From: rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong)
Subject: QL: "DUfE": further observations
Reply-To: rck1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 05:26:41 GMT

Okay, I've stated my major gripe(s) with "Deliver Us from Evil";
here's just a couple more observations/comments:


The mis-direction in the beginning was very well done, with Frank's
girlfriend as the red herring, and Zoey initially appearing as
Connie's neighbor. Actually, I wonder what it would have been like
to go into this episode cold (knowing absolutely nothing about the
possibility of the EL). The episode certainly seemed to be set up
that way, didn't it?

Mention of Trudy again was good; and this time, Al expanded on what
he'd said in "Jimmy" by telling Sam how much he cared for Jimmy
himself, too.

Alia's (hmm, that spells *ALIAS*) "morphing" scene was very well-done
and well-timed, and IMHO a very good way to reveal who she was. I
have to ask, though (and even though I've seen this scene twice, I
can't seem to remember the details): when they show the mirror shot
of her and Sam, we see Jimmy's image, but did she show up in the
mirror as herself? Should she?

Her computer's name grabbed me when I first heard it: Lothos
(according to Sally's posting of the missing script bits--thanks
Sally). Where is this from? I swear I've heard it somewhere before.
Or perhaps I'm just confusing it with Lethe.

Sam seemed to fall *very* easily in the seduction scene, much to my
(and those who watched it with me) dismay. The rape set-up scene
was very effective (in more ways than one). Yes, the blood-under-
her-fingernails bit did bother me, but then I just figured that
she was gambling that she could keep Frank distracted enough to
overlook that. She *was* keeping him quite well distracted, at
that...

*Why*, when Frank locked him in the bedroom, did Sam try to get out
by working at the door hinges? There was a *large open window*
right next to him! (Remember the curtains fluttering during the
seduction scene?) He didn't feel the breeze? Al didn't see it?

And why, when Alia came back with the gun, did she announce, "Move
away from the door, Sam. I've got a gun"?!? She might as well have
added, "I'm telling you this so you can talk me out of it"!! If
blowing away people was so distasteful to her, she could easily
have flung the door open and shot him, no preamble necessary.

I don't know. I still feel let down by the way Sam "won." Let me
see if I can write this out clearly once and for all (IMHO, of
course):

1) Sam gives her a speech about the inability of evil to exist
without the good. Even though Alia does ask Zoey once, "What if
he's right?" it's obvious by her expression when she puts the gun
down that *this* is not the reason she's giving in.

2) Alia gives in at the end, regardless of Zoey's threats, and
apparently regardless of Sam's argument. Sam didn't force her to
put the gun down, he didn't wrestle it away from her--she simply
*surrendered*. 

3) Number (2) leads to complications because *now*, Alia has enough
"good" in her to overcome Zoey's threats...which, added to the fact
that she's been through so many nastier assignments, is actually a
very *large* amount of "good." Not to mention that her only motive to
perform these "evil" acts is fear. (Of Lothos, or whoever.)

   With this much "good" in her, and driven only by fear, how long
and how much of a threat can she remain to Sam?

   Unless she develops a harsher attitude towards Sam, she'll only
become a nuisance. Sam will only have to find her, get his
bearings, and tap into that "remaining bit of good" in her again,
which is basically all he did this time. I'm not so much
disappointed by the way the ending to this particular "battle" was
written, as I am worried about the precedence it sets. I can only
hope that the next time we see her, some things will have changed.

Just my $.02.


Robin C. Kwong ("er)
			"Demons'll charm you/With a smile/For a
			while,/But in time/Nothing can harm you,/
			Not while I'm around."  --_Sweeny_Todd_
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,rec.org.mensa