One of the common themes in most teen TV series is a lack of communication. The girl purposely does not tell they guy about her deceased brother who she misses terribly. The guy omits the fact that he once got arrested. The father is (of course) having an affair, and the mother has a drug habit that no one knows about. Their neighbor on one side didn't come to the party because his daughter has a fatal illness and the one on the other side has a hidden obsession with Star Wars. While all these things individually can be dealt with and overcome or accepted once they are actually addressed, when they start to pile up on top of each other the characters get edgy. The guy thinks the girl likes someone else; the neighborhood thinks the first neighbor killed someone and that the second neighbor has a mistress. The father thinks his wife is having an affair so it is ok for him to have an affair and the mother does not feel loved enough to put in an effort. All of this is because little tiny details get left out in conversation.
I recently watch a mini TV series of 8 episodes called "Hidden Palms". I am not usually one for teen flicks like the "OC" or even romantic dramas like "Passions" and "the Bold and the Beautiful". This time I checked some reviews and figured it would be cool, a little romance, a little mystery and short because it was only 8 episodes. Well, it was a whole lot more mystery than I bargained for.
Johnny Miller, a young recovering alcoholic, moves to Palm Springs with his mother and step-father Bob after witnessing his father commit suicide. Bob omits any facts about the new house, which later comes back to bite him in the ass. Johnny quickly discovers that the boy who used to live in his room, Eddie Nolan, killed himself, which causes an enormous fight.
Nikki, an ex-girlfriend of Johnny's from rehab shows up in Palm Springs. She conveniently forgets to mention that she has lapsed in her rehabilitation and has not been sober in 3 years. At a party that night, she drinks far too much and causes a major scene.
Johnny starts getting strange instant messages from an anonymous person telling him that Eddie Nolan didn't kill himself, he was murdered. The instant messenger, like every eles, leaves out the little tid-bit of information that is who they are and what exactly they want Johnny to do about this information. Just like every other omitted piece of information, when Johnny finds out the messenger is Liza, his neighbor, he is royally pissed.
Johnny finds out that his girlfriend Greta and Eddie's best friend Cliff were in Eddie's room straight after he died. He goes over to Greta to ask her questions about Eddie. Instead of just telling him the truth, Greta doesn't want to talk about it. Meanwhile, Nikki calls her friend and asks her to pick her up in the morning. When her friend shows up with a few extra people and mass amounts of alcohol, Nikki just gives up and lets everyone come in without putting up much of a fight. When Johnny's parents come home, there is a big scene.
Greta finally admits that she slept with Cliff while she was going out with Eddie and she thinks Eddie killed himself because of it. Couldn't she have said that earlier?
Instead of just telling him the truth, Cliff and Greta each miss out little bits of information in their stories and Johnny is forced to shift his suspicions from one to the other. And the story goes on, and twists and turns in new directions, shifting from one person to another, from parent to child, to neighbor. Could someone have just told Johnny the truth the very first time? It would have saved his falling out with Cliff and his fight with Greta. Bob could have probably prevented his fight with Johnny and his mother too.
Is it so hard to just tell the truth? While it is not constructive, people who do not know the truth can assume a million and one different scenarios and act accordingly. It would be so much easier to tell your mom how you feel about your deceased father and for your neighbor to tell you about the boy next door who killed himself. It does not have to be so complicated. Communicate!
Tsoof and Eden love to download full movies from the Internet.
