Conflicted rewatch number three...

[severity_softly]

Spoilers for conflicted--a Reid fangirl observation, and a question...

How cute! I am rewatching Conflicted again, and realized that Spencer actually shook Julie's hand! He touched her! I went back, and it's sort of adorable. He lifts his hand, gives a tiny wave and says hi... then realizes she's already gone in for the shake and switches to take her hand. Poor w00bie can't be rude. Couldn't see his face directly after, but he lifts his opposite hand to his face from what you can see. I can just imagine the poor guy chewing his nails briefly, like "fuck, I just had to fucking touch someone... ewww, human contact". *gigglesnort*

The question, though, and they never explained this, I don't think...

When they give the profile, they say that the male partner is someone who's submissive in life to everyone but the female partner, with which he is dominant. Then they say the female partner is also submissive, of average intelligence, and emotionally unstable. "Look for women who are reclusive, have a problem with authorities, and can't interact with dominant personalities."

Um... firstly, they never talk any of that out, so the parts about the female partner feel a little out of nowhere. Maybe it was an editing for time problem?

I can sort of see the part about the male, as often the unsubs are submissive in RL, and use the murder to feel the control they surrender in real life. However, I don't get how they're coming to the conclusion that the woman is submissive and reclusive, when she is the one doing the hunting of these men, or emotionally unstable (yes, she's helping a murderer/rapist and that's not exactly sane, but they didn't call the murderer/rapist unstable, so it felt like a distinction). And if she can't interact with a dominant personality, how can she tolerate her partner being dominant with her?

Maybe I'm missing something? O.o

Comments

[ubervirgin.livejournal.com]

I think they are working from the assumption that the male partner was picking the men to kill and just kind of sending the woman over to tempt the men to be killed. Kind of like, "Hey honey. Let's tie that guy to a bed and kill him. Go get."

You know, like Rossi does when he wants Moochi to go get the bird. Except without the weird sexual aspect.

[severity-softly.livejournal.com]

Well, but that still begs the question that if she has issues with authority and dominant personalities... how does she stand her partner?

LOL! Rossi should get Muchie to go fetch Reid for him. They can figure out their own sexual aspect. >.>

[ubervirgin.livejournal.com]

LOL He totally should. Muchie would at least corner Reid until Rossi got there, and the time it took Rossi to get there would give him time to think up sexual aspects for him and Reid.

I think that we are supposed to assume that since her dominant partner isn't dominant all the time, the female partner is supposed to be more okay with it. I kind of thought of it more as someone changing once you started to date them. Like, once the guy realized that the woman was submissive enough that he would be the dominant, he decided to start stepping up the dominant behavior to see how much she would take.

I think they meant she had more of a problem with dominant personalities when she was supposed to be interacting on a level where they were more equalish. The example of Adam shying away from Morgan brings to mind at least two female friends that really don't like talking to men in positions of authority but have no problem either talking to woman or people that they view as harmless (little old men).

I think they didn't necessarily do a good job of giving examples of what they meant, especially since most people are going to be nervous and awkward when talking to the police during a murder investigation. Even more so if Rossi is going to yell at them. ^_^

[raphael0877.livejournal.com]

But there have been actual serial pairs who have done just that...the woman lures other women to the actual killer. Sick. Even sicker than one person.

[kuriadalmatia.livejournal.com]

You know, like Rossi does when he wants Moochi to go get the bird. Except without the weird sexual aspect.

OMG. Never look at this ep the same way again. Nice call!

[ubervirgin.livejournal.com]

"Good girl. Did you get a jock for us to kill? Who found a jock to kill? You did. Good girl. You get a treat. Yes you do. Who's my good girl?"

[kuriadalmatia.livejournal.com]

ROFLMAO.

That's so totally my dog.

Oh yes, my dog.

After all, dog is GOD spelled backward...

Now, if only I had a pic of my pup...

[rilee16.livejournal.com]

I think it has to do with the fact that an authority figure, like a police officer or something, isn't someone who gets close enough to you to nurture a relationship, whereas a dominant partner can kind of take control (dominant) while fulfilling your needs (nurturing), whatever those may be, whether or not a relationship like that also has a component of abuse (like many criminal partnerships). Like, with Adam and Amanda, and them carrying out the dom/sub roles opposite to what the team originally thought. Adam didn't even know Amanda existed, yet the main reason she existed was to fulfill a need; to protect him and keep him alive, lessen his exposure to trauma and enact revenge for him against people who endanger him and basically do all the things he was unable to do because of his basic personality.

[rilee16.livejournal.com]

And in their profile of the "female-submissive" idea of a partner, they're not really seeing that type of person as being the proactive hunter, but the bait who goes out on orders from the dominant and acts as a lure for the "male-dominant" hunter to prey upon in a setting that is easier to control.

Like the Manson family, where Manson had the women go out and lure in men with sex, I think they called it "flirty-fishing", to come join the family. The women wouldn't necessarily have done that on their own, without orders, unless they had been absolutely certain it was something he would have wanted and approved of, like a gift to him, the way some of the girls carved x's on their foreheads after seeing he had done so in court.

[coffeecocktails.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wondered this same thing too. Then presumed I had missed something and moved on... heh. My guess as to the lack of explanations (for that and things like, was it Adam or Amanda raping the victims? - Or did every else get that too?) would be time. They packed a *lot* into this episode.

Although, people have interesting suggestions in the comments :-)

[fangirl1981.livejournal.com]

OMG where did you find that fabulous picture of Paget Brewster that's in your icon?!

[coffeecocktails.livejournal.com]

It's here: http://paget-brewster.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=103 :-)

[fangirl1981.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :D