The fact that The Ogre was actually the son of a butler and his wife, the mother who didn't love her son, couldn't love her son cos he was ugly, ergo the Ogre, see, that's Ogre spelled backwards! Well if that wasn't enough to give him a mother complex, don't know what else would be. Ain't it always the way, that a rejected son turns out to go on a killing spree and become a serial killer, killing women. But yes, as I was saying, I wish I could recall where I saw that entire plot point before offhand.
Some choice quotes in ep 1.20 Under The Knife and of course it was apparent that someone so ugly would undergo surgery. As for The Ogre it's more a name to do with his crimes than his actual physical appearance, since not that many would know what he looks like now, as opposed to back then.
As for Fifty Shades of Batman, er, let's not go there, poor Batman to be, Bruce Wayne is but a babe in arms in this series, so..it's a little discomforting to have it called this. More like Fifty Shades of Ogre! (Ochre?) Though the Don Juan Killer was more appropriate, the Ogre would stem from him being a monstrous serial killer. The bondage room came as a revelation to most, cos it was meant to be a rather tame adaptation compared to other shows. Also a revelation that his Vics suffered more before being killed and weren't spared their torture.
With the sort of character Barbara (Erin Richards) is of course she wouldn't be afraid of that room, the torture chamber, I mean, not the other one. Though as Barbara isn't killed off by this eps's end, it appears he has other plans for her, including as a possible soul mate?
Another deja vu scene when the Ogre aka Jason, but that was probably too plain a name, takes their hands and sits them down on his lap whilst perched on the edge of the chair, what's up with that? Something his mother never did to him. He did it in 1.19 Beasts Of Prey and he did the same thing with Barbara too. He would have an attraction to Barbara especially when he finds out she has nothing to do with Gordon (Ben Mackenzie) and that in their own twisted, messed up ways, they are both broken, making them kindred spirits in that sense. Yet it's hard to believe she would graduate onto murder, even by proxy.
At least this episode did have some interesting backstory looking into the background of the Ogre and who he really is, that sketch left a lot to be desired after his transformation, but it's a bit difficult to think the police had no idea he could've undergone a change in facial appearance if he's as horrendous as his father made him out to be.
"How is a successful, funny, mildly good looking guy like you still single?"
"Mildly?" Must be something wrong with him, yeah you were right, should've steered clear.
Jason: "I think what I'm looking for frightens people [more like you do] unconditional, real intense love."
So we get glimpses to what's behind the cupboard door, already, skeletons in the closet. Funny, no blinds, no nosey neighbours perving on this "mildly good looking guy," whom the bartender describes as "hot," cos that's really strange, seeing as the windows are so close!
Leaving behind a broken heart calling card. Not his first kill. Surprised that dinner scene wasn't based on the Hannibal Lecter one! Sooner or later he did find the one. No one was stupid enough to "investigate" til Gordon came along. Obviously there's a reason for going after police investigator's loved ones! Not having unconditional love of his own when he was younger. But they did and exhibiting not only manic tendencies, but a smidgen of envy too.
Barbara: "Once you saw the real me you would run screaming like everyone else," well she said it, that's what attracted him to her, when he said in previous ep, 1.20, he'll find someone who is a kindred spirit to him, his soul mate. Those words would've been music to his ears since he is exactly that, every woman's nightmare.
Well the clinic would've been a good place to begin with, but why cos she would've known what he ultimately looked like.
Constance Van Groot aka Miss Haversham! Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) could be an underlying theme here, Jason had some expectations, even wanting a share in her will. Yes she could have been a Miss Haversham, yet much more crueler, toying with his emotions at an impressionable age and in what was already a damaged psyche. Which turned out to be more Psycho and Norman Bates than anything else. Always had knife in hand. Jason's father only keeping the body in the house to engage in the game of keeping her money. Also the faces being scratched from the photos was a big clue, but why not just remove them.
"A face only a mother could love." Conjured up the parallel story of Gertrude having given birth to a monster" as Maroni tells her. No one would ever love Jason, Except you think his mother, but even she ran out on them. He said same thing, about the woman he thought was his mother. How he portrays two personas and has the world see another, one person on the outside, and he lives like that. He created, or rather recreated himself and can do the same for you, i.e become a killer like him. That photo wasn't that marked a change from what he looks like now!
The scene at the ball in 1.20 could've been right out of a sleek movie, subject matter of dialogue aside and how these two did have something to share with each other, although as it turns out, they got their wires crossed, so as a couple, they really wouldn't have worked. Her idea is being accepted by society, high society and people that shun her, his idea of acceptance is completely different, cos she's not looking for it. Rather someone to share his 'life' with him and all the death and despair that entails. So really it's all about Jason and anyone else is just a stepping stone to his death count.
How can he find the woman , the perfect partner Jason is looking for if he doesn't know what that involves. He didn't have any female or motherly figure in his life, no mention of Constance here, she was just a poor surrogate substitute. So how can he know what unconditional love really is. He only has his own crazed and fundamentally flawed, yet dangerous definition. Some nice dance moves, something you'd find in certain eps of The Vampire Diaries. Mind you Milo was born in the year of Saturday Night Fever, 1977, just a comment! ha.
There's murder in them thar eyes!
Casting of Milo was perfect in this role since he exudes a quiet charm underlying a more menacing killer, prima facie no one would suspect; with a fresh face that needs more molycoddling than exhibiting a darker incarnation. It's when he gets the woman alone that the 'fun' for him truly begins. Through all that coldness, he retains his temper, until the women let him down by failing to meet his 'great' expectations and he has to 'take care' of them. See that Barbara didn't get a cooking challenge. Or how many times they could include the scene where Jason holds Barbara from behind?!
1.21 The Anvil or the Hammer kind of left a bad taste in terms of the menacing Ogre being dispatched so quickly, I mean a bullet through the head, that was it. SO how do we know that was actually THE Ogre and not some manipulation he's created. I mean he said to Barbara in the previous ep he 'created' himself so why not someone else to take the fall for him. Just me thinking aloud. He didn't strike me as being stupid enough to actually lead them straight to his location by giving it away, but from that phonecall, that was exactly what it looked like; unless it was to not only kill her parents cos she wanted it done, but to end her too in process and have Gordon be there to see it.
Which wouldn't have achieved much, especially since Gordon's no longer with her and as she said, no one's gonna miss her if she were run over by a bus. Though in this city, she was more likely to have been killed outright rather than it being any sort of accident. Which many were hoping for. I mean Gordon's indifference to her was apparent in the end, he didn't really care about her and to him the more important part of his job was to get Jason and he did. Saving Barbara was just to assuage his own guilt were anything to happen to her since he didn't think she'd be a target/Vic.
Oh yeah let's get some slapping in Barbara, cos it's not like Jason's not into all of that. But she got it back too. Though she was drugged and not fainted as some have said, who faints with their eyes still open. Anyway, she was being 'mothered' by him quite a bit wasn't she. So much for hating his mother. He had some motherly tendencies towards his Vics, it appears. Also when he told her that he wants to "set you free," he means her inner killer. Her choosing her parents to be killed by Jason, was it some desperate act of staying alive (not to bring the Bee Gees song to the fore here) or was it cos she didn't have anyone else in mind and deep down he did notice something more sinister in her, or something more painful he could manipulate.
But exposition in Jason's apartment was funny too when Gordon and Bullock (Donal Logue) work out the sounds they heard in that phonecall and where there's a bridge (there's a way! ha). Suppose they had to have a break from the serious stuff! Not to mention that sketch got around and how it led to plenty of people seeing the likeness between it and the real Jason.
My sketch: not of Jason though! Ha. Yeah it's funny!
At least we got to see Jason/Ogre's backstory to an extent instead of having him as a two dimensional villain. I mean even some of his lines signified how troubled he was, but they managed to murder his character in five seconds! Which was like shooting themselves in the foot cos there wasn't much else worthwhile going on. SO if push came to shove then at least they could've brought him back if ratings fail them next season!
“Barbara, I love you. I love you like no one has ever loved you. But if you try to escape, I will chain you to the ceiling and gut you.” Someone apply this to the writer! Ha.
Milo you need to play more bad guys, as if you aren't one already. Now work that one out!
With Bruno Heller having left The Mentalist to helm this show, also created by him, it would appear that at least in its first season it would have had an impact. Yet the Ogre story arc wasn't resolved to a satisfactory conclusion in much the same way that that Red John storyline was completed. It wasn't much of a surprise as more of a fizzle moment. Leaving a rather lacklustre final series 7! But this arc was three eps and so there was much potential to at least do something different, but no, it ended as many thought it would, at least I did, with the Ogre being killed off and to my chagrin if this was to happen, it was Gordon who pulled the trigger, but Bullock had to distract him, so it wasn't so much as Gordon getting the serial killer, was it worth having him on the case. It was one of those endings that felt like it
was sending you a broken heart card!
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