There is 1 message totalling 64 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Some musings on the "whammy" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:53:09 -0700 From: Angela Gottfred <agottfre@t.......> Subject: Re: Some musings on the "whammy" Greer Watson pointed out earlier that the situation in "Only the Lonely" is not clearcut. Did Natalie pretend to be whammied by Nick when they first met in the morgue? If so, why did she drop the pretense when she saw him on the street later? And if she really was whammied, then what made it stop working? My gut feeling is that Nat did pretend to be whammied. But in the hours or days after her encounter with Nick, she wondered if she really had done the right thing. The combination of getting to know this good-looking guy (who she later admitted to being attracted to) and solving a scientific puzzle were ultimately too much to resist. So when she saw Nick for the second time, she decided not to let him go so easily. However, if she really was whammied in the first place, it's not too hard to see why it wore off. Nick didn't know about the documentary evidence problem at that time. Nat would have found a paper trail a mile long - documentation that she received a body that isn't there any more, not to mention the umpteen crime scene reports and photos that would have been necessary before Nick's body was sent to Nat's morgue. I also saw "Avenging Angel" the other night. That one was interesting because Nick's whammy of the TV reporter in front of the shelter for abused women suggests a fifth scenario, which I call "Whammy? What whammy?" Nick is upset because the TV crew is filming right on the doorsteps of the safe house, which is compromising its location. First he asks the reporter to move quite belligerently, and the reporter responds equally heatedly. Then Nick pulls out the whammy. Nick: "You're all done here. There's nothing more to see. It's what you call 'a wrap'." Reporter: "Let's go. That's a wrap." However, later, we see the footage airing on TV, with chaos ensuing. So obviously the whammy didn't work. There are two possibilities here. First, Nick's whammy was successful, it's just that he didn't give the right suggestion. He convinced them to leave, but didn't say a thing about not airing info that could locate the shelter. The other possibility is that the reporter didn't even know that a whammy had been attempted. He *was* all done there, he didn't see any reason to further annoy the homicide cop (who he might come into contact with on a future story), so he actually agreed with what Nick had said, and responded "It's a wrap," not even realizing that Nick was trying to pull something on him. (Probably just thought Nick was a bit overbearing.) And the reporter then went back to the studio to finish the footage in time for the news broadcast. Finally, one little side note regarding "Avenging Angel". In Canada, many shelters for abused women and children were originally established as homes for unwed mothers; places where the girls could have their babies far from home and then give them up for adoption, then return with nobody the wiser back home. With the sexual revolution, many of the maternity homes lost their original clientele and were repurposed as women's shelters. I learned this from Canadian journalist Ann Petrie's memoir/history, _Gone to an Aunt's_. (http://www.amazon.ca/Gone-Aunts-Remembering-Canadas-Mothers/dp/0771069715 ) Fascinating stuff! Can you picture Nick having a flashback to what was happening at that same shelter 50 years earlier? Your humble & obedient servant, Angela Gottfred ------------------------------ End of FORKNI-L Digest - 22 Dec 2010 to 23 Dec 2010 (#2010-42) **************************************************************
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