A Really, Really late Wild Justice Post

[kiwisue]

The post wherein my habit of poking around in dark corners examining the less Lads-related aspects of episodes reasserts itself. Also, sorry for the extreme lateness – people who know me should not be surprised :P

Other posters have already done a magnificent job of commenting on the Lads and the plot and all. I just wanted to talk about something WJ-related because it's a very curious episode. So I thought I'd take a slightly jaundiced look at the other characters…


Kate Ross
Yes, the character was over-written, with dialogue a crocodile would find hard to swallow. And yes, the psychobabble annoys. Yet…

I'm so on her team *g*. I remember the 70's, and the whole damned-if-you-did, damned-if-you-didn't hypocrisy around female behaviour, particularly the behaviour of "high achievers" (oh, yes, I know it's still an issue, but believe me, it was far worse then). So she's working with a bunch of mostly youngish, randy blokes and she's an extremely attractive woman (over-parenthesising I know, but I find Sarah Douglas hot). Hmmm. Well, how do you earn their respect and maintain a proper distance at the same time?

Honestly, I think she genuinely likes the Lads, for all she bosses them around and slaps them down. She smiles at them when they're not watching, when she's listening to Bodie's voice on the tape with Cowley - and some of that word-play is a little too arch to be strictly professional - "pretty curls" indeed!

Her line: "…sexual demarcations. Wouldn't you agree, Bodie?" gets to me every time. And when it's the basis for brilliant fic like Wonderful Tonight, my squeefulness knows no bounds.

If she has a flaw, it's that she relies a little too heavily on her test scores, her hard data. In that she's the opposite of the men in this episode. Deliberate? I think so.

Jennifer Black
What are the "more important things" Ms Black has to worry about? She looks like a Lady who Lunches, who doesn't have to worry about where her next pair of shoes or flying duck brooch is coming from. She seems to know a bit about CI5 and Bodie's role in that organisation - even if Cowley does most of the talking on that subject - does that mean Daddy is somebody and not "just" an MP? Or does she have a cushy-but-confidential PA job which somehow allows her to swan off to Windsor for long lunches? I know she could be on hols, or she could be somebody herself, but I don't think so (yup, I have biases). And her relationship with Bodie seems a little shopworn somehow. He's quite snarky to her in the pub when she finds the 'ambience' underwhelming *g*. And she sees him just "a fair amount", which could mean anything. More friends than lovers, or "on-again, off-again" bed-partners? Whatever it is, I don't think she'll be too keen to see him again, unless it's to hand him the panelbeating bill (well it could have been her car y'know - she was waiting by it when he met her).

Sally
When and where did Doyle find her? He certainly didn't tell her much about himself or Bodie... yet she's quite happy to let Bodie drape himself around her shoulders during the race & even manages a bit of it herself. Maybe she met Doyle at their local the night before and she mentioned that she had a set of guaranteed-to-stun yellow overalls? Maybe byslantedlight is right and Bodie and Doyle took her home? Whatever the context, she's entirely inoffensive, sensible (if a little averse to dirty kisses), caring (helps Kate with Cheryl at the end of the episode) and ultimately gone.

Cheryl
Wow - what gorgeous, gorgeous flaming red hair she has. Nice choice to play the tragic girlfriend, she really does seem sad and beaten down by life. In fact I can never listen to the DCI's description of Keith Williams as a 'violent man" without the passing thought that maybe he wasn't just violent to punks in gang colours. Yuck. Because if that were true, Bodie's decision to traumatise her further when he goes after Billy would be wrong, wrong, wrong (although maybe he wouldn't know - I remember one of the first books about domestic violence was titled "Scream Quietly or the Neighbours will hear you", which was all about how DV was hidden) - sorry, I love historical context too much sometimes, that's quite enough about that.

Jack Crane
People like him were the real reason the Brits only won 5 gold medals at the 1980 Olympics, despite the US no-show. He talks the talk, but when it comes down to it he relies far more on hunches and "experience" than actual science. And he belittles Kate Ross too, grrrrr....

Having said that, I don't mind Jack as a character and think we should have seen more of both him and Kate.

Hedley
Another annoying, chauvinistic type, this time a pompous old duffer. Always makes me want to commit GBH - if I could just get my hands through the front of the darned TV. Ah, those were the days, when you could do an in-depth physical examination with only a stethoscope and a sphygmomanometer. And in this case, a spirometer as well - clearly they spared no expense for CI5 assessments.

Shusai
He's the man, isn't he. He provides Bodie with the advice that leads him to his epiphany at the Chequered Flag, and he warns Cowley that Bodie is sick. I always thought the "oriental philosophy" was laid on a little thick, but it does make the storyline make sense. Once you actually listen to it, of course *headdesk*. After reading some thoughts on this episode (there are some great comments on the 'Wild Justice' thread over at the tv_lounge - check out the ones from around April 2007) I realised that the explanation for Bodie's behaviour was all there, hidden in plain view.

King Billy
He's quite a good villain, I suppose, and well played by the actor, but he doesn't really interest me. He doesn't have the smarts of a Logan Blake or the charisma of a van Neikerk. He and his mates are louts who beat a bloke up so badly that he died from his injuries. They don't seem like 'outlaw' bikies at all, just banal thugs with pretensions.

Comments

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

I thinks you are absolutely right with Dr.Ross. Not a likable person at first sight, but I can understand her. If she would come around as the nice, little, quiet woman - nobody in that mans worls would even listen to her.
And she has humour and likes the boys - SHE is not only seeing them as material!

Jennifer Black is one of the women in Pros that seems to be chosen accidentally by the producers. She plays a woman with a plate before her forehead with "Marry me, and join the chambers of Daddy". Girlfriend of Bodie? No way!

I like Sally. But was it just me, or did anyone else notice that the was more concerned about Bodie than about Doyle? (That is absolutely understandable, but...)
At the beginning she asks Doyle where he has met Bodie - so she can't know them both very well. And on the race course she shows that she didn't like the way Doyle treats Bodie - and she more than once touched Bodie.
Yep! Bodie and Sally would fit!

The scene with Shusai was O.K.. I'm not much into "oriental philosophy", but it shows that CI5 was ahead of the time and that they tried to do everything to make their 'material' fully functional.

And life is not easy for a man like King Billy! Always those beta-men right behind him, always the need to proof... He was damn well afraid of the "widow maker", but that black stranger (sigh!) wouldn't leave him alone. (And all that just because of a stolen bed-spread :-))

IMO Bodie is OOC in that episode, but there are moments!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

She plays a woman with a plate before her forehead with "Marry me, and join the chambers of Daddy".
*g* I almost put "having a little fun with Bodie while she waits for her millionaire" then decided that was a little unfair - but only a little!

And "poor" King Billy - I never thought about it like that before but you're right - it's "hard" to be the king! *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

You brought out some great points. I was around back in those days as well and I remember how a lot of women were treated. (And still are on occasion.) Which always makes me wonder about a lot of women today who write stories. (Going sort of OT here). They don't have the actual experience of those times when they write so I see a lot of stories where the characters (both men and women) are treated horribly by others and their own family/friends/lovers in what I feel is a DV style, and by the end of the story, the character who is being used and abused is begging forgiveness. It makes my "feminist" side just cringe when I see that. Harks to the old story that the victim is the guilty party for some reason or another. Women spent decades convincing courts that they can be (for example) raped, and then people write how the person abused is at fault. I just don't get it.

Thanks for the interesting points. Oh, I never thought it was Bodie's MG. I thought it was Jennifer's.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

It's often the emotional abuse that's hardest to name, isn't it.

I can take a lot of stuff in fic, but if somebody's been victimised, then I generally want the comeuppance, one way or the other. I love the line from Joanna Russ' The Female Man; "Oh, somebody asides me is gonna rue this here particular day". There has to be some karmic resolution. Unless the story is something like the darker version of MFae's "Snowbound" where the lack of payback is part of the story (but I think I warned you about that one).

I don't think I'd enjoy a story where abuse is simply that, and it's rewarded by cringing acceptance, with no authorial acknowledgement of the issues. I can't think of any like that in Pros, though. Are you thinking of a particular one?

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Are you thinking of a particular one?

That's because the majority of people love them and always speak of them in such glowing words. I'm in the tiny minority of readers (I think there are two or three of us who speak up sometimes!) who see no way to redemption after physical and mental abuse, but that's just me. It's a personal thing. I refuse to accept that in my own life, so my characters also refuse to accept it. Funny how that works! There are very few stories of partner betrayal that I've found resolved to my satisfaction, so I just don't bother reading them. I'm good at moving along and accept my limitations.

The thing is one has to see the character actually capable of doing that "something" in the first place, and no one has convinced me of that, so the entire premise doesn't work for me.

But there are tons of wonderful stories and it will take me years to read through the archives, so I'm happy.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

From other conversations I'm sure that I have a somewhat different take on things than you do, which is fine. I was just interested in what our different perceptions were, as it's such a slippery subject. Given who the Lads are, the work they do, how far can you go with anger, with verbal conflict, with mistrust or infidelity... and with violence in the midst of strong emotions - before it goes beyond personal boundaries.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what you said! This is great--and I agree completely with your thought processes here. I really do like Kate, which is why I like some of the stories that incorporate her in a good way--yet the psychobabble drives me crazy, and her reliance on her tests.... But then, why can't she learn from this experience? Maybe that's the key for me. I'd love to see how (or if) she changed, based on these events.

Okay, and I do like byslantedlight's Sally theory. *g* I like her. But, as you said, she's gone.

And this is already too long for what is, essentially, a "me to" post, so I'll stop here. But...yeah!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

*g* not too long. And "me too", in that I think she would take what she'd learned and apply it.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased you've posted this! I shall go and read it at my leisure and, hopefully, return. Thanks.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like this - more, please! *g*

I'm with you all the way about Kate Ross - I wasn't old enough to be treated like that in the seventies, but I was old enough in the eighties to know that it was still going on and had been worse in the past. I could read, and I could see what happened via tv etc - someone like Kate Ross was totally between a rock and a hard place! Still is, quite often - now women are expected to do all that and be yummy mummies at the same time - or at least to want to be. The more things change...

I've got to say that I quite like Jennifer Black, mind. I mean, she's got the sense to go out with Bodie, whatever her background (obviously posh, from her accent) - and just because she is posh doesn't mean she has that sense of entitlement... I like the way she refuses to bend to Cowley's manipulations as well...

I like the idea of Jack Crane/Kate Ross, come to think of it!

King Billy I never see as more than a second rate thug who somehow got caught up in killing Bodie's mate/s. I think he could have been quite a good baddie, but they made him a bit too stereotypical - and his cowtowing mates were even worse...

And yes - the smarts of Logan Blake and the charisma of Van Niekerk! Now they were good villains! *g*

Thanks for this - a very interesting twist!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the support on KR :)

Jennifer Black - I think we're meant to take her as an upper class type, what with the scenic Windsor background and everything- but you're right, she does stick by Bodie. There's nothing to suggest that she goes to Cowley after the pub scene, which is cut short so we don't see what Bodie said to her after his demolition job on the MG's front door. Worth some fan ficcing, that!

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

This was very interesting and I haven’t really got anything new to add other than that I think I’m probably in a minority of one because I’m not too keen on Kate Ross(!) (mind you, I often confuse her canon identity with things I’ve read in stories). And I think my dislike of her is based in part on my natural antipathy towards *certain kinds* of professionals i.e. the ones who know a lot about their subject compared to my (usual) complete ignorance and yes, they form a large group! Almost by definition the relationship between them and me is a completely unequal one and so I find myself threatened by them and I feel Kate Ross, even though she seemed well aware of gender inequalities, would be someone who is more than happy to exploit the inequalities inherent in the situation between professional and client. Also, she struck me as being slightly mechanical - someone with not much imagination, who might value theory over experience.

A very interesting post. Thanks!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I think I’m probably in a minority of one because I’m not too keen on Kate Ross(!)

I sometimes feel I'm in a minority because I do like her! And I wonder how much of that is the (dialogue-driven) "smarty pants" problem, which distracts viewers from crediting her with real expertise. I agree, I'd be reluctant to consult her about a personal issue if that was her normal mode - but maybe she would be different in a counselling situation?

Also, she struck me as being slightly mechanical - someone with not much imagination, who might value theory over experience.

And I have a bit of a problem with "voices of experience" because my own experience is that people were subjected to some pretty idiosyncratic and unfounded medicine until they started to insist on evidence-based practice, which didn't really make an impact until the 1990's. Yet I also believe that the focus on the absolutely provable today has closed off some valid options. So I tend to cast Kate as a "voice in the wilderness" character, albeit a flawed one, and I think of Jack Crane as a trainer more informed by old ideas than new ones - so also flawed.

I guess it's up to fan fiction to decide the difference!

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think it has to be an either/or situation but that both approaches have their merits and wherever possible should be used in conjunction with each other, or at least used to complement each other. And it's just a gut reaction but I feel Ross might have a slightly blinkered outlook on certain opinions which her findings, data etc don't support. I'm not sure if she'd be able to view people/problems creatively as, I think, this exchange demonstrates:

KATE ROSS: Facts are facts. Do you call a glass of water half empty or half full?

COWLEY: If it was a small glass, and it had malt whisky in it, I'd say it was half empty.
Thank you, Dr Ross.

I don't remember much about Jack Crane so I wasn't comparing the two! Thanks for replying.