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Anyone Else Feel Sorry For Harold At The End Of Family? (spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by Frosted-Flame
16 replies | jump to latest

Maybe i'm twisted but the line relating to the idea that they could torture him for 10 or 14 days really bothered me. I could understand where the parents were coming from, and they did not know everything from Harold's perspective (nor could i presume), but i felt Harold was mentally ill and did not deserve continuous torture for his crimes (though does anyone really do?) It sounded like he was suffering from a severe form of schizophrenia and would have benefited from treatment. The hallucinations are evidence for such a diagnosis. As well as the conversations he has (though deep down he knows it's not real) He was not a sadist as far as i could tell, he just did what he felt was necessary in his mind for what many of us want or take for granted. So anyways, am I weird for having sympathy for this guy who did terrible things?

This Show Was A Lot Funnier Before Kirstie Alley Ate Shelly Long

[–] Cowpie008 12 years ago

yes

[–] phantasmda 12 years ago

You need help lol

"Hasta la vista, baby."

[–] mikestiver 12 years ago

No.

[–] coldwar_13 12 years ago

You should not feel sorry for him. However, he should have been turned over to the police. Then and only then if he got off for the murders/sent to a mental institution would the couple have been justified in what they did to him. That said, I cannot blame them for their actions against Harold. That's why the ending is so damn chilling.

The Dude Abides

[–] NeonManiac0 12 years ago

Not at all. He got what he deserved and if I'd been in their position then what they did to him would've been a joke compared to what I would've done.

[–] orggothabillie 12 years ago

something is wrong with a couple of you screw feeling sorry for this piece of human garbage too bad they cant make his death last for weeks with more pain then any one has every had to go through

[–] agentalbert (3134) 5 months ago

Feel sorry for Harold? Hell no, not a bit. Though it does seem like the couple must be complete sociopaths in their own right to be able to play friendly with him, sit at the dinner table with him, and not lose it considering what he did to their kid.

I thought it was a pretty good episode.

[–] zaraath 12 years ago

His death was presumably worse than whatever he did to their child, but he brought it on himself, so whatever...

[–] itsbadash 12 years ago

I didn't feel bad for him but it did make me like the couple a little less. Awesome twist though.

[–] mrannah 11 years ago

The point of the ending, i thought, was that in the end, they had slipped as far as he was, but they were at least able to keep their broken mentality aimed at the legitimate target of their pain, the man who killed their child.

Yes it was not a moral action to take this killer and torture him to death, nor to make it last so long. Taking evidence to the police would have been a rational and ethical reaction, but that is not what the story is about. Regarding this one individual, they were no longer rational or ethical.

Sympathy for our 'family man' i think is a bit inappropriate, and it is to be hoped that after they were finished with them they could get the help they needed.

but more than anything else..it was a horror story with a killer as the protagonist, who in the end got his just desserts...

and it was just a story, not worth agonizing over.

[–] sarahleigh81 (106) 2 years ago

Just *deserts.

[–] sunezno (269) 2 years ago

Ya know what, I was about to correct your correction, but then I figured I'd look it up first, just in case.

So thank you, sarahleigh81, for that new bit of knowledge that I might not have otherwise gained. *tips hat*

[–] agentalbert (3134) 5 months ago

He got a raspberry tort of justice for desert.

[–] philoj 10 years ago

I always wonder about "curing" mentally ill serial killers. If we grant the premise that all their violent actions are the result of some mental defect, and that they can be cured - what happens when they are?

How does a sane person cope with the memories and knowledge of what they've done? Can you imagine coming out of a deep sleep and being told it's been five years and you've killed, say, a dozen people? People who had lives, hopes, dreams, families?

How does that not drive you mad all over again?

[–] MrsBuckyBarnes 9 years ago

he may have had a mental illness, but it did not cloud his sense of right or wrong. he new what he was doing was illegal which is why he went to great lengths to cover up his actions. he knowingly put his needs above those of his victims and their families. i did not feel any sympathy for him but felt it was disproportionate to torture him for a further 14 days.