cfar said:
I'm rather fascinated by this discussion...
Everyone appears to think it would be horrible if Aiden became one of Pratt's victims. (OK, I'd rather not have her come back that way either). But everyone seems to think her killing Pratt would be good.
Correct me if my perception is wrong here, but...
You would rather Aiden kill a man in cold blood than be a rape victim? Why? Do you that would be better for Aiden's character? Or do you just think it's better drama?
I don't think it is a matter of simple good or bad, better or worse, we are after all talking about rape and murder, albeit the murder of a serial rapists who will only be stopped when he dies. Pratt is evil and his death benefits society, having him erased from the face of the earth is no loss and I would in fact declare it a victory no matter how it happened. We are talking about a man that systematically seeks out to destroy women, he puts a blight on their souls, and the damage done is almost equal to murder. Turning Aiden into a vigilante on the other hand is a brilliant dramatic turn, you don't often see women in that role. "Supermen" showed us a vigilante (Clark), although one that did not resort to murder, but the criminals he pursued were not serial rapists, did we condemn his actions, or does degree matter?
Victimizing Aiden, which is different that portraying the character as a victim, is simply too easy and a common device on television, there is nothing new there, nothing to mine and hardly holds shock value. Rape is too often used against women on television as a way to inject immediate fear and reduce powerful women to tears, it is a way to subjugate women on the small screen a way to tame the empowerd woman.
You seem rather keen on Aiden being the victim of a rape, is that why you are so taken aback by the idea of everyone championing her as a vigilante? What point would it serve to have Aiden raped, to have an act so violent and heinous committed against her, an act that in your mind is better than her killing one of the dregs of humanity. Do we need to see another woman wounded on television, another woman healing from suffering a power trip of a sexual nature? I say no, but I would love to see someone of Aiden's strength and coniviction deal with the aftermath of her actions, deal with the escalation of her desperate need to find justice for a woman victimized not once but twice by the same man. Aiden letting herself become a vigilante follows the pattern of seeing that which she believed in most, science, fail when its success mattered most, but perhaps justice is not out of reach.
Ali
Certainly the next person he'd be targeting otherwise would probably say so.