Whydunit (Whodunit, Howdunit)

[Laurence Horn]

>WHODUNIT--2,240,000 Google hits
>WHODUNNIT--781,000 Google hits
>WHYDUNIT--12,400 Google hits
>WHYDUNNIT--716 Google hits
>HOWDUNIT--32,300 Google hits
>HOWDUNNIT--568 Google hits
>...
>...
>I was watching NCAA basketball on CBS, then the 60 Minutes story about the
>NYPD, and then saw the popular CBS show "Cold Case."
>...
>Last Sunday's episode of "Cold Case" was no "whodunit." A guy came in and
>freely admitted that he'd killed someone 25 years ago. It was--to
>quote a "Cold
>Case" actor--a "whydunit."
>...
>It later was revealed that this creep killed people because he had multiple
>sclerosis. My late father had M.S.--he didn't kill anyone. Couldn't CBS have
>said something else--you know, the usual, he was abused as a child, whatever.
>Ultimately, the "whydunit" is a bad drama. I don't care "why" this psycho
>creep  killed someone. I don't particularly care to get inside the mind of a
>psycho  creep mass murderer. CBS played the M.S. card, then played
>the murders up
>to a  mass audience for cheap thrills. It wasn't based on a real case,
>either--they  made this "M.S. murderer psycho creep" stuff up, just
>for my enjoyment.
>I don't  think I'll ever watch "Cold Case" again.
>...
Well, to play devil's advocate, it wasn't claimed that the MS made
him do it (rather, he killed once 20 years ago and was in the midst
of doing so again because the victims were males of 17, at the age of
infinite possibility which he regretted that he was no longer being
able to recapture himself; the MS wasn't really at the heart of it).
Also, it wasn't (the way most Cold Case shows are) simply an attempt
to find out whodunit and why, rather it was mostly an attempt to save
the current about-to-be-victim of the burial alive method of murder
he favored, and ultimately a successful one, through Lily's empathy
and intelligence, whether or not you buy it.  Again, the fact that
the killer was suffering from MS (and not all that dramatically at
that, based on people I know with MS) was not an essential part of
the plot.

Larry

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