I’m going to let you in on a little secret about me.
Never – not once – in my life have I seen a mysterious
puddle and thought, You know what? I
should really stick my fingers in that and then smell it.
Never.
But I’m starting to wonder if I’m in the minority. Why else
would so many of the different TV shows I watch have people doing just that?
Particularly, of course, in crime fighting stories.
You think that the mysterious puddle might have bearing on
your case? Just stick your fingers right on in.
Here’s a little spoiler alert – no crime scene puddles are
ever going to smell good. And even if you are a genius who can use your
olfactory sense to ascertain exactly who the culprit is, do you really want to
walk around with your hand smelling like that for the rest of the day. Get a
pair of gloves and take a legitimate sample, you weirdo.
Then there are the characters who even sticking their
fingers in things is just not enough. So they taste it. In the pilot episode of
Eureka,
U.S. Marshal Jack Carter decides to lend a hand in finding a little boy who has
gone missing. While looking through the family’s camper, he finds dark smears
on the wall. When he is told by DOD Agent Alison Blake that it’s blood, he disputes her
assumption by reaching out, putting some on his finger and licking it.
Thankfully for him, it’s chocolate.
Now, the audience finds out that he did indeed see the candy
bar wrapper before doing this. So, maybe I can excuse the deductive leap that
you can’t find a candy bar wrapper and blood smears in the same place. I don’t
think I, personally, am that confident. But even if I was absolutely sure it
was chocolate, I still don’t see myself opting to eat sugary sweetness off a
camper wall that was smeared there by a little boy’s sweaty hand. Not even to prove
a point.
I’m a big fan of suspending my disbelief and generally find
that I have a very easy time doing so. FBI show where agents walk around the
street and chat about the confidential file they’re passing back and forth?
I’ll overlook it. Every single criminal who is caught giving a full and detailed
confession? Okay. Lab results available almost immediately? Fine with me.
But that this many law enforcement officers and consultants
keep sticking their ungloved fingers in unknown substances? Nope.
How about you? Ever think, Well, maybe if I just touch that I’ll be imbued with the answers to all
the universe’s questions?
Hm, you have a point. It is kind of like in horror movies I suppose. That irresistible urge to go into the basement while the person watching goes, "WHY?!"
ReplyDeleteExactly! Or when the hero/heroine can tell something creepy is going on, so he or she naturally walks slowly through the house without turning any lights on. WHY??
Delete