The approach in this episode was Henry (Ethan Cutkosky) is a psychopathic ten-year-old, but it's obvious someone used Macauley Culkin's The Good Son or Silence of the Lambs as source material.
Description seems to give the impression that It's A Good Life, from the Twilight Zone, is some sort of inspiration here, but Billy Mumy played it better as a kid than Cutkosky does here. This fellow here was obviously aware of 'bad' portrayals and really falls flat trying to be manipulative with that stare of his.
The most amazing hiccup I saw first off was when Pino was getting the child held hostage out of the play tunnel, he utterly failed at making any attempt to get the gun from Henry, which would have been the absolutely ideal moment to do so. The hostage was clear and Henry was having to make his way out of that tunnel with a gun in his hand. This kid wasn't a Gulf War vet.
Then there was Henry's talking to the blonde lady officer, "can I hold your gun? You're very pretty." Hiding a butcher knife (which we are told is kept locked up, but Henry knew where the key was hidden) under his pillow would have been the last straw, especially after officers had investigated him for pushing his sister down the stairs. Things would not have escalated like this; oh, okay, we don't have any substantial evidence, do we? A clearer picture of psychopathic behavior would have been more innocent in nature; when Henry's mother told him it was time to go to bed, he would have silently reclined as if to sleep, then put that knife to work.
But the show seemed to think hostile attitude was all part of the behavior, as well as 'unnerving' the unsuspecting potential victims, like when he requested to hold the gun or something.
A child with a psychopathic nature would have definitely been more "I don't know" when asked why they do what they do, as tho something or someone else was definitely to blame, not come across with all this anger seen here.
Don't rely on the depiction seen here.
Description seems to give the impression that It's A Good Life, from the Twilight Zone, is some sort of inspiration here, but Billy Mumy played it better as a kid than Cutkosky does here. This fellow here was obviously aware of 'bad' portrayals and really falls flat trying to be manipulative with that stare of his.
The most amazing hiccup I saw first off was when Pino was getting the child held hostage out of the play tunnel, he utterly failed at making any attempt to get the gun from Henry, which would have been the absolutely ideal moment to do so. The hostage was clear and Henry was having to make his way out of that tunnel with a gun in his hand. This kid wasn't a Gulf War vet.
Then there was Henry's talking to the blonde lady officer, "can I hold your gun? You're very pretty." Hiding a butcher knife (which we are told is kept locked up, but Henry knew where the key was hidden) under his pillow would have been the last straw, especially after officers had investigated him for pushing his sister down the stairs. Things would not have escalated like this; oh, okay, we don't have any substantial evidence, do we? A clearer picture of psychopathic behavior would have been more innocent in nature; when Henry's mother told him it was time to go to bed, he would have silently reclined as if to sleep, then put that knife to work.
But the show seemed to think hostile attitude was all part of the behavior, as well as 'unnerving' the unsuspecting potential victims, like when he requested to hold the gun or something.
A child with a psychopathic nature would have definitely been more "I don't know" when asked why they do what they do, as tho something or someone else was definitely to blame, not come across with all this anger seen here.
Don't rely on the depiction seen here.