I’ve been contemplating an episode
of Lost Girl because it’s just that
kind of show. If you are not aware of it, what you need to know is that there
is a succubus and crime fighting. Obviously, there is a lot to think about
here, but what I was specifically mulling is a recent episode (SA!) where
somebody had something evil invade their body and promptly asked to be killed,
so that the evil would die with them. If it seems like I’m making fun, I’m not.
It’s awesome.
However it did raise the question,
why do people always ask their friends to kill them just because they’re a
teensy bit possessed? When I hear anything along the lines of, “You’re going to
have to kill me, it’s the only way,” I think, Really? Is it the only way?
Was I not paying attention to the part where every other possibility was
exhausted? Yeah, it may be sensible as a last resort, but there’s no reason for,
“Oh shit. I just realized there’s evil inside me! Somebody kill me now.” Once
in a while I’d like to see something along the lines of, “Oh shit. There’s evil inside me. Get it the fuck out!” Or perhaps, “Please restrain me temporarily while we
consider our options.”
I guess if you put some deep
thought into it, you could come up with a metaphor for the evil in humanity, or
in the world, and how there has to be self sacrifice in order to finally rid
ourselves of said evil, and ok, that wasn’t that deep, but it is a metaphor. But
screw metaphors, because I really just want to think about this on a knee-jerk,
surface, kind of level. And on that level, it’s ridiculous. Because what if the
evil is something with which our hero (or throwaway character) could coexist? Because
some bad shit is really bad, but some bad shit you can kind of live with. And I
think that needs to be discussed before anyone jumps to please kill me.
If it was me with the evil inside,
I’d certainly take a moment to think it through. I’d want to know, is the evil
really awful or is it just mildly annoying? Is it the kind of evil that does
things like put the juice carton back in the fridge with one sip left, a sip it
purposely didn’t drink so the carton would technically not be empty because the
trash is full and the evil didn’t want to start a horrible chain reaction that
would lead to the evil having to take the trash out right now? In that case, I’d have to sympathize with the evil
because I do that anyway. I’d have to say to the world, “Sorry, live with it. I have many other fine qualities in spite of being
currently full of evil.”
And on a more practical note, if
the thing inside me was so evil and so strong that the best option was asking a
friend to skewer, behead, or shoot me in order to get rid of it, then wouldn’t
it be able to overpower and prevent me from raising the alarm in the first
place? And if I did get the initial
warning out because I managed to catch it by surprise as it was settling in, wouldn’t
it simply counter with a casual, “You know what? I’m
fine. False alarm. The evil is totally under control. In fact, I think the evil
actually left. Anybody want to grab some breakfast? I think I saw some tasty
orphans running around outside.”
However, if the evil was so easy to
override that I could speak up to request a preventative killing in spite of the
fact that the evil has gone to a lot of trouble to take me over by climbing
either down my throat or up my whatever, then I could probably keep it in check
until someone could work out a less drastic cure. And I would definitely want
the chance. To keep it in check, that is. Because having a friend kill you is
pretty final. And hard on the friend. One would assume. Of course, in a world
with succubi, werewolves, and possessing fae, it is possible that death wouldn’t
be completely final. But it might be. Especially for the mortal.
Of course, if I’m ever possessed by
Cathrynn Brown I’ll have to reconsider.
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