Painfullest Watch

I'm a huge fan of "Deadliest Catch", and this season is far more gripping than any scripted TV show could dream of being, especially with the addition of Captain Phil's son Jake's issues.  That scene at the end of this week's episode was mind-blowingly provocative.  The excessive shit thrown on the shoulders of his oldest son Josh by his brother during the biggest crisis of his life was fuckin' intense, and really hit home with me, bringing back memories of the crumbling house of cards I experienced myself during last May/June's family catastrophe.

However, I don't know that I'm gonna watch this week's two-hour "Phil's last" episode.  I feel compelled to watch it, but I know what's gonna happen, it ain't a happy ending, and I'm not sure I want to witness the emotional devastation of his family and friends.  Sure, I'm saddened that Phil has passed, having grown fond of him after watching him for what, five seasons or so.  And watching him pass will be even more painful.  But for me it's the impact it will have on his loved ones that will be the most profound.  I'm still living that myself personally, I don't think it's something I want view as an outsider.

I love watching slasher/horror movies (enjoyed "The Midnight Meat Train" just this morning), but those are movies.  The people aren't really dead; the tragedy is fictional.  This is real death and real grief and real devastation.  That's not why I watch TV.

You gonna watch it?

Elsewhere in the TV world, one of the few other shows I watch regularly is "Whale Wars".  And this season it's become a farce.  I find their intentions noble, and respect immensely what they're doing.  But they're such incompetent boobs.  And they'll risk their lives and the lives of others with extremely reckless acts and measures, for what, to throw eggs and stink bombs at the whaling ships?  I mean, if you're so passionate about the cause, and willing to put your life on the line for it, why not walk the walk instead of talking the talk.  You want to end the whaling season?  Buy black market RPGs and sink the fucking factory vessel.  Throw hand grenades instead of rotten fruit.  Depth charges, torpedoes, kamikaze pilots, something.  Anything.

I'm not condoning the killing of innocent(?) people (are the whalers really "innocent" people?), I'm just saying, if something means so much to you that you'll completely disregard your own safety and the safety of others, turning off your pesky self preservation instinct, then nut up and do what it takes to get the job done.  Sure, you will likely end up in a Japanese prison or maybe even get your head lopped off with a samurai sword, but these people all boast on TV they're willing to risk their lives for the whales.  So do so competently and effectively.

Besides, surely there's a non-extradition country they can flee to and avoid prosecution, right?

Comments

[Pinky]

Totally know what you mean. I love horror films...the gorier the better. I can watch anyone have their throat slashed, or stabbed dozens of times, and honestly, it doesn't really affect me. But knowing what's going to happen Tuesday...yea. I've actually found the last couple of episodes hard to watch and I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

[CREEPY]

The movies aren't real, this is. And if they didn't include his family and their reactions and what they're going through, that would be one thing. It would be sad, because Phil's grown on me. But the additional power of the effect it's going to have on his loved ones, that's a whole 'nother cake piled on top of the first one. Not sure I want that much sadness in one sitting.

Shit, I got "The Messenger" from NetFlix last week. Mom watched it before I did, and left it on the table in the foyer with a Post It attached on which she wrote, "Too depressing for you." Even she knows I don't like to be saddened any more than I have to by my own life's events.

[Larry The Snake Guy]

Sorry, haven't seen a "reality" show yet that wasn't either too contrived or entirely populated by the most dysfunctional people (or total idiots) they could find (so they wouldn't have to contrive the stupidity and drama). Not speaking of the Phil thing here, I'm sure that's real, just a lot of the rest of the show. I don't believe the so many of the people doing such work could be whiny bitches without a lot of prompting for the cameras...

I haven't watched whale wars, but I've seen enough protesters either doing things that are mildly illegal to show they're "serious" about their protest and then whining about how unfair it is that they got arrested or deliberately goading people into attaching them and then pretending like it was unprovoked. I'm mostly against killing whales on a large scale, but if you've got that kind of money and you're going to pretend like you've got a pair, go hang out off the cost of Somalia in a cargo ship and go after people who are killing humans.

Not that I don't think whales deserve protection, but I put (innocent) humans first and whales second. Granted, the world would clearly be a better place with more whales and less humans, it's just that it's generally the wrong humans dying...

The only "reality" show I've really been able to stomach is the new one on Discovery (I think) called "Top Shot" where two groups of competitive shooters from different disciplines compete against each other with various weapons (mostly ones they've never used before). I only watch it because I'm interested in shooting and the different weapons. I still find the "drama" in between almost irritating enough to stop me from watching it.

[CREEPY]

I'm sure the camera's do plenty of prompting. Shit, without the cameras to hear them I bet plenty of the guys wouldn't express what they're thinking. But I believe on that particular show, those guys work so hard for so many hours on end in the most awful of conditions, constantly alert for something that could go wrong and cost them life or limb, living in cramped, miserable accommodations, that I don't think they sit there scheming of things they can say or do for the camera.

Besides, those captains are all about making money; if someone were simply hamming it up for the cameras instead of concentrating on their work and busing their ass I believe they'd be kicked off the boat the next time they docked.

I will give them credit for doing reckless things that put themselves in harm's way for the sake of preventing whaling. However, I don't think it's too intelligent to take those risks without going all the way and doing what it takes to get the job done.

Stopping whaling isn't my cause, it's theirs. But I can see caring more about marine mammals than human beings. Human beings are a far more abhorrent, malicious, destructive and generally disagreeable species than whales, or any other mammal for that matter. Have you read a newspaper or watched the news lately?

I do agree with you that the world would be a better place with more whales and less humans. Well said.

[Larry The Snake Guy]

Of course, you could also make the argument that any given whale kills a few hundred million other creatures a day. I wonder how many people on that ship are vegetarians because they don't believe in killing for food?

[SACedric]

I will not be watching this week. Could not watch last week.....but you knew that already. And South Park summed up Whale Wars to perfection. Fuck you whale!!! Fuck you dolphin!!!!

[CREEPY]

LTSG: Seriously? You're gonna compare a whale naturally feeding on plankton to humans pillaging and plundering the ocean, single-handedly extincting species? Seriously? You, Bill-fuckin-Nye-the-Science-Guy with the "Anarchist's Cookbook" shoved up your ass making homemade ammunition? Seriously?

SAC: Well, you do have a point, what with the whales and dolphins responsible for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Larry The Snake Guy]

No, I wasn't saying that or even comparing the two. Just saying that people like to pretend like humans are the only things killing other animals, when it's really the norm.

And I have to call you on your logic here: "You're gonna compare a whale naturally feeding on plankton to humans pillaging and plundering the ocean"

Sorry, but pillage and plunder is what humans naturally do. We're just more effective at it than other animals. Every second of the day a species goes extinct somewhere because a starfish or a wasp ate the last one. We have have no monopoly on that either. What do you think would happen if there were 6 billion tigers on the planet?

Neither humans nor probably whales would exist today if most of the life on this planet wasn't exterminated (most likely) by an asteroid. Mass extinctions are one of the biggest driving forces in evolution.

That ought to be enough fucked-up yet mostly sound logic to keep you busy for a while... :)

And the Anarchist's Cookbook is for pussies...