More Intervention Goodness
I'm watching the Gambler and the Shopper epidode of Intervention. My jury is still out. They did a better job of giving us a more sympathetic view of the addicts.
The actress Vanessa was extremely sympathetic. I think they did a really good job of showing her agorabphobia, which drives her addiction. Additionally the self awareness she had was a little heartbraking. Her psychologist seemed to just prescribe drugs and do nothing else. Agoraphobia is usually comorbid or even caused by G.A.D which responds very well to Cognitive Therapy. Quack.
She seems to take the intervention very well.
Gabe, Gabe, Gabe. I had high hopes for him, he was the reason I was here. His sound bite replayed during reruns of Crossing Jordan compelled me to watch. However, his lack of self awareness and addiction-driven selfishless makes him very unlikable. He says things like "I think when you have kids you're responsible for them for the rest of your life... You sell your house if you have to..." Which his parents did.
I felt bad for borrowing money from my parents to buy my house. I did not gamble away $80,000 of their money. Puts my Catholic guilt in perspective.
His intervention was rough. He subltly implies "I will kill myself because of this intervention." His interventioner was awesome. "I will call 911 if you are serious. Are you serious?" Suicide talk ended. Finally, Gabe said his money line:
"You're forcing me to get on a plane tonight when I don't even have all my stuff packed, and I don't have any control over anything...
They made me wait for it. But it was worth it. His intervention is very dramatic, no wonder he was the sound bite guy. He teeters but he finally goes. This episode had me.
But then they blew it. They had a 5 second post mortum on them. And they made it pretty clear that they were unsucessful.
I came for Gabe, I stayed for Vanessa. I fear neither will have a happy ending.
I will say this much more clearly then the last time. (As if the producers are reading...) Rework this show. Interventions are not good ending beats cause they leave the more uregent question in the audience's mind - Will they recover? - unanswered. Cut it back to one person per episode, make me root for the person, then show me what happens to them. The intervention should be the climax, but we need a longer denouement.
Comments
It sounds like we pretty much agree. The stunted-prodigy metaphor does really seem to apply to Gabe.
Lot of people love to hate the Gabe. My feeling is that he's pretty awful, I wouldn't want him in my life, and although his parents, and friends should have tough loved him a little sooner, they are to be sympathized with. He, on the other hand, should be cast adrift in the world. I do have to admit I'm surprised by the amount of vitriol people have for this guy. Not that I defend him, but you guys seem to have a personal reaction to him. I'm not criticizing, but it's impressive to me the effect he had on you through the show. Maybe the producers do know what they're doing.
Anyway, interesting comments here. As we say in my life.."thanks for letting me share".
Wow, more vitriol. I get it. I have since ordered a cockpunchin' on the house of Gabe. Gabe from Intervention.
Sadly, I do agree that he is a dead man walking. I feel sorry for him.
i have never seen another episode of intervention where i felt absolutely no pity for the addict. gabe (and maybe that stripper chick who kept getting naked and calling her sister fat) is the only addict in the show's history to take ABSOLUTELY NO ACCOUNTABILITY for himself. even the junkie who stole from his mom felt bad about it, at least.
thanks for letting me vent. it's ridiculous that a television show has actually made me this angry. i'm sure it's not healthy to hate someone i've never met THIS MUCH.
ps- and i say this as a gay woman, not as a homophobe- it's fairly obvious he's in the closet gay. i don't know whether or not this has any bearing on his problems, but yeah.
As for Gabe -- he comes across as totally selfish and spoiled, no doubt about it. You just want to shake him and wake him up. It's the waste of it all that makes me so angry. This is a guy who graduated college at the age of 14!! Think about what he could have done with his life! It makes me sick! In my opinion, he doesn't need rehab; I think they should put his behind on a plane and send him to Africa to feed the hungry and to dig wells for people who don't have clean drinking water, much less parents to pay their rent. He needs to see people with real problems so he can see that he has it pretty darn good.
I agree with the afore mentioned opinion that he is gay and can't bring himself to admit or realize it. It really is inconsequential because no person straight or gay would spend more then a day with him if they were in their right mind.
His parentsa re just as much to blame for enabling him and if they ever do find the courage to tell to kick rocks, it will be a short time before he does successfully commit suicide because he does not have the courage to live his life no matter what he is.
Oh A&E please do an update on this POS. Even if he turned it all around and was debt free by his own accord and not sponging off his parents I doubt I would feel good.
To those that think Gabe is closet gay... how did you come to that conclusion? I'm not challenging, I just wanted to know.
There is also no mention of a female in his life other then his mother. Not that any self respecting woman would spend more than one date with him.
If he is not gay then he has a severe Oedipus complex. I haven't read enough to know if someone can be a gay male and have an Oedipus complex but if it is possible then he has likely achieved it.
I too, know Gabe and I'm sorry to say...the show depicted him perfectly. His mom is the main problem. She NEVER (to this day) stuck to her bottom line. ENABLERS. Gabe, is a sick person who needs to have all apron strings cut. He's extremely brilliant, but socially remedial. Unless drastic measures take place, which I really don't think will happen, then Gabe will live life in a constant downward spiral and hurt all of those close to him.
Loripaws2@hotmail.com
What a worthless waste of DNA that piece of shit is! Man, oh MAN! That guy takes the cake, he really does! I'd like to take a cake and shove it up his whining, crybaby punk ass...but I fully expect he would like that. He probably makes his mother shove his Cub Scout trophies he won at the 6th grade nerd fair up his ass every night and then lick them clean while he watches and spanks her, then grabs her purse, punches her in the face and runs off cackling, stopping only to blow his father for an extra five bucks on the way out the door.
Can you tell I dislike little son-of-a-bitch asshole punk spoiled rotten sociopath bastard cocksucker Gabe?
Gabe, if you are out there reading this, be a fucking man and go fucking kill yourself. PLEASE! That shit about "attempting suicide"...look, punk boy, your dumbass moron dipshit parents may fall for that shit, but we KNOW what the deal is with that! Sitting there waiting to be "found" just at the "last minute", but of course, a big dose of dollars saves you every time!
I hope that everyone that sees you and recognizes you on the street takes a minute to kick you where your nuts would be if you had any...right there in your pussy, I mean...hopefully oe of them will kill you. Or maybe a fucking car wreck, AIDS, mafiso loan sharks....SOMETHING!
never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, SO GO KILL YOURSELF NOW, you dumbass useless waste of horseshit! Go do your faggy little nucleophilic substitution rap/dance at the next meeting of the Organic Chemistry Fag Association, and maybe you can sell blow jobs for a quarter each. Bring a cardboard washing machine box with two holes cut in it, and jump in, get on your hands and knees and run Gabe's Glory Holes (PLURAL, butt and mouth boy!) for all your little geek buddies, and build up some more asshole and gum callouses, you fucking piece of shit you!"
The big "college teacher", too, at 12....boy, I bet dumbass mom and fucking spineless moron dad was so proud of thier little freaklet then!
I can see you flopping those spastic-ass gangly and stupid looking Big Bird arms and legs around with your pointy ass queer shoes and your baggy-ass zoot suit looking fag uniform, with your damned ugly ass chain around your neck, you ugly ass big-nosed freak:
My name's Gabe, And I'm a queer, I'm 13 years old, And I take it right here! [smiles wide and points to asshole].
Mommy and daddy Both call me 'Honey', But I'll beat her and blow him, For a little money [dances spastically around and flaps his freakish arms around like the fucking piece of shit spaz that he is, smiling and scratching his pussy]
So I'm here to teach you all A little Chem-Is-TREE, All the girls can leave, All the boys stay with me! [Tries to flash a sexy smile past that big ass freakishly large beak honker he has at the guys in the front row, all the while flapping two big tentacles around like a fucking wounded albatross]
Now, all you boys, Get in line behind me! Do whatever you want, Just leave some mon-EY! [Bends over, drops his pants, revealing a freakishly stretched out, hundred year old looking winking asshole, opens his purse and sets it on the ground next to him]
Gabe, you are a freak. Please do us all a favor and make yourself into a FUCKING DEAD FREAK! NOW!
Also I think that "Mary" who posted earlier was actually Gabe.
Gabe falls into the child star falling from great heights syndrome (see Danny Partridge, Michael Jackson, Dana Plato etc.). He never progressed past age 12 or so because of his accelerated mental growth. Basically he is stuck at age 8-12, tantruming and manupulating his way into his thirties.
Vanessa's main issue is not shopping. It's her OCD, bi-polar and other problems. The show really exploted the shopping element and didn't focus on the mental-illness like they should have. (The Mental Illness was mentioned but was not the focus)
In my field I have learned that people with personality disorders do not respond to behaviorist techniques and cannot be helped if they cannot admit to their problems on their own.
Posted by: Timothy Gager at March 15, 2005 9:56 AM