Honesty is such a lonely word
Aug. 29th, 2013 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerSo we were watching Castle last night. It was the episode in which Beckett gets an interview for a position with the FBI in Washington, and she doesn't tell Castle, and he finds out and is all hurt ("You lied to me!") and ends up asking her to marry him, and yes it was the season finale and I could have just said that couldn't I?
I've said before that I think we fetishise honesty a little bit, and are quite selective about where and when we do it. Yes, certainly, truth is important and people should deal openly with each other and all the rest of it, but the fact is we don't, and I think acknowledging that fact is the most honest thing we can do. I know exactly why Beckett didn't tell Castle; because she lives in TV drama land, where everything goes according to a set pattern, and she's savvy enough to know the patterns and where they lead.
Here's how it would have played. (Roughly.)
"Hey, Castle, I've got this interview for a job. It's in DC, with the FBI."
"Really? That's great! Are you...going to take it?"
"Well, I don't know. What do you think I should do?"
"I think I...I don't know. What do you think?"
"I asked you first."
"Do you want to go?"
"Do you want me to stay?"
"I want you to be happy. Do what you want to do. It's a great opportunity."
"I...I could stay, if...if I had a reason."
"Hey, you shouldn't let anything hold you back."
"But what about you?"
"This isn't about me, it's about you. It's your life."
And so on and so forth. Both dissembling madly, both trying to be generous and mature and saying the opposite of what they feel (honesty?) and both making themselves and each other exquisitely unhappy. It could, in the hands of a decent writer, be parlayed into a full-on fight and break-up, and I'm thankful at least they didn't do that. But Castle is a writer, for goodness sake. He must have written dozens of scenes like this. At very least he should be as aware of the patterns as Beckett is. (Of course, we've had lots of evidence in the past that Castle has more blind spots than a Dalek with its vision impaired, so perhaps I'm being too hard on him.)
So I think, on balance, Beckett's decision was one of the least wrong of several possible wrong decisions, given the ritualised social structure of TV drama land. How closely that structure reflects reality I couldn't say...but maybe one day they'll write it like this:
"Hey, Castle, I've got this interview for a job. It's in DC, with the FBI."
"Great! If you get it, I'll rent an apartment in the Beltway, because as you know I'm unfeasibly rich, and we can go on seeing each other. If that's what you'd like."
"Wow, that was easy. Now about this murder..."
I'd find that much more pleasant. Though it might make for shorter stories.
I've said before that I think we fetishise honesty a little bit, and are quite selective about where and when we do it. Yes, certainly, truth is important and people should deal openly with each other and all the rest of it, but the fact is we don't, and I think acknowledging that fact is the most honest thing we can do. I know exactly why Beckett didn't tell Castle; because she lives in TV drama land, where everything goes according to a set pattern, and she's savvy enough to know the patterns and where they lead.
Here's how it would have played. (Roughly.)
"Hey, Castle, I've got this interview for a job. It's in DC, with the FBI."
"Really? That's great! Are you...going to take it?"
"Well, I don't know. What do you think I should do?"
"I think I...I don't know. What do you think?"
"I asked you first."
"Do you want to go?"
"Do you want me to stay?"
"I want you to be happy. Do what you want to do. It's a great opportunity."
"I...I could stay, if...if I had a reason."
"Hey, you shouldn't let anything hold you back."
"But what about you?"
"This isn't about me, it's about you. It's your life."
And so on and so forth. Both dissembling madly, both trying to be generous and mature and saying the opposite of what they feel (honesty?) and both making themselves and each other exquisitely unhappy. It could, in the hands of a decent writer, be parlayed into a full-on fight and break-up, and I'm thankful at least they didn't do that. But Castle is a writer, for goodness sake. He must have written dozens of scenes like this. At very least he should be as aware of the patterns as Beckett is. (Of course, we've had lots of evidence in the past that Castle has more blind spots than a Dalek with its vision impaired, so perhaps I'm being too hard on him.)
So I think, on balance, Beckett's decision was one of the least wrong of several possible wrong decisions, given the ritualised social structure of TV drama land. How closely that structure reflects reality I couldn't say...but maybe one day they'll write it like this:
"Hey, Castle, I've got this interview for a job. It's in DC, with the FBI."
"Great! If you get it, I'll rent an apartment in the Beltway, because as you know I'm unfeasibly rich, and we can go on seeing each other. If that's what you'd like."
"Wow, that was easy. Now about this murder..."
I'd find that much more pleasant. Though it might make for shorter stories.