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frogoat · 4 years

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A Timeline of the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes Games

Most of the following is based on direct information found in the various Sherlock Holmes video games made by Frogwares. While the games make several references to the original Canon as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, they function separately as perhaps an alternate version of events with new material. For example, when some of the Canon cases are adapted or elements of cases are borrowed for the games original cases. That said, we can at least refer to and compare the Canon with the games own timeline for clues as to how it all lines up...or doesn’t line up at times.

I’ll attempt to provide sources where necessary for any claims I make that aren’t overtly referenced in the games themselves. I will be looking exclusively at the mainline games from Frogwares, not the more casual games released on handheld devices etc. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

1869+ - Chapter One (2021)

*As this game has not been released at the time of this writing, this is all based on the details we have from trailers and interviews*

Acting as a prequel to all previous entries in the series, Chapter One is said to revolve around a 21 year old Sherlock returning to his former family home on a Mediterranean island to investigate his mother’s death. As shown in the first trailer, Holmes’ mother is given the name ‘Violet Holmes’ on her gravestone, along with the years ‘1829-1869′ which evidently refer to the year of her birth and death. It’s possible the game takes place in 1869 shortly after Violet’s, though this hasn’t technically been confirmed as yet. In fact, the previous game Devil’s Daughter has a brief reference from Holmes to his mother dying when he as very young, so it’s possible this was foreshadowing. If the game does take place in 1869, it makes Holmes significantly older in his later adventures than might have been expected. Alternatively, perhaps Holmes returns to investigate Violet’s long-ago death following the introduction of new information. Other trailers say the game takes place ‘at the end of the 19th century’. Time will tell.

1888 - Versus Jack the Ripper (2009)

Events of this game occur from the 31st of August to the 9th November 1888 and loosely follow the historical events surrounding the mystery of Jack the Ripper. The location of Whitechapel is seen again in Testament of Sherlock Holmes and mentioned in Crimes & Punishments. At present this is the earliest point in the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes timeline, though evidently the next entry Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One will be set far earlier, dealing with a 21 year old Sherlock.

1894 - The Awakened (2007)

The game establishes in the opening scenes that it takes place ‘Two years ago, London, 6th of September 1894′ and spans a few months, ending in ‘Scotland, Ardnamurcham Lighthouse, December 1894′. During this time, Holmes’ and Watson’s journey spans from London to Switzerland to New Orleans back to London and finally the aforementioned Scottish lighthouse. Notably, while investigating the Swedish Edweiss Institute, Holmes discovers a seemingly brain damaged and amnesiac but very much alive Professor James Moriarty. During his escape, Sherlock triggers the Professor’s memories of his archenemy, which will lead to complications later on. Also, aside from the obvious Lovecraftian references and a few to the previous entry’s Silver Earring characters, we also get some solid D & D nods and brief encounter with a boy by the name of Hercule Poirot.

1895 - Crimes & Punishments (2014)

This game is probably my favourite in the series. It’s also the first to present a collection of smaller mysteries, rather than an overarching plot. That said, the game does present a loose thread throughout the background of the various and otherwise unconnected mysteries which leads to the final case involving the anarchic and socialist group known as The Merry Men. The first case -an adaption of The Adventure of Black Peter- can be definitively dated as taking place in 1895 due to the titular victim being born in 1845 and established as 50 years of age when he dies. According to the original Canon, Peter died July 1895, meaning at least this single mystery may take place right around the time of the Arsène Lupin game, either before or after.

The second case is loosely based on The Lost Special, a not-quite-Canon story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was released in 1898 but set in 1890. However, the thread about The Merry Men makes it apparent that the game’s version of the adventure occurs after the previous case, so potentially still in 1895.The following case is an original one called Blood Bath and features a suspect named Sir Percival Blinkhorn. I mention this because there is a nod to this character in The Devil’s Daughter which gives his date of death as 1895, making it pretty easy to pin down when this mystery takes place. Additionally, because Crimes & Punishments presents the player with moral choices at the conclusion, via the mention in Devil’s Daughter we also have a canonical outcome for the case.

The next case is a fairly close adaption of The Adventure of the Abbey Grange set in 1897, but based on a photo dated 1893 that is said to be from ‘a year and a half ago’ this case mystery could be easily placed in either 1894 or 1895 much like the other cases before it. A document seen later in the case complicates matters by giving the murder victim’s date of death as November 7th 1894. Still, it may be possible to explain this, as in both the original story and this game’s case Holmes tells the guilty (though noble) party to return for his love in one year’s time. Perhaps the main case is set in 1894 before the rest of the game’s adventures? This is supported by the fact The Merry Men are not mentioned during the case, making it’s placement less connected to the prior mysteries.

The following case is a wholly original adventure taking place at the Kew Gardens and thanks to a few documents found throughout the investigation, it’s evident that it occurs in 1895. The concluding case of the game is also an original one called A Half Moon Walk which brings The Merry Men into the finale. This case sees Holmes and Watson in Whitechapel once more and features references to the Ripper, naturally. This case specifically identifies fireworks being used in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Birthday and Sherlock notes it is May, which lines up with the real world event but indicates Black Peter may have occurred earlier in the year than previously thought. Confirmation of the year 1895 is found when comparing dates of the theft of jewellery said to be a decade prior in 1885. Curiously the games ending cinematic makes mention of a woman moving in next door, presumably intended at the time to foreshadow the next game in the series.

1895 - Versus Arsène Lupin/Nemesis (2007)

This battle of wits spans less than a week from the 14th to 19th of July 1895, with the titular French gentleman thief sets challenges for the master detective across London landmarks. Lupin is foreshadowed in the previous game, Awakened by way of a newspaper article detailing one of his exploits. Furthermore, we get another retroactive reference to the thief during the chronologically earlier Jack the Ripper game when Holmes receives ‘A gift from a young admirer’: a bottle of French champagne from ‘Raoul d’Andresy.’ The game also has overt references to the previous game thanks to Watson’s troubled nightmares and a Cthulhu statue. Oh, and there’s a cute Batman reference for those paying attention!

1896 - Mystery of the Persian Carpet (2008)

More of a side-story, this game begins on the 7th of August 1896 and appears to span only a few days. This game usually isn’t included with the main series of games, often being grouped with the handheld releases instead. I don’t have much to say about this entry, I’m afraid. It relies mostly on reused assets from the previous release in the form of still images for it’s mostly click and find gameplay. If anyone knows of any connections to other games in-universe, let me know!

1897 - Secret of the Silver Earring (2004)

This game also spans a brief period of time; the 14th to the 18th of October 1897. A character mentioned in this game (Hermann Grimble) is mentioned as having been burgled in a later game in the series, Arsène Lupin, making another retroactive connection between two of the games.

1898 - Testament of Sherlock Holmes (2012)

While the framing scenes of this games’ narrative features three little children reading from Watson’s journal at an indeterminate point in the future (though one that becomes more clear as the story progresses), the main story concerning Holmes begins in September 1898 as seen on the newspaper articles throughout the game. We also see returning characters Lucy and Danny from the Jack the Ripper game make appearances. Far more importantly, this game sees the return of mastermind and archfoe Moriarty and marks the first appearance of his daughter (unnamed at this point) in it’s closing moments. Moriarty dies for real this time, leaving his young daughter behind. Holmes adopts her.

1899 - The Mystery of the Mummy (2002)

The one that started the Frogwares video game series of Sherlock Holmes adventures. This story is very clearly set in ‘London 1899′ based on the opening cinematic, and features a solo Holmes answering a request from his distant cousin Andrew’s soon-to-be-wife Elisabeth Montcalfe. The case involves investigating the Montcalfe manor for clues relating to the disappearance and apparent death of Elisabeth’s father Lord Montcalfe, a respected Egyptologist. Dr Watson only appears in the final cinematic of the game, having been on vacation with Mrs Watson, which is I believe the only mention in the games of John’s marriage. This is also -on the surface- the latest chronological adventure for Sherlock, however I have one more I’d like to touch on that I believe *should* take place afterwards.

1895 or 1904/5 - The Devil’s Daughter (2016)

I’m going to be throwing speculation and a corrections into this entry’s timeline. Why? Because without it, the timeline falls apart and I feel it’s easily remedied with a little effort. This game forms a more connected plot which plays across the smaller cases Holmes investigates. The overarching plot surrounds new neighbour Miss Alice De’Bouvier. I think the previous entry, Crimes & Punishments was intended to lead directly into this game, with the teaser of a new female neighbour but as you’ll see that doesn’t make sense. Not only do we meet Miss De’Bouvier, but we also get to know Holmes’ young adopted daughter Katelyn who has been sent home from boarding school unexpectedly. Katelyn is the daughter of James Moriarty first seen as a small child in Testament. Kate becomes aware of the facts of her parentage by the game’s conclusion. Now, the first case, Prey Tell, provides our first continuity problem thanks to a boy named Tom from Whitechapel whom Holmes deduces was ‘born in 1887′ and is ‘8 years old’. This obviously places the game’s events no later than November 6th-7th 1895 (which is further confirmed by pre-paid rental slips and letters seen a little later), which doesn’t fit with Katelyn being a part of Holmes’ life before the events of her introduction in Testament set in 1898. I attribute this discontinuity to Frogwares changing plans during production, as they also made the creative decision to change the physical appearance of both Watson and Holmes and recast the voice actors in an evident attempt to softly refresh the series. There’s a potentially self-aware nod to this changed timeline: Tom has a copy of The Strand Magazine which first printed ‘The Adventure of the Norwood Builder’ by Doyle in his possession. This Canon story is set in 1894 but was published in 1903 however the cover in-game gives it an 1893 cover date, a whole decade earlier than in the real world. Further discontinuity occurs when Katelyn is gifted a copy of ‘Dracula’ by Alice. If the story were to take place in 1895, then Dracula wouldn’t be in print for another two years in 1897 let alone, as is mentioned, banned from Katelyn’s boarding school library.

The second case, A Study in Green is where we see the earlier mentioned reference to Sir Percival Blinkhorn. Additionally, Miss Alice gives Katelyn a copy of The Adventure of the Empty House, which in the real world was published in 1903 and is set in 1894. It details Sherlock’s miraculous return following his apparent death 3 years prior during his struggle with Moriarty. A victim in this case may be a reference to Tarzan, being named Zacharias Greystoke. Oh, and a Sir J Brombsy is also among the list of deceased donors, presumably a relative to the family seen in the Silver Earring game. An expedition in 1881 is said to have been 14 years prior.

The third case presents us with Miss Alice’s birth certificate which gives the year 1867 and we know she is at least 21 years of age (though, evidently older) thanks to another letter. Sherlock discovers he played a major role in Alice’s father being arrested in 1875 which is said to be 20 years prior, again setting the events of this game in 1895. While it’s not impossible that Holmes was active in 1875, it does make it an extremely early adventure based on the Canon, one that predates Watson’s first meeting with Sherlock.

Despite all of these clear and established dates, we still have to consider how this story fits into the continuity of the other games, particularly Katelyn only entering Holmes care in 1898 as established in Testament. A part of me suspects the writers simply liked the concept of Holmes raising the daughter of his greatest foe and perhaps preferred to have this occur earlier, to line up better wth Moriarty’s original death in the Canon during The Final Problem. Either way, I find it more satisfying to use a looser approach to this entry: ignore the established dates from documents and simply place it where it best fits in the game series order of events over all. Essentially, I propose we adopt a sliding timeline to the series, almost. I don’t believe there are any in-dialogue references to the years in question, so we could apply the same lower-tier canonicity to the dates in documents as one might to movie props that contradict the year given on screen or in dialogue. There’s some fun little discrepancies in the fourth case that make me more certain that the game should at least take place at a later year then indicated.

The fourth case Chain Reaction (and my person favourite of the game) involves investigating a traffic ‘accident’. A key aspect of the mystery involves a stolen technical cab from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, which is in fact a real company that upgraded the existing system of underground railway between 1903 and 1905 to use electricity. If this adventure and the rest of the game were to take place in 1895, this would be an anachronism. Hence why I propose a date of 1904 (or 1905 if you prefer a nice round decade jump) which allows for the electrical system to exist and also gives Katelyn a sensible placement in the timeline after the events of Testament. In fact, it also allows Katelyn to be the older child who attends boarding school, reads Dracula (published in 1897) and generally behaves like a girl older than the small child seen in Testament. Perhaps 6 years older? Of course, this requires us to ignore the specific dates in all the previous cases in the game, but as none of them appear to be tied to anything that absolutely requires them to take place in 1895, I think it would be just as easy to move them forward a decade without affecting anything relevant to the narrative.

So, yes, it’s not a perfect solution but it does correct the continuity errors inherent by placing this story earlier than Holmes’ first meeting with Katelyn in1898. 1904 or 1905 is a better placement for the narrative of the Devil’s Daughter. This is where I think the games narrative should be set. I personally believe the superficial appearances of Watson and Holmes further justify this approach, as visual design and details change throughout the series based on the development teams influences and preferences at the time and can thus be dismissed when they are contradictory to the overall narrative. Who knows, maybe Watson just changed the dates and this game is merely a retelling with his usual embellishments?

Anyway, that was my attempt at a timeline for this great series of games. If you have any notes, please don’t hesitate to share them!

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merakiaes · 4 years

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Epiphany - Jack Thompson

Pairing: Jack Thompson x reader

Requested: Yes.

Prompts: None.

Warnings/notes: In this, Chief Dooley is still alive even though it takes place after the events of Agent Carter. I haven’t seen the show in a while so sorry if it’s a bit out of character. I’m also extremely writer’s blocked, so yeah...😅 I’m feeling so unmotivated right now so please show some love, let me know what you think😭 NOT PROOFREAD!

Wordcount: 6405

Summary: Agent Thompson has never been anything but an ass towards you, but that’s all about to change.

Being the younger sister of Howard Stark came with a lot of baggage, baggage that, at times, was far too heavy for you to carry.

The disadvantages were many and they were big, one of the biggest ones being that no matter how great and how many things that you accomplished in life, you never got recognized as anything other than Howard Stark’s sister.

That’s all you were, his sister. You weren’t (Y/N) Stark, you were just Howard Stark’s sister.

When you accomplished something, he was the one who got all of the attention, all of the compliments and applaud.

He was praised because obviously, he was the one who had taught you everything you knew, right? In no way could a woman, on her own, accomplish what you had. In no way could a woman be so smart.

And being the arrogant man that he was, he absorbed the praise like a sponge, leaving none of the spotlight to you; even when you were, in fact, the star of the hour.

His name, his fame and your kinship haunted you. When he did something good, you got told by everyone that you must be so proud to be related to him, and when he did something bad, well…

The time he got accused of selling off his inventions to the enemies of the state spoke loudly enough on that topic.

You worked at the SSR alongside Peggy and had been since the end of the war, in which you had both served side by side with Captain America up until his passing.

In the end, it became known that during all of the time your brother had been in hiding from the law, Peggy had been helping him in the shadows, in secret alongside his butler, Edwin Jarvis.

But despite it, you had been the one to be closely monitored up until that revelation.

Because of your kinship to him, the Chief and your fellow co-workers were suspicious of you and your every move the entire time they were chasing him, thinking you were just lying through your teeth when you said you had no idea about your brother’s whereabouts.

But you did, in fact, not have a clue as to where he was or what he was doing. Neither Peggy nor Edwin told you anything about their secret operation to clear your brother’s name, despite the fact they were both your closest friends.

When it was revealed that they had been the ones helping your brother and not you, you were happy to get Jack and the Chief off your ass, but that didn’t change the fact that your brother had trusted Peggy and Edwin over you, his own sister.

Having the same parents and being related to him did have its perks too, however; all of his personality traits weren’t bad. Most of them were, but not all.

You had both been blessed by the quick wit, intelligence, perseverance, confidence and loyalty. You were a very independent woman, sure of yourself, wise beyond your years, and you knew it, never settling for anything less than you were worth.

Luckily, you hadn’t gotten your brother’s arrogance and impulsiveness. You were the more analyzing, cautious, responsible and compassionate sibling, much to your own relief.

You were, however, just as sarcastic as him, if not even more. It was your biggest flaw and it often caused you to get in trouble, especially with your male co-workers as you almost always managed to out-wit them, making them feel threatened and like you were challenging their positions and superiority.

Which, in all truth, you were.

They were all sexist assholes, treating you and Peggy like brainless broads, as if you weren’t agents just like them.

Jack Thompson was one of the worst, finding pleasure and amusement in pissing the two of you, you especially, off.

You had disliked him all the way from the start but after the way he had treated you when suspecting you of helping Howard during his life as a criminal on the run, you could barely stand being in the same room as him.

You could barely breathe without it leading to some kind of sexist, oppressive comment leaving his lips and being thrown in your face.

Unlike other, well-mannered women who had known no other struggles than the ones of a housewife, you didn’t possess the power of self-restraint to keep quiet when being insulted or made fun off, and in the society you lived in, that wasn’t very ideal.

Especially not when your boss obviously valued the work of a man over that of a woman’s, too, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Needless to say, your big mouth and lack of impulse-control had put you in more than a few strained situations with your superiors at work.

Chief Dooley had even put you on suspension once when you had secretly gotten involved in a case that he had specifically forbidden you from partaking in. You really were your brother’s sister in those moments, and this time was no different.

Over the last three weeks, bodies of young women had been found all around New York City. The first week, five girls. The second week, four more and this week, two. But that was only so far, and the weekend still remained.

The girls all had their throats slit and their bowels brutally cut out. Being the serial killer-fanatic that you were, you instantly recognized the characteristics and realized in an instant that you were dealing with a Jack The Ripper copycat.

It wasn’t what the SSR usually dealt with but seeing as the killer had left a message specifically addressing you, the case was assigned to you.

You knew you would have been able to help with the knowledge you had of Jack The Ripper, his strategies and his tendencies, but as usual, you were shut out of the investigation like you were with every case you showed the slightest of interest in.

One of the countless disadvantages of being a woman; you could impossibly have any information that the men didn’t already have.

So you were stuck at your desk, sulking and muttering to yourself while going through paperwork like every other day, slightly comforted by the fact that Daniel was willingly doing the same a few desks away from you, most likely having turned down any participation in the Copycat case out of pure pity for you.

It would have been a lot more tolerable if Peggy would have been there with you to keep you company, but for once in her life, she had taken the day off for the reasons she claimed and not because she was sneaking around poking her nose where it didn’t belong.

“Hey, (Y/N)! Bring us some coffee, will you?” A voice suddenly called out, breaking you free from your trance and pulling you back to reality with a jerk of surprise.

Your eyes instantly flickered over to the doorway on the other side of the room, completely oblivious to Daniel lightly snickering at your priceless reaction as your eyes found Johnson’s.

He was leaning back in his seat to be able to peek out of the office that him and the others who were on the Copycat case were currently residing, eyebrows raised and face pulled into an amused smile.

“Daydreaming again, are we?” He asked in a mocking tone and your face instantly pulled into a glare.

What the hell did he mean with again? You took your job more seriously than anyone, more so than him, more than Jack and possibly even more than Peggy. So what the hell was that supposed to mean?

You wanted to throw him a snarky reply but you stopped yourself, remembering that you were already on thin ice from the last time you had gone against the Chief’s orders.

So you sucked it up, breathing in a long breath through your nose and clenching your fists under your desks in an attempt to calm yourself, before forcing a smile onto your lips.

“Yes, I’m a bit distracted today.” You agreed with him through clenched teeth.

“I can see that.” He wasted no time in chuckling, raising his eyebrow. “So, coffee.”

The forced smile fell from your lips the second he uttered those two words, your eyes rolling. “Maybe if you ask nicely instead of bossing me around, then I could be so kind as to bring you coffee.” You replied.

As a response, it was his time to roll his eyes, before dramatically throwing his arms out and exclaiming loudly. “Oh, wonderful and talented (Y/N), please bring us some steamy, hot coffee so that we might behold your beauty if so only for a few seconds in these difficult times!”

You rolled your eyes once again, but nonetheless dropped the ballpoint pen that you were holding to the surface of your mahogany desk and stood up, brushing down your blouse. “I’ll be right there.”

A wide smirk spread across his face again. “Thanks, sugar.” He winked, and wasted not another second before leaning back into the room.

“Asshole.” You mumbled under your breath, shaking your head.

A chuckle came from down the room. “Duty calls, huh?” Daniel asked from his seat, where he had now turned away from his work to look at you with an amused expression on his face.

You narrowed your eyes at him, pointing a finger. “Don’t even start, Sousa.” You warned him, and turned around without waiting for a response to go bid to your co-worker’s command.

You put the cups neatly on a metal tray while you brewed some fresh coffee, pouring some milk into a small can and adding another small container with sugar cubes. All of that took no longer than a minute or two, so you stood there awaiting the coffee to be done impatiently the rest of the time.

When it finally finished bubbling, you took the pot and put it on the space you had saved on the tray and wasted no time in turning on your heel and heading for the open office.

The voices of Johnson and the two other agents in there became louder the closer you got and you quickly started suspecting that they weren’t working at all, something you got confirmed when you entered the room to find the case files pushed away on the table, the three of them instead flipping through a magazine.

The sight caused annoyance to bubble up in the pit of your stomach almost instantly and you had to quickly mask your anger with a straight face when the three of them looked up at you at your entrance.

Putting the tray down in front of them, you nodded your head to the blue manila folders sprawled out on the table, raising an eyebrow at them. “Aren’t you supposed to be looking over the case files?”

They barely even acknowledged you, returning to the magazine with a wave of their hands. “We’re taking a small break.” They said. “We have a question for you actually.”

“That so?” You asked in a bored tone, paying them no mind despite feeling their gazes return to you, instead busying yourself with pouring them a cup of coffee each.

Johnson cleared his throat and as your eyes flickered up to look at them for the briefest of moments, you caught them exchanging glances while obviously trying to hold back smirks.

“Yeah, we were talking about our deepest, darkest sexual fantasies and how it would be interesting to know yours.” Johnson spoke and you raised an unimpressed eyebrow when the others attempted to hide their laughs by coughing into their hands.

He shrugged, the two of you now staring straight into each other’s eyes. “You rarely let on what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, makes a man wonder.” He smirked.

Your eyes narrowed into slits in an instant and you automatically put the pot back down on the tray, glaring. “I beg your pardon?” You scoffed and at that, Kesey leaned forward too, wearing a smirk to match his co-worker’s.

“Oh, come on, Stark. Don’t be a prude.” He said, causing the other two to chuckle.

You turned your attention to him. “He dies during foreplay and leaves me 1.3 billion dollars, that’s my fantasy.” You replied shortly, holding his gaze for a moment before returning your attention to the coffee.

They groaned, not at all satisfied by your answer. “No, but seriously.” They kept pressing and you sighed, once again lowering the coffee pot to look up at them.

“I don’t have time to ponder fantasies. If I want something, I go get it. I’m a go-getter.”

Johnson whistled, leaning back in his seat. “You know, you’re a pain in the ass, but… that’s kind of hot.”

“Wish I could say the same about you.” You fired back before you could stop yourself, watching as the smirk instantly fell off of all of their face.

“Why you always gotta be like that?” Kesey questioned, giving you an annoyed stare to which you only raised your eyebrows innocently.

“Be like what?” You asked, and he rolled his eyes.

“Sarcastic.” He replied. “You would be a lot more approachable and desirable if you just smiled more and talked back less.”

“Yeah, because pleasing men is my main mission in life.” You rolled your eyes.

He glared right back at you but with a discouraging slap to his shoulder from Johnson, he just scoffed, turning his attention back to the magazine and allowing you to return to pouring them their cups of coffee.

They started talking quietly among themselves, flipping through the paper that seemed to contain pictures of cars and women, but you managed to block their voices out for a good minute by putting all of your attention to the coffee, preparing it just the way you knew they liked it.

You were pretty sure you knew their preferences better than they did themselves at this point, and the same went for Peggy, with the ridiculous amount of times you’d both been forced to serve them like maids.

“God, what I would do to see her naked.” Was the first thing you heard when you finished pouring the coffee and zoned back into their conversation, looking up to see them looking down on a centerfold girl and wasting no time in scoffing, inviting yourself into the conversation.

“Do you know what I want to see?” You asked, holding Johnson’s eyes with a fierce glare when he looked up at the sound of the voice.

“What?” He asked and you scoffed again, putting the can of coffee down and shaking your head.

“A society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender-neutral interaction free from assumptions and expectations.” You threw a hand out to the folders of evidence lying to the side. “I can’t even begin to describe the density of illness I feel in my bone marrow right now, that is how appalled I am by all this. Women are dying and you’re supposed to solve the case, and yet here you are, wasting time and lookin-”

“Gentlemen.” Your rant was interrupted by Jack as he walked into the room, slapping another manila folder down on the table and raising his eyebrows at you in an easy smile. “(Y/L/N), you boring them with your feminist monologues again?”

“When is she not?” Johnson wasted no time in snorting back.

You glared at him, annoyed that he had spoken in your place, which only seemed to make Jack’s amusement grow. “What is with you and your constant preaching about the future being female?” He asked. “I mean, I know they say no dream is too big but come on, look around.”

He laughed and the others joined in immediately.

But you weren’t discouraged, crossing your arms over your chest and looking down at Jack who had now sat down in a chair, man-sprawling like his life depended on it. “You know, men who say that feminists want to overpower men probably know that there is already a gender imbalance and are threatened by the idea that gender roles will no longer be in their favor, so I’m only taking your insults as a compliment.”

Jack smirked up at you, nodding his head. “You do that.” He answered shortly and without even giving you a chance to reply, he turned his attention away from you like you were nothing, which only vexed you further.

“Any new leads on the suspect?” Johnson and the others turned their attention to their superior, all of them now ignoring you where you were standing with your arms still crossed over your chest.

Jack shook his head with a sigh, opening the manila folder he had brought with him and in turn urging the others to scramble for their folders.

“No, the lead turned out to be a dead end. This guy is good. We’ve had two new victims since yesterday and still no trace of him. He doesn’t leave anything behind, not a single fingerprint. It’s like he doesn’t even exist.”

“Whoa, whoa, woah, hold on.” You interrupted, holding a hand out and stepping closer to them. “Two new victims? Still all females? Why have I not been informed?”

Jack gave you an annoyed stare, obviously not happy about being interrupted. “You weren’t informed because it’s not your case, but yes. All female between the ages of sixteen and twenty-seven, all wearing uh…” He cleared his throat, averting his gaze from you. “Provocative clothing.”

“What does their clothing matter?” You scoffed. “They could’ve been strolling naked down the street and it still wouldn’t justify what happened to them. Women shouldn’t have to be modest to be respected.”

“If this is a Jack The Ripper copycat we’re dealing with then it does matter.” Jack looked back up at you. “Every victim so far have been women, dressed in suggestive, light clothing at the time of their deaths.”

“But none of them were prostitutes.” You pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

At this point, you were just talking back for the sake of arguing with him, knowing fully well that all of the evidence pointed towards a Copycat.

And Jack knew it. Not only because you had been the one to bring up Jack The Ripper in the first place, but because he also, no matter how much it pained you to say so, knew you and the way you functioned like the back of his own hand with how long you had been working together.

“No, but it’s obvious that their choice of clothing are provoking him. It’s the only thing tying them together and the only thing we have to go on.” He replied calmly despite his annoyance obviously increasing with every passing second.

You shrugged your shoulders, crossing your arms over your chest again. “Maybe he just doesn’t like blondes.”

“See, that’s what we thought at first, too. But the last two girls were brunettes, so there goes that theory.” He replied and you suddenly turned smug, realizing that he was giving you information on the case that wasn’t yours to possess.

But before you could dig any deeper, the Chief walked in with his own cup of coffee raised to his lips, and his eyes instantly found yours.

“Agent (Y/L/N), I thought I told you that you weren’t going to be on this case.” He told you, lowering the cup from his face and taking a seat at the head of the table.

“I’m- I was just bringing the hardworking men some coffee, sir.” You replied, clearing your throat, wiping your face free of emotion and uncrossing your arms.

He either didn’t notice the sarcasm in your tone or he just chose to ignore it, nodding his head in approval. “I left some paperwork on your desk and I need you to fill it out before the day is up because it needs to be posted to Los Angeles before the weekend. Each minute passing is a minute wasted so I suggest that you get to work.”

He waved a hand at you but before you could reply, Jack spoke up without looking at you. “And take your feminazi monologues with you.”

He was staring down into the case file, flipping through photographs of the crime scene, but it was clear that he could feel your glare burning into the side of his face with the way the corners of his lips tugged upward slightly.

You kept your gaze unwavering at him.

“The Nazis rounded up Jews, locked them in concentration camps, lined them up in gas chambers and performed genocide. When I’m asking, arguing and fighting for equal pay, equal opportunities, no judgement, and right over my own body, how is anything, apart from your fragile male ego, getting killed?” You asked, and he simply looked up at you with a wide grin, eyes squinted with mockery.

“Point taken, now go do your job.” He said causally and you could’ve sworn you felt your eye twitch right then and there.

But as earlier mentioned, you did posses slightly more control of your impulses than your brother, so you turned on your heel and walked out of the office with long, determined strides before you said or did something you would come to regret, closing the door behind you so that you wouldn’t have to hear their ridiculing chuckles.

“Well, I can see you’re not very happy but it was amusing as always to witness you in your natural habitat, so I hope it can provide you with some comfort to know that you’ve officially made my day.” A voice spoke not even a second later, and you felt relief flood your entire body at the sight of Peggy’s warm smile.

Your heels clicked against the wooden floors as you walked closer to her where she was leaning against your desk. “And what habitat would that be?” You questioned, watching as she raised an eyebrow.

“Putting disrespectful, sexist men in their place, rightfully so might I add, and being kicked out for doing so.”

“Yes, I fear it’s starting to become a habit of mine.” You chuckled, sinking down into your chair once you reached your desk.

Peggy pushed herself off the edge of said desk, uncrossing her arms and turning around to face her. “Starting to?” She asked, eyes sparkling with amusement.

You chuckled once more. “What are you doing here? I thought you took a day off.”

“I did.” She confirmed. “But my doctor’s appointment went quicker than expected so here I am.”

“Thank God for that.” You let out a loud breath, motioning with your hand to the large stack of papers now resting on your desk, looking at her guiltily. “Feeling helpful?”

All she did in response was smile, nod her head and pull a chair up to sit beside you, wordlessly grabbing the first paper.

With the help, it only took an hour to fill out all of the paperwork, but even though it would’ve taken much longer without the extra set of hands, you wished the time would’ve gone by quicker.

It was a Friday afternoon and there was nothing you wanted more than to go home, take off your heels, get out of your uncomfortable clothes and go to bed, and the last two hours of the day were always the longest, and hardest.

Once the paperwork was done, Peggy moved over to the breakroom to grab you a cup of coffee. She was the least exhausted out of the two of you seeing as she hadn’t been there the entire day and offered to do so, so that you could take a breather after the intense paperwork.

When she busied herself with that, you moved over to Daniel where he was still sitting at his desk, working hard.

You sparked up a conversation and became so engrossed in it you didn’t even realize another half hour went by and passed the end of your workday, also completely oblivious to the pair of eyes that instantly found you as the five men came out of the closed office.

Jack watched you laugh at something Sousa had said with an uncomfortable knot rapidly growing in the pit of his stomach, a sour taste growing in his mouth.

In a desperate attempt to get rid of the feeling of the anger bubbling up inside him, he raised his coffee cup to his lips and took a sip of the black beverage despite it having gone cold at that point.

He was so focused on watching you from afar, taking note of every move of your body and every flicker of emotion in your face, that he didn’t even notice Peggy coming up to his side until she cleared her throat and made her presence known.

Jack instantly tore his eyes away from you to look at the woman now standing beside him, only to find that she was looking straight at you, too.

“Why don’t you get off your high horse, swallow your pride and ask her out already?” She asked without looking at him, admittedly catching him by surprise.

“What?” He asked, chuckling nervously.

At that, Peggy turned to look at him, scoffing and giving him an unimpressed stare. “Oh, please.” She said. “Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

His eyes hardened and his Adam’s apple bobbled as he swallowed. “I don’t.” He replied casually, taking another sip of his coffee.

But she didn’t believe him for a second, and wasted no time.

“One day, you’re going to see her holding hands with someone who took your chance. She won’t even notice you because she’s too busy laughing with the stupid jokes he makes. And it will burn your heart seeing that beautiful smile on her face and realizing that you’re not the reason. And then it will finally hit you that she’s always been the one.”

She smiled softly at him, eyes glazing over as she fell into deep thought at the last part, obviously thinking back to her time with Steve.

“Sousa and the others might be blind, but I’m not. I’ve seen the looks you give her when she’s not looking. I’m not stupid, Jack. But you are.”

Her words made his façade falter for the briefest of moments, but he quickly covered it up with his usual careless smile, raising an eyebrow. “And why would that be?” He asked.

He was appearing so sure of himself but Peggy Carter knew better; she always did.

“Because only an idiot would let a woman like her slip out of his fingers. And if you want to have a chance, you might want to hurry up, because you’re not the only one who’s got your eye on her.” She answered, nodding her head in your direction.

Jack turned his eyes back to you at the sound of her words, finding that Sousa was now nowhere in sight, the new intern now standing in front of you instead, the two of you conversing about something and both of you smiling.

He had been transferred to your unit only a few weeks prior, having fought in the war like the rest of you and lost one of his hands in the process, dooming him to a life-worth of desk work.

He’d had his eye on you ever since he arrived, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of them; especially not Jack.

“It doesn’t make you any less of a man to let a woman shine, and you better come to terms with that before you even think about getting close to her.” Peggy continued. “Because she’s not a woman to be kept in the dark. She deserves better than that.”

Jack swallowed again, his eyes never leaving your form as Peggy spoke, and not when she turned on her heel and walked away, either.

He took a moment to regain his composure after the conversation he’d just had, his mind at war with his heart after everything Peggy had just told him. He stood by, sipping his cold coffee and watching you, until the intern walked away from you.

The discouraged look on his face made him feel smug in some way, and he quickly threw back the rest of his coffee, putting the cup down on the closest surface and wasting no time in heading over in your direction.

It took no more than a few long strides to reach you at your desk. He came up behind you, watching over your shoulder as you packed your things into your bag that was standing on your chair.

He leaned against the short side of the mahogany table, tucking his hands into the pockets of his grey slacks and glancing at you.

“An admirer, I take it?” He asked casually, watching your every move.

You made no move to turn around to look at him, simply continuing to pack down the papers you needed to take home over the weekend. “Well, he tried. Didn’t have much luck but you have to admire him for his attempt.”

Jack snickered. “You might not want to be too picky, you know, or you’ll end up alone eventually.”

“I’d take that over ending up divorced after settling for less than I deserve any day.”

“Touché. But no matter how hard you try to deny it the fact still remains at the end of the day that every woman needs a man, sooner or later.”

“I don’t need a man.” You replied, closing the flap of your bag and grabbing your coat from the back of your chair. “I need a family sized tub of chocolate chip ice cream and a bottle of tequila to drown my misery of having to work from a desk every day.”

You hurriedly started to put your arms into your sleeves, wanting nothing more than to get away from the conversation at hand and go home.

When you grabbed your bag off of the chair and turned around to leave, Jack pushed himself off the desk, finally catching your eye. “Well, that’s a shame because I was thinking, when you’re done flirting with cripples who have barely gone through puberty yet, that maybe we could go out sometime.”

You instantly rolled your eyes, completely missing the fact that he, in his own way, had just asked you out.

“Do you ever take a day off from being an asshole?” You asked. “Does it make you feel good about yourself to talk down on everyone?”

“I think those may be questions best pondered over dinner.” He offered again, raising his eyebrows.

You could only snort and roll your eyes once more. “Funny. I know your tactics work on pretty much everyone else, but they won’t do any good with me. Good night, Agent Thompson.”

Without wasting another second, you hung the strap of the bag of your arm, walking past him and not looking back.

But he just turned on his heel and walked after you, walking by your side with his hands still tucked into his pockets.

“We’re not on the clock anymore, you can call me Jack.” He said. “And the dinner proposal wasn’t a joke.”

“What? You’re like, asking me out on a date?” You snorted, without looking up at him and without ever slowing down.

In the corner of your eye, you could see his head shaking. “No, just… causal dinner. But…” He trailed off, shrugging. “If we happen to have sex afterwards, so be it.”

His words instantly drew a scoff from your lips and you stopped in your tracks, turning to look at him with a glare. Before you could say anything, however, he continued.

“Having sex once or twice a week has been proven to boost your immune system to help fight colds and the flu and I don’t know about you, but I don’t really enjoy being sick.”

You weren’t impressed, not in the slightest, your glare remaining unfaltering. “It’s a good thing I have a perfect immune system, then.” You fired back and moved to keep walking.

But this time, he rushed up in front of you, blocking you from continuing. “Come on, I’ve run out of reasons that we shouldn’t, haven’t you?”

“No.” You answered without a single doubt in your mind. “In fact, I couldn’t even count all of the reasons on both my hands. I don’t have enough fingers.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but you quickly cut him off, raising your hands and beginning to count off your fingers.

“But let’s start with, uh, you’re an asshole. You’re constantly degrading me and treating me like I’m below you even though we have the exact same title and the exact same job. I’m an agent like you and yet, you treat me like I’m a secretary with no brains, like I’m not capable of literally everything you are. You’re a sexist pig and every day for the past two years, Peggy and I have been the targets of yours, the Chief’s, and everyone else’s oppression. So excuse me if I’m not jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of going out with you and becoming just another name on your endlessly long list.”

A long moment of awkward silence fell over the two as you finished your hateful rant. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. For the first time since you had met him, you had left him speechless and taken the last word.

You thought, at least.

“Ouch. That hurt.” He spoke after a long moment, chuckling awkwardly.

His face was pulled into an expression of genuine hurt and for a moment, just for a moment, you felt guilty for going off on him the way you had. But then you remember that it was justified, and that he had it coming.

So you just hummed in response, averting your gaze to the floor. While you did so, Jack took a step closer to you and caught both you and himself by surprise by reaching out for your hand.

Your head instantly whipped back up at the sudden touch of his skin against yours, a sharp spark going through your skin and causing you to flinch.

Luckily, he didn’t seem to have noticed it. Either that, or he just didn’t care, instead looking down at you with warm, genuine eyes.

“Look, it’s a man’s world. It’s been a man’s world for as long as history goes, for as long as you and I have been alive, and we’re still living in it. But…” He paused, properly taking your hand into his. “I’m willing to learn how to look at it from another perspective.”

Your could feel yourself melting into his touch, your eyes softening but your face remaining stoic. You weren’t about to let your guard down that easily.

“I recall you calling that my monologues about feminism boring no more than an hour and a half ago.” You pointed out, and watched as a lopsided smile slowly made its way onto his lips.

“Eh.” He tilted his head, shrugging again. “Not everything can be interesting. But that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary to learn.”

“Wow, this is… not like you at all.” You pointed out, eyes slowly narrowing. You tore your hand out of his grasp, taking a step back. “What’s going on? Did you make a bet with the guys or something? Is that it?”

“Do you really think that little of me?” He asked, looking genuinely offended.

But you only raised an eyebrow, crossing your arms over your chest. “Is this where I’m supposed to lie to protect your delicate, fragile male ego?”

He closed his eyes, raising his hand to his face and pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, forget I asked.” He mumbled, breathing in deeply and lowering his hand again. “I had an eyeopener, that’s all. Realized that there’s always room for improvement in one’s character and view of the world.”

He was obviously dramatically articulating his words for extra effect, the sarcastic smile pulling at his lips only proving that further.

You gave him a doubtful once-over, but soon felt yourself relaxing, your arms uncrossing from over your chest and your head nodding slowly. “Well, whoever made you realize that you were being a grade A asshole, give them my thanks. I like this version of you much better than the one I’ve had to deal with every day for the last two years.”

He instantly raised an eyebrow at your halfhearted confession, lips once again beginning to pull into a smirk. “So is that a yes to the date?” He asked and you raised an eyebrow in return.

“I thought you said it wasn’t a date?” You teased.

He looked to the side briefly, smirking. “Well…” He shrugged.

You chuckled, nodding your head and biting down on the inside of your cheek lightly in an attempt to hide the smile threatening to break out on your face. “I’ll be ready at eight tomorrow night. I would tell you where I live but I believe you already know seeing as you and Johnson stalked me every night for an entire month when you thought I was hiding my brother from you.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “You knew about that the whole time?”

“I did, and you had no idea.” You chuckled. “The way you men think of us women as intellectually challenged works in our favor sometimes. We see so much more than you think.”

He grinned, unbeknownst to you feeling extremely proud of you in that moment.

Before he got the chance to say anything else, you gave him a nod of your head and offered him a wholehearted, sincere smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jack.” You told him, and then pushed past him without waiting for a reply, walking away from him with butterflies in your stomach; the very same ones you had felt the first time you met him.

Before he opened his big mouth, that is.

But everyone was capable of change, and you silently thanked whatever person that had helped him on the right path to his sudden epiphany.

Although, you believed you already knew.

Who else but Peggy?

Tagged: @corishirogane3 @trenchcoatedwings @microwaved-timmies

(If you want to be added or removed from the tag list, send me a message, ask or leave a comment)

#jack thompson imagine #jack thompson x reader #jack thompson #chad michael murray #marvel #marvel one shot #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #agent carter #captain america #peggy carter #s.h.i.e.l.d.

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chibivesicle · 4 years

Text

Golden Kamuy chapters 247 & 248; Asirpa’s self doubt and how to catch a killer

With the realignment of the factions, yet again, Asirpa is back with Hijikata and his ‘lofty’ goal to establish the Republic of Ezo.

Hijikata leverages as much control as possible by only allowing Asirpa to look at his collection of tattooed skins. The chapter starts with her inner dialogue as she examines various skins and outlines that there is a rule that is shared between ones that are confirmed to belong to a convict.

She importantly highlights skins that are on still living people as it is the best proof that they were indeed tattooed by Wilk.

She then continues to examine ones that were verified to be legitimate from convicts that Hijikata skinned himself; Sekiya and Youichirou. All of the paper copies as well are correct. Things then become interesting as she turns to another skin.

Hijikata explains that it was the skin that Ogata found during the showdown in Barato. She then immediately questions the authenticity of the skin because Ogata procured it on his own.

She asks Hijikata if he knew who this skin could have belonged to but he’s unable to confirm the convict. Therefore, Asirpa thinks that Ogata’s skin is untrustworthy.

This is a huge change in attitude by Asirpa towards Ogata. It is clear that when he lied to her about Sugimoto on the ice floe, she yelled at him that she couldn’t trust anything about him. He went from someone she could trust and rely on to a complete liar.

I can only see this as the influence of Sugimoto on her in regard to Ogata. She’s watched Sugimoto lie to people all the time, but she’s never doubted him. Yet, now anything Ogata has done is 100% suspect.

But as she analyzes the skin, it follows the unspecified rule.

Therefore, Ogata did indeed procure a legitimate skin though finding the hiding place by lighting the fire and freeing the poor son from his oppressive parents.

She questions the skin that Kantaro got since it does not follow the rule but Hijikata thinks it is real since Tsurumi was after it as well. She’s unsure of the skin as it doesn’t follow the rule but she at least can read one of the kanji now. But she’s confused as it can be also read as “u” contributing to the code.

Hijikata thinks the skins that Ogata and Kantarou are legit. Based on things, it seems Asirpa should go with her gut on the skins and really not worry about the identity of the person who acquired the skins, it is just a detail that will bias her opinion of it.

Hijikata assumes all of the skins that Ariko delivered to them are fake. That is thinking too simplistically in my own opinion b/c it would be too obvious. However, that is enough to confuse Asirpa and fill her with doubts as she assumes that Hijikata is telling the truth about something that he can’t actually confirm.

Since, some of the skins follow her rule. This contradicts Hijikata’s own hypothesis.

This means that she panics as she thinks it can’t be correct and perhaps her father’s name is not the key. Since the fakes follow her rule. Honestly, I’m a bit saddened that she doesn’t consider the option that Tsurumi threw real skins in the mix, since he took all of the ones that Sugimoto had in the first place.

I think that Hijikata is manipulating her on purpose. He wants her to break and just give him the information he’s looking for. Obviously, Ogata is not Hijikata’s favorite person, but he has enough reason to believe some of the things that Ogata says, since he’s clearly more knowledgeable about Tsurumi than he is.

So, Hijikata goes for the highest pressure tactics by stating Ogata told him that she knows the key to the code. Her panicked response is more than enough to give him the means to push harder.

She’s nervous and anxious and he wants the code. Since he can read all of the kanji he certainly can figure it out.

So at that point, she lies. She has come to doubt her own rule and wants to see all of the skins and know which ones are the fakes before she will trust in herself.

I’m sure Hijikata knows that she’s lying and that she knows the code. But since she hasn’t told anyone this, there is just a bunch of men who know that she knows but they don’t actually know what it is.

There are then two pages of Tsurumi heading to Sapporo by horse and we get the confirmation what I had already suspected. That Tsurumi mixed in fake and real skins to try to confuse Hijikata’s team. So, Asirpa is right, but based on her reaction in this chapter, she’s going to be unsure of her confidence in herself and her ability to decode the skins.

The chapter’s action then turns to all of the boys getting wasted. I do not understand at all what is going on with Shiraishi and Sugimoto discussing Vasily - Shiraishi is polite enough to inquire about him while Sugimoto thinks he’ll be a magical Ogata repellent. Sugimoto, do you even understand Ogata? Nope, b/c Vasily certainly won’t keep him away, he’ll likely just be aware of him now more than ever.

We see again the dis-jointed nature of the group, Ariko sits alone, Sugimoto and Shiraishi are together, Young Kantarou hangs back with Toni, Kadokura and Kirawus are close and Boutarou and Ushiyama are off to the side.

Boutarou asks others what they will do with the gold and their answer aren’t unusual, Ushiyama just wants to fight and Kantarou wants to raise sheep and make lots of money but Shiraishi gives him a hard time. He is rather hesitant with his reply. Again, there is an odd interplay between these two indicating that they know each other a bit better, he seems almost surprised by Boutarou’s question and he replies with what he already does . . .

We then get a very thoughtful look from him as he reflects on what he wants. I’m sure our pirate is watching him closely.

Asirpa approaches the isolated and socially distant Ariko to ask him about his father also being killed in regards to the gold. Ariko tells her that he had no idea that his father would be the type of person to be involved in fighting and collecting the gold. She then shows the coin to him as she tells him that she does not believe her father killed the other Ainu. He seems nervous as he looks a the coin - I’m sure he realized something here.

But, we don’t get any info other than stating that Asirpa is truly strong. Ah man, what will happen to Ariko caught between, Tsurumi, Kikuta and Hijikata?

Nagakura then tries to get all the boys to calm down and go to bed and Sugimoto rages back at him drunkenly.

Usami is out trying to find our killer with his ‘magic’ hand but it is failing him. Thankfully, our journalist is investigating and he is spotted by Usami, who is getting desperate for a break in the case to not let Tsurumi down. It is clear that the reporter has figured it out and his conversation with himself is loud enough to attract Usami’s attention.

So of course, he’s in trouble based on Usami’s known skill set.

Chapter 248 starts off with Usami clobbering our morally questionable reporter and the two of them immediately recognize each other.

He needs the info and of course he’s too vain to immediately give up the info for his own story. Usami begins to beat the crap out of him as he wants the map. He even tries to eat it to prevent Usami getting the map. Usami isn’t smooth though when he gives away where he’s from and who he’s working for by using the pistol. This is likely a mistake on Usami’s part as Hijikata will now know that the 7th is in Sapporo perusing our convict.

He’s able to escape and hide while also tearing up the map. He knows that he needs to relay this info to Hijikata and he manages to evade capture/horrible pain at Usami’s hands.

“Team” Hijikata is out the next day questioning as many different prostitutes as possible to get more information. Some think it is a government official trying to target illegal prostitution while the group try to tell women to stay off the streets tonight.

We also learn that the convict is humming the tune ‘Greensleeves’ and has sharp knives and of course a tattoo. There are some funny bits as the group talk to women and figure out a plan.

Kadokura is holding on to Kirawus’s hand to not fall over as he looks uncomfortable. Ushiyama tells the women to stay home as they are charmed by him and Nagakura is with a nervous Ariko while he says all of the targeted women were looking for customers while streetwalking.

This is a little bit of humor that seems more fitting that the previous chapter’s drunken Sugimoto antics. As time runs out the group is unsure what to do, but Nagakura of course finds Ishikawa our obnoxious reporter in rough shape.

He was able to let them know that the 7th is after them and he was beaten up also by the 7th and he pathetically hid in a ditch for which he decided to strip down to his underwear for? Okay. The good news is he has figured out that the killer is copying Jack the Ripper and he’s figured out the next murder location! As his original map was torn up, he got a map of London and used it to overlay with Sapporo. When they compared the London map with the Sapporo map, they are able to determine the next location in reference to the local church. The brewery!

We also get the face of our killer finally!

And he appears to not be Japanese, unless we see otherwise; he’s got a fancy mustache with light colored eyes (though Hijikata also has them) But based on the size of his nose, I would say a foreigner.

I wasn’t not thrilled by the ending where our pervy reporter is called out for his hopes to score a meeting with a famous geisha in Tokyo . . .

Honestly, I’ve been stuck with meta writing as I’ve been distracted by other things and also the fact that it is dwelling on topics that don’t really interest me much. . . . I’m really ready for this arc to be over and to move forward with the great confrontation of a few of our parties.

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy meta #ASIRPA #sugimoto saichi #Shiraishi Yoshitake #hijikata toshizo #nagakura shinpachi #ushiyama tatsuma #Usami Tokishige #ariko rikimatsu #kadokura #kirawus #kantarou #Toni Anji #boutarou the pirate

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

Text

April 10: 2x14 Wolf in the Fold

Watched Wolf in the Fold last night. The only thing I really remembered about this ep going in was that it was a Scotty ep. Which is true but also… slightly misleading. Also that it had to do with Jack the Ripper—which is more true than I remembered!

A decadent intro… I get why Spock isn’t here but I actually DO think he would be into it.

Matchmaker Kirk lol.

Scotty is so awkward. This is the other detail I remembered from this ep, actually: how Scotty wants to applaud using his hands no matter what. (Even with those cool lights RIGHT THERE lol). Old Aberdeen pub crawler…

This is honestly such a bizarre back story: Scotty got a concussion because someone who happened to be a woman made a mistake and now not only is his head all funny but he has a “total resentment toward women.” Like okay, nothing creepily sexist in that concept. Also –they ultimately barely even use it! I know it’s the implied rationale for why he would suddenly start murdering women and also not remembering it but it’s like such a flimsy excuse that they never say it out loud in so many words for fear it should sound too stupid. Which it would. Honestly, you really only need the concussion imo. Why go into the weird misogyny thing at all?

And now Kirk and Bons head off to a brothel, giving me a total resentment toward men.

Nice eerie fog out here. Very Aberdeenian.

Okay, so this woman was stabbed a dozen times but she only screamed once? And then a second later, Scotty had somehow teleported several feet away, still holding the knife? He’s good at his job but he’s not that good. This is already deeply suspicious.

“Therapeutic shore leave.” Trying to cure his hatred of ladies lmao.

So this weird little bald man, Hengist, from Rigel IV. Is he an alien? I suppose he must be. Rigellians are a race, as we know from Journey to Babel. It’s not always clear to me which groups of people are Earth colonists who have migrated to or been born on other planets and which are humanoid aliens.

The Aurelians are a gentle, harmless people. Cute. I like these aliens.

I wish we could hire aliens to be our administrators. Alien Overlord and Taylor.

“I’ll be taking over, since I am the highest official.” He out-officialed him.

I like this guy and his slightly creepy empath priestess wife. I feel like Spock would like them, too.

Speaking of: Spock in the captain’s chair. Hot.

I don’t get how this planet is the only space port around. Like… could not any planet be a space port? What does that even mean?

Oh no, a woman with the lie detector machine! She must be incompetent and/or to be despised.

I love Sybo’s outfit. Her hair and jewelry too. Honestly just a great head-to-toe look.

Another murder! Sorry but this one is on the Aurelian for just leaving the murder weapon out there unattended.

Generally speaking, the costume and set people are doing allllll the work in this episode.

Hengist went to look for suspects and he came up with the victim’s father and fiancé?? He’s not even trying lol. Anyway, he obviously did it.

How can you NOT tell if a lock was picked or not? I mean I know McCoy is a doctor, not a locksmith, but come on. It can’t be that ambiguous.

Spooky mumbo-jumbo.

Interesting that Spock doesn’t trust the mumbo-jumbo either. I guess he only approves of it when it’s Vulcan.

When Sybo says “monstrous evil” the camera is looking right at Hengist. Not suspicious at all. He’s only clearly railroading Scotty, looked right at the second victim before she was killed, was in the perfect position to take the murder weapon after it was carelessly left about, and is the most obvious non-Scotty suspect here.

I love how loyal Bones is. He literally saw Scotty holding Sybo and the knife with blood on his hands and is like “It’s impossible he could have done it.”

So many of the “truth discovery” devices on TOS are truly creepy. Like they’re all clear plot devices, and for that reason depicted as completely reliable, and the more completely reliable they are, the more deeply disturbing they become upon any reflection at all.

That’s a pretty computer though. All those pretty flashing lights! And it runs on floppy disks.

I literally just remembered what happened.

“Scotty, lie to me, how old are you?” / “Twenty-two, Sir.” Yeah, I’d say that’s a lie.

So like this allegedly all-powerful computer is literally just a lie detector. That’s it! A lie detector that picks up on psychological signs of lying, just like our lie detectors today. I mean… you could have just said that straight out. All they do is show what a person believes to be true, so in the case where someone truly doesn’t remember something, the usefulness is… limited.

My mom suggested a Vulcan mind meld which, actually, would pretty much solve the problem! But for once Spock actually treats it like something serious and not to be thrown out as a solution to all problems at the merest suggestion.

Someone needs to do a fashion line based entirely on the Argellian outfits.

Spock is internally eye-rolling at all this drama. I feel like he’s a real advocate for the computers today. That’s like… really his only role.

The computer’s linguistics banks don’t know what this word means? Maybe we should get Uhura on the case.

Plot twist: the killer was Jack the Ripper the WHOLE TIME! The last one you’d ever expect.

I don’t get how the computer made the leap from Redjac to Jack the Ripper since that is not a real word and no one outside of this episode of TOS has ever used it for Jack the Ripper.

“Everyone feeds on death, even vegetarians.” So dark, Spock. So emo.

Aw, alien creatures that derive sustenance from love. Adorable. There should have been an episode devoted to them. (Wait a minute…. Idea coming on…)

Speaking of gaseous cloud aliens…the Companion?

This episode really relies a lot on the computer to provide information and otherwise move the plot along.

Kirk keeps ignoring everyone to just talk to Spock.

“Cloud the issue” lol that’s a good pun. (Already can’t remember who said it but… point stands.)

The cloud entity feeds on women because they are more easily and deeply terrified. That sounds fake but okay. It’s also not in keeping with what Sybo said, is it? She mentioned a hatred of women. That’s not the same as finding women useful.

Hmm, when do we get our Martian Colonies, @ perseverance?

Oh, Rigel IV, you say? There seems to be a Rigellian right here!

This whole history of the entity is bizarre. The first killing sprees (that we know of) are on Earth, and Kirk specifically says that when man left Earth to explore, he took this with him. Does that mean… the cloud creature/entity originated on Earth? Truly a bizarre hypothesis, when you think about it.

Are you the entity, Sir?

There is actually very little Scotty in this Scotty-centric episode.

Lol the knife originates with the hill people of Rigel IV. What is this, Deliverance?

Omg Kirk punched the entity right out of that man!

So to summarize: “Jack the Ripper is actually a gaseous cloud that is capable of infecting the computer system of the Enterprise, thus hijacking the whole ship” is the basic, wacky concept of this episode.

This tranquilizer could quiet a volcano. Where was it during the volcano scene in STID hmm?

Kirk’s plan to keep people from being scared by the maniacal voice of the entity: Tranquilize the entire ship. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks.

Yet another twist on the old Kirk v. Computer plot. Time to use Math to defeat it.

Kirk is so unimpressed with the entity. “Eh, shut that off.” He would not be moved by a haunted house.

“This is the first time I’ve heard a malfunction threaten us.” Sulu can man his post AND be funny; he’s multi-talented.

Kirk and Spock don’t need tranquilizers because they’re smart enough to know this high-pitched voice yelling random threats just isn’t actually scary.

Kirk is really insistent that Sulu man his frickin’ post!

Oh no, not PI!! My nemesis, PI!

I’m really living for Sulu here.

If the entity entered a tranquilized person, it might take up knitting. I gotta say, that doesn’t make any sense as a plot point but I like it anyway.

That was a very efficient tranquilizing job! Everyone in a 400+ person ship in like 10 minutes? Get the medical team on the Enterprise in charge of the vaccine distribution stat.

Kirk just outright assumes that Spock won’t be a hospitable entity choice. And he’s not even wrong! The entity chooses the dead body over Spock or Kirk. It knows when it’s not wanted.

Hengist has been revived!

The entity is honestly, truly hilarious. Die, die, everybody die! Kill! Kill you all! Maniacal laughter! All while being carried by a still utterly unimpressed Kirk down the halls of the ship.

Spock’s like “get out of the way, you tranquilized idiot. Got some entity-scattering to do.”

“I gave them a pretty big shot, Jim!” Think you might have slightly overdone it, Bones? You didn’t need to make everyone useless for 6 hours for a problem that was solved in 5 minutes!

This is one of those moments, Kirk trying to get Spock to see the pretty ladies with him, when Spock seems super gay. Like, I don’t even think he is, that’s not my reading of him, and I also assume that wasn’t the intention here, but that’s just so clearly how it reads.

Aw, Kirk doesn’t want to go the strip club alone. Poor bb.

Weird how Lt. Leslie was in this when he died in the last episode.

Overall, I’d actually have to say that was a very crack-y episode. I liked the ending the best because it was so ridiculous.

What I don’t understand, in addition to whether or not the entity was really supposed to be from Earth, was how it came to be Hengist. Like, it can enter and leave bodies (or computers) at will, so perhaps it just entered Hengist, a normal Rigellian, at some point. But if that’s so, putting him on the transporter and scattering him into space was a pretty cruel thing to do. Also, why did he die (or appear to die) when the entity wasn’t in him? That implies he is the entity’s physical form. But then, first of all, how is also a Rigellian? Like did the entity mate with a Rigellian? Did the entity take over a baby Rigellian? Did the entity just claim to be Rigellian but is really just humanoid in its physical form—we did establish that some aliens, like this one, or creatures or whatever, are gaseous sometimes and solid others, so maybe its solid form is humanoid. Which would fit well with it originating in Earth, although that also brings a new and perhaps unintentional layer of creepiness to the story. I have to assume that’s the situation, but still, wild. And it doesn’t explain this: why does Hengist “die” when the entity “leaves” him, as opposed to just disappear entirely when the entity changes form??

Anyway, I know I’m overthinking this very wacky premise. Overall, I think the episode was fine. It didn’t have enough Scotty (for being a “Scotty episode”) and it changed genres an awful lot for 50 minutes. There was a tad too much misogyny going on. And overall I didn’t feel like the characters—even Kirk, and in actuality this was a Kirk episode much more than a Scotty episode, and purposefully so—were at their most interesting. Tbh Sulu ultimately stole the show in the final minutes.

Next up is the Trouble with Tribbles! Also a funny episode but at least undeniably purposefully so!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #star trek tos #wolf in the fold

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khavier · 3 years

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𝚂𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎

𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠

Season one of Hannibal on Netflix really wasn't what I had been expecting. Going into it with the very basic knowledge I had did, however, have its charms.

We are introduced to our protagonist Will Graham who's occupation is teaching at an FBI academy due to him not passing the field exam for being too unstable. Will is placed on the autism spectrum which is what causes him to be somewhat unstable. After a bunch of girls go missing a man from the FBI by the name of Jack Crawford hires Will as a special investigator to help solve the crime, he hired Will because he had this so called talent that allowed him to feel complete empathy for strangers which allowed him to place himself in the mindset of said criminal.

Everytime Will would allow himself to think like a killer he would be left alone at the crime scene due to his social anxieties.

Due to Will's mental state however, the FBI assigns him a Psychiatric by the name of Hannibal. Will is not an official client to Hannibal due to the circumstances therefore the patient confidentiality does not take place when it comes to higher up's in the FBI, but even with this Hannibal refuses to share much of anything unless deemed crucial.

Hannibal would also sometimes accompanies Will to crime scenes.

Jack Crawford is warned by a friend of Will's to not let will get "too close" as they'd call it, referring to not letting Will reach a breaking point.

During the first episode some bodies start to show up mounted on Antlers and a serial killer earned the name the Minnesota Shrike.

At the end of the first episode Will pieces together who might be the kidnapper and the murderer of all the girls. As Will leaves the store, ready to go question the individual Hannibal is seen calling the number of the new-found suspect, telling the man on the other end that "they know" and are now after him, "they" being the cops.

When they get there they find the suspect, Garret Jacob Hobbs, holding his daughter, Abigail, hostage with a knife to her neck and his wife, already murdered.

In Order to prevent Abigail and others from dying, Will shoots Garret Jacob Hobbs dead and his daughter is sent to the hospital. Those two things happen to be quite important in the way things flow in the first season. The murder of Garret Jacob Hobbs has a deep impact on Will as he starts to see hallucinations of an "evil" reindeer and since he killed Abigail's father he has had a growing feeling of fatherly affection towards her.

Will and Hannibal eventually become Abigail's legal Guardians.

After this case, during therapy sessions with Hannibal, Will admits that killing that man made him feel good. This unsettling fact can lead people to believe that Will would start killing for the simple act of doing it.

The plot hidden within the crimes of each episode is not truly that hidden. Within some episodes we see some random act that does not correlate to the case at hand, in the background they seem to be focused on catching the Chesapeake Ripper or its copy cat.

We are then introduced to a journalist, Freddie Lounds, who gets her stories in very unprofessional ways which some would even consider to be illegal.

Over the course of season one we go through Will's journey of completely spiraling mentally the more cases he helps solve.

While this is silently going on in Will's head we meet a prisoner who habits at the prison for the criminally insane, who claims to be the Chesapeake Ripper. These claims to make sense at the beginning due to the evidence given but over time it slowly starts to lose its credibility.

We are also given glimpses of Hannibal's cannibalistic tendencies.

This is where season one really starts to get more interesting.

Will starts going through a psychotic break, he is dissociating, acting out and delusional, he no longer has control of what he is doing and people quickly catch onto this. Will we could say kidnaps the man who claimed to be the Chesapeake Ripper, Abel Gideon, but only because his delusion made him hallucinate Abel as Garret Jacob Hobbs.

Thinking Hannibal is the only person who would ever understand him he heads there.

Will breaks down in Hannibal's dinning room and this is where we see Hannibal's true colours more clearly. As Will is panicking about "Garett Jacob Hobbs", Hannibal assures him that he's hallucinating and that there is no one else in the room with them, despite the fact that there was. His intentions not being clear but also not being for the well being of Will.

We also witness earlier in the season Hannibal lying about Will's brain scan results which clearly indicated a problem, but he allowed Will to continue thinking that he was just really mentally ill.

During this psychotic break Will suffers a mild seizure which allows Hannibal and Abel to speak. When will comes to, Hannibal insinuates that his friend might be in danger and Will leaves to go protect her.

Once he arrives he sees Abel Gideon and shoots him.

Later on Will is starting to be suspected of being the copy cat Chesapeake Ripper.

Will takes Abigail back to her own house where he yet again suffers from a psychotic episode and comes to in a plane on the way home, not remembering how he ever got on in the first place.

While sleeping that night Will suffers with his usual night terrors and wakes up hastily. He does not feel well and eventually starts to choke and he makes his way to his sink, thinking he was about to vomit. When he does end up vomiting he realizes that he did not vomit but choke out an ear, said ear was later confirmed by the FBI to be Abigail's ear and Will is to be arrested and sent to the prison for the criminally insane but before this could happen, will pieces together that Hannibal Lecter is either the copy cat killer or the genuine Chesapeake Ripper.

There's a lot to unpack in this as in, why would Hannibal choose to lie to Will about his brain scan and his delusions? We do not get a clear motive or reason during this season for his actions. Another is what is truly causing Will's psychotic episodes because, yes, working crime scenes can be difficult but it was such a dramatic switch that was very out of no where. Other than the questions the first season provided up, it is a very good show so far, but it was decently slow paced at the beginning.

I would definitely recommend this show to others.

#Hannibal #Will Graham #Hannibal Lecter #Tv Series #Review #Reviews #Will

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Little Things: True Stories That Might Have Influenced The Movie

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains The Little Things spoilers. You can read our spoiler-free review here.

Despite what those looking for clear answers after that ending might hope, The Little Things is not based on any specific true story or serial killer investigation. It was a 1993 screenplay penned by writer-director John Lee Hancock. However, there are similarities to several well known cases. The film even mentions the Night Stalker, aka Richard Ramirez, all while stopping short of naming names or committing to a specific lethal predator in its own yarn.

This is by design. In a recent interview with The Wrap, Hancock said “the whole reason I wrote the script” was to lean into the ambiguity and frustration of criminal investigations. Yet several ongoing serial killer investigations during the time of his writing raises questions about whether this intent was partially influenced by two open-ended searches for serial killers.

In the near 20 years between the script’s first draft and the film’s final edit, one of those cases has been closed; the other remains open; and both continue to fascinate, frustrate, and horrify investigators, family members of victims, and a specific type of crime buff. The kind, who, like Jared Leto’s Albert Sparma in The Little Things, can’t let the little things go.

The Zodiac Killer

The Little Things is neither a retelling nor an allegory of the Zodiac Killer investigation, but there are many similarities and seeming influences. The opening sequence of the new film shows a woman driving while singing along with the B-52’s hit “Roam.” Right down to the camera’s close-up of the driver, the moment works as a blatant tribute to the scene in The Silence of the Lambs where we follow Buffalo Bill’s next victim, Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), and the giddy abandon she puts behind her rendition of Tom Petty’s “American Girls.”

But it also recalls the nearly disastrous incident which happened to Kathleen Johns on March 22, 1970. She was 22-years-old, seven months pregnant, and driving her 10-month-old infant daughter when a man on the highway flashed his lights, encouraging her to pull over because he claimed one of her tires appeared to be loose. After he said he’d tighten the lugnuts for her, he drove off. But as soon as Johns got back on the road, the wheel nearly fell off her car, leaving her disabled.

The man returned, offering to take her to a service station. But after 90 minutes of driving past gas stations without stopping, Johns realized it was a kidnapping and she jumped with her daughter in her arms out of the car at a stop light. She then flagged down a passing car and truck. Later she said she believed the man who abducted her matched a police sketch of the alleged Zodiac Killer.

All we see of the driver in the opening scene of The Little Things is his boots, which thus becomes a central lead in the case. Footwear similarly looms large in the Zodiac mythology. Only one witness is on record attesting that the Zodiac serial killer, who stalked Northern California in the late ‘60s, wore Wing Walker Boots, but the emphasis of this claim has grown in importance over the years thanks to Robert Graysmith’s book, Zodiac, which is the basis for the 2007 David Fincher film of the same name. That 1986 book and subsequent film also are crucial in coloring the popular imagination of “the killer who got away with it,” with both works heavily suggesting Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac based on circumstantial evidence.

Allen was a loner who, after receiving an other than honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy, worked briefly as an elementary school teacher. He was eventually fired, however, after allegations of sexual misconduct with children. Afterward he worked a series of odd jobs. A friend reported in 1971 that Allen had told him about wanting to kill people and adopting the name “Zodiac” three years earlier, before the Zodiac began taunting authorities and the press with his astrological title. The police took out a warrant on his home and continued investigating him on and off over a 20-year period with multiple warrants and interviews.

At the end of David Fincher’s Zodiac movie, the last glimpse we get of Allen is at his job as a hardware store clerk. This is not unlike how The Little Things introduces Jared Leto’s Sparma as a refrigerator repairman who begins catching local law enforcement’s attention. And like Allen, a search of Sparma’s home (albeit illegally in The Little Things), as well as a police interrogation, prove inconclusive.

The biggest similarity between Zodiac and Sparma is that neither made it to trial. Allen died of a heart attack on Aug. 26, 1992. According to the film Zodiac, it happened very shortly before he was about to be brought into custody. However, recent DNA tests of saliva on letters the Zodiac Killer sent to authorities appear to suggest Allen was not actually the killer.

The BTK Killer

Early in The Little Things, Det. Jimmy Baxter (Rami Malek) and Joe “Deke” Deacon (Denzel Washington) discuss the rituals and depravities of the killer they’re chasing. It’s a busy evening for the murderer. The latest of the victims had been knifed, and their bodies had been moved, gagged, and bound.

Baxter goes on to say the killer is very organized, and there were no wasted motions. The victims underwent extreme torture. There are love bites, but no rape and no sodomy. The suspect kills for sexual pleasure. After one murder, the killer apparently returned to a victim’s house, moving the body, shaving, her legs, and then posing her. “He brings beer and milk, and throws himself a little party,” Deke adds.

In this sequence, The Little Things seems to drop elements of the MO of Dennis Rader, the “BTK killer.” The acronym stands “bind, torture, kill,” and he gave the title to himself. He also shared Sparma and Zodiac’s penchant for taunting police. Rader committed 10 murders, mostly women, between 1974 and 1991, all while maintaining an on and off correspondence with the police. Rader posed the nude body of one of his victims in bondage positions in a church, and took pictures before burying her in a ditch.

Additionally, when Hancock first wrote The Little Things in 1993, “the BTK Killer” was still at large, eluding the police for decades, even as he taunted them via correspondence. But in 2004, Rader’s crave for fame became his undoing as he began corresponding with local media and television stations after a decade of silence. Eventually, Rader sent in a floppy disk in one of his media-seeking taunts of police, unaware that authorities could search the disk’s metadata to find deleted documents. This led authorities to begin investigating Dennis Rader. He was arrested in February 2005.

Other Possible Influences

Jeffrey Dahmer also posed the bodies of his victims and took pictures. It isn’t a new thing. Jack the Ripper, who also infamously vanished into the ether after getting away with five grisly murders, and The Boston Strangler also posed victims. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “leaving a victim’s body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. … posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders… when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely.”

Baxter’s listing of the “love bites” could also be a nod to Ted Bundy, who was convicted, partially on the basis of bite mark evidence he left during the Chi Omega sorority house murders at Florida State University in 1978.

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conspiracies-and-crime · 6 years

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The Jack the Ripper case

Information about the case: The Jack the Ripper murders were a series of murders that took place in London, England. Jack the Ripper went after women, specifically prostitutes. It has been over 100 years and this case is still unsolved, no one knows who this “Jack the Ripper” as though there are suspects and ideas on who it could have been. There is also a speculation on how many women were killed. Some think that it was only five murders others believe it was eleven. It is said that he was a madman without a clear motive for the murders.

Notes:

All the victims were prostitutes

Women rather than men.

Most women in the white chapel district had to turn to prostitution for survival.

Women rather than men.

Most women in the white chapel district had to turn to prostitution for survival.

Took place between 1888 & 1891

It’s been > 100 years since this case took place.

100’s of suspects.

The white chapel district is were most-all murders took place

Is known for violence and crime.

Said to not have a clear motive

Most say that he only claimed the lives of five women.

Known as the “canonical five”

Some think he claimed the lives of eleven women.

The murders were in the newspaper and the public eventually became fascinated with them.

The public became so upset that the police commissioner + the home secretary resigned from the case.

Eight possible suspects.

August 31, 1888, at 3:40 AM was when the first victim was found.

The first victim was Mary Ann Nichols’

Found by a man named, Charles Cross.

Claims he was walking along buck’s row when he noticed a bundle near the western end.

Another man, Robert Paul approached the body with Cross.

Mary Ann Nichols’ was found on her on her back with her thought slit violently and she was disembowelled.

Only dead for a half hour.

The killer could have been nearby when Paul and Cross found her.

September 8, 1888, Annie Chapman was found in 29 Hanbury street.

Chapman was discovered by John Davis, an elderly man from the building on the street.

Chapman's throat was also slit but this time her womb was taken.

Dr, George Baxter Phillips served as the divisional police surgeon at the time had thought to have knowledge by how Annie Chapman's womb had been removed.

The killer was either a doctor or had basic anatomical knowledge.

On September 27 i888 the central news agency got a letter from the alleged killer basically saying that he had been hearing that the police had caught him but he wouldn’t stop the murders but instead he would send an ear to the police as a joke. He says that he laughs when they say they are on the right track and he won’t stop until he’s caught or dead. He brags about his last murder and how he gathered some of the blood in a ginger ale bottle to write with but it thickened up too quickly for him to write with. He jokes about them thinking that he’s a doctor.

The letter wasn’t released to the public until October 1st.

People thought the letter was faked by the journalist.

On September 30th 1888 at 1:00 AM the body of Elizabeth Stride was found on Berner street by Louis Diemschutz.

This time only her throat was slit making the police to believe that Jack the Ripper was interrupted when Diemschutz approached.

This was the second victim

People question whether this was actually the doing of Jack the Ripper as her throat was cut quite hastily & didn’t have any of the other things that had happened previously.

When she was examined at 1:15 AM it was determined that by that time she had been dead for 30 minutes.

Only 45 minutes after the discovery of Stride the body of Catherine Eddowes was found Mitre Square.

This was just west of the Strider murder.

Her body was very mutilated including her face. Her uterus was removed along with her left kidney.

The body was 10-15 mins away while walking.

After Eddowes was killed he made his way back to the first murder.

East from the body of Eddowes (?) was the only solid clues for investigators and police in the case.

The clue was a piece of Catherine Eddowes apron.

Found by Alfred Long in the doorway of an apartment block nearby Goulston street.

This was east of the Eddowes murder site.

Nearby written in chalk was a message that read “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.”

This was a sign of the anti-Semitism that was in this specific area.

The big thing about this clue was that it was found east of the murder site.

This was in the direction of Elizabeth Stride's murder site.

The murder that was committed 45 mins prior to this.

This meaning that the killer entered an area that, at the time, was swarming with cops.

Despite this showing that the killer could easily escape places that he could have been living in the east London area.

A postcard was received by the police on October 1st and was written by someone who had been claiming to be the Murderer.

It was written in similar handwriting.

This time talking about how he wasn’t kidding and how he couldn’t finish and how there would be a double even in the paper.

No one in the public knew about this so this lead police to believe that it was the killer as he described it in detail.

On October 13, 1888, police spent a week searching people's houses in East Densworth but found nothing

October 16 a man named George Lusk had received a letter.

He was the head of the Mile End Vigilance Committee.

This was a group to help assist the police.

The letter was signed. “From Hell”

Was delivered in a box w/ half a kidney.

The kidney was believed to be Catherine Eddowes’ kidney.

This was later to be found to be a prank by a medical student meaning that some people didn’t take this seriously and it was something they would joke around with.

(~~A month later) On Nov. 9, 1888, the body of the 5th & final victim Mary Kelly was found in her bed at 13 Millers Court.

She was found by her landlords assistant who was seeking rent.

This was the most gruesome murder.

Kelly’s body was disembowelled & “virtually skinned down”

“The sight that we saw I cannot drive from my mind it looked more like a work of a devil than a man” This is what the landlord said about the state of the body.

Some people claimed that they had seen the killer.

All murders were committed on a weekend.

Killers appearance.

In between 25-35

Roughly 5`5-5`7

Stocky, fair complexion, moustache.

Seen wearing a dark overcoat & dark hat.

Looked perfectly sane, frightfully normal.

Yet capable of extreme violence and cruelty.

. . .

Sir Melville Macnaghten, the Scotland yards head of criminal investigation department in 1903, though he had a vague idea on who the killer was.

Knew that Jack the Ripper had a basic knowledge of anatomy.

Possibly a doctor.

His notes say that he had narrowed his list of suspects down to three names.

Suspects of Jack the Ripper.

Suspect #1: Montague Johnson Druitt

A barrister who may have had an uncle + a cousin that were doctors.

~ His time of death he could have been around the age of 40.

Supposedly had an interest in surgery.

Might have lived with a cousin.

Who was practising medicine close to where the murders occurred.

It also appeared that ~ a month before the first canonical murder happened his (Montague) mother went insane.

Wrote down that he too thought he was going insane.

(though most people going or that are insane don’t know they are/going insane)

In Macnaghten’s notes, it says. “From private information, I have little doubt that his own family suspected this man of being the Whitechapel murderer; it was alleged that he was sexually insane”

After the last murder, Montague disappeared

4 weeks after the last murder he was found dead.

The body was found floating in the Thames river on December 3rd 1888

Suspect #2: Michael Ostrog

Russian doctor & criminal

Been in an asylum previously for homicidal tendencies.

Macnaughten wrote in his notes that he couldn’t find a strong alibi for his whereabouts during the murders.

Wasn’t evicted because there wasn’t enough evidence linked.

Suspect #3: Aaron Kosminski

A polish & Jewish resident in Whitechapel.

Spent time in an asylum in 1889

Resided in asylums until his death in 1919

Known for his hatred toward women

Specifically prostitutes.

His description matched with the killers

Name recently was in headlines

Featured in the book, “Naming Jack the Ripper”

Russell Edwards (the author) talked about how a shawl was bought at an auction and contained his DNA proving that he was the killer.

Bought under the impression that it was found at the murder scene of Catherine Eddowes.

Edwards got help from a molecular biologist Jari Louhelainen from Liverpool John Moores University.

Seman on the shawl was linked to Kosminski.

With this discovery, people thought that the case was closed

“I’ve got the only piece of forensic evidence in the whole history of the case. I’ve spent 14 years working on it, and we have definitely solved the mystery of who Jack the Ripper was. Only non-believers that want to perpetuate the myth will doubt. This is it now -- We have unmasked him.” - Russell Edwards.

Louhelainen may have made a large mistake.

Dr. Louhelainen identified a mutated piece of DNA on both the scarf and in Eddowes relative Karen Miller.

Mutation believed to be 314.1C

Only found in 1 - 290.000

The match was incorrect it wasn’t 314.1C instead was 315.1C.

Mutation shared with > 99% of people of European descent.

Kosminskies DNA was linked using Mitochondrial DNA using a subtype that wasn’t unique.

Suspect #4: Jill the Ripper

The theory that Jack the Ripper was actually a female

~~ a hunch of inspector Abberline

When everyone was looking for a man instead of a woman would explain why the killer could slip by unnoticed.

A midwife could also have anatomical Knowledge.

Blood on her clothing wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow.

Though all eyewitness accounts pointed to a man.

Suspect #5: Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward (The royal conspiracy.)

Often scoffed at.

Prince Edward was frequent to places that the victims were found.

An activity that led him to contract syphilis which drove him to insanity

Caused him to have a child with a local woman which led the queen to demand that everyone who knows of the child to be “Taken care of.”

Some believe that the insanity spawned by syphilis drove him to commit the murders himself.

Conspiracy theorists believe that he was never discovered because royal aids assisted in covering his identity.

This theory is often called ludacris as there isn’t any evidence to back it up.

Suspect #6: Walter Sickert

Patricia Cornwell (Known for her crime novels and devoted her time to find out who the killer was) claims that Sickert was obsessed with Jack the Ripper.

This is proven true

Referenced Jack the Ripper in some of his paintings.titling one of them “Jack the Ripper's Bedroom”

Cornwell claims that one painting mirrors the body position of the fifth victim Mary Kelly.

Claims that another painting mimics the facial wounds of fourth victim Catherine Eddowes

Reports of Sickert ‘Cosplaying’ as Jack the Ripper for fun.

Cornwell debunks that Sickert was in France at the time of the murders.

Saying that he has sketches of music halls in London at the time of three killings at least.

Analysis of forensic paper expert Peter Bower who identified three of Sickert's letters and two of Jack the Ripper's letters from a handmade paper run with only 24 sheets of that paper.

The possibility of both Sickert and Jack the Ripper writing on the same paper that only has 24 sheets in existence is very unlikely.

While that is undoubtedly evidenced all of the Jack the Ripper letters are unconfirmed.

Suspect #7: Joseph Barnett

Suspicious because he actually lived with Mary Kelly.

May have lived in 10 different locations in East London.

So he knows the area well so he can navigate back streets.

Worked as a fish porter

Reported was in love with Kelly.

According to the Daily Telegraph Barnett referred to Kelly as his “wife”

She was only a roommate.

Disagreed with her life as a prostitute striving to make money to keep her off of the streets.

Saying. “Marie never went out on the streets with me”

Theorised that Barnett committed the first murders to keep her off of the street.

Which for a little bit worked.

When he lost his job Kelly went back to the streets.

Financial struggles lead to fights.

Barnett disliked her love of Gin.

When Kelly brought back two different prostitutes it stirred one final fight which Barnett found unacceptable.

The fight got violent

A window was broken.

Not too long after Barnett moved out of the house.

10 days later Mary Kelly was found dead.

He was questioned for 4 hrs but was set free.

Having lived there he would know knowledge about the house of which included how to unlock the door from the outside.

Also knew Kelly's schedule and tendencies.

Details say that she was killed in her sleep rather than by someone she invited in.

Clothes were folded by the bed “As though they were taken off in an ordinary manner.”

Was wearing a nightgown.

As a fish porter, he would have anatomical knowledge.

Because he knew Kelly other prostitutes would know him allowing him to get close enough for a “sneak attack”

One newspaper at the time stated that some of his friends called him Jack.

Matches both physical and mental descriptions of Jack the Ripper that were created by police & the FBI.

The murders stopped after Mary Kelly.

With his lover , that he was trying to keep off of the streets, now dead he had no reason to keep on killing people.

Suspect #8/Last suspect: James Maybrick

His death matched with the stop of the killings.

Died a year after the killings.

Upper-class cotton merchant

Resided in an estate called the “Battlecrease House” in Liverpool.

Some think that this is a large detail as they think that he wasn’t an upperman & was instead a local.

A wealthy cotton merchant would be able to travel on weekends.

Wouldn’t be killing in his own Locale (Local area)

A diary was found under the floorboards of Maybricks estate.

His diary is signed. “I give my name that all know of me, so history does tell, what love can do to a gentleman born. Yours Truly,

Jack the Ripper.”

The diary held intimate details of the killings.

Scientific tests prove that the diary matched the time of the Jack the Ripper killings.

The diary was discovered by a scrap metal dealer named Mike Barett.

Admitted to the diary being fabricated but then later took that back.

The details of how he got the diary are shaky.

Some say it fell into his hands from being handed down in his family others say Barrett discovering it himself or his associates discovering it and then bringing it to him.

If the diary truly was found under the floorboards of the estate than there is a very strong possibility that Maybrick is Jack the Ripper.

Following the diary, a golden pocket watch was found as potential evidence.

The pocket watch apparently has the initials of each of the five canonical victims scratched into it.

Including the phrases “I am Jack” & “J. Maybrick.

The scratches were analysed from an electron microscope and Dr. Stephen Turgoose who said that the scratches were not done in modern times.

Another Dr. named Robert Wild, in Bristol’s Universities Interface Analysis Center, suggests the scratches “could have been very, very old and were certainly not new but it was difficult to be precise”

The watch, which was displayed and discovered in a Liverpool Jewelry Shop by a college caretaker named Elbert Johnson.

Dated in 1846

Purchased for 225 Pounds. ( 294.88 US dollars.)

My Thoughts.

My thoughts on the Jack the Ripper case. Well, I personally have a fascination with unsolved mysteries, especially unsolved murder cases. This one in particular really caught my attention just in how the victims were chosen and how it has been so long and we have so many suspects but only a couple of them would actually make sense and possibly could be Jack the Ripper but there are places where the theory and reasons to suspect to the person kind of fall out or it would lead to at least a couple of loose ends or it starts to not support it as much as it could and some of the evidence isn’t the best so you can get confused about the true killer. As for the case itself, it is a sad thing that had happened but I honestly can see how it could stay a mystery for so long. With that many suspects and different evidence showing up and being debunked so often and random throughout the years. Like the instance where the shawl was bought at an auction and the molecular biologist got the wrong mutation and said that it was a rare one before finding out that he had said that it was the wrong one and it was actually a mutation that every descendant of a European has the mutation. Things like that can keep it a mystery although I think that we will probably solve it eventually seeing that we have a couple that might actually have been Jack the Killer.

This case is actually the case that really got me into crime and unsolved mysteries I find it fascinating about how we could solve it years and years after the crime had happened and ended. I honestly love the idea of studying cases whether they’re ongoing or if they have already ended and haven’t been solved. Even cases that have been solved are just fun to write my thoughts down or talk about my thoughts and theories about it.

My theories and who I think did it.

Okay, I have three different theories that I think committed all of the Jack the Ripper murders. I’m going to go from the one that I don’t think is very likely and I have very little evidence for to the one that has the most and that is more likely. Now let’s begin.

The Jill the Ripper Theory: Okay I think this one could be likely because at the time that the killings were going on (1888) women weren’t allowed to have a title of a doctor or anything of the sort. So when the first or second letter for Jack the Ripper was sent (now thinking back to it I do believe that it was the first letter sent in.) it says that they were shocked that people were actually thinking that they were a doctor. This leads me to believe that it really could have been a women at the time. Plus in 1888 it would be normal that a midwife would have blood on her clothes so she could have passed it off that she was just a midwife so she could slip in and out of crowds easily which could explain why the killer wasn’t found or spotted on the night of the double murder. It could have also thrown off the police because they were told to be looking for a man but instead they should be looking for a woman. Although there is something that is holding that piece of evidence back that it that the killer had been described by eyewitness accounts and at that time you could easily tell the difference between a man and a women as they had very different figures due to the corsets that they (women) would always wear. Being a midwife would also give her anatomical knowledge that Jack the Ripper obviously had otherwise how else would (s)he be able to disembowel his (her) victims and take out their womb the way they did.

Joseph Barnett: This one definitely has more of a chance than the Jill the Ripper theory does. Barnett actually lived with the fifth and last victim Mary Kelly. He had actually told the Daily Telegraph that she was his “wife” when in reality she was actually just a roommate that he lived with so people naturally started to say that Barnett had loved Kelly and because he disagreed with her being a prostitute people believe that he committed the first murders to scare her off of the street which actually worked for a bit. He said that “When Marie was with me she never went onto the streets.” This was because she didn’t need to because he was working as a fish porter. He was thought to be able to get around so easily because he may have lived in 10 different places in East London so, he could get around quickly because he knew his way around. Because he didn’t like that Kelly was a prostitute they often got into arguments they would also fight because he didn’t like her love of Gin. But when Joseph lost his job as fish porter Kelly went back onto the streets and continued with the prostitution. When Kelly brought two other prostitutes home Barnett didn’t think that this was acceptable so they got into a pretty big argument at this point it had gotten quite violent a window was apparently broken in the fight. After the fight, Barnett ended up leaving the house. 10 days later Kelly was found dead in her apartment. Because he lived there he would know how to unlock the door from the outside and around the house. Kelly’s clothes were also folded like they had been taken off and placed in an ordinary manner and she was in a nightgown so she was killed in her sleep because it didn’t look like she had any form of struggling like she had been killed from someone she had let inside. Right after Kelly was killed the killings had stopped as it is known. This ties in because why would he kill anyone else when the women that he loved was now dead and he had no reason to still be killing.

James Maybrick: James Maybrick is the person that is most likely to have done it. Maybrick was an upper-class cotton merchant so he only really had weekends to go out and do other stuff plus all of the murders took place on weekends which could potentially point directly toward Maybrick. Plus he was living somewhere else so it wasn’t so obvious it was him at first because he lived in a different location than the murders were happening it was kind of shrugged off because you know who would want to go somewhere else to commit a crime such as murder. He also resided with an estate called the “Battlecrease House” that was located in Liverpool. Under one of the floorboards, there was a diary found that had vivid and intimate details about each one of the murders of each one of the victims. The diary was signed with this: “I give my name that all know of me, so history do tell, what love can do to a gentleman born. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper.”. There was a gold pocket watch that was found by a college caretaker by the name of Elbert Johnson had found it in a jewellery shop in Liverpool. He took it to a Dr. who said that the scratches in the watch weren’t from modern times the scratches read the initials of all of the victims and two phrases “I am Jack” and “J. Maybrick.”

#jack the ripper #Unsolved crimes

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aserialkilleraday · 4 years

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Day 17: Jack the Ripper

INFAMOUS. That’s all you gotta know. Unsolved and infamous. (This GIF is the Simpsons version of Jack the Ripper - thought I would lighten everything up a bit)

Jack the Ripper is one of the original serial killers that most people have heard of. Specifically, this dude comes from London and is well-known around the world. It all started in 1888 when Jack the Ripper started killing basically all of the sex workers (what a hater).

Throughout the 19th century, more and more immigrants began to arrive in London. Thus, the city began to be incredibly overcrowded and was filled with poverty and problems. Basically, crime and substance abuse was rampant around the entire area. This also meant that more and more women were becoming sex workers as many women used it as a source of income. In 1888, there were at least 1,200 women working as sex workers, specifically in Whitechapel.

On top of all of this, there were massive problems between the public and the police. With crime on the rise, the police were intervening more and more which led to increased disturbance and issues with racism and poverty. Then, with the murders of Jack the Ripper, Whitechapel fell into what was to be considered a hell on earth.

The primary issue with these murders is that it is still not clear which murders fall under Jack the Ripper and which ones were separate. This is because there were A LOT of sex workers that were being killed. Between April 1888 to February 1891, there were eleven women killed. Five of the murders were absolutely believed to be done by Jack the Ripper (as they followed his M.O. and are considered the “Canonical Five”). This is because he typically did a lot of mutilation, removed internal organs, and some other not so great stuff. These followed in line with at least five of the murders. Beyond that, the other six cannot be 100% attributed to Jack the Ripper, as there was a variety of other crimes going on during this time.

Police did attempt to investigate and there still is some police files from this time. Throughout this time, they attempted to interview and investigate the murders. However, there was quite a bit of unrest within the city and so many citizens took to their own streets to search for the killer. Throughout this, it was suspected that the murders were done by butchers, surgeons, or someone along that line due to the mutilation and the removal of organs. All of this points to someone with experience (this makes me feel like I’m on Criminal Minds -- they always figure this shit out).

One of the most interesting parts of this case; however, are the letters written by Jack the Ripper to the press and police. Among these was the “Dear Boss” letter. This letter was the first that used the phrase “Jack the Ripper” and involved information regarding the murders themselves.

To continue, this is the first serial killer that enraptured the world. Sure, he was not the first serial killer ever, but he is definitely one of the most famous. Plus, the fact that we still don’t know who did it is absolutely CRAZY.

Basically, this is an iconic case that I recommend everyone to study as this is an extremely condensed simplified story of a time that was a terrible history of London and the absolute terror the city experienced.

So yeah, Jack the Ripper. Absolutely crazy. Over 100 suspects and they never figured it out.

CRAY CRAY.

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keepersreprise · 7 years

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“From Hell” Review

31 Days of Tarot Halloween - Day One

“Journey”

In this blog I will be discussing my own personal insights into the popular movie From Hell, its dark story and origins, tantamount themes, and then discussing the theme as presented in the Major Arcana Tarot Card “Journey” pulled from my Dreams of Gaia deck.

OVERVIEW

From Hell is a gorgeous piece of symbolism, that tells the familiar tale of famous serial killer Jack the Ripper, in London of 1888, from the months of August to November.

Jack the Ripper targeted, tortured, and disemboweled a total of five victims - all prostitutes - within that time, before suddenly disappearing. Many theories in the last one hundred-twenty-nine years have arisen regarding who this man was, and what his motives may have been.

Loosely based off the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, From Hell is a dark and gritty tale that primarily follows respected and swarthy inspector Frederick Adderline (Johnny Depp) and struggling, sweet-hearted prostitute Mary Kelley (Heather Graham), as they face the terrifying silhouette that was Jack the Ripper.

This film’s vision itself was based off of a theory that the women were targeted as part of a conspiracy to cover the fact that Prince Albert Victor married a common girl name Annie Cook. However, although popular, the theory has been widely discredited.

THEMES

Social Class

Much of the film is cast in a dark and dreary era of London, shortly before the turn of the century. In a time where there was still a great division between the working-class, and well-educated socialites. In fact, many influential men beat it over Inspector Adderline’s head (and the watchers’) that no “well-bred” or respectable man would commit such atrocities.

When Adderline states that he believes the murders were committed with the precision and knowledge of anatomy of a professional surgeon, it is suggested instead that the murders are nothing more than the work of a butcher. Or even a rich tradesman.

The series of events that lead to the murders revolves around the Prince Albert’s secret marriage to commoner and prostitute Ann Cook, and the subsequent birth of their child. As a result, Ann is kidnapped and questioned, then lobotomized and sequestered in an asylum. The Queen Alexandra of Denmark herself sets trusted Freemason Sir William Gull the task of eliminating the witnesses without any conscious regard to the women’s lives, nor the mass hysteria the killings stir amongst her subjects. And perhaps more telling, is that William Gull - the Ripper - is lobotomized and sealed away himself once he has completed this task.

COLOR SCHEMES

The color red is a prominent theme, often starkly contrasting or complimenting the gloom and dreariness that rests like a translucent veil over London during this time. The color is not solely present in the scenes of grisly murder. It can also be found in other significant scenes and moments throughout the film.

Most notably Mary Kelly has vibrant red hair and alluring green eyes. While all the prostitutes wear brighter clothing than most people we see - setting them apart as women of character and diversity - Mary Kelly’s hair is a physical representation of who she herself is. Red is often associated with fiery temperaments, passion, lust, anger, and violence.

In a scene where Adderline is in the tub after drinking absinthe and is taking a clairvoyant journey, there is a red phonograph playing a sonorous tune. The film then switches to another scene where the serial killer is cutting into a raw piece of meat, with a black phonograph playing in the room as well; symbolizing a connection between the two men. In this instance however, the red phonograph represents Adderline’s passion and love as he uses his clairvoyance to relive a memory with his wife, wherein she tells him she’s pregnant. The transition to Gull enjoying a bloody meal with a black phonograph instead depicts the man’s cold-hearted and meticulous nature.

Green is also a prominent color in the film. A few select scenes take place outside or in parts of London where the pall of doom is pushed back for a time. Yet, even in the first instance, when the women are present at the first victim, Martha’s funeral, the watcher is reminded to not allow the moment of beauty to disillusion them. The breaking of the coffin as its lowered and reveal of Martha’s waxy face, is followed by the ravaging laugh of a crow. The second instance of greenery is when Adderline reveals the tragic fates of his wife and child to Mary Kelley on a park bench, while gazing into Mary’s attentively sympathetic green eyes. The last instance in the film shows a happy Mary Kelly raising the throne’s heir in a beautiful cottage by the sea. Yet there is a sadness in her eyes, even as Adderline is using opium far away, to watch the woman he loves waiting for him, just before he dies.

Just as with the color red, there is a balance to green as well. It is prominently present in scenes with Jack the Ripper; highlighting the wall beyond his silhouette. The lanterns of his carriage burn a sickly pulsing green rather than the normal orange-red of fire. Historically, Mary Kelly was the last of Ripper’s victims. The presence of green - the color of comfort, of life, but also of envy and magic - may have been alluding to her presumed fate.

"JOURNEY"

The Major Arcana card Journey is the representation of a path tread; of ourselves, not just physically. It signifies personal growth and strength of conviction. I will discuss each character’s personal journey throughout the film.

Ann Cook: I wanted to begin with Ann Cook, because although her presence in the movie is brief, it was her transformation from simple prostitute to the secret wife and mother of the throne’s heir that began Jack the Ripper’s rampage at the Queen’s behest.

Ann was a sweet and young girl, whose talents and innocence (despite her reviled profession) attracted the attentions of Prince Albert Victor. Within a short time, Albert and Ann were married in a little church with her friends as witness, and although a couple of them envied her newfound easy lifestyle, it is clear that Ann’s charm could make most anyone love her.

She is unexpectedly kidnapped by the Freemasons under the royal family’s orders and questioned. However, she either never knew her husband was the heir, or lied in hopes of protecting herself and her child. She is lobotomized by Dr. Ferral and locked away. Adderline and Mary visit her, where she is found with glassy blue eyes, proclaiming herself a queen. We never hear any more of poor Ann Cook.

What I found interesting about Ann is that part of me wondered if perhaps she in fact, DID know who Albert was the entire time. We only see the two together while having sex in bed, and the prince has the saucer eyes of a man hypnotized by lust. The prince is also revealed to have syphilis. Considering the detrimental effects it can have on the brain, this may attribute to why he married a commoner in secret.

Frederick Adderline: A renown inspector that is called into Whitechapel after the grotesque murder of Martha. While efficient and respected, Adderline’s methods and acceptance of the belief that any man is capable of anything, in a time where the poor and the Juwes are always the villains, isolate him as an aberrant eccentric. Adderline uses his intelligence and astute eye for detail to wriggle out the secrets of the case like prying worms out from beneath a rock.

At the beginning of the film he is standoffish, and even his sarcastic comments are delivered in a dry tone. Although he uses opium to gain visions of his cases, Frederick never tries to explain why or how this happens. Rather, he is a man that accepts things as they come. However, he does seem to hold to some superstitious beliefs, such as when he pressed two coins over the prostitute Dark Annie’s eyes to pay death’s ferryman so that her soul would find rest.

As the film progresses and he progressively fails to solve the case, the watcher sees the man’s frustration at his inability to protect these women manifest. And as he develops an emotionally charged bond with the resilient prostitute Mary Kelly, we see the inspector’s stark demeanor fold in on itself. We learn of his wife, and in the moment where Mary Kelly becomes defensive after he rejects her, Adderline presses her to the wall in his own passion. From here Frederick’s course begins to steer from the paved road of a law up-keeping, prim man, to a bumpy back alley of shadowy movements. When he is suspended from the case for wanting to preserve elegant words scrawled by Jack the Ripper that hints at his identity, he pieced together the mystery with the diligence of a man ruled by his own morals, and confronts the suspect himself. Going so far even, as to draw a gun on the man. He is, however, incapacitated. Yet even when the inspector is faced with what is presumed to be Mary Kelly’s horrifically mutilated corpse, his strength never falters. He doesn’t shy away, showing us that he is not, in fact, broken. Just heartbroken. Once the killings are complete, Frederick decides he can never risk leading the Freemasons to Mary Kelly and Alice’s location. In the end we see that he has returned to his opium addiction. But now he has been using it for years to watch the woman he loves raise a child not her own, in a little cottage by the sea, waiting for him. He is found dead by the sergeant, with two coins in his hand to pay the ferryman.

Mary Kelly: The moment we meet Mary, we see her sweet and compassionate side; almost entirely at odds with what we may expect of someone with such fiery red hair. Even as a prostitute, she is a strong woman of self-worth, that recognizes that she is, in fact, still a woman despite her profession, with needs of her own.

Mary Kelly is a dual-natured character, much like the others. While kind and sweet, caring for and raising Ann’s child, she is also hot-tempered and challenges other people’s views of who she is. Not much is revealed of her past, except that after her mother died when she was eight in Ireland, her family fled to London, where they were “Starving. Starving, but in fresh air”. She dreams languidly of living in a little cottage by the sea, becoming an old plump woman with a skinny husband and many children. Although Mary is obviously a dreamer, she never speaks of how she means to obtain these dreams. This indicates that she may realize just how unlikely they are.

Mary Kelly begins her story trying to raise enough money to pay a local gang. When Ann Cook offers to get her friends the money from her husband, she is bears witness to Ann’s kidnapping. As her friends are murdered one by one, Mary decides to place her trust in inspector Frederick Adderline. The two become very close, with Mary Kelly kissing him in an alleyway after he offers her money to keep herself safe. In this moment, if the watcher had any doubts about Mary Kelly (like one of her prostitutes friends did), her motives towards Adderline are clarified with words fueled by a life persecution and judgement.

How long Mary Kelly has been a prostitute is unclear, but she is quick to defer to officials, and even names herself “unfortunate”. At one point she says to Frederick that “Oh, I’m sorry. England doesn’t have whores. Just a great mass of unlucky women.” This shows her derivative opinion of the social class, and a glimpse that, despite her defiance, Mary Kelly may view herself in this negative manner herself. Or even fear that all that’s said about whores is true, and she cannot escape it.

It’s through her trust and love for Frederick Adderline, that Mary Kelly finally DOES escape it though. She takes Alice and lives in her cottage, raising the child as her own. Yet, even as she watches the girl fondly, there is a telling sadness in her eyes and the watcher knows she is waiting for Frederick. And that, unlike her love, who can travel upon an opium cloud to watch her, she will never know what became of him.

Jack the Ripper: The serial killer’s story begins as that of any other in fiction. A shadowy unknown figure that haunts the characters. And our minds. His actions appall us, drive a wedge between our willingness and ability to sympathize with such an atrocious human being.

When Ripper is nothing more than a silhouette against an eerie sky or hunched over the form of his latest victim, he is the boogeyman. The devil. That which we feared cannot be stopped. We imagine him with a horrid snarling face, fangs that drip blood and hands that are never clean. But really, we know he is just a man.

Before his identity is revealed, we are given glimpses into the man’s life and daily activities. We know that he is, in fact, a “well-bred” man, that eats delicately, wears prim suits, takes good care of a traveling amputation kit he uses on his victims, educated and precise; in stark contrast to what Frederick Adderline is persuaded to believe. Ripper even displays the touch of a poetic hand at one point, which results in Adderline being removed from the case.

However, it becomes quickly apparent that there is something more sinister about the man. His operations are ritualistic. Green fire glows in his lanterns. Although this is never addressed, it could simply be a symbolic method used to ring the bell in the watcher’s head to let them know when they’re following the developments of Jack the Ripper.

As the murders continue, Adderline recognizes signs that the acts are being committed in a ritualistic fashion. The bodies are arranged in a pentacle star shape throughout the city, the women’s items arranged near their corpses in a similar fashion, the organs that are removed so precisely and deliberately. At one point a letter accompanies a box with half a kidney, where Ripper proclaims to have eaten the other half.

Jack the Ripper’s true identity is revealed to be that of Sir William Gull; a respected Freemason and surgeon that is working under the orders of the Queen Alexandra to dispose of the witnesses to Albert’s marriage to commoner Ann. Gull expresses obvious love and concern for the Prince Albert, who is suffering from syphilis. When we first meet him, Gull is a small, kindly man in his seventies, that greets inspector Frederick Adderline at a show, and willingly provides crucial information about the killings and weapons used. However, he quickly deters Adderline from suspecting him by revealing he had a stroke that caused tremors (obviously untrue).

As the tale progresses and Adderline confronts Gull, we see a literal transformation overcome him. As he turns around to face the inspector, the man’s twinkly, kind eyes turn as cold and black as two coals. His voice becomes deeper, his shoulders squared, and his back straighter. His prestigious mind and meticulous words become dark, despondent. Frightening. He claims that the mitre and the pentacle are symbols that course with energy and meaning and that HE is that energy and meaning. That he will be remembered for ushering in a new century.

When at last William Gull believes he commits his final murder, he is placed before a jury of Freemasons. The devil is gone from his eyes, the deep bass from his voice, and suddenly he looks small again as we watch the scene flip between his trial, and the Queen discussing the mission she had given him. The watcher realizes then that in a way, Sir William Gull, Jack the Ripper, was also just a victim of circumstance and social hierarchy. Even as he is being judged and sentenced, William Gull believes that his actions were the true actions of a believer, and that it is only the “Great Architect” that can declare judgement on him. The man is then lobotomized in the same fashion as Ann Cook, and locked away alone and naked, with the glassy blue eyes of the forgotten.

#31 days of witchcraft #horror #movie blog #movie review #tarot card readings #tarot deck #tarot cards #dreams of gaia tarot #witch community #witchcraft #pagan wicca #wiccan #wicca #pagan #from hell #johnny depp #heather graham

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donaldmckenzie13 · 5 years

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*I have the star at the end of the title because I skipped an October Round Up and a couple of the books in this month’s round up were October selections. Most of my writing in the past month has been in the area of crime fictions and mainly from two writers. I also have a couple of food related books that I will put off until later, so that this post isn’t incredibly long.

Previous Month

March, April, May, June, July, August, September

The Bat is the first book in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series.

The Bat – Jo Nesbo

The Bat is the first in a series of, novels featuring Norwegian detective Harry Hole(pronounced Hooli. although in the book he settles for Holy). I decided to look into Nesbo’s books after Ian Rankin spoke highly of him during Rankin’s visit to Winnipeg.

The first novel sees Hole going to Australia to liaise with the Sydney police after a young Norwegian is found murdered in the city. He is meant strictly to be an observer, and is assigned Aboriginal colleague, Andrew Kensington. Of course, it is not long before Hole finds himself involved in the middle of the case and what appears to be the act of a serial killer.

Hole is a fish out of water in Sydney, but Kensington serves as a great cultural interpreter. The reader is given insight into Australian history of the relationship between the settler community and the Aboriginals. Many of the issues dealt with would be familiar to Canadian readers as they parallel relationships between the settler community and Indigenous people in this country.

Beyond that the story is gripping in the search for the killer. There are many twists and turns. Hole’s attempts to investigate are complicated by interference from the Sydney police. They are further complicated by Hole’s alcoholism, and entanglement with a young Swedish woman named Birgitta.

The suspense builds throughout and the ending is quite memorable. Unfortunately, when I picked up the book from the library, I read the list of books in the wrong order, so I didn’t get around to the second book, but I will be soon.

My first November Inspector Ganache Novel almost made me want to give up on the series.

The second Inspector Gamache novel I read in Novemeber was one of the best books Ive read in a while.

More Inspector Gamache – Louise Penny

When I last reviewed the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, I said that I found the Inspector’s back story a little much. The fourth book in the series A Rule Against Murder, adds another layer to that back story, one involving Gamache’s father, and by the end of it I was almost ready to give the series a pass.

The story itself is quite good. Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie are on their honeymoon at a fancy chateau, sharing the space with a family of rich eccentrics. The rich eccentrics turn out to be the family of Peter and Clara Morrow, residents of Three Pines and, Clara in particular, good friends of Inspector Gamache.

The family gathering involves the unveiling of a statue dedicated to the memory of Peter’s father. As the mystery unwinds we discover just how dysfunctional Peter’s family is, and discover the reason why he and Clara have abandoned them for life in Three Pines.

Penny’s writing of place and character is as strong as ever. However, I didn’t thing the story line involving Gamache’s father and his behaviour at the time of the Second World War were a necessary edition. I increasingly find Gamache’s character veering towards the unbelievable. If he becomes any more self-aware, I half suspect he will disappear into some sort of existential black hole.

If A Rule Against Murder almost turned me off the Inspector Gamache series, The Brutal Telling won me back over. The story begins in a cabin in the woods, with an old man and a young man sitting there, one telling the other a fantastical, mythical, tale. Soon enough the old man is found dead, and the suspicions turn to Three Pines.

As the story unfolds we find that things are not as they seem with the denizens of Three Pines. Something is wrong in the circle of friends that we have been introduced to. Among other things a new family has moved into the old Hadley residence, which has played such a significant role in Gamache’s relationship to Three Pines.

The story moves along at a brisk pace, and along the way the reader is introduced to questionable economic activities on the part of one Three Pines resident. We meet characters who profited from the arrival of Eastern European refugees after the fall of communism, and who have dealt in deceit.

Among the articles that show up as clues to the murderer are a series of intricate carvings created out of the epic story that weaves it’s way through the mystery. The final reveal of the murderer leaves the reader wondering what will happen to the community of Three Pines and the friends that have grown together over the first few murders.

Penny’s writing in this story reaches another level, and did leave me wondering whether or not the series will continue to remain at something close to this level or will drop off in subsequent books.

I also read The Hangman. which is a novella featuring a story of revenge. Of the Three Pines characters, only Myrna and Gabri appear in this story. It is a tightly plotted, and well executed(no pun intended) story.

A Wilde November

A novel for all those who dislike party games.

Although the third novel published, Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man’s Smile is the origin story for Oscar Wilde as detective.

Book four in the Oscar Wilde series from Giles Brandreth.

The one book in this series that I didn’t photograph, was the first one: Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance.

I am a huge fan of British Panel shows. One of the great advantages of YouTube is that you can find whole episodes online, often only a few hours after they are posted. My two favourites, are Have I Got News For You, and QI. Among the people I’ve been introduced to through these shows is Gyles Brandreth, journalist, biographer, former Conservative MP, and novelist. I enjoy his contributions on panel shows, but he can occasionally take the wind out of the room, as evidenced in his latest QI appearance.

However, as I was wandering through the Winnipeg Public Library mystery section, I happened upon a couple of his Oscar Wilde mystery novels. Brandreth is a very good story-teller, so I couldn’t resist picking up a couple to try. In a word, they are fantastic.

I’ve made my way through four of the novels. I’m not going to review them work by work, because unlike most detective novels, they are not sequential in their chronology. In each of the novels the main characters are real people from Oscar Wilde’s life and lifetime. The novels are narrated by Robert Sherrard a friend and biographer of Wilde. The other main character in the series is Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. As an aside I find Wilde and Doyle more compelling than Houdini and Doyle.

Along the way we meet other characters who had real life interactions with Oscar Wilde. From Edward Prince of Wales, and his son Eddy, to Bram Stoker the creator of Dracula, to Lord Alfred Douglas, whose relationship with Wilde helped bring about Wilde’s downfall. We also meet Douglas’s father the Marquess of Queensbury, codifier of boxing rules, and Charles Brookfield, two individuals who worked to make sure that Wilde would be convicted when charged with sodomy.

Brandreth’s research is meticulous, which make the conceit of Wilde as a detective all the more believable. In the series Wilde is portrayed as a real life Sherlock Holmes, which given his wide breadth of knowledge and circle of acquaintance isn’t all that much of a stretch.

Not surprisingly, most of the murders have a sexual element to them, either homosexual or heterosexual. Sexuality was of great interest to the Victorians, so it is in keeping with the era that the novels would display much the same interest. It is also in keeping with Wilde’s own real life biography. The Victorian era also had a real fascination with the macabre and the way the murders are committed also fit well into that era.

An interesting although not important point, is that although the murders are set in the time of Jack the Ripper, Brandreth does a good job of mentioning this, without making it a major point in any of the novels.

Brandreth has created Wilde as a fully developed, though flawed human being. Wilde’s flaws are not glossed over, and it is clear that in the end, he was as much the author of his own downfalls as anything. I particularly like that Brandreth’s Wilde seems true to life, massively charismatic, but not always likable. Brandreth also gives strong representation of Wilde as a man drawn to the Christian faith, and particularly to Catholic teaching. This aspect of Wilde’s life is often left out of contemporary accounts or indeed of contemporary productions of such tales as The Selfish Giant.

Brandreth uses Wilde’s wit, but also includes his own bon mots in such a fashion as to make the unnoticeable unless you have some sort of encyclopedic knowledge of Wilde’s witticisms. Throughout the books, Wilde is shown to always be generous and to be a loving, if somewhat prodigal husband to his wife, Constance.

The mysteries themselves seem at time a little too complex, but on the whole the stories are compelling and pull the reader along at a breakneck pace. These are books that are hard to put down, and I will definitely be finishing off the series once I can get my hands on the remaining volumes.

I'm back with a monthly reading round up. November Reading Round Up* #bookblogger @bookbloggersint @BookBloggersRT *I have the star at the end of the title because I skipped an October Round Up and a couple of the books in this month's round up were October selections.

#Arthur Conan Doyle #Bram Stoker #crime fiction #Dracula #Gyles Brandreth #Ian Rankin #Inspector Gamache #Jo Nesbo #Louise Penny #Oscar Wilde #Sherlock Holmes #The Bat #Three Pines #Vampires

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ryanmeft · 6 years

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Movie Review: The First Purge

I didn’t see the first two Purge movies. I popped in on the third one, The Purge: Election Year on a whim, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it, though like many movies of its ilk, I barely remember it now. So the idea of the origin of the titular night-when-all-crime-is-legal meant little to me. Incoming Gerard McMurray, taking the directorial but not the writing reins from James DeMonaco, opts to make it about the oppression of black American communities by white nationalist power structures, but making politics a major focus of the movie inadvertently highlights how over-the-top the franchise is. What makes it worth watching are the characters.

Now, I’m not saying they are among the great cinematic heroes. I’m just saying I liked them. They are all black, all working class, and their Staten Island neighborhood has been chosen as the site of a “social experiment” by the authoritarian New Founding Fathers of America party. Nya (Lex Scott Davis) is the apparent leader, or at least the most effective voice, of the opposition. She shows up with a bullhorn at recruitment stations, where the NFFA is paying people five thousand bucks merely to stay on the island during the chaos, and more to “participate”. Echoes of things such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment are apparent. Nya’s ex, local drug honcho Dmitri (Y’Lan Noel), is opposed because it cuts into his business. Her teenage brother Isaiah (Joivan Wade) signs up for the Purge to get revenge on a psychopath named Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) who earlier scarred him, but quickly finds it too much for him. A foul-mouthed older neighbor (Mugga) provides light comic relief.

Nya is a pretty clear stand-in for the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the movie takes place in 2014. Dmitri is a drug dealer who cares about his community deep down, which might be a cliche, but is also a big leap from portraying everyone who has ever touched a bag of dope as vicious animals who can be massacred by the hero en masse. The contrast is not made subtle: Nya directly informs Dmitri that the Purge is just one night, but he causes damage all year ‘round, a line that seemed more for the benefit of the audience than for Dmitri. There’s not much to Skeletor; I suspect he is there so that the movie’s villains and good guys aren’t all divided by skin color. He’s needed, though, to give said bad guys some vim. The architect of the program is played by Marisa Tomei as a sociologist who has somehow become convinced the Purge will fix America’s problems. Her rationale never is explained further than that, and Tomei, who can bring warmth and heart to anything, doesn’t seem to know, herself. I doubt there was a real reason; her character’s purpose is to have a relative human on the other side. The full-on antagonist (Patch Darragh) is as frightening as a parade float. His plan, when it turns out most people won’t actually start slaughtering each other at the slightest provocation, is to send mercenaries in to make it look like they did.

There was a time when I’d have said the point of the all-white NFFA massacring a black community to boost their polling seemed obvious. Although it’s now abundantly clear that many white Americans don’t think racism exists (or embrace it), TFP’s treatment of that dynamic is still a blunt instrument. In case “white politicians hiring thugs to make it look like black people are animals” went over anyone’s head, we get an actual shot of motorcycle mercs in Ku Klux Klan gear massacring a church of black people, and a nameless ringleader dressed like a mix between Hitler and Jack the Ripper. McMurray has an eye for a striking image; what he doesn’t have (or hasn’t developed yet) is the ability to trust in that image. A gigantic thug in a Nazi costume amid a hall full of massacred black Americans would be enough, but McMurray and cinematographer Anastas N. Michos highlight the man, force his face into the camera while the lights flicker, and generally make sure we know damn well “There’s a bad guy here!” A similar thing happened earlier in the film, when a presumably homeless extra holding a cardboard sign bearing portents of doom was circled many, many times with the camera, when a brief glimpse of her would have utilized the visual better. The film’s strengths are often forced to push back against an editing job that favors flashing lights, jump cuts and intense close-ups over any kind of sustained focus; a shot of two cackling elderly lesbians above a street baited with exploding teddy bears is especially ridiculous.

What has struck me about The Purge series since I first heard of it is that there is potential for greatness in this premise. The idea of society tearing itself apart is one some filmmakers have done mesmerizing things with. The First Purge doesn’t want to be that, yet still wants to touch on it. There’s nothing here about America that black audiences don’t already know, however, and everyone else is likely just waiting for the gore, which isn’t as pronounced as the last entry. A likable cast can only do so much when the movie around them feels so by-the-books.

Verdict: Average

Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

#the purge #the first purge #gerard mcmurray #lex scott davis #james demonaco #movies #horror #marisa tomei

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kidsviral-blog · 6 years

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These 25 Terrifying Serial Killers Are Still Running Free. Lock Your Doors Tonight.

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/these-25-terrifying-serial-killers-are-still-running-free-lock-your-doors-tonight/

These 25 Terrifying Serial Killers Are Still Running Free. Lock Your Doors Tonight.

Over the decades, there have been countless crimes, murders and mysteries that have remained unsolved. These open cases are terrifying, especially once you realize that there are serial killers that are still running free. They have taken the lives of multiple innocent people, yet the authorities don’t know their whereabouts. These 25 famous serial killers made headlines, year in and year out, but have never been caught. Some you may recognize, and some you won’t… but one thing is clear: You better start locking your doors at night.

1.) The Connecticut River Valley Killer: In the 1980s, this serial killer stabbed at least seven women to death.

List 25

2.) The Frankford Slasher: The Slasher raped and murdered 8 people around Frankford, PA, between 1985 and 1990.

List 25

3.) Night Stalker: This killer raped and murdered at least 13 people in Southern California between 1976 and 1986. He also sexually assaulted at least FIFTY women.

List 25

4.) The Rainbow Maniac: He murdered 13 men in Brazil in 2007 and 2008. He shot all of his victims in the head at Paturis Park.

List 25

5.) Beer Man: From Mumbai, India, he killed at least seven people in his hometown from 2006 to 2007. He was called the beer man because a bottle of beer was always found next to the bodies of his victims.

List 25

6.) The Freeway Phantom: He kidnapped, raped and strangled at least six young women in Washington D.C. in between 1971 and 1972.

List 25

7.) The Colonial Parkway Killer: This man killed at least three couples in between 1986 and 1989. He is also believed to responsible for the murders of at least eight people int he state of Virginia. Authorities thought he had a partner.

List 25

8.) The Honolulu Strangler: At least five women died at this man’s hands in 1985 and 1986. He strangled them to death.

List 25

9.) Stoneman: Thirteen people in Calcutta, India, died in 1989 because of this killer. Most of his victims were the homeless who slept on the streets.

List 25

10.) The Atlanta Ripper: This killer murdered at least fifteen women in and around Atlanta in 1911; typically, he slit their throats.

List 25

11.) Phantom of Heilbronn: In 2007, he murdered a police officer. He went on to kill nearly 60 more people around Europe.

List 25

12.) The Monster of Florence: This lovesick serial killer was known to shoot couples in secluded areas. He would often mutilate the female victims. In total, he murdered sixteen people (or eight couples). He was an Italian version of Jack the Ripper.

List 25

13.) Servant Girl Annhilator: In 1884, this killer went on a spree in Austin, Texas on New Year’s Eve. He raped and sliced the face of his victims using an axe. All of his eight victims were servants.

List 25

14.) The Zodiac Killer: This “Jack the Ripper” style killer terrorized San Francisco. He would even send cryptic notes to the police. He targeted and killed four men and three women.

List 25

15.) Delphine LaLaurie: The insane Ms. LaLaurie started her killing spree in 1831. Behind closed doors, she abused, tortured and killed them.

List 25

16.) The Babysitter Killer: This Michigan man killed at least four children between 1976 and 1977. He abducted the children and then killed them by suffocation, shooting or strangulation.

List 25

17.) The Phantom Killer: This man was responsible for the moonlight murders in Texarkana in Texas and Arkansas in 1946. He attacked eight people and murdered five of them with a .32. He killed on weekend nights, earning him the nickname of the Moonlight Killer as well.

List 25

18.) The I-70 Killer: In the early 1990s, this killer left the bodies of his victims near I-70 in multiple states. There are approximately 6-10 victims of this monster – and no suspect was ever discovered.

List 25

19.) The Doodler: He killed fourteen men and assaulted three others in the San Francisco area from 1974 to 1975. He would draw his victims before having sex with them and killing them. He targeted his victims in gay establishments.

List 25

20.) The Hammersmith Murderer: At least six prostitutes were killed during his active years. The bodies of the victims were dumped into the River Thames.

List 25

21.) The Cleveland Torso Murderer: Also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, he murdered AND dismembered at least twelve victims in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1930s. He would also behead them and even cut their torsos in half.

List 25

22.) The Grim Sleeper: From Southern California, this man killed at least ten people in LA from 1985 to 2007. He got his name because he didn��t strike for a period of 14 years before he resurfaced within the last decade. A suspect has been arrested, but not charged.

List 25

23.) Charlie Chop-Off: In Manhattan between 1972 and 1974, this man killed and mutilated his victims. His victims were all black children. He killed five and left one for dead.

List 25

24.) The Axe Man: This notorious killer of New Orleans was repsonsible for at least eight murder cases. He killed between May 1918 and October 1919. He used an axe or a straight razor. In 1919, he wrote a letter to the public where he claimed that he was basically an “Angel of Death.”

List 25

25.) The Bone Collector: This mysterious killer was from West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He killed eleven prostitutes, whose bodies were excavated from a dumping ground.

List 25

(H/T List25) Some of these killers may be dead. Some might have been arrested on other charges but were never connected to their crimes. Regardless, this is an important lesson you must learn: look out for yourself. There is a criminal justice system in place, but some people fall through the cracks (and some are famous serial killers). Click below to share this creepy and frightening truth with others.

Read more: http://viralnova.com/unsolved-serial-killer-cases/

#bizarre #crime #famous serial killers #murder #serial killers #serial murders #unsolved mysteries

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer Review – A Self-Aggrandizing Psychopath Gets His Wish

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“How many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper of some national attention,” Dennis Rader asks early in BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer. The elusive strangler wanted to be a hall of famer, along with Jack the Ripper and the Son of Sam. He got off on the killings, and wanted everyone to know it. Investigation Discovery closes out Serial Killer Week with a three-part documentary exploring the psyche of the infamous “BTK” killer, and the devastating effects he had on the community around him.

Like many of the murderers profiled during the week, the BTK Killer escaped detection because there seemed to be nothing to detect. He was a normal guy, who you would never suspect. But underneath the façade was a man who saw himself as extraordinary and deserving the legacy of dark celebrity. BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer focuses on Kerri Rawson, Rader’s daughter who says she had no clue the man who raised her was “a monster in disguise.” Although she also makes clear in the documentary how she had to maneuver her father, who she calls her best friend growing up, to keep him on his good side.

The special includes detailed testimony from law enforcement which was working the case, as well as family of the victims, and survivors. But Rawson’s accounts bring a contrasting picture of the killer who was as addicted to the notoriety as he was of the killings and the sexual pleasure he got from them. Her memories flesh out the man who bragged to KAKE TV in Wichita that he had Factor X, the elusive ingredient only few true real-life monsters possess. The “Ghostbusters” Task Force assigned to the ghoulish killer takes note of his desire for fame and gives him much more than fifteen minutes. The special does a good job in presenting a mouse trap chasing its own tail.

The narration is suitably dramatic but not overly so, as in quite a few of the network and basic cable true crime documentary series. The narrator brings a low-key gravitas to what are some grisly facts. Part one begins with the BTK killer’s first murder. On Jan. 15, 1974, he killed four members of the Otero family. The story is told as a modern memory of the tenth grader who discovered the bodies. He says it felt like having his heart pulled out of him physically, and the camera captures his continuing vulnerability. One of the revelations of the series is how everyone connected with the BTK spree is an open wound. Steve Relford, who was bound and helpless while his mother was murdered, says he now has multiple personalities. When asked if his life was changed by BTK, he says he let himself slide into a lifetime of addiction. That never would have happened if his mother was alive. He wears the psychic scars in an almost physical way.

BTK didn’t only inflict excruciating brutality on his victims, he tormented the police. Rader toyed with authorities, starting by stashing a confession letter at the Wichita Public Library in October. The budding serial killer called the Wichita Eagle and told them where to look. In the letter, he even came up with several impressive and memorable monikers for himself. BTK stands for “bind them, torture them, kill them.” The special makes clear how methodically the cops were investigating, but the drama comes through the killer’s own impatience. He writes letters, poems, draws pictures, explains how the X factor is a supernatural element, and even names Kathryn Bright, Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox.

BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer continues the enforcement dilemma during the 12-year gap in the killings: whether BTK was dead, in prison, out of town, or on the road. We get a terse explanation of a cold case, how in cases of this magnitude, they are never really closed, just forgotten. Which brings us back into the central drama. BTK did not want to be forgotten, and when he sees a newsy “Whatever happened to?” piece in local media, he decides to answer the question.

The documentary deftly captures the escalation and braggadocio from drawing to photography. BTK posed 53-year-old victim Marine Hedge in bondage positions at the Christ Lutheran Church, weeks after killing her, before dumping her body in a ditch. There are similar examples of his macabre presentation, and BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer showcases the killer’s portfolio expertly. The BTK Killer’s spree ends with the killing of Dolores E. Davis, who was found in February 1991.

The documentary turns this into a police procedural after BTK goes on a letter-writing spree, he even tapes one to a stop sign. The special notes that this is where BTK makes his mistake, by fudging a return address. But this reviewer sees another missed opportunity. Did BTK lick the stamps? This is one of the cases which spanned the pre- and post-DNA analysis era of crime-fighting. The killer ejaculated at the kill scenes from his earliest murders, but it didn’t equal usable evidence. The documentary gets into how DNA testing was in the early stages, one cop says to get a sample you had to ruin a whole lot of evidence.

The cops go in a different direction. They pull in hundreds of possible suspects to see if they could get a match for the newly admitted 1986 murder of Vicki Wegerle. The third installment is basically an inadvertent comparison between how organized the police get and how sloppy BTK gets. Once the whole dragnet coalesces, the first thing the cops realize is BTK isn’t quite the mastermind they thought he was. He writes a poem threatening lead investigator Lt. Ken Landwehr, who has become the face of the BTK task force, as well as a false autobiography. One of the things the elusive villain left was an outline for a proposed book titled “The BTK Story.” It opens with the chapter “A Serial Killer Is Born.”

The documentary has a wealth of gory material to choose from, but has a field day with bound dolls. Between the length of time, and change in manpower, it takes to finally catch the killer and the graphically detailed images of Barbies tied in intricate knots, the series has elements of the horrific hunt for a killer on True Detective season 1. It adds a subliminally conspiratorial dimension when a floppy disk, which BTK himself supplies to the police, reveals Denis Rader is actually president of the church council at the Christ Lutheran Church.

BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer is laid out in the boiler plate style of most true crime documentaries, but the crimes and the suspense of the chase keep your interest over three installments. While it doesn’t offer much in the way of new revelations, it details the BTK saga fairly comprehensively. Rader was convicted of the 10 murders he confessed to, and the documentary leaves open the question on whether he was involved in more unsolved killings. The closing installment of Serial Killer week does incidentally prove the psychopathic BTK killer gets what he wants: The police gave him the publicity he craved in order to trap him, the special proves the BTK name has been etched on the serial killer hall of fame. BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer closes on footage of the victims’ families explaining to the court what the BTK cost them, but the documentary underscores how they continue to pay.

BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer airs Friday, Sept. 4, on Investigation Discovery. Part 1 begins at 9 pm, and is followed by the other installments.

The post BTK: Chasing a Serial Killer Review – A Self-Aggrandizing Psychopath Gets His Wish appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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