Friday, March 10, 2023

Stalked by My Doctor Series Wrap Up

Well that was really fun!  If you’re into thrillers in general, especially the 90’s variety, you’ll dig this series.  The premise is solid and Eric Roberts is a blast to hang out with through the journey.  You can tell he loves playing this character and we love watching him pathetically attempt to connect with his victims, get enraged when they reject him, cheer for him to get his comeuppance, chuckle when he escapes his captors and let the cycle wash over you again and again.

As long as you understand that these are modest made for TV pictures whose job is to keep you entertained for barely ninety mins while mixing legitimate thrills with sporadically gloriously goofy moments you’ll be happy as a clam.

Ok I think we have time for a couple of bullet points.

  • All these films feel like they’re based on a script from well over a decade ago.  I find this kinda charming though.  It’s like the series is perpetually trying to keep up with the times but it’s forever somewhat out of reach.
  • I gotta hand it to the people behind these movies because Beck does indeed stalk his victims in all of them.  It would’ve been so easy to forget that key part in the sequels.
  • Beck always seems to have money or at least a lavish mansion to retire to.  Sure he would have a nice big house in the first film but having ones in the others doesn’t make sense.  If he has bucks outside of his doctor income it’s never mentioned.
  • Beck never changes his appearance or makes that much of an attempt to hide.  Fleeing to Mexico for a few months is the most he ever does to evade the authorities.  Hiding out in Georgia isn’t bad either.  Otherwise though he sticks to his home state of California or the southwest.
  • It’s funny how they keep finding ways for Beck to return to medicine, whether practicing it or teaching it.  He never simply remains a man on the run lurking in the alleys.  He gets back on that horse time and again.
  • Aside from the original each film teams up two women to take on Beck.  This actually makes sense because Beck’s victims are upper/upper middle class teenage girls so it’s natural to pair them with some sort of parent/guardian figure.  And to have that figure be another woman working in partnership to take down a gross male homicidal pedophile is fitting.
  • Finally, throughout the series Beck ends up saving as many lives as he takes which is a pretty interesting balancing act.  Don’t get me wrong, the man is a maniac who needs to be behind bars.  I just find it fascinating that despite the fact he performs genuine good deeds without an agenda in three of the five films like heart surgery, CPR and calling an ambulance for a dying person it doesn’t erase his perception as a total monster.  At least not for me.

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