Unlike the rest of the series this.particular episode - revealing the identity of the Fairview strangler who has been terrorizing the town - has aged pretty well, and gained in relevance. What we have here is the prototype of the "nice guy", or "incel" which wasn't that much of a deal in 2010 as it is now, and similar tragedies have occured all over the world, shining a light on how typical teenage desperation, bullying and peer pressure can turn into hate.and fester into serious mental health issues over the years.
It asks the question how such a monster could come to be, and while it certainly hits a few tropes and stereotypes it does what this series does so very well: Making you understand the antagonists, shining a light on their motivation and help you understand that under every "nice guy" there once was an actual nice guy, and while the hurt and disappointments they went through don't take away any of the blame and certainly are no exuse, understanding what made them do it is still important.
There's a long list of misunderstandings and sheer bad luck that lead to this particular tragedy, but this episode makes it abundantely clear that everyone knew what was going on and just couldn't be bothered. When Lynette finally decides to commit and do something beyond nice words and gestures it's too late, but every neighborhood has a house like that. And every neighborhood that figures out that there's a monster living there isn't all that surprised, even if that's what they tell the camera teams and reporters. It's a little sad that this plot just ends here and nobody is ever talking about it again.
As usual in the more serious episodes the cast tops itself, and unlike so many of it's episodes this one lingered quite a while and got me thinking. Everyone involved here turned it into a highpoint of the series, and it makes the actual villain of this season pale in comparison.
It asks the question how such a monster could come to be, and while it certainly hits a few tropes and stereotypes it does what this series does so very well: Making you understand the antagonists, shining a light on their motivation and help you understand that under every "nice guy" there once was an actual nice guy, and while the hurt and disappointments they went through don't take away any of the blame and certainly are no exuse, understanding what made them do it is still important.
There's a long list of misunderstandings and sheer bad luck that lead to this particular tragedy, but this episode makes it abundantely clear that everyone knew what was going on and just couldn't be bothered. When Lynette finally decides to commit and do something beyond nice words and gestures it's too late, but every neighborhood has a house like that. And every neighborhood that figures out that there's a monster living there isn't all that surprised, even if that's what they tell the camera teams and reporters. It's a little sad that this plot just ends here and nobody is ever talking about it again.
As usual in the more serious episodes the cast tops itself, and unlike so many of it's episodes this one lingered quite a while and got me thinking. Everyone involved here turned it into a highpoint of the series, and it makes the actual villain of this season pale in comparison.
