Who was the Peeping Tom?
Did they ever let us know who was spying on the older girl while she was in the shower?
shareIt is not revealed..... but given the titles of the Internet porn his mom found on his laptop, I assume it was Jamie, who I think is quite a sick character. The acting in this drama is just fabulous.
shareSo you think he would spy on his own sister? Just asking, not arguing. I have no idea what teenage boys look at today with regard to "porn". Was he over the top with those seemingly graphic videos? When I was his age, the big thrill was to get a glimpse of someone's dad's Playboy (and not really knowing why I was thrilled!).
shareNot his sister but his step-sister. The brunette is the daughter who accused Jamie of spying on her in the shower. She was the daughter of Ben (Martin Clunes.)
You can tell that Jamie's step-brother (Ben's son) figured Jamie out pretty quickly.
This drama is so powerful. I know of a family going through a similar situation right now, although they're not a blended family. The need for parents to live in denial and defend their offspring must be a Darwinian or primal response. I see it on the evening news every night. No matter what the kid did, they're always "good boys" who couldn't possibly be guilty.
I thought it was Ben's son with the porn stash and that's why Rose did not have a confrontation after she found it. I think if her son had the porn , she would have given him hell (even though she violated his privacy). I think her son even says that the parents should see what Ben's son has on his computer which leads her to check it.
shareMaybe I got it wrong. I'll look at it again. I assumed it was her son's computer. If it had been Ben's son's, I think she would have brought it up defensively to Ben as the circle of guilt was closing in around Jamie. ("You think Jamie is bad, well your son...")
And at the end, when Jamie talks about the reasons he killed the girl, something he doesn't really understand himself, he mentions Porn. Then he says that maybe he's just a bad person.
The first time I saw this I found Jamie to be somewhat sympathetic. The second time, not so much. As each one of his lies is exposed, he has a logical, credible explanation for the lie, which shows you how conniving he is. He's thought everything through. Only when it all crumbles at the end does he tell the truth. And when he's on the bridge, holding the murder weapon (knife), I thought he was going to kill his mother, not himself. Under the guise of being a loving son, he is really a twisted character.
If I'm correct that it was Ben's son with the porn stash, my guess as to why Rose didn't bring it up was that:
1. She invaded Ben's privacy. She was having a hard enough time getting the two families to blend. If she admitted to looking at his computer, blending the families might never happen. Of course if he turns out to be the murderer, who cares. The murderer needs to be caught.
2. Even though the kids didn't get along or like their respective step-parents, she and Ben were very much in love. But the events leading up to the porn stash were putting cracks in the marriage. Admitting to the privacy invasion and accusing Ben might put an end to the marriage. I think she was torn between defending her son and saving the marriage.
Those are just guesses.
Your reasoning, if it was Ben's son's computer, sounds valid. And you're right, Jamie does accuse Ben's son of having *beep* on his computer.
I watched the first part again (it's on YouTube), and I guess it's a flaw that the filmmakers didn't make it really obvious whose computer it was.
This is why I assumed it was Jamie's:
Jamie's mom doesn't suspect Ben's son of murder. She suspects her own son. From the jump (after finding Jamie's bloody trainers) she worries that her son could be guilty. Although she is painfully conflicted about this, she is on a quest to see if her gut instincts are correct or not: she even enlists the help of her ex-husband. Breaking into her son's computer and seeing the porn titles would confirm that Jamie has gone terribly off the rails. I think she doesn't confront Jamie because she fears the worst, and she might fear Jamie's angry reaction to her breaching his computer. She wants to maintain her parental "faith" in her son...until she no longer can.
At the end, when confessing to his mother, Jamie mentions porn and the breakup of his parents' marriage as possible reasons contributing to his committing murder. It leads me to think that they may have cut out a scene where she confronts him about the porn, otherwise why would he bring it up unless he knew his mother had found it?
Watching the drama a second time really changed my perspective on it. The opening is especially heartbreaking on second viewing. The dying girl says, "I'm sorry." Why? We learn why at the end. With her dying breath she felt the need to apologize to the person who had just plunged a knife into her. So sad.
It's funny, besides whose porn was it, I interpreted the 'I'm sorry' differently than you did. My thought was that she was apologizing to her parents for the grief she was about to bring upon them due to her promiscuous behavior.
I want to make sure you know that even if I may have not seen these things the way you did, I'm not saying that you are wrong.
It was an interesting show and I was drawn into it but I can't say that I enjoyed it once it was over. I do agree with you that the story was very sad.
I don't really expect agreement. I like hearing different interpretations and ideas. I hope I didn't come across as a "know it all." Cos the one thing I know is.....that I don't know it all. There is ambiguity in this drama, whether it was intentional or not on the part of the screenwriter, and this ambiguity leads to different interpretations. The issues this drama raises are really interesting. Why do humans act the way they do? They are capable of kindness, great evil, and everything in between. I wish I understood humans better.
shareI never thought you came off as a 'know it all', far from it. As you said, we just interpreted things differently and had a polite discussion of those interpretations.
I forgot, did we ever figure out who the Peeping Tom was!
I like polite discussions! The identity of the Peeping Tom was left unresolved.
shareIt was definitely Jamie's room the mother took the laptop from, same laptop on which she later found the porn. Distinctive bookshelves. Same room Ben searched (trashed) later when he found the phone. Rob's room looked different (we had glimpses of it) - different layout (bed closer to door) and different bed/headboard.
I also think Jamie was the peeping tom. We find out eventually what he's capable of, and that he's a liar. And his step-sister did see him in the hallway right away.
Thanks. You've got a "good eye."
share