In the twenty-first episode of Monster<\/i>, HELP ME. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Monster<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of trauma<\/b><\/p>\n
I truly believe that if you were to ask me to predict what would happen in the remaining 50-ish episodes, I would not get a single thing right. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, how? How does this show keep twisting into new things and in new directions? Even characters who would be disposable in other narratives become incredibly important here, so I never know when the show is going to bring one of them up. We dealt with Messner, one of the detectives who murdered Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s foster parents, and now, many episodes later, the other<\/i> detective, M\u00c3\u00bcller, must face the ramifications of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done.<\/p>\n
Johan isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in this episode; neither are Dieter or Dr. Tenma. Yet the show is willing to follow its narrative in whichever direction gives us the best story, and THIS WAS SO GOOD. I love that we get to focus both on M\u00c3\u00bcller to understand why he may have done something so heinous, but we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to a point where this excuses him for the traumatic thing he did to Nina. BECAUSE HER TRAUMA IS STILL ADDRESSED HERE.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But lemme back up, because like a number of episodes on Monster<\/i>, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Happy Holidays\u00e2\u20ac\u009d opens in a confusing manner. Granted, it took me a while to recognize exactly who M\u00c3\u00bcller was, but I love that. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challening in a fulfilling way that each episode is allowed to be what it is. Case in point: Much of this episode felt like an examination of what happens after<\/i> you do something terrible. In M\u00c3\u00bcller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, years have passed since he was blackmailed into committing murder<\/i>. And I like that this story doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to say that this was a sensible decision. Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s VERY direct confrontation is a complete rejection of the notion that M\u00c3\u00bcller and Messner had<\/i> to make this decision. Johan\u00e2\u20ac\u201dstill the mastermind behind so many murders on this damn show WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM\u00e2\u20ac\u201djust knew where to apply pressure to compel these two men to do something horrible. They were willing to do pretty much anything to hide the corruption they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been a part of. INCLUDING MURDERING RANDOM STRANGERS.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So no, I have no real sympathy for either of these characters, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even feel like this episode does. There is a tinge of sadness here, but its rooted in tragedy, not pity. Because the truth is that M\u00c3\u00bcller and his partner ruined someone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life by taking the lives of the Fortners. They destroyed that family and now, years later, M\u00c3\u00bcller pays his comeuppance. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that M\u00c3\u00bcller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life falls apart at this exact point. He struggled to feel like he was part of the family he started with his wife, particularly since his son refused to accept him as his father. Did M\u00c3\u00bcller deserve<\/i> a second chance? Did he deserve to start a family and find happiness after he denied it to other people?<\/p>\n To be honest, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Happy Holidays\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is necessarily trying to answer that for us. Because Nina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to kill M\u00c3\u00bcller when she has a chance is less about him and him being forgivable; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more about how Nina refuses to ruin someone else’s<\/i> life. She possesses an ethical code that M\u00c3\u00bcller did not, and thus, I see this episode as a chance to build her character more than anything else. Her brother might be a horrible murderer, but she is not, even when there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some pretty strong justification for her getting revenge. Instead, she still sees this horrible man as a whole person who has had a life outside of what he did to the Fortners.<\/p>\n But this also is why I was so shocked by the ending. I thought M\u00c3\u00bcller was absolutely going to remain behind in the comfort of his family. If he was willing to murder to protect himself, perhaps he had learned in some fucked up way: he was now willing to do anything to protect his family. So yeah, I fully did not anticipate that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d show up to rescue Nina. And neither did she! HOLY SHIT, THAT WHOLE SEQUENCE WAS SO SHOCKING. And it all ends on a tragically poetic note. As the sun sets in the distance, M\u00c3\u00bcller thinks about taking his son fishing for the first time. His epiphany about what is important in life\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwho should be valued, who should be protected, who truly matters\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddoesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually come until his life bleeds out of him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, how many victims does Johan have? Does M\u00c3\u00bcller count as one given what he did and how easy it was to manipulate him? How many people has Johan compelled to murder someone else??? WHY IS THIS SHOW LIKE THIS.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Happy Holidays\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the twenty-first episode of Monster, HELP ME. Intrigued? 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