Social Class Distinctions Are Important, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But They Are Never Worth Killing Over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       I thought I knew my sociopaths, but Gabriel Olds' performance as Sean McKinnon in the 1993 "Law And Order" episode "Pride And Joy" had me fooled, for a time. Maybe because I related to him. I was ashamed of where I went to school, some of my classmates, and especially my teachers, who were so bottom of the barrel, but I never was ashamed of my parents or abused them.

                                       Sean simply got too big for his britches. OK, he has the brains to get into the Ivy League.  So he wants to scale the social ladder, but what he fails to realize is that, no matter how high his achievements, even if he ends up with a place of his own on Nantucket, he can never escape his past. Instead of just moving up and on, while acknowledging your origins, or being content in having overcome them, Sean decided to eliminate his past. And that consisted of destroying his father, and abandoning his mother and sister--which is just what he would have done, had he not been caught.

                                        You could see right away that Katherine McKinnon, brilliantly played by Pamela Payton Wright, was an abused woman.  In most cases the family is being held captive by an abusive patriarch.  This is the first case I can recall where the family is being held captive by an abusive son.  Because he is ashamed of his father, and his father is not ashamed of himself, Sean resorts to having his uncle, who is an accountant, accompany him on Princeton interviews, and such, to give a better impression. Meanwhile, at home, he belittles and physically torments his father for being what he is, and being blamed by Sean for standing in his way of what he wants to become.  All of which eventually culminates in the murder of the father.

                                             When I saw that a very young Lauren Ambrose was playing the sister, Maureen McKinnon, I was sure she was the guilty one. That I could be taken in by Sean, initially, shows I need to study up on my sociopaths.   But Carolyn McCormick, as Doctor Elizabeth Olivett, came to the rescue. It turned out that Sean had taken over control of his family's finances, because he wanted to make sure he got to college, and he was ashamed of his father. According to Dr. Olivettt, an adolescent taking control of the family finances is a textbook sign of a sociopath.  I did not know that.

                                                 Fortunately, there are no teens in my house. Any in yours, girls!  Better keep an eye on those purse strings.

                                                  Good thing Sean never got to Princeton.  The student body would have been reduced to bodies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Lock this scum up, where he will REALLY be at the bottom of the social scale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!