I will say that if you watch it a second time you do catch more hints for the ending but regardless, I do not think anyone could have guessed the ending. I still honestly do not fully understand what happened. Our discussion in class did clear up a lot though.
The woman (Victoria) was repeatedly being tortured for her role in the murder of her Daughter. She only filmed what was happening, she did not actually physically participate in the murder, but she certainly did not do anything to help keep her child alive. Her excuse? She was under her husband's "spell"...This trips me up because as discussed in class, her husband very well could have been physically, mentally, or emotionally abusing her. But with her being a mother, her number one priority should have been to protect her child in anyway possible. If I were to put myself in her situation to where I were being abused by my husband (if I were still with him even though he does this), I would literally take anything EXCEPT him harming my child. Her maternal instincts should have kicked in. But thinking of the situation from a psychological standpoint, she could have most likely been affected psychologically which might give her a "mentally unstable excuse". Even with all of these possible reasons for her being in a sort of trance, I do absolutely believe she was just as guilty, however, she did not deserve her punishment. She is essentially taking on all of the punishment because her husband killed himself in prison. But she is going through it all over again not knowing that she already went through it everyday for the past twenty-something days. If she is not going to remember being tortured, how will she ever have to live with the guilt of being an accomplice? She gets out of the punishment/slight "torture" that she does deserve to have to live with for the rest of her life, in my opinion.
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I agree with you that the crime did not fit the punishment; however, I believe that the emotional and psychological trauma heavily outweighs the long-term guilt of the torture and murder of Jemima. Although the murder of a six-year-old girl is an abominable act that is nearly impossible to be forgiven, to torture the accomplice for at least eighteen days seems too extreme for me. In addition, this punishment cycle seems to have last for more than eighteen days since the calendar was one of those pull-off month calendars. It would've taken time to build the facility and there seemed way too many people attending the session. I feel the White Bear Justice Park was running for around a year based on this logical evidence. In this reenactment, she has to feel hope being torn from her and relive the initial feeling of guilt over and over. This stress is accompanied by the intense pain of electrical shocks. This kind of torture places a have burden on her body, which will cause her to cease functioning soon in the nearby future.
It does leave you wondering how far this thing would have gone. Is this every day of her life? It also gets at the purpose of punishment. Is it to remind, relive, humiliate? Know or not know? Be a part of society or banished from society? I think initially, we look at it and are horrified, but why? What should we do with criminals? These are questions we as a society must face.
Hey Bri. First of all, I too was wondering what the hell is going on throughout the entire episode, because as soon as I understood one thing, barely, the show through 10 more things into my face to try and understand. I also agree with how Victoria may have not wanted to harm the girl, but was forced to film the horrific event, because of her husband possibly abusing her. But in the end the show was very creepy and I would hate to be Victoria.
I also questioned what was happening the entire time I watched the episode. Victoria obviously had no maternal instincts or attachments to the kid. The way Victoria was willing to film the torture of the young child makes me wonder what her husband did to have her so submissive. I especially believe they should have made Victoria live that day once and live the rest of her life remembering what she had done and how the little girl must have felt.
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