It’s very easy to judge a person without knowing their back story, we are used to watching our Netflix binges and getting the back story given to us on a platter. Sometimes I think we have lost the human initiative to actually ask questions or read behaviour that gives these clues away.
This weekend I was privileged to watch a couple of shows with fantastic backstories that really made me think!
Thirteen
Thirteen with the wonderful Jodi Comer (Villanelle) from the ballsy series Killing Eve playing the victim was frustrating to watch. The female police officer acted so well questioning Jodi’s character continuously to the point of disgust, treating the victim as the perpetrator in my experience is all too often the case. Obviously, the facts need to be established but creating a supportive environment surely would get the better result, “You catch more flies with Honey”.
Justice is a wonderful thing when it works out. When it doesn’t the ethics and morals that surely are the backbone of the justice system seem contorted, broken and in need of some physio!
Occasionally the police and the courts seem to have two completely different sets of values, then throw in the CPS and DPP who actually decide what goes to trial and you create a less than satisfactory system.
If I had watched Thirteen before I had watch Killing Eve the anger and frustration of Villanelle and her psychotic ways would have been an easy progression to make for the characters to link together. Jodi Comer did such a great job as the groomed and frustrated, lost victim of abduction in Thirteen the complete antithesis of Villanelle, the strong hit woman who I’m sure many of us wished we could emulate figuratively, not literally!
Villanelle ended up being somewhat of a vigilante in the third and final season of Killing Eve when a victim of domestic violence kills the husband, cut to the next scene where said wife brings all her friends, “they all have a Pedro too”. Now that was going to keep Villanelle busy!
When the justice system stops working is this what actually happens, unfortunately there is a huge part of me that really hopes so!
Three Girls
Human trafficking is often thought of as taking someone from one country to another country. However, human trafficking just means a trade of people for human labour so it actually prolifically happens in the same country. However, it’s just easier to prosecute when larger barriers are crossed such as countries.
Three girls is a true story of sex trafficking and grooming, a huge problem in most societies. This story starts in 2005 when the police investigated and a ring of sex traffickers in England. As teenage girls these victims were not reliable witnesses or the right kind of ‘vulnerable’ to be victims. Although the social worker involved had the moral standing of a saint her views were too far fetched from the realities of the police and the justice system.
Yet again the victim, a young girl was made to feel like the perpetrator as the male group had enlisted her to recruit other females. A lot of persuasion and a ridiculous amount of bureaucratic nonsense ensued until eventually the ring of traffickers were brought to justice.
The writing of these two series was just fantastic and really made you question your own values. Another step forward for female leads and the telling of truths.