Solid and relevant social commentary, and the ever-glorious Maggie Q!
Dylan McDermott's character and his entire story line
“Stalker” delivers solid social commentary and Maggie Q badassery
CBS debuted its latest procedural drama, Stalker, following in the footsteps of its enormously successful CSI franchise, as well as the now ten years old Criminal Minds. Stalker stars Maggie Q (Nikita) as Lieutenant Beth Davis, the head of the Threat Assessment Unit of the LAPD. This unit investigates stalking incidents of various kinds, be they voyeurism, cyber harassment, romantic fixation, etc. Long-time TV veteran Dylan McDermott plays Detective Jack Larsen, the newcomer to the team. They investigate a case together on a woman who was burned to death by her stalker, with Beth wanting to see what Jack is capable of, while Beth also consults on another case involving some university students. We also learn that Beth herself has been stalked, and Jack is shown to be stalking a woman, creepily following her around and snapping photos of her. But let’s dig a bit deeper and examine what this show has to offer.
Commentary, commentary, commentary
The episode begins with a woman, Kate Edwards, being murdered by a hooded figure that has been stalking her. She is doused with gasoline and frantically tries to escape in her car. But unfortunately for her, she drops her keys and the stalker continues to pour gasoline on the car before setting it aflame. The car rolls down the hill and crashes into a telephone pole before exploding, thus incinerating Kate. This sets the tone for the show’s heavy subject matter. Beth points out in a lecture that social media is the number one reason that stalking cases have tripled in the last decade. This serves as a reminder of how current and relevant this show is. Kate’s gruesome death is not another case of glamorizing violence against women, which is of course a serious problem in the entertainment industry, but a reflection of the very real and ongoing threat that women face in today’s society. By grounding the show in reality, it strikes a chord with female viewers who are accustomed to that creeping feeling when being out late and walking alone, and that baseline level of fear we women are all conditioned to have beginning at a very young age.
“Over 6 million people are stalked each year in the United States. One in six women, one in nineteen men.” ~ Lieutenant Beth Davis
The members of this department all have degrees related to mental illness. Understanding the psychological disorders at play here are essential to their being able to save the victims in the cases they receive. As a psychology student myself, this aspect of the show proved particularly interesting. One example of this was when Beth and Jack were in the victim’s room and Jack explained how Kate had an ongoing problem with a stalker based on the fact that her shower curtain was clear (so as to be able to see someone coming up on her), how her bed was platform style (so no one could hide beneath it), and how she slept on the left side of her bed (so as to be able to face the door and watch for oncoming footsteps). Also, when Lori Carter survives an attempt on her life by the same killer and is asked by Beth why she didn’t report the stalking she had been facing leading up to the attack, she replies, “I know the law. You can’t prosecute someone for scaring you. He didn’t hurt or threaten me.” This was a poignant moment, as it speaks to the flaws in the so-called justice system, and how often the women who face these threats do not receive any help until it’s too late.
Maggie Q is here to kick some Stalker ass!
Maggie Q is the reason Lt. Beth Davis is the strongest character on the show. Beth is not only highly brilliant and skilled at her profession, but someone who has greater insight to stalking due to having been a victim of it herself. When Jack asks why Lori didn’t report the creepy letters she was receiving from her stalker, Beth says that Lori is an ambitious woman who chose to ignore her fears because being a victim is seen as a sign of weakness. This is of course true, as women are often on the receiving end of victim-blaming when crimes are committed against them. But Maggie Q’s delivery of these lines, coupled with her pensive visage, drew us in and made us want to know what exactly it is that she has been through and where it is that she draws her strength from, given how traumatic her experience must have been for her to still be going through a careful routine each night of closing up her curtains, locking all her doors, setting the alarm, and getting into bed facing the bedroom door, much in the same way that the victim Kate was deduced to have done (that was a nice touch, by the way).
“Don’t be silly, I’m sporadically rude.” ~ Lieutenant Beth Davis
Beth’s arc with the Eric Bates/Perry Whitley case was particularly strong. She’s called in to provide a consultation as a favor to the dean of Alcott University after Perry is beaten up by Eric. Eric hams up the victim angle but doesn’t want to press charges. Beth sees past his nonsense and knows that Eric was the actual victim and simply retaliating against his stalker/former roommate. When Eric comes back to speak with her in her office after a threatening visit from Perry, Beth remains ever the professional in the face of Eric’s emotional outburst, stating how she can’t get a restraining order for him without solid evidence. But then she shows him compassion by communicating her personal experience. “I’ve been through this, much worse than this, and it will not get the best of you… because it will end.” She promises to help Eric and we believe her. But rather unexpectedly, she ends up confronting Perry by using physical intimidation and threatening him, also adding that she is a better liar than him. Beth had initially seemed like just another by-the-books type but with this impressive display, her character became truly exciting. Combining both brains and brawn to be calculated with her threat makes her far more interesting and dynamic as a character.
Detective Jack Larsen, why are you even here?
Dylan McDermott may be a solid TV presence, not to mention easy on the eyes, but Detective Jack Larsen is a very off-putting character. The first thing we see from him is that he is stalking a woman. Seems a bit contradictory that he be committing the crime he is meant to be hunting down. Sure, Dexter Morgan did that but Dexter Morgan actually managed to be endearing to viewers. Jack, on the other hand, is not. Though he demonstrates strong skills in working the case to hunt down the stalkers, he is grossly insensitive and ignorant to the social issues related to stalking. When he first meets Beth, she grills him on why he wants to work in the department. He responds with inappropriate jokes about celebrities who get stalked and mental illness. How could a person say things like that and get to work this job? At the very least, shouldn’t there be some sort of HR person telling him off?
“And her stalker?” ~ Lieutenant Beth Davis
“It’s a man. Let’s face it. The violence of burning someone alive has us men written all over it.” ~ Detective Jack Larsen
The revelation at the end of the episode that the reason he is stalking the woman he had had an affair with back in New York (who was married, by the way) is because he is the father of her son did provide a bit more perspective on his character. However, there is a glaring plot hole in this. If he is indeed the father, shouldn’t he just be able to file a paternity suit? Then he would either be confirmed to be the father, in which case a judge would grant him some sort of access to his son, or he would not be found to be the father, in which case he would have to move on with his life and quit being such a creep.
But the absolute worst part of the episode is the way he treats and interacts with Beth. When he tries to make up for his bad first impression, he does so by apologizing for staring at her breasts, saying that that has to be why she doesn’t like him since he had done nothing else wrong (well, you’re wrong about that) and proceeds to tell her all of his self-perceived strengths (newsflash: your ego is not healthy and you are delusional). When she asks him why he did it, he lists all of the ways that she has made herself look nice and that he presumed that she would have been flattered by the male attention he gave her. Naturally, this makes things worse. He later tries again, saying he doesn’t want her to hate him (for starters, how about taking a basic women’s studies course and getting a clue?) He then asks, “Why do you wear sexy things if you don’t want men to notice?” …and there it was. Classic male entitlement to women’s bodies. This is Rape Culture 101, folks. Beth brilliantly responds with, “For how I feel in them. I dress for myself.” This was a phenomenal line from Beth, as it speaks to the ongoing slut-shaming that happens to women who dress up, and the pervading false idea that women dressing nicely has anything to do with impressing men. But then the moment was ruined by his blowing her response off, and it becoming about his man-pain and not wanting to be judged for the mistakes he made in New York regarding his affair with the wife of the Deputy Chief. Then she ends up apologizing to him for judging him off of that. Why is she the one apologizing? She had every right to judge him for engaging in behavior that was both unprofessional and morally repugnant! Not to mention, she’s his professional superior! If the intent is to have him start out incredibly flawed and horrendously ignorant before having him learn from the work that he is involved with, then it will be a long and agonizing experience to watch him until he shapes up and quits being such a sleaze.
FINAL VERDICT
When I first read the news that Maggie Q would be starring in a new CBS drama, I was eager to watch it before the show’s premise had even been announced. Happily, she delivered just as I’d hoped she would. Beth Davis is a great character, not to mention the representation she is providing for Asians (something that is far too lacking in Hollywood). That scene in which she threatened Perry Whitley had me cheering out loud. It was nice to have that physical element thrown in there too, given how strong Maggie Q’s action abilities are. Her acting was terrific as well, and made me want to know all about who Beth Davis is, and how she came to be this person that we see. Series creator Kevin Williamson has written Beth well, but she wouldn’t be half this compelling without Maggie Q being the one to bring her to life. Director Liz Friedlander’s incorporation of the shots of Jack looking through the crawlspace peephole down at Beth was a nice nod to their personal connections to this line of work, with Jack currently stalking his ex and Beth having been a victim of stalking. Though some have taken issue with the show’s violence, I don’t see how this is any different from other crime shows, and it’s certainly nothing compared to the violence put on premium network shows. The violence on Stalker is merely a mirror of the misogyny that runs rampant in society. The inclusion of a male stalking victim was a smart deflection against the potential “but what about men” viewers, but to not show more women than men as being the ones being stalked would be a blatant contradiction to the very real statistics presented regarding who are the more frequent targets of stalking. If anything, it would diminish the seriousness of the problem that the show is about. Far too often, shows and films will have a woman dying just to set the usually white male hero on his journey. This time, it’s a woman leading the charge, and being the champion out to save people, many of whom are women. I will gladly carry on watching Stalker and am eager for more of Maggie Q fighting against bad guys and the social injustice that they perpetuate.
Questions, Comments, Concerns…
- I literally had to pause the episode to yell out in anger at Jack’s ignorance regarding male entitlement to women’s bodies when he asked Beth why she dresses nicely if she doesn’t want men to notice her. DEAR MEN, NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU.
- Maggie Q, a WOC, literally slapped white male privilege & entitlement across the face. TWICE. *begins constructing a Maggie Q shrine*
- There is so much social commentary in here! How are all these other critics missing the point of this?
- Erik Stocklin’s performance as Perry Whitley was highly potent, so he’s either a total creep or a fantastic actor. I’m hoping for the latter. xD
- It is 1000% important that Maggie Q is the star of this show. She is an East-Asian female, and many types of Asian women are targeted because of racist sexual stereotypes that make us out to be sexually submissive but also freaky. Her portrayal of this character is an opportunity to fight back against sources of oppression to our community and break down the idea that being victimized makes a person weak and incapable of fighting back. I am here for Maggie Q and I am here for Beth Davis!
Stalker Review: Episode 1×01 – Pilot
Jenevia Kagawa Darcy