OLTL Bo - Portrait of a wuss in cop's clothing
Natasha
S
C
R
O
L
L
S
C
R
O
L
L
S
C
R
O
L
L
S
C
R
O
L
L
Can I tell you how tired I am of Bo's Hamlet imitation --- his stock
"wait-to-see" approach, his "impotence", his inability to take decisive
action or seize command? His constant yielding of power, control and even
the floor to underlings, "civvies" and suspected criminals? The man is
portrayed as a study of spinelessness, w/ no sense of authority or the right
to take charge or status as a LE officer. He lets criminals, suspects,
family members and the lowest level staff dictate terms and conditions to
him. He stands silent, his arms limp at his sides, as a known criminal takes
control of a discussion related to an investigation he heads and exerts an
influence of intimidation over a key witness about to deliver important
information, who happens also to be the commissioner's own niece. The best
he can do is issue empty, room-temperature, toothless threats at the end of
it, like, "You're still at the top of my list, Lawrence!"
Oh gee Bo...I'm sure ol' Mitch was quakin' in his boots over that one.
That's tellin' him!
Depressing.
Mitch claims the police department is open to the public, thereby allowing
any citizen to walk in at any time, enter any room or office and occupy it
as long as he or she likes. Well, in fact, it's not. The police dept. is
open to any member of the public w/ official business and justification for
being there, whether to file a report or complaint or in response to a call
to come in and meet w/ an officer or investigator. It's not the public
library where anyone can go in just to hang out. Having a friend or family
member there meeting w/ a staff member is not justification alone to entitle
one's presence there. Certainly, no one can just wander into an staff
person's office uninvited and insist on staying when told to leave. Bo, as a
LE officer has every right to demand that Mitch leave at once, and to insist
on talking to anyone he wants privately -- even Mitch's "wife". If Mitch was
to refuse, it's grounds for arrest.
So why didn't Bo say this? Any fool could see Natalie was there in dire need
of help and was being overtly intimidated by Mitch, who appears to be
stalking her. He's known to be an extremely dangerous man, recently
confessed to rape, kidnapping, tricking LE authorities and evading
prosecution for two decades plus. Natalie clearly is very frightened in his
presence. Yet, Bo allows Mitch to remain in the room, controlling Natalie's
words of choice by his sinister presence and not-so-subtle threats, and to
spirit Natalie away alone w/ him moments later. He admits immediately
afterwards that he knows Natalie didn't get to say what she wanted, yet
claims she can "hold her own" for now. He makes vague allusions to Mitch
getting cocky and slipping up, at which time he can make his move. What
happens in the meantime? Will Natalie be roughed up, raped or murdered, her
assets stolen by her so-called husband?
Once again, it appears it's up to the "unauthorized" members of the Llanview
community to fight crime, conduct investigations and protect its citizens
from the criminal element. Bo was so much better at this when he too was a
member of this unofficial class. The moment a police officer's badge was
pinned to his shirt, it seems his backbone dissolved away. He now more
closely resembles a castrated rooster. Aren't those known as capons?
Once again, for the purpose of advancing a plot, a Llanview LE officer must
be rendered an ineffectual weakling, w/ no knowledge of the law or the
self-confidence to assert himself even minimally. He becomes a pathetic
fool, unworthy of respect. A high price to pay just to keep Mitch Lawrence
in business another day.
Natasha
KMS
Natasha wrote:
[snip]
> Bo, as a
> LE officer has every right to demand that Mitch leave at once, and to insist
> on talking to anyone he wants privately -- even Mitch's "wife". If Mitch was
> to refuse, it's grounds for arrest.
[snip again, and I agree with every word you wrote, Natasha!]
You know, I only had one eye on the TV yesterday (we're in the process of moving
and I've been packing like mad this week!) so I may have missed something, but
here's what I don't get about that particular scene (or series of scenes). There
was a point at which Bo, Antonio, Cris, Natalie, Mitch and Viki were all in Bo's
office at the same time, right? What at that point was preventing Natalie from
spilling everything to Bo? Could she not have said, "Mitch has threatened to
kill Cris, and also to force me to have sex with him." At which point both Cris
and Nat could have been placed under police protection and Mitch could have at
the very least been placed under seriously heavy surveillance? I mean, it's not
like Mitch could have lunged for Cris' throat right there, right? Surely if
everyone knew of the threat, something could be done?
Did I miss something here? And if so, was it something that made sense? ;)
-Kathy
Natasha
KMS wrote:
> You know, I only had one eye on the TV yesterday (we're in the process of
moving
> and I've been packing like mad this week!) so I may have missed something,
but
> here's what I don't get about that particular scene (or series of scenes).
There
> was a point at which Bo, Antonio, Cris, Natalie, Mitch and Viki were all
in Bo's
> office at the same time, right? What at that point was preventing Natalie
from
> spilling everything to Bo? Could she not have said, "Mitch has threatened
to
> kill Cris, and also to force me to have sex with him." At which point both
Cris
> and Nat could have been placed under police protection and Mitch could
have at
> the very least been placed under seriously heavy surveillance? I mean,
it's not
> like Mitch could have lunged for Cris' throat right there, right? Surely
if
> everyone knew of the threat, something could be done?
>
> Did I miss something here? And if so, was it something that made sense? ;)
No and no. If a person can't reveal death threats made by someone while the
person is in a police station w/ the loved one threatened right there, fully
protected, and 300 armed cops no more than 100 ft. away (and one or two like
four feet away) than when can such threats be revealed?
It's ridiculous Natalie would not have said anything. Does she really prefer
to go back to Mitch's place and submit to sex w/ him rather than blow his
scam out of the water while Cris is safe and there's protection all around?
Bo could have said that to her. He could've said, "Natalie, if Mitch has
threatened you in any way, or threatened the safety of anyone you know, tell
us right now and we will arrest him immediately. He won't be able to hurt
you or anyone else."
Last I heard, extortion, blackmail and threats of violence and death are all
crimes, punishable by prison time. Why couldn't Bo tell Natalie that?
Instead, he stands around mutely while Mitch exudes his evil vibes all over
the place, then glares hotly at Mitch and says, "You're still at the top of
my list, Lawrence!"
What BS! BFD!
Then he waits until his niece leaves w/ her dangerous criminal husband and
says, "We just have to wait until Lawrence slips up and let Natalie handle
this her way."
Great Bo. Why don't you just resign now and stop sucking up taxpayers' money
for a job you're too big a wuss to do?
Natasha
p.s./good luck w/ the move, Kathy! I know what a pill moving is.
KMS
Natasha wrote:
> KMS wrote:
>
>>Did I miss something here? And if so, was it something that made sense? ;)
>>
>
> No and no. If a person can't reveal death threats made by someone while the
> person is in a police station w/ the loved one threatened right there, fully
> protected, and 300 armed cops no more than 100 ft. away (and one or two like
> four feet away) than when can such threats be revealed?
>
> It's ridiculous Natalie would not have said anything. Does she really prefer
> to go back to Mitch's place and submit to sex w/ him rather than blow his
> scam out of the water while Cris is safe and there's protection all around?
LOL! Thanks, Natasha! I thought for sure I had walked out of the room at the
wrong time and missed something significant! You're absolutely right - if
Natalie couldn't spill the beans under those conditions, when in the heck can
she? How stupid!
> p.s./good luck w/ the move, Kathy! I know what a pill moving is.
Thank you! I guess DH and I decided the holidays weren't busy enough - let's buy
a house! I'll be sooo glad when this move is over. We're only moving about a
mile away, but it's still a pain!
-Kathy
Susan Barnett
star...@attbiNOSPAM.com wrote on 12/11/02 4:51 PM:
Those scenes were so totally *stupid,* I could hardly believe what I was
seeing. I see Natalie is back to being a spineless wuss.
>
>
> Bo could have said that to her. He could've said, "Natalie, if Mitch has
> threatened you in any way, or threatened the safety of anyone you know, tell
> us right now and we will arrest him immediately. He won't be able to hurt
> you or anyone else."
Or he could have forced Mitch to leave his office and told him he wanted to
talk to his *niece* privately!
>
> Last I heard, extortion, blackmail and threats of violence and death are all
> crimes, punishable by prison time. Why couldn't Bo tell Natalie that?
> Instead, he stands around mutely while Mitch exudes his evil vibes all over
> the place, then glares hotly at Mitch and says, "You're still at the top of
> my list, Lawrence!"
>
> What BS! BFD!
I know! It was so obvious that Natalie was scared to death -- her eyes were
plainly saying, "Somebody help me!!!!" but they all just stood around and
let Mitch run the show. It was clear that he was threatening her and
coercing her. Why did they let him do it?? Argh!!! This show is so
frustrating. And, yeah -- "You're still at the top of my list!" Wow! I'm bet
Mitch is *really* scared, Bo!!! That's some dire threat!
>
> Then he waits until his niece leaves w/ her dangerous criminal husband and
> says, "We just have to wait until Lawrence slips up and let Natalie handle
> this her way."
Meanwhile, Natalie could be raped, drugged, kidnapped or killed. Both Bo and
Viki know very well what kind of man Mitch is and yet they let a young,
defenseless woman handle it on her own?
>
> Great Bo. Why don't you just resign now and stop sucking up taxpayers' money
> for a job you're too big a wuss to do?
And how about Viki? What kind of mother just stands there and lets this evil
person push her daughter around and force her to leave the protection of her
family and friends? Why didn't Viki just say, "I don't care if you are
legally married to Natalie. You married her under false pretenses and I'm
not going to see her under your roof for another minute. She's my daughter
and I'm taking her home with me. She and Cristian are going to have
round-the-clock police protection. I'm also calling my lawyer and we're
going to have this marriage annulled immediately. If anything happens to
either one of these two, you'll be immediately arrested -- or I'll just use
my considerable resources to have you tracked down and killed." Bo could
chime in with, "Yeah! What she said!!" and force Mitch to leave his office.
Then Viki could hire a pricey, professional security team, give them orders
to shoot first and ask questions later, and fly Cris, Natalie, Jessica and
Seth out of the country. Viki has got a ton of money -- why doesn't she use
some of it to thwart Mitch's evil schemes instead of just standing around as
if she's completely helpless??? And why doesn't she enlist the help of Asa,
who has even more resources and even some underworld contacts?? He wouldn't
think twice about hiring a hit man to take out the creep who's threatening
his grand-daughters!
Susan
Natasha
All brilliant suggestions, any of which would be more effective than what
any of these wimps did. And on the subject of alternate strategies that
could be used, my husband suggested something too. Even if the statute of
limitations on criminal prosecution of Mitch's crimes has expired, none of
this would apply to civil suits. Viki, Jessica and Natalie could all file
civil suits against him for damages, asking for an immediate attachment of
assets, the way those filing suits against Rae Cummings did. The courts
could order his bank accounts frozen, so he'd have no access to money. He'd
be out on the street, scrambling for food and shelter, which would suck up a
lot of his time and energies and resources for menacing people's lives.
Natasha