#also lol there is SO MUCH media out there that glorifies cops

[ssaalexblake]

How would you respond to claims that 13's run feels a bit dodgy by having a cop travel with them?

You know, the other day while generally browsing the internet I happened across somebody complaining about this war movie. They were angry it was glorifying soldiers. Were anti-military themselves in general. You know what I mean. The thing is, though, the literature course I did in school had an entire unit and exam on war literature and I've read the book upon which the movie was based on and it has stuck with me as an incredible critique of war, conscription and the military by portraying those things in fiction. I would never pick it up again, not because it was bad, but because it was rough to 17yo me, but I am happy I've read it and other pieces of literature like it. I am happy I was taught to analyse and contextualise media with a serious subject such as that.

Now, this isn't the exact same thing as this. The BBC would legit never allow their lead children's show to Explicitly portray any acab message, like, ever, lets be true to reality here. But also, I genuinely think there is a fair amount of that puritanical black and white thinking going on here on the riff of Yaz working for the police being an immediate strike against the show because people think that portraying something is automatically lauding it because uh, the content of the story does Not track with the idea they're saying cop work is good work.

I have seen (on this site and many others) people say over and over again the only good cops are either dead or have quit bc they realised it was a crock of shit. In which case, the question becomes;

Did y'all miss the part where Yaz quit?

Yaz is not a cop anymore. Yaz quit. Yaz is portrayed as thinking it's frustrating bc because the helping people thing she was supposed to be doing isn't happening and we're shown this from literally the get go, her very first scene, and from there is only seen as trying A) to get work where she's actually helping somebody and totally failing to get it and B) straight up trying to get out of going to work by actually forging paperwork. S/O to her for that bit of illegality btw. Love that for her. She does not end the series employed by the police. Yaz found an actual way to help people and chose to do That instead.

Yaz's career arc is 'disillusioned teen signs up to be cop, realises it's bullshit and there are actual ways to help people and quits to go do that instead' which is, if i'm not mistaken, what we want actual real life cops to realise about their life choices.

I get it's a tetchy subject bc acab, i agree, and I get and agree and wish that this stuff could be more explicitly portrayed as well bc i'm sick of media or execs being too cowardly to be bold about messaging, but the insinuation that this portrayed the cops as systematically helpful or useful by having Yaz start out as a cop? No. Would I have liked it to be more explicit? Well yes, duh, but I cannot emphasise how that was literally never gonna happen. I can however emphasise how ideas like Yaz, whose main goal is to help, quitting being a cop bc she wasn't helping anybody beamed into impressionable young minds do, in fact, take root though.

Like, having a plucky teen hero character go through an arc of helping people and them Ending a cop to carry on the good work is Vastly different to a plucky teen starting out a cop bc they think that's how they get to help people then quitting bc they realised that's not true. One of these things is pro cop, the other is not.

I also hasten to mention again that there is a genuine conversation here abt the dodgy-ness cops being used in mental health emergencies. I wrote this out about it [Here].

On a personal note on this score, I, much like Sonya have been forced to deal with cops throughout somebody else's mental health emergency when I never should have had to and it fucking sucked. What an unempathetic bunch of rats who clearly haven't even done a google search's worth of research on how to discuss these things, let alone give it the gravity it deserves. That my choices were either cops or somebody dying is a travesty. And maybe this story speaks to me more personally as somebody who has had this experience and wants to throw hands over it still over a decade later, but that lady did not help Yaz, Yaz helped herself after a measly pep talk and the woman obviously never bothered to keep tabs and see if Yaz was okay afterwards either. Ryan helped his mate. Graham spreads good mental health advice that benefits others. The hospital in Syria was dealing in mental heath care by professionals of the time. Cop lady convinced Yaz to go home, succeeded, and Yaz gave her the credit when it was Her who dug herself out of that pit and not anybody else.

Like, genuinely this whole thing sets me off angry. And I could critique the execution if I wanted to but the bottom line is i've not actually seen anything else even go slightly Near where this plot went and I genuinely think it was something that should be said. As I said, a decade later and I still want to throw hands.

So basically like, I get the discomfort, I do, I get not wanting to see it as well, but Yaz grew OUT of this. Not the other way around. Portrayal is not endorsement. I do not personally find this era difficult to parse but people seem either unwilling or unable to do so on literally every theme addressed in it, but I am just back to being that 17yo in an english lit class being taught how to examine things through the vehicle of anti-war stories, ones that people are actually nowadays mad at for glorifying war just because they portray it when this couldn't be farther from the truth, and I cannot help but relate the situations a bit.

I mean, I don't think it's a 10/10 and I would tweak, but I am aware you won't be finding anything as bold as blatant acab on dw in this geopolitical climate and since that's endemic literally everywhere i'm not gonna single out This show for it when at least its trying (watching classic who and the things they just openly say and portray is soooooo eye opening. TV of the 21st century has no spine in general.) But the portrayal of something does not imply that said thing is positive. If real cops ditching the badge on principle is a good thing that we want to continue, I fail to see how fake ones portraying that said same thing is bad.

#dw shit #cynicalclassicist #prepare to get eaten alive for this one i guess #also i don't think dead cops are good cops bc dead cops who are shitbags don't deserve all the #glorifying and idolizing they get when they died assholes #give me one who walked away. that is better. #also lol there is SO MUCH media out there that glorifies cops #like fuck y'all ever seen an ep of blu/e blo/ods??? fucking galling #but nobody ever bitches abt the worst offenders bc nobody thinking this stuff has ever seen them l o l #i know this show is shit bc some situations u just can't leave #if i could erase a show from existence it'd be that one #dw meta

[chrkrose]

Hi there. Kinda random but have you watched 13 reasons why s2? I remember a post you made about the issues you had with the first season and I loved it! I agreed with everything you said. How her mental health was not even talked about. As someone who works in the truntches of mental health counseling, I found S1 so very frustrating. I think bullying is something that still needs to be talked about, but so does mental illness. Just wondering what you think about them making a S2 at all.

Hi!Omg, I loved his question, and I’m glad you liked my post about season 1 ♥️♥️And yes, I’ve seen season 2, and... SPOILERS OF 13 REASONS WHY in case you want to watch (I’m on mobile and I can’t put a “read more”).I had a lot of issues with the second season. On season 1, although I could certainly understand where a lot of people who hated the show were coming from with their criticism, I disagreed with a lot of things they were criticizing. I thought there was a lot that could be saved from season 1 even though they glossed over her mental illness as the real reason why she killed herself.When they announce season 2 was going to be a thing, I was mad because to me the show should have ended on season 1 because that was the story that should have been told. Season 2 felt like overkill and that the show had been renewed because they wanted more money. Turned out I was right.They still glossed over her mental illness. I think since they were going with a second season, they should have focused on what truly drove her to end her life but they didn’t bother. Instead, for the first time I did feel like they glorified and romanticized her suicide quite a bit. They also glossed over other character’s mental illness and addictions.They retconned (is that how it says? I don’t know lol) the whole first season so they could add more background because of the trial and to me it felt like a lot of her tapes didn’t even make sense in retrospect (especially Zach’s. I liked them as a couple, it was really really cute, but it made absolutely no sense when you take season 1 into consideration and what she said on her tape. Besides, it completely changes her feelings towards clay because it caused me the impression she wasn’t really “in love” with clay and more that she cared for him and thought he was the right person for whom she should had feelings for). I did like some stuff, like for example the scene with all the women talking about their experiences when it comes to sexual harassment and assault, that scene was simply a masterpiece. I liked Jessica’s overall arc dealing with what happened to her. But that was pretty much it in terms of what could be saved from this season. It’s like they tried to cover a lot of subjects at once and didn’t go deeper into any of them. Everything felt superficial.But I think my biggest problem was with Tyler storyline. They teased the whole school shooting plot the whole season and don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any desire to see him shooting and killing a lot of kids. But if you’re going to address something like this, you need to do it properly and you need to do it right. And especially, YOU NEED TO GO WITH IT. They did everything wrong. The scene in the bathroom, while I know it’s something that happened a lot with a lot of kids and should be discussed more often, was used in a way for purely shock value and to make us sympathize (and even root for in a way) with a potential school shooter. And it was also triggering as fuck, for me at least it was a thousand times worse than Hannah’s suicide scene from season 1. And while bullying and the culture that surrounds high school in USA when it comes to that needs to be addressed, do we really want to make it seem like a potential school shooter has a point in what he’s about to do especially when we take a look at what’s happening right now in USA? But ok, let’s say they decided they would take that road. Like I’ve said, I have no desire in watching a kid shooting a bunch of kids, and they didn’t have to necessarily show the shooting, but they should have made it happen. Show Tyler getting to the prom party, show one or two kids noticing he’s there and has a gun, fade to black and we listen screams and gunshots. Point made. And then we would deal with the aftermath of that next season. We would deal characters we got attached with being killed in a school shooting and we would see the victim’s side and how that affects them. Something that media somehow forget when they are covering school massacres because they are too worried about trying to humanize the school shooter and portrait his victims as the bad guys even though they are dead and can’t defend themselves. We don’t see the family suffering, we don’t see what the friends of the victim go through. We don’t see what the survivors go through. We don’t see how the parents of the shooter have to deal with the fact they not only lost their kid, they also had heir kid being responsible for the death of other kids. If we had all of that, if we had represented in our screen next season what it is to live in this reality, maybe I could understand and even praise the braveness of touching this subject.Instead we have the main character being “ a hero” by telling his classmates to lock themselves inside the place AND NOT CALL THE POLICE and face the gunman and small talking him until he suddenly gives up shooting everyone. Do they know how kids are easily impressed and how fucked up this message is? Hey, just go talk to the other kid who has guns ready to shoot up everyone and tell him stop. Don’t call the cops, just face the gun man and everything will be fine. What. The. Fuck? And that cliffhanger was lame as fuck. I don’t see the point of having a season 3 now, honestly. They should stop before it gets too embarrassing.Thanks for this question honestly ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[metawitches]

Episode 6 of Stumptown is about ghosts. The characters work through their ghosts while the show tests out new character combinations and expands backstories.

After their falling out in episode 5, Dex and Grey both spend time with new love interests, causing other cast members to feel they’re being left behind. Ansel and Miles take steps to ensure their interests haven’t been forgotten. Dex takes a PI job that has her tracking down the stalker of an old flame.

Meanwhile, Tookie continues to have business issues with his food truck. This time he closes up and goes to visit the highest ranking member of the police force he knows, Lieutenant Cosgrove. This is a friendship I never knew I always wanted. They bond over their love of mole sauce  and experimental cuisine.

Dex gets a female love interest this episode, her former flame and punk rock star client, Fiona X. Meanwhile Detective Kara Lee makes a second appearance and this time she acts more like Miles’ police partner. The women of Portland do exist and it’s good to get to know them. But I’m still waiting for quality friendship time between women that isn’t between Dex and a woman she wants to have sex with or who’s a business associate.

I usually say the Bechdel test is a low bar to jump, but Stumptown is proving me wrong. Maybe the women on the show have technically had conversations about something other than men and relationships, but, for the umpteenth time, there are no female friendships on this show, despite the fact that it’s a show with a female lead.

Why not? Dex doesn’t hate other women. Why wouldn’t she and Ansel have female friends? Why are other women only love interests and business associates, as if Dex is a misogynist “man’s man”? And it’s not like the other women are getting scenes with each other, either.

Are they afraid a group of women will turn into a coven of powerful, scary witches?

In the minds of ABC and the writers, does bisexual, aka a woman willing to have sex with a woman, code as “might as well be a man”?

Recap

Dex and Miles are at the Labyrinth for a punk concert by Fiona X. Dex wanted to thank him for letting Grey go and introduce him to something she likes, while they relaxed after the tension of the last few weeks. Miles figured sex might be on the table, even though punk isn’t really his scene. Dex agrees that they both might get lucky after the show.

Fiona X starts the show with a song dedicated to the one who got away. She specifically namechecks Dex as the one. Awkward. Later, at his place, Miles asks how long Dex and Fiona dated. Dex tells him that they dated for 5 or 6 months, ten years ago, right after Dex got out of the military. Then Fiona got signed, went on tour, picked up the X (real name: Finklebocker), and Dex hasn’t seen her since.

Miles asks Dex out on Friday, but this time he wants to bring her into his world. His world inexplicably involves bowling shoes. Which he owns rather than rents.

I think we need to consider the theory that Miles is a time traveler from the 1950s.

Also, it’s become very clear why this good looking, decent guy, who has a steady income, is so, so single. Ladies, apparently the bowling alley is where you should be trying to meet men on Friday nights. Or maybe he’s just saving himself for Grey. YES, I SAID IT. WHERE IS MY FAN FICTION? Don’t make me write my own.

The next day at the bar, Grey wants to know all about Dex’s night out with Miles, but gets frustrated that she won’t spill all of the juicy details. She tells him that she doesn’t know who he is anymore, so she can’t trust him with the details of her sex life. He’s going to have to get his own sex life now.

At that moment, Fiona X struts into the bar, along with her full entourage, to give everyone’s sex life a little help. Fiona’s in town for three nights and wants Dex to act as PI and security that she can trust. She has a stealthy stalker who hangs on the fringes threateningly, but Fiona has never even gotten a good look at him before he melts back into the shadows. For that reason, her manager doesn’t take him seriously and she hasn’t gone to the police.

The health inspector finds a few violations in Tookie’s food truck and shuts him down until they’re rectified.

Grey talks to Ansel about his hidden past and if it going to come between them. Ansel is here to be an angelic, blonde disabled saint, the Tiny Tim of Portland, so of course he forgives Grey without a second thought. But Ansel, who has already been abandoned by his birth parents, is worried that this argument between Dex and Grey, his replacement mom and dad, is going to cause them to get a divorce and he’ll lose one of them.

Before Grey can reassure Ansel that he’ll always be his dad big brother friend, no matter what happenes with Dex, an intelligent brunette brings in a group of people on a tour of the most haunted bars of Portland. She tells Grey that 50 years ago, when the building was a cannery, a fishmonger named Dunk Henry was tragically killed in a sluicing accident. Grey is skeptical, until the tour guide, Liz Melero, points out how much new business she’s just brought him.

Ansel notices them flirting and isn’t happy about it. Mom and dad Dex and Grey may be platonic right now, but he knows they’re endgame.

At Fiona’s concert that night, Dex spots a man rushing the stage. She follows, while she’s having PTSD flashbacks, worried he’s the stalker, and tackles him before he reaches Fiona. He turns out to be innocent and Dex is blamed for ruining the show, which ends early. Fiona’s manager, Nick Tallarico, tells Dex that the stalker isn’t real, just a product of Fiona’s overactive imagination. He thinks Fiona just needs a friend.

Condescending much?

Det. Kara Lee, the detective who brought the files to Miles at his apartment last week, is back this week to help him with his lady troubles. But first, everyone needs to make sure we understand that he’s the superior detective and she’s a glorified secretary, there to further Miles story and nothing more.

Once she’s been put in her place professionally, Miles gives her the chance to be a good woman and give him advice on his dating life with Dex. She actually is a good detective, because she quickly figures out that one issue is that he and Dex aren’t on the same page as far as agreeing about whether they’re actually dating or just acquaintances who occasionally have sex. She tells him he has to use his words like a grown up when it comes to communicating with women.

I start to think that maybe I should actively be shipping Grey and Miles, rather than just tongue in cheek. These are two grown men who have no idea how to speak to women about what’s important, who had no problem talking about dating each other and communicated just fine when other men needed to be rescued. Maybe Dex isn’t the only bisexual character.

Tookie brings his problems with the health inspector to Lieutenant Cosgrove, hoping that dropping Dex’s name will help him. She supposedly doesn’t like Dex and has nothing to do with the permit offices he needs help with, but decides to talk to him anyway. They discover that she used to love the mole sauce that he made early in his career at Arturo’s Restaurant, until Arturo stole the credit for it and Tookie vowed never to make it again. Cosgrove has such fond memories of that mole sauce from the time when she’d first moved to Portland that she promises to help Tookie.

We’re just going to take this unlikely scenario at face value and move on.

When Dex is done with the manager, they go back to Fiona’s hotel room. Dex is impressed with how much nicer the hotel is than where Fiona used to stay. Dex clarifies that she’s a PI, not a bodyguard, which requires a whole different license. She intends to continue her investigation even if she’s with Fiona most of the time. Fiona clarifies that she wants to resume her relationship with Dex. Dex clarifies that she isn’t clear about what she’s doing with Miles.

Fiona wants 24 hour protection while they’re in town. She’s not sure where the next leg of the tour is going. Her manager keeps track of the logistics for her. Dex calls Grey to arrange for him to watch Ansel while she’s with Fiona. He teases her, but then apologizes.

Liz, the tour guide, comes back to the bar to see Grey again. Grey is happy to see her, but Ansel purposely drops a bottle of wine to show his displeasure.

Fiona and Dex drink and reminisce. Fiona reminds her that she considered getting a degree in psychology, which Dex had forgotten. Fiona remembers every little detail about Dex and their time together. Dex thinks about Fiona, too, whenever she sees her on TV.

A doorman brings an envelope that was dropped off at the hotel which contains a photo of Fiona and Dex in the hotel room. It had to be taken that evening. There’s a message written on the photo saying that Fiona is safe.

The next day, they take the photo to the police. Miles interviews Fiona while some cop-fans take souvenir photos. Fiona notes that the stalker could be a cop. They discuss any suspicious fan interactions Fiona’s had.

Fiona warns Miles that women like her and Dex are too much woman for him. He’d never be able to figure them out or keep up with them. He keeps her phone to look through her social media. She tells him to be careful, because some of her photos aren’t safe for work. Wink.

Lol. It only took her 5 minutes to get his number.

Tookie brings Cosgrove a special delivery of his famous mole recipe that he almost never makes anymore to thank her for her help with his permit extensions. The food takes her right back to the era when she’d just met her husband.

Back at their hotel, Dex suggests they change rooms, but Fiona thinks the stalker will just find her again. She has confidence in Miles’ competence.

After Miles put Kara in her place, I love how down on him Fiona is.

Fiona sings to Dex, then makes a move on her. Dex says that she could lose her license for sleeping with a client, but Fiona doesn’t think anyone will find out. They kiss.

One of the hotel room curtains is still open and they know the stalker was watching through these very windows the night before. This seems like a purposeful set up for blackmail material against Dex, maybe just on the part of the writers, maybe by the stalker or Fiona. We’ll find out in some future episode.

Kara fills Miles in on the stalker she found through her research into Fiona’s social media. Martin Newtlander had created multiple accounts, but analyzing language patterns showed they all belong to the same person. Miles and a uniformed cop visit the hotel room. Newtlander isn’t there, but a scope and a creepy shrine to Fiona are.

As Dex and Fiona lie in bed and enjoy the afterglow, Dex muses that this is what being on tour with Fiona would be like. They’re interrupted by Miles, who calls to fill Dex in on the stalker. She correctly guesses that he’s white, doughy and very alone.

Cosgrove brings one of her own specialties to Tookie’s truck for him to try, a Phillie cheesesteak eggroll with her own special touches. He’s skeptical, but gives it a try. He loves it so much that it inspires him to take the recipe even further. She gives him the go ahead to play with it.

Liz and Grey have spent the entire evening at Bad Alibi. Now that it’s closing time, Grey asks what comes next. Liz suggests some full moon activities, such as vampirism, but settles on radical honesty to jumpstart their relationship.

The women in Portland take no prisoners.

Grey is up for the challenge and reels off his basic history. After his recent past with Dex, he’s throwing a challenge back at Liz to see if she can handle his baggage.

I don’t think that Dex’s problem was his history so much as the fact that he lied about it, and she’s told him that. This time he’s going to be honest and put everything that might drive someone away out in the open right from the start.

Grey: “My Mom left when I was 6 years old.”

Liz: “I’m sorry.”

Grey: “I’m not. She wasn’t strong enough to save herself. And if you ever met my father, you’d understand. Is this too honest?”

Liz: “Actaully, I’ve never done this before.”

Grey: “My father was a crook, but he was low-rent. He was a hell of a teacher, though. By high school, I was making bank, stealing cars. But grand theft is a gateway crime and by 18, I was a boxman. There was not a safe I couldn’t get into. I did a few stints in prison and met some pretty bad dudes. And that’s actually how I got the money for this bar. Tell me what you’re thinking and be radically honest.”

Liz: “My place or yours.”

Grey tells her that he lives upstairs. Ansel drops an entire tray of silverware and walks away. Grey goes to talk to him.

Liz never confesses her radically honest life history.

When Dex and Fiona get to the concert venue they run into the stalker, Newtlander, in a hallway. He has a knife, so Dex sends Fiona to hide safely in an elevator while she subdues him. Newtlander insists that he’s the one protecting Fiona.

Once Miles has Newtlander in an interrogation room, the stalker still insists that he and Fiona are friends and that she asked him to protect her. He tells Miles to look in his hotel room for the letters he’s been exchanging with Fiona.

Miles gives Dex an update and brings up their Friday night date, but then decides that she probably has too much going on to get together.

Grey makes Liz his famous morning after eggs. Ansel catches them kissing at the breakfast table and questions why Liz is still there. He runs out of the room, upset that Grey is replacing Dex.

Dex stops by to see Fiona, who is very grateful that Dex is the one who rescued her. She wants to do drugs together to celebrate their victory, and calls Dex a bore when Dex says she doesn’t do drugs anymore. Dex’s phone rings before the argument can escalate.

It’s Grey, calling Dex to help with Ansel, who’s locked himself in the office. Back at the bar, Grey and Dex quickly fall into aguing over Ansel, Grey’s lies and their respective love lives. Ansel opens the door to make them stop. They all sit in the office for a family meeting.

Ansel wants to know if Grey is leaving the family, now that he and Dex don’t like each other anymore, just like his Mom and Dad left them. Grey is shocked by the question. He and Dex assure Ansel that Grey is part of the family, no matter what. Nothing is going to scare him away, no matter how mad anyone gets at anyone else.

😭😭😭 This right here is why Grey is endgame. He needs Ansel as much as he needs Dex, and Dex needs someone who understands that Ansel is the center of her universe, not them.

Dex gets called to the police station to finish up with the case. Grey tells her and Ansel that he’s still here, and it’s no problem for him to stay with Ansel. But he and Ansel both admit that dropping the tray of silverware was OTT.

Miles found a stack of letters from Fiona in the stalker’s hotel room, encouraging him to follow her. Dex figures out that it was Fiona’s manager who wrote the letters, not the singer herself. The stress of being stalked inspired her to write more intense songs for her album. Miles arrests the manager.

Fiona repeats her request for Dex to go on tour with her, and Dex suggests that Fiona take some time off and stay in Portland. Fiona gets a little insulting about Dex’s life, yet we’ve been shown all episode that Fiona doesn’t know where she is or where she’s going most of the time, she just goes from plane to hotel room to venue and it all looks the same. What would be in that life for Dex? More alcohol and drug abuse, when she’s just gotten her life together?

Tookie serves Cosgrove the new special on his menu: Tacos a la Cosgrove. They’re both married, so they agree this is just a friendly cooking collaboration. Cosgrove gets called back to work before she can eat her tacos, so she asks for them to go. But before she leaves, she tells Tookie that her friends call her Bobby.

Did we even know she has a first name?? I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Grey and Liz have a picnic in a park and take the oportunity to clarify that Dex and Grey are just friends and Grey won’t let Dex or Ansel’s feelings dictate who he dates. Liz tells Grey that she understands why the thought of losing someone like Grey would be unsettling. He says that’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to him in a long time.

I hope she’s for real, but something about that conversation makes me worried that she’s been planted by Kane’s people. She didn’t even blink at Grey’s history and the first thing she did was talk about death. Now I feel like eventually he could be forced to choose between the Parios sibs and her, which would leave him more vulnerable to underworld influence. He was only rescued last week because of Ansel and Dex.

Dex gives bowling a try, even though she’s terrible at it and Miles is a bowling supernerd. He tells her he likes the game because, “No matter how badly you screw up, you always get a second chance.”

Okay, that was really sweet.

Commentary

In two weeks, Ansel has to suffer through the worst Thanksgiving ever. Someone send Mama Cosgrove and Tookie to rescue him.

Since when do rock concerts end because someone fell down or had to be carried out? Especially a punk show? The first clue that the manager is the culprit is the fact that he yells at Dex for doing her job as security.

I believe that tonight was the first time we saw Dex linger in bed after sex.

Fiona really cares about Dex. Dex had a thing for Candace Tapper, who is the same physical type as Fiona. Does Dex have a disappointingly mainstream and patriarchal preference for tall blondes, or did Candace remind her of Fiona?

I could handle Fiona becoming a recurring character and her relationship with Dex continuing. There was a warmth to their chemistry that Dex doesn’t have with Grey or Miles. They just have a lot lot of obstacles to overcome because of their different lifestyles, despite their strong feelings for each other.

Since Kara’s been alone with Miles in all of her scenes so far in this episode and the last, they all could have easily been shot and inserted into the episode after the rest of it was finished and they began to realize how few women there are in this show. (But hopefully I’m just paranoid.) Kara also gives Miles a chance to act superior to a woman at work after spending several episodes under Cosgrove’s thumb, and adds another person of color to the cast. She potentially resolves several notes from the network.

It’s Complicated

Did Kara Lee really have to say that she could set Miles up with someone who could take care of him in every way and wouldn’t play games? Miles might as well hire a hooker who’d wear an apron for him him. But then, Miles decided that Dex is playing games because she’s not all over him, despite her complete openness and honesty about their lack of a relationship.

He’s the one who said he liked complicated women. I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means. He seems to think it means it’ll take a few dates to get her to commit to a relationship and for her to let him save her.

What it really means, in this case, is that she’s in love with both a dead guy (Benny) and a living guy (Grey). And as it turns out, there’s a woman who got away, too. Dex has a big heart.

She doesn’t want to screw things up with the living guy and also mess up Ansel’s life, so she keeps it platonic. She’s bisexual, so when she dates outside her platonic relationship to get her sexual needs met, she dates men and women, but she’s not interested in anything serious.

She and Miles have sexual chemistry, but they don’t gel on a deeper level, the way Dex and Grey immediately did, or have many interests in common. He’s a good choice for a nonserious date.

So while Dex superficially appears messed up and potentially available, in fact, now that she has her PI license, Dex has her life together, knows who she is, and is taking some time to work through her emotional stuff. She does not need a man, or a woman, to save her. She’s busy.

Images courtesy of ABC.

Stumptown Season 1 Episode 6: Dex, Drugs and Rock & Roll Recap-Dex & Grey spend time with new love interests, causing Miles & Ansel to worry they're being left behind. Tookie & Cosgrove strike up a new friendship. #Stumptown Episode 6 of Stumptown is about ghosts. The characters work through their ghosts while the show tests out new character combinations and expands backstories.

#ABC #Camryn Manheim #Cobie Smulders #crime drama #Dex Drugs and Rock & Roll #Jake Johnson #metacrone #Michael Ealy #recaps #review #Stumptown