Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude: how i learned to hate 'who's killing sara'

5/27/2021

how i learned to hate 'who's killing sara'

i loved season 1 of 'who killed sara' on netflix. even with the warning from ava and c.i. ('TV: How they can make you just not give a damn'), i was not prepared for how much i would loathe season 2.

lorenzo was the whole reason to watch the show. he was the strong and steady character. forget the lead character alex who spirals into childhood in this season with one tantrum after another. you're sister wasn't heroic or even nice, she's dead for over 18 years, grow the hell up. the fact that he dismisses elisa, who has done nothing but love him, really grated on my nerves. he just dismisses, like she's trash to be done with. she doesn't want to leave the country but does. and don't think he's pining for her. he sleeps with that ugly woman who he thinks is his friend but isn't.

he went from a man with a mission to a little boy who threw fits over and over.

rodolfo is supposed to be immature but he actually managed to show a tiny bit of maturity while still being an overgrown boy. since the marriage fell apart, he's partying with women -- at least two at every seduction. but when his former step-son needs help, rodolfo steps in and saves his ex-wife (the boy's mother) from his own mother and gets her out of the country.

with the new baby. remember that? it's why rodolfo dumped her. she got pregnant and was so excited. he wasn't. because nearly 20 years ago, sara was pregnant. he thought/thinks it was his child. after she was murdered, he had a vasectomy. she was pregnant by his father. so his mother tried to claim the child and take it from the woman.

but rodolfo got them out of the country.

chema? jose marie? the biggest little baby of the bunch.

i can't stand him. he got on my nerves last season playing the biggest titty baby of all. he really wouldn't stand up to his family - his parents - about lorenzo. he let them disrespect his husband. he let them disrespect lorenzo at parties and at the home lorenzo and chema share. when he finally kinda of sorta steps up, he's still useless.

and he only gets more useless when they find a surrogate. instead of continuing the interview process, chema wants to use piece of trash clara.

clara's already broken up rodolfo's marriage - revealing that rodolfo's wife is sleeping with rodolfo's father. and her blabbing also gets to rodolfo's parents. she's just trash.

she has a crazy boyfriend that she says is an ex but he says no. trashy clara lets him into her apartment. i'm sorry, if i have a violent ex-boyfriend, he's not coming in my home.

so she wants to be the surrogate.

lorenzo's not so sure but chema already made the decision -- giddy, apparently, that he finally made a decision.

trashy clara is passed off as a family friend but, as the already leery lorenzo learns, chema and clara used to mess around when they were kids.

i never trusted trashy clara and that was true before i learned who her sister was (the 1 that alex thinks is his friend but who isn't - i won't spoil that, watch if you want to). she really is a piece of trash. i don't sob with how her storyline wraps up in season 2, by the way.

so no sooner is she their surrogate but she's moved in as well. and then her crazy ex-boyfriend starts showing up and threatening and only lorenzo has any common sense. (clara really appeared to be thriving on the drama and chema was happy to act as the guy who rescues a woman even though lorenzo was the only 1 standing up to the crazy ex.) then the ex trashes lorenzo's car. it just gets worse.

and then lorenzo's verbally attacked by chema's parents while chema has a tantrum - they don't want a surrogate child.

lorenzo says that they need to move. his law firm can relocate him. they'll be away from all this craziness. but chema says no.

that's because chema loves his job and is really good at it and goes to work every day and - oh, wait. chema doesn't work.

lazy chema.

chema's family doesn't support them and they've got a crazy man threatening to kill them. they should move but baby chema says no.

lorenzo moves out. i think it's after crazy ex shows up at lorenzo's work and makes a huge scene.

but that's all season 1.

chema won't choose lorenzo in season 1. he'll choose everybody but lorenzo.

season 2?

alex needs a lawyer and chema calls lorenzo and asks him to do it. he shows up at lorenzo's work twice claiming he misses lorenzo and needs him back. lorenzo doesn't believe him the 1st time. the 2nd time, he's just not sure. but he ends up going to see chema.

trashy clara has dressed up in lorenzo's clothes - her sister told her to land the gay guy chema. and clara paints on a mustache.

instead of being outraged and saying, 'get out of my husband's clothes!'?

chema has sex with her.

afterwards, lorenzo comes home. he slips off his shoes so he won't wake chema. he goes to their bedroom intending to slip into bed with the man he loves only to find chema and trashy clara.

f**k chema.

then you get crazy ex showing up and he wants money. he's been demanding money. now he wants it and he's screaming and yelling and telling lorenzo to kiss the floor (which lorenzo's doesn't). chema grabs a knife and stabs crazy.

they then go to bury the body - lorenzo, chema and crazy clara.

then the body needs to be moved because the spot they left him in is being developed. so chema gets lorenzo to go with him, in the rain, and move the body. and as they are digging? chema gets a phone call (death in the family) and splits. they went in chema's car. chema killed the man. it's raining. and chema runs off without explaining and gets in his car and drives off.

lorenzo is left with the mess and no car to leave in. thanks, chema.

the timeline skips around so i don't know if it's a day or more but lorenzo's next scene he is outside their home by his car talking to chema. and crazy ex's brother shows up and shoves a knife into lorenzo's throat killing him.

it was an awful season 2 but let's be clear that it was also homophobic.

chema's been a homophobic storyline throughout.

the cliche who loved alex when he was a teenager but alex rebuffed him so now he pines for alex over and over. he has lorenzo but he's pining for alex.

then we get the fact that he's messed around with women.

then season 2's sad call to alex. alex is in prison but chema leaves him a voice mail to tell him he just lost his virginity. he was at a gas station and this gorgeous guy - they go to a motel - it's wonderful for chema - but - the guy left and stole chema's wallet. i mean it's never 'normal' that's the point that 'who killed sara' repeatedly makes.

chema's parents' opposition to gay people, their homophobia is presented and as viewers we recoil. but if you notice what the story does, it doesn't join us. at the dinner party as lorenzo and chema's, when chema's father goes off on his tirade against gay people, no 1 speaks out in their defense. not elayna, not rodolfo, not rodolfo's wife. they just sit there.

so homophobia is aired via the parent's position and condemnation and the storyline itself is condemning gays.

it's a sad message and it's also a trope. good for ava and c.i. for bringing in the way tara was killed off on 'buffy the vampire slayer.'

i will not be watching season 3 of 'who killed sara' and i find what they did to lorenzo offensive and homophobic. season 2 makes clear that chema is bi and not gay. so they end up with only 1 gay character in the large cast and they kill him off. (you could argue season 2 offers another gay character - the gas station pick up that sleeps with chema and then steals all his money.) it's disgusting, it's homophobic and we're back to tropes. in 2021, we should be expecting so much more. read ava and c.i.'s TV: How they can make you just not give a damn'' and we'll be discussing it later tonight when we do the roundtable for friday's gina & krista roundrobin.

here's 'the gay gaston'

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Thursday, May 27, 2021. An arrest takes place in Iraq though the western media and the Iraqi press are in conflict over what the arrest was for. The militias surround the prime minister's compound and you may be saying, "Huh? This wasn't on THE NEWSHOUR or CBS EVENING NEWS or . . ." No, it wasn't.

One day after protests across Iraq against the wave of terrorism gripping the country since activists with The October Movement started getting assassinated, someone is finally arrested for terrorism.

REUTERS explains, "Iraqi security forces on Wednesday arrested militia commander Qasim Muslih, the military said, in a move security sources said was linked to attacks on a base that hosts U.S. forces."

Oh.

He is thought to have carried out attacks on the activists but, to read the western coverage, that is apparently not part of the charges currently against him. Elsewhere? It's a different story. Iraq's NRT reports:

Iraqi police arrested a senior official in an Iran-backed armed group Wednesday (May 26) on suspicion of orchestrating the murder of a prominent pro-democracy activist, a security source told AFP.

Qasem Muslah, a commander in the state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition, is the first high-ranking official in the powerful group to have been arrested in relation to a wave of murders of pro-democracy activists and journalists that started in 2019.

A spokesman and other sources within the Hashed said Wednesday evening that Muslah had been released, but the government has yet to confirm the move.

"At dawn in Baghdad, police intelligence arrested Qasem Muslah, Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashed) operations chief for Anbar province, who gave the order to kill Ihab al-Wazni on May 9 and another activist Fahim al-Taie in December 2019," the security source said.

Anti-government campaigner Wazni was shot dead outside his home by men on motorbikes using a gun equipped with a silencer early on May 9 in the holy shrine city of Karbala, sending protest movement supporters onto the streets to demand an end to such bloodshed and official impunity.

Wazni had for many years criticized Iraqi armed groups and Iran's influence in the country, leading protests in Karbala, where pro-Tehran armed groups hold major sway.

The arrest warrant was issued on May 21st.

ALJAZEERA notes, "A copy of the arrest warrant issued for Muslih that circulated on social media and was verified by the security sources said he was arrested under the anti-terrorism law, but did not have further information."

ALJAZEERA's Shelly Kittleson offers this thread:

#Iraqi #Shia militia commander/w. #Anbar #PMU chief Qassim Musleh was arrested today, allegedly on terrorism and corruption charges. Accused of activists' murders. Militias entered the Green Zone to try to force his release.I have interviewed him twice (pic in #Karbala)/thread

1:08 PM · May 26, 2021

In a 2018 interview with him for @AlMonitor
, he told me: “This [attack] only happened because they took it away from us and gave it to the army, which is under the Americans (...)The army is weak. It can’t control anything.’’

Iraqi army, non-local PMUs at cross-purposes in western Anbar

Non-local Popular Mobilization Units seem to be quietly gaining influence on Iraq’s border with Syria against a backdrop of attacks on local facilities now und

"Local security sources contacted by @AlMonitor
 in #Qaim claimed that non-local PMUs were actually behind the attack. The sources said the move was in retaliation for cutting the route used by PMU fighters to bring supplies into #Syria, and to prevent investment"

1:13 PM · May 26, 2021

"Musleh said Danish forces shot at the PMU headquarters in Qaim and spoke of the United States as the enemy throughout the entire interview, barely mentioning IS at all except to claim that the Americans were supporting it."

1:16 PM · May 26, 2021

"Musleh made some easily disputed claims throughout the interview, such as that the city of #Rawa had been liberated before #Qaim (...) “When the PMUs entered Abu Kamal’’ just across the border in #Syria, he added, grinning, “that was the final blow to the US"

1:22 PM · May 26, 2021

Conflicting reports as to whether he has since been released. Iraqi Commander-in-Chief spokesman says he "will remain in the custody of the Joint Operations Command until the end of the investigation"

From my 2nd interview with him for @AlMonitor
: "#Musleh, the deputy head of security at the #Karbala shrines, said "#Israel and #America" were trying to create divisions(...) he holds both a governmental position and one within the religious establishment"

Iranian consulates torched in Najaf and Karbala

Protesters attacked the Iranian consulates in the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala over the past month, yet officials deny that protesters are anti-Iran

Not everyone is happy over the arrests. Syed WaQas Ali Tweeted:

 Iraqi resistance commander Qassim Musleh was arrested earlier today on bogus charges by order of the US puppet Mustafa al-Kazemi.

#Iraq

8:54 AM · May 26, 2021

And the PMF has issued demands:

conditions have been given by the PMF: 

The immediate release of Qassim Musleh
An official apology by al-Kazemi 
Abu Ragheef's resignation

8:34 AM · May 26, 2021

That was online. Offline? AP reports:

Shortly after the arrest, forces affiliated with the PMF, which maintains offices inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, were deployed surrounding Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's headquarters.

Tensions reached fever pitch when Iraqi security forces and the elite Counter-Terrorism Service were deployed to protect the government and diplomatic missions, sparking fears of violence. Some armed PMF factions gathered around the Green Zone's entrance gates.

The presence of the PMF inside the seat of Iraq's government was considered by some senior Iraqi government officials as a way to pressure al-Kadhimi to release Musleh.

The prime minister described the show of force as “a serious violation of the Iraqi constitution and the laws in force," adding in a statement “we have directed an immediate investigation into these movements.”

Antonio Guterres is the Secretary General of the United Nations. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert is his Special Envoy to Iraq. She Tweeted the following:

Any arrest case should run its course, as goes for any Iraqi. And surely, nobody should resort to a show of force to get their way. Such behaviour weakens the Iraqi state and further erodes public trust. State institutions must be respected at all times. Nobody is above the law.

12:00 PM · May 26, 2021

In Karbala some took to the streets to protest the arrest.

Demonstrations in the holy city of Karbala infront of Imam Hussain’s shrine denouncing the kidnapping operation of a leader of the Popular Mobilization Units by Al-Kadhemi, Abu Ragheef and the US.