoy a chicken wing. The chicken wing doesn’t
mind that your heart is shattered into a million pieces. In fact, the worse
condition your heart is in, the better it is for the chicken companies!
***THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER: CHARLIE***
All this high schooler wanted was a circle of friends he
could share is life with. He gets everything he wants and more when he meets
step-siblings Patrick and Sam. Charlie falls head-over-heels for the lovely
lady Sam, but is careful to keep his distance because he doesn’t want to ruin
their friendship. He almost gets kicked out of the group permanently and that
alone would have warranted group therapy. But then he regains the keys to the
kingdom and is dragged out of the shadows by Sam. The two begin to have sex,
but then Charlie has repressed flashbacks of being molested by his aunt and is
rushed to a hospital. By the time he recovers, Sam and Patrick are off to
college and Charlie still has more high school to complete. He’s both “happy
and sad at the same time”. Pull up a chair, Charlie. It’s going to be along
road.
***CONCLUSION***
There will be tears. There will be shakes. There will be
pain. But most importantly, there will be recovery. That’s what I want for all
of these fictional characters. But I refuse to end our sessions with the famous
speech about “the wisdom to know the difference”. They already know what they
can and can’t change and what they can and can’t accept. If they want a bright
future, they have to fight for it. If you fight for your dreams, your dreams
will fight for you, as said by Daniel Bryan on an episode of Smackdown when he
was medically cleared for in-ring competition again. Part of this fight for the
future includes unleashing a shit ton of pent-up rage. So after every meeting,
we’ll stand up and let the growling sounds of Max Cavalera’s voice wash over us
as he sings “Blood Fire War Hate” by Soulfly. Say it with me! “Blood! Fire!
War! Hate! Blood! Fire! War! Hate!” Feels good, doesn’t it? Hell, some of these
characters might end up joining a metal band, so they might as well get used to
saying it. I’m Garrison Kelly and I’ll see you next time!
***LYRICS OF THE DAY***
“Someday, somehow, I’m
gonna make it alright, but not right now. I know you’re wondering when. You’re
the only one who knows that.”
-Nickelback singing “Someday”-
Friday, March 2, 2018
Millennium X Otherwise: Beautiful Monster
***MILLENNIUM X OTHERWISE: BEAUTIFUL MONSTER***
Raise your hand if you at least have a surface level
understanding of the 1990’s horror TV series Millennium. I didn’t watch it on a
regular basis when it was on TV, but there was one episode in particular that
disturbed the shit out of me. The title is creepy on its own: “A Room with No
View”. Gee, I wonder what kind of room they could be referring to. No windows,
no balcony, just walls and darkness. This wouldn’t be the kind of room where
kidnapping victims are kept, would it?
After seeing news stories on TV about pedophiles kidnapping
children and keeping them in captivity for decades at a time, you’d be right to
think that kidnapping is a disgusting topic to approach. If a creepy guy
kidnaps an innocent girl, there’d be no debate at all as to how sickening that
is. We’d all be clamoring for the creepy guy to be locked up. But in “A Room
with No View”, the gender roles are reversed. A drop-dead gorgeous young woman
named Lucy Butler kidnaps a high school student named Landon Bryce.
The minute Lucy has Landon under lock and key, she goes
right into lovey-dovey mode. She tells him she loves him, she cuddles with him,
and “comforts” him after he tries to get away and is recaptured. Attempting to
escape the compound and getting caught again is something that happens over and
over in this episode. And who’s there to give him love and sugar when he
returns? Lucy Butler, of course. Oh, and Landon also is told to believe that
he’s mediocre and ordinary. So when the FBI eventually raids the compound and
rescues him, not only does he have sexual trauma to deal with, but also
self-esteem issues. How nice.
If a story is creepy on its own and that’s the only emotion
it dabbles with, then we’ve got an open and shut case no doubt. But then this
episode of Millennium fuses the creepy feeling with sexual desires and
lovey-dovey romance. That makes the creepy feeling even worse. The more
emotions you can mix with creepiness, the more intense said creepiness becomes.
Landon Bryce is probably going to be fucked up for the rest of the Millennium
canon. Society loves to judge male victims as “pussies” and “fags”, so it’s not
like he can get away from that stigma after becoming free from the femme fatale
known as Lucy Butler.
When I first saw this episode back in the late 90’s, the
timing couldn’t have been worse for me. I was already a middle school kid who
was turning down dates with girls left and right because I was in constant fear
that they’d screw me over in court. My own father had divorce issues of his own
and was paying out the ass for it, so that’s where my irrational fear of
romance came from. And now I see this episode of Millennium and think, “Is that
what relationships are really all about?!” Obviously, the answer is no. But at
the time, it seemed reasonable to me.
I wrote this blog entry for two reasons and not one of them
is so that Men’s Rights Activists could rejoice. I have lots of love for
feminist culture and know full well that there’s only one Lucy Butler in the
world (on top of that, she’s not even real!). Would you like to know what my
two reasons really are? One of them is to announce that I’ve come up with a
fantasy novel idea based on the motif of women kidnapping men. The other reason
is because I’ve found the perfect song to go with this novel (should I decide
to write it). It’s called “Beautiful Monster” by Otherwise and it’s my current
favorite song from that hard rock band from Vegas. If you read the lyrics to
the song, you’ll find out just how much Lucy Butler and the villainess of my
own novel idea have in common with Otherwise’s beautiful monster in question.
VERSE 1
Something about the way that she makes me hate myself
I could run away but I don't want no one else
So say what you want, it's already done
It's Russian Roulette and love is the gun
You don't know her, you don't know her like I do
CHORUS
Looking like an angel so divine
You can see the devil in those eyes
She's a monster by my side baby
Taking me six feet down tonight
Cause dancing with the devil gets me high
She's a monster, a beautiful monster
(A beautiful monster)
VERSE 2
Something about the way that she tears me up inside
Is it wrong that I love it when I know she'll bleed me dry
So say what you want, it's already done
It's Russian Roulette and love is the gun
You don't know her, you don't know her like I do
CHORUS
Looking like an angel so divine
You can see the devil in those eyes
She's a monster by my side baby
Taking me six feet down tonight
Cause dancing with the devil gets me high
She's a monster, a beautiful monster
BRIDGE
A beautiful monster
I don't want to be saved
A beautiful monster
I don't want to be saved
A beautiful monster
I don't want to be saved
A beautiful monster
I don't want to be saved
CHORUS
Looking like an angel so divine
You can see the devil in those eyes
She's a monster by my side baby
Taking me six feet down tonight
Cause dancing with the devil gets me high
She's a monster, a beautiful monster
A beautiful monster
Are you scared yet? You should be! I’m Garrison Kelly and
I’ll see you next time!
***TELEVISION DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***
LEMONHEAD: We’re all
going to crash and burn because of you! Amy’s not even that hot, man!
SHANE VENDRELL: Oh,
thanks for the support, asshole!
-The Shield-
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