9x10 LHdP 66.6: The Rip-off - "Lux Aeterna"

Ep. 114: El Fumadero del Sr. Chang (Mr. Chang's opium den)

A few notes before we begin:

1. Thanks to Dr. Piper and Cela for pointing out rip-offs from the episode. And sorry Dr. P, but no, I haven't seen Eli Stone. Prophetic lawyers? Yeah...it's not my thing. I think the profession has enough problems without adding to it. Although I do hear they break into song occasionally, and given my love for musicals, maybe I'll check it out one day.
2. The recap mentions a point in the ep. where DL et. al. finally crack the CNI's code (with WIN-E's help) and images of their secrets flash onto screens throughout the precinct. Drs. P and Beke noted that it seemed like a rip-off that they couldn't quite place, and I think they're right, although I can't quite place it either. What it kind of reminds me of is the La Femme Nikita ep. "View of the Garden", when Adrian (the "Mother" of Section One) and Michael are trying to get a message to George (head of Oversight) that Adrian is alive by hacking into Section and plastering Adrian's face all over the screens throughout Section One. Similar to LFN, the purpose of having the CNI's secrets shown throughout the precinct was a message to say, "Your secrets are out." I'm sure this has been used in other spy/thriller films and shows before, which may be why we can't quite place it.
3. Blackman and Amaia's ability to "sense" each other reminds me of the bond that the vampires on True Blood share with those who drink from them, but I'm not going to analyze it any further, because I find the whole thing to be utterly ridiculous and nauseating.
4. The fact that Blackman is a "bad luck magnet" also reminds me of a rip-off I can't quite place, so if any of you can, please do let me know.

Rip-off: Eli Stone

Summary: Attorney Eli Stone discovers that he has an inoperable brain tumor, which is causing him to have hallucinations. His acupuncturist (Dr. Chen) believes that Eli's hallucinations are divine visions of future events, making him a modern-day prophet. In the episode "Owner of a Lonely Heart", Eli visits another acupuncturist - one of Dr. Chen's rivals - and undergoes a risky "dark truth technique" to try and discover what the future holds.

LHdP spin: After consulting a tarot reader, Paco learns that he has a "dark future" ahead of him when the "Hanged Man" and "Death" cards are revealed. He proceeds to go to an opium den in order to find a way to save the world and defeat Satan.

Rip-off: The Matrix Reloaded
Summary: The Matrix film series follows Neo ("The One") as he and other human rebels continue their fight to release humanity from the control of sentient machines. Much of the second film is about Neo, Morpheus and Trinity's quest to find and protect "the Keymaker", a program in the Matrix that makes keys which can open up hidden portals. One scene follows Neo traveling down a long white corridor with Morpheus and the Keymaker. The corridor contains several doors, which are shortcuts that lead to different areas of the Matrix. The Keymaker unlocks the door to "the Source", where Neo has a confrontation with "the Architect", the Matrix's creator.

LHdP spin: In Paco's opium-induced dream, he is surrounded by an entirely white backdrop, where he receives a key from Amadeo that unlocks "doors" as he travels in his dream. The final door that Paco encounters leads him to Satan, who is waiting to play a game of chess with him.

Rip-off: Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)

Summary: A disillusioned knight returns home from fighting in the Crusades to discover his country ravaged by the Black Death plague, and "Death" waiting for him. The knight challenges Death to a game of chess, and they agree that if the knight wins, he gets to live. It is suggested that the knight knows he can't beat Satan but continues to play chess with him anyway in order to give others the time to live.

LHdP spin: Towards the end of his opium-induced dream, Paco and Satan play a game of chess. Paco loses the chess match, but believes he can still defeat Satan because he still has hope.

Epic fail: First of all, if anyone should be given The Matrix rip-off, it should be the dude dressed like Neo: Blackman. Secondly, as with all the other rip-offs used for the "66.6" storyline, these were equally (if not more) pointless to the overall plot. Look. We know that Paco is fighting Satan and they're playing one big game of chess with the future of humanity as the prize. We also know that Paco doesn't stand much of a chance, because...well, it's Satan, and Paco is simply a mere mortal. Paco doesn't need to consult a tarot reader, visit an opium den, or have a whacked out hallucination to know that he's fucked - I could've told him that from Ep. 105.

Finally, Pove's right. Paco could've gotten all that he needed to know from the wonder that is the Internet. My analysis of the "66.6" storyline and the seven virtues in the last rip-off lecture? A lot of that came from info I learned through Google and Wikipedia like good 'ol Pove said. So instead of wasting his time getting doped up, maybe all Paco really needed to do was gather the hombres and go through the evidence one by one to analyze each victim, the manner and circumstances in which they died, and the clues they discovered before and after their deaths. Oh wait. That would be doing real police work and apparently Pepa's not the only one who isn't allowed to do any police work on this show - nobody is.

Rip-off: Unbreakable

Summary: Elijah Prince is a comic book specialist who suffers from a rare disease, in which his bones are susceptible to breaking easily. He believes that if he is so frail there must be someone else who is on the opposite end of the spectrum - someone who is extremely strong. After learning that security guard David Dunn was the sole survivor of a catastrophic train crash, and that he walked away completely unharmed, Price comes to believe that Dunn is his extreme opposite - a modern-day superhero. Dunn is skeptical about Price's theory but begins to see the validity in it when he realizes that he's never been hurt or sick in his entire life and that his physical strength is greater than the average human.

LHdP spin: Blackman first appeared in San Antonio in S7 as a mysterious vigilante who believes in carrying out justice by any means, even if it is outside of the law. He appears to be a modern-day superhero, having unexplainable abilities that protect him from danger. For example, he possesses a great deal of strength and once put a loaded gun to his head and fired it until it was empty without dying. In this episode, Blackman explains that while he has been extremely lucky in life, he brings bad luck upon others around him who he cares about.

Epic fail: As cool as Blackman may look and appear at times, I've always thought that he didn't belong on this show, because he doesn't fit into the DNA of what the show is about. Aside from that, there was never any consistency with his character - he would come and go at random. In this season alone, he's assisted the hombres on cases that have nothing whatsoever to do with the "66.6" storyline, which is where I, personally, would be utilizing the guy with supernatural powers. We never knew about Blackman's motivations or his backstory until now, and the revelation of his history just seems rushed. Furthermore, he's not a main character of the show, and I think that if Alex Pina & Co. should be doing something, it should be worrying about tying up storylines that are connected to the main characters of their show first and dealing with the secondary characters later.

Rip-off: Los Hombres de Paco
Summary: Paco Miranda is a honest, but clumsy police officer in San Antonio. Paco, along with his best friend and fellow officer Mariano solve crimes to protect the citizens of San Antonio. In the S8 finale, "Todo los planes de Lucas Fernandez", forensics inspector Silvia Castro was shot in the lower abdomen on her wedding day when the mafia attacked her wedding. She eventually died from a loss of blood in the arms of her father and her new wife. Yes, I did just summarize LHdP, but honestly, after watching S9, one might be genuinely confused as to what this show is supposed to be about.

Ahhh...the good old days

LHdP spin: The mysterious Blackman fires a bullet, which hits the one heading towards Salgado, protecting the CNI Commandant from being killed. In the process, Blackman's bullet splits the bullet intended for Salgado in half and it hits rookie Amaia in the lower abdomen. She seemingly dies in the arms of a brokenhearted Blackman.

Epic fail: I've mentioned before that (most of) the newbies remind me of rip-offs of current cast members: Goyo reminds me of Pove 2.0, Lis reminds me of Sara 2.0, and Dani reminds me of Aitor 2.0. I've also stated that if Alex Pina & Co. can't be original enough to create new characters without ripping off personality traits from ones they currently have then perhaps they shouldn't have cast four new characters for this season. I have the same thoughts with regard to this scene. I feel like the only reason why it was included in this episode was because Alex Pina & Co. knew that it would create an intensely dramatic moment given how well it worked in Ep. 104. Except it didn't IMO. Why? First, while I like Amaia more than some of the other newbies, I don't have any attachment to her character like I did to Silvia. The main reason for this is because I don't know who she is - she hasn't been on the show long enough for viewers to form an attachment to her. Secondly, given that it did remind me of Ep. 104, that's what I was thinking about instead of focusing on the scene, and I just got depressed all over again. Not only was it tasteless, but I also think it was a poor tactical move (and just plain lazy writing) by Alex Pina & Co. to blatantly remind whatever viewers they have left of how great the show used to be. I mean seriously? Why would you create a scene that reminded people of Marian Aguilera and the wonderful acting that she, Juan Diego and Laura Sánchez portrayed in Ep. 104 and then allow them to compare that to Amaia's "not really dead after all" scene? It never stood a chance. It's this lack of creativity in something as simple as (almost) killing a character which explains why, even without the rip-offs we've seen thus far, LHdP wouldn't have lived to see S10.

Feel free to add any other rip-offs you may have spotted, as well as your thoughts in agreement or dissent.

kalike

*The title for this lecture is based on the song "Lux Aeterna" by Clint Mansell from the film Requiem for a Dream