On getting it so very wrong in writing

[elbales]

So this evening I watched a couple of episodes of the TV series Lie to Me, which is about a research group that consults with third parties on figuring out the truth using applied psychology to interpret microexpressions, body language, and other types of facial coding. Overall it seems fairly well done: interesting premise, fairly intelligent writing, yada yada.

But.

On one of the episodes, there was a plotline about a NASA test pilot who had basically nosedived his experimental plane into the ground and just barely managed to eject in time. He said that he'd lost time and had no idea what had happened to cause the accident. During the investigation, it came out that his wife had, in response to his very high levels of anxiety, secretly been dosing him with antidepressants.

Secretly. Dosing him. With antidepressants.

He turned to her all angry, and she asked, But dear, haven't you been feeling better since I started drugging you without your knowledge or consent OR ANY FUCKING MEDICAL TRAINING BUT THE INTARTUBES TOLD ME THOSE SIDE EFFECTS WERE VERY RARE AND HAVEN'T YOU BEEN FEELING BETTER?

His face changed. Well, gosh, his expression clearly said. You're right, honey!

Dear Lie to Me writers:

NO.

Let me tell you the circumstances under which it is in any way defensible to administer psychiatric medication to a competent adult without his consent:

1. If you are a licensed physician and it is your professional opinion that your patient is an imminent danger to him- or herself or others.

2.

3.


THAT'S RIGHT. THERE IS NO 2. OR 3. BECAUSE WHAT THE WOMAN DID IS TOTALLY COMPLETELY INDEFENSIBLE AND OH YEAH BTW ALSO FUCKING ILLEGAL, WTF ARE YOU DOING WRITING HER HUSBAND AS FORGIVING HER WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU. Seriously, his next line should have been, "You idiotic woman, I could have been killed and I could have killed other people, now get out of my sight and my lawyer will be serving you the divorce papers first thing in the morning, also good luck keeping custody of our KIDS. p.s. Have fun with that charge of practicing medicine without a license."

JESUS.

 

Comments

[bruinhilda.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming they showed her getting away with it, then? Or didn't show the investigators pissed at the husband for basically condoning criminal behavior? Because I've known a couple of people that messed up...they will basically forgive a loved one anything because "he/she meant well!"

Showing such a relationship can add a touch of disturbing realism to a crime show, but not if they show the authorities agreeing with that stance.

[elbales]

Well, the husband said he was going to lose his job, but that was before he forgave her. The story didn't really show consequences to either one of them one way or the other. The investigation was just to find out if he'd done it on purpose (his dad had defected from the USSR, and Russia is trying to get a space program going these days, so NASA was all suspicious that someone had paid him off to destroy a multimillion dollar piece of technology).

Still. Not happy with the way it was handled. Or, actually, not handled.

[bruinhilda.livejournal.com]

If that's the way the episodes are constructed, they would have been better off showing the husband as stunned and unsure of how to take it. (Which is what your reaction would naturally be if you just discovered that your trusted loved one had been secretly drugging you "for your own good.") Then they could have left the whole "will he forgive her or not" question to the minds of the viewers.

[akk]

The series ran on tv here a while ago and I have to admit, despite some of the more than objectionable issues - the one you quoted above and privacy being another - I enjoyed it.
Probably, because it was one of the few tv series with a decent German dub. You should _hear_ some of the horrors they made out of other stuff - like True Blood - believe me, the vampires aren't the nightmare in the German version! But I digress. The ep you quoted above made me want to slap their screenwriters with a leather-bound and steel-clasped version of the StGB (criminal code).