So, normally when I talk about a show or a movie or a book
or what have you, I try to keep it to sci-fi or fantasy. Maybe horror,
paranormal, wuxia, bizarro. That’s for hopefully pretty obvious reasons. I’ll
never deny the power that sci-fi and fantasy has to bring people together
(Perhaps I’ll go in depth on that at a later date.).
But not today. As much as I’m for SF/F, I’m also for
diversity a hundred times more. With my work, that tends to cover sexual
diversity, gender diversity, and ethnic diversity more than anything else. That’s
my schtick, so to speak, and it’s important, and there’s a lot of room to work
with in there. But there’s so much more that can be done than that. There’s
religious diversity and socioeconomic diversity. But I’ve even touch on that. A
lot of people have.
I want to talk about something I’ve never seen anybody have
(Pardon my French) the BALLS to cover before. I certainly don’t have them. I’m
sure it’s been done, but I would bet not often. And I have to hand it to Jenna
Bans for not only taking this plunge, but for hitting it out of the fucking
stratosphere.
I want to talk about The Family. So, if you haven’t seen it
or haven’t caught up, this is your warning: Spoilers. All the spoilers. Well,
maybe not all of them, but definitely spoilers. So… turn back now if you don’t
want any, basically.
(And seriously, you really should watch this show. Because
fucking Christ on a bike is it a head trip.)
All right, so if you’re here I’m just going to assume you’ve
seen it or you don’t care if the show gets spoiled. I take no further
responsibility. If you have seen the
show, you can probably figure out where I’m going already: Hank Asher. He’s
easily the most likable (Read: only likable) character in the entire show. He’s
the moral center of the whole program.
He’s also a pedophile. And before you run for the hills, I
want you to note that A: I didn’t say child molester and B: there’s a
difference. There is a child molester in this show. That’s Doug Anderson, the
man who kidnapped the boy who’s the center of the entire plot and kept him
locked up to molest him at his leisure (Did I mention the adult themes in this
show? No? Oh… well, there are adult themes.).
But Hank Asher is a pedophile. He doesn’t molest children.
He’s attracted to them, and the entire show, you see him fighting against his
urges at every last second. He admits to kidnapping a boy and gets sent to
prison, because he knows he won’t be able to hurt anyone there. He voluntarily
receives hormone injections to curb his desires. He’d rather not feel any
arousal than risk doing something he knows is wrong. And sure, he has some
genuinely creepy moments. He has a box of children’s toys under his bed. But
you see how he got at least one of them, and can extrapolate that it’s how he
got all of them. A boy left it behind. He never touched the boy, but he kept
that one thing… and that’s as illegal as it gets. Technically, I think that’s
theft, but it’s really just an accident that happens sometimes.
Hank Asher knows he has these urges, but he works to protect
children… from himself. At least once, he attempts suicide, because that's the most complete solution to the problem. A boy comes to see
his mother, a piano teacher, and he refuses to open the door. He tells another
boy that he can’t come over there anymore. And in the finale, we see a
brilliant scene. He almost does give in. We’ve all been there with something we
know is not right, although I’m guessing to a lesser degree for most people. A
twelve year old boy asks for a ride home after he takes a bad crash on his
skateboard. Hank tries to resist, but he ends up giving in… and giving a false
name. As the viewer, your heart just jumps up into your throat. You’ve watched
him resist and fight the entire season, and he’s skirting so close to it, now.
He’s missed his latest hormone injection. He’s capable of this, and his desires
are back.
And you cut to them in front of the boy’s house. He’s given
him a ride home, and he’s obviously having some issues. He’s saying more and
more insistently that the boy needs to get out of the car. Starts yelling. The
door is sticking. Tension is building. Hank’s just not holding it together, and
all you can think is “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”
And he reaches across and opens the door for the boy, yells
at him to get out. And that’s it. He stays in control. And I don’t think that’s
a narrative we see often enough. Whether or not you like the plot, I think The
Family is worth watching just for the character study that is Hank Asher. You
initially think he’s super-creepy, but it’s not long before you start really
feeling sorry for him. And then you start siding with him, out of everyone on
the show. By the end, he was the character I was most invested in.
While this family is dealing with stupid shit, like the
upcoming election, or an affair, Hank’s the only one who notices that their son
is sneaking out in the middle of the night. And it gives you one of my second
favorite lines from this whole show. “Your head’s so buried in the sand, you
need the friendly neighborhood pedophile to come over and tell you that you
should be a better mother and keep an eye on your son.” And he tells this
family even after they filed a restraining order against him, and have just
generally been vile people. After it came out that Hank Asher didn’t even
commit the crime in the first place.
But I think my favorite bit is what really sums up why I
love this show so much, and more specifically the way Hank Asher is handled. If
I could track down a clip, I’d put it here. I’ll link the
whole episode if you’re interested. Just jump to 28:48. But I’ll transcribe
the important little bit (It’s of note that John is the boy’s father.).
Hank: Have you ever wanted to have sex with a woman who didn’t
want to have sex with you?
John: That’s rape.
Hank: Yes.
John: That’s wrong.
Hank: Yes.
John: I’d never do it.
Hank: Neither would I.
That’s why this show wins, in my opinion. In our society, we
conflate child molesters with pedophiles. And yes, this is a touchy subject,
but that’s why it doesn’t get talked about, and that’s why I can’t do anything
but commend this show for the way it handled Hank. It’s a big fuck you to the
way things “Should be.” It said, “We’re going to make you like this pedophile
way more than the rest of the people on this show.” And then it delivered.
If you want to see a character done right, I can’t recommend
The Family enough. And you can watch the whole run of the show for free (And
legally.) on ABC’s website. So yay!
Voss
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