Her whole situation seems flawed.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — American Horror Story
cocacolaistherealthing — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 08:46 PM)
Her whole situation seems flawed.
I didn't want her to reunite with Flora, she has an obsessive love for her, but is not a good person or parent. Even before she kills Mason, she kidnaps her and brings her to the toxic environment of the house and Matt and Shelby realtionship problems.
She kills her dad.
She kills multiple others.
If she really loved Flora, she would leave her alone and allow her live a somewhat normal life.
Even her sacrifice at the end didn't make sense. She barely addressed the idea that her eleven year old wants to commit suicide to be with her imaginary friend and decides to let herself be killed, making a child (Flora) responsible for her own mother's death. -
cwamne_h — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 11:10 PM)
I'm with you Ayylmao, these comments make no sense. Lee is portrayed as a hero number 1 and she's been emotionally spent and in that crazy house. 1. Mason had issues. 2. her troubles started obviously because of police work. 3. The house makes people crazy. The comments on this one do seem a bunch of people who didn't watch.
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cocacolaistherealthing — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 09:00 PM)
But I think we're supposed to sympathize with her as a mother who just wants the best for her daughter. There's not really anyone remarking on her obsessive need to be with her. Everyone calls it "understandable".
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kinseisenshi — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 10:35 PM)
Zero sympathy for Lee. She took the cowardly way out instead of facing justice for her crimes. I'm baffled why anyone would root for such an unlikable character.
A person hates you because they either wanna be you, see you as a threat, or hate themself -
hanonondricek — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 10:39 PM)
Um. How could she have "taken the cowardly way out" when the court acquitted her? She looked the most surprised of anyone in the court. She wanted her daughter to live a life and accomplished it by taking over guardianship of her best friend that Flora would otherwise not have abandoned.
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kinseisenshi — 9 years ago(November 16, 2016 10:40 PM)
She was acquitted because she lied and her attorney discredited Flora. How is it not cowardly to admit what you've done?
A person hates you because they either wanna be you, see you as a threat, or hate themself -
sjzaz-34243 — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 03:33 PM)
She could have just confessed to the crimes and been done with it. Saved everyone a lot of time and money by not making them go through TWO trials! Not to mention put her daughter through testifying against her own mother! Lee was acquitted of her crimes because A. the jury didn't believe in ghosts and B. The Polks apparently had some really good weed. There was no way she was acquitted because wasn't enough evidence. If anything, even if she wasn't put in prison for her crimes, she should have been locked up in an institution of some kind because she was clearly unhinged. She sat there in the courtroom, knowing damn good and well she killed Mason intentionally, and that she was responsible for the deaths of several others, whether she was high, possessed, in a trance, or whatever, and let a jury give her a free pass. I'd say that was pretty cowardly.
Bottom lineSOMEONE killed those people. We as the audience know that Lee did it. She was seen on multiple footage killing people. Her own daughter testified as an eyewitness to Lee murdering Mason. How much more guilty does she have to be? I felt some empathy for Lee up to the point where she confessed to killing Mason. Even then I was leaning toward giving her the benefit of the doubtmaybe if was a false confession or perhaps if she did kill Mason she did it in self-defense or on accident. But once Lee got to the point where she was lying to people, manipulating other people, and putting other people in danger just to cover her own arse, I lost any sympathy for her. I cringed when she killed Jether and stood by while Audrey bashed Mama Polk's brains in, but even then I wasn't willing to condemn her. But once she ate that boar's heart and went on her little killing spree, possessed by the witch or no, I was done.
I've seen a lot of people saying that in the end, Lee did what was best for her daughter and sacrificed her life for Flora's. Too bad Lee didn't think to do that when she put Flora's life in danger by taking her to that haunted house in the first place! Too bad she wasn't putting Flora first when she bashed in the skull of her little girl's father. Too bad she didn't think of Flora when she put herself and everyone else in danger by going back to the house to try and "prove" she was innocent of a crime that she KNEW she was really guilty of. Too bad she didn't accept her fate and take the punishment for the crimes she was guilty of instead of putting everyone through two trials and getting off on technicalities. Maybe Flora wouldn't have become upset and run away back to the Roanoke house if she had just done the right thing at any one of those points in time. I think her big sacrifice for Flora was too little too late. -
ccebrussell — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 04:49 PM)
It's easy to judge when you aren't the one in the scenario. We often forget that people are complex, EVERYONE has the capacity for crime. We just want to live our lives, and often that does mean stepping on others to get on top.
Put yourself in Lee's place. You've lost everything, your family is dead, you have no job, battling an addiction, the whole world is against you, and you are utterly alone. Would you confess? I find it hard to believe that you'd make rational decisions in such a situation. No one wants to go to jail! In any court case, most will profess their innocents, guilty or not. Most people lack the ability to own up to their choices. I also find it funny that you say you lost sympathy, sympathy is just feeling sorry for someone, not understanding them.
As a counselor, we learn how to empathize, and put ourselves in in the mindset of someone like Lee. Empathy is important when understanding why someone does what they do. People want to hold on to their lives, right or wrong. We all have the internal need to survive and maintain our status quo.
Also, if you had been kidnapped by a bunch of redneck cannibals. I'm pretty sure you'd want to kill them too, self preservation drives people to do extreme acts. Again, how would YOU feel if some people were cutting body parts off of you? I'm pretty beep sure you would not sit idle. You'd do be just as quick to bash in that old hags head in, it's your life vs theirs!
I understand why she killed her husband, I don't agree with it. However, she did it in order to hold onto the last sliver of her life. Again, how would you feel, your ex husband who abused you, has prevented you from seeing your only child at every turn. Mason was no saint either. He was using their child as a way to hurt Lee in the only way he could. He threaten to take sole custody, meaning she would never be able to see her kid again.
She killed him as a reactionary impulse, she snapped, much like people do in real life. Just as she lied and denied her crimes. She's reacting as most normal humans would, she was doing what she thought was best. It's easy to lose sight of the consequence of ones actions, no one just does something with out really thinking of how others will feel.
Lee is a human being, and humans are flawed, selfish, and act out of fear of loss. Learn some empathy! -
sjzaz-34243 — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 08:15 PM)
Good grief. I am a nurse and I have plenty of empathy for people in real life. THIS IS A TV SHOW we are talking about and none of it was reallol. As a counselor you must realize that even though you can understand why a criminal would commit whatever actsit still doesn't make them above the law. When you kill someone, unless it's an accident of self-defense, you either go to jail, or you are put into an institution until you are able to understand why you killed, or you stay in the institution indefinitely. What kind of a world would we live in if people could go around killing other people just because they had some rotten things happen to them? Oh, sorryyou got addicted to pain killers, lost your job, and your husband left you and is going to take your kid because you're an unfit motherOk, I guess we understand why you killed him. Be on your way then. NO! That would not happen in real life, and if you are really a counselor you would know that.
I will tell you a little story about myself. I actually DID have an ex-husband who was abusive and crazy. And I lived through something similar to what Lee had to go through, only it was my ex who had the substance abuse issues not me (and obviously there were no ghosts or redneck cannibals) but I was stalked by his second wife, harassed by both my ex and his wife, and at one point they took my son and left the state with him and I wasn't able to see my him for FIVE YEARS because they kept moving and they evaded me and they evaded the law. It took me years to untangle all of that mess through the courts and get my son back. We had to get private investigators and everything. After all they put me and my son through, my dad ended up having a stroke and nearly died because of the stress of watching his daughter and grandson be hounded and threatened. I lived through years of hell because of my ex. But I didn't kill him! But if I had, do you think anyone would have had such sympathy for me that it would have kept me out of jail? I hardly think so! -
ccebrussell — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 03:15 PM)
Lee was never the hero. She was a damaged person trying the best she could (in her own mind) to raise her child. She'd already lost one daughter already, was in an abusive relationship, divorcing the abusive ex husband, dealing with losing her job, and a drug addiction. Her world had been smashed into pieces before the events of the story.
The only thing she has keeping her from going off the brink was her daughter. Flora was her emotional crutch. Is that healthy? No. However, people in her situation are pushed past the point where they can cope in healthy ways. Lee lacked the tools to know how to deal with all of these emotions.
I work with addicts, and I can tell you that when people are in a mental crisis, they do not know how to healthily process. They do irrational things because they aren't living in the moment. Fear and anxiety take control and warp their reality.
She killed her ex husband in a fit of cold blind rage; because she was about to lose the one person that was keeping her sane.
Also, when you add to the fact that Lee had to endure two blood moons, being cut up for food. Having people harass her and invade her personal life, and other trumas. It's not a far stretch to say that she snapped.
Lee was already probably aware at the end of the season, that there never was any going back. Her daughter hated her, and as soon as she left the house, she'd be arrested for kidnapping.
Lee had no time to try and reason with an emotionally scared child, who at this point wanted to die. They had an entire squad of cops, ghosts, and the Butchers mob on the way. This not not a normal situation, and it's hard enough to reason with children, let alone a child that had seen so much death.
Lee knew Her life would never be normal again, even if the charges were dropped. Death was Lee's only option. There was no way to atone for all the murders. Lee knew that her ghost would be the only one strong enough to keep the Butcher at bay. She even says that she is just like the Butcher. Lee will have to spend her afterlife watching over Priscilla, and the other lost souls. -
Steal-No-Evol — 9 years ago(November 17, 2016 09:30 PM)
Someone probably already said this but..
If she really loved Flora, she would leave her alone and allow her live a somewhat normal life.
Even her sacrifice at the end didn't make sense. She barely addressed the idea that her eleven year old wants to commit suicide to be with her imaginary friend and decides to let herself be killed, making a child (Flora) responsible for her own mother's death.
That's a total contradiction in your own thinking or at least a grasp of comprehension.
If she really loved Flora, she would leave her alone and allow her to be killed by a ghost child. That's what you're saying.
Her sacrifice at the end, preventing the eleven year old from committing suicide to be with her ghost friend, and freeing her eleven year old from the obligation she was feeling to a ghost, was a pretty selfless thing to do.
But if you want to call out bad writing, just call it out.
Her character really loved her daughter. -
porkchop4 — 9 years ago(November 18, 2016 12:28 PM)
To me it came off as a cover your own butt situation for Lee. If she let Flora kill herself, she'd be branded the worst mother in history who drove her kid to suicide, or depending on how Flora would have killed herself, like if she jumped down the stairwell onto the snapped pieces of wood or jumped out the large window, Lee might have been charged with murder. Lee already showed what kind of self preservation she has by telling her lawyer to discredit her own daughter on the witness stand, and then try to talk to her like nothing bad had happened between them after she just saved her own butt at the sake of her daughter.
So by offering to take Flora's place, she comes off as sacrificing herself for the greater good of her kid, rather than a multiple murderer who stepped on her own kid in order to get out of a murder she admitted to doing.