Do or die

Last night I saw one of the most disturbing, sadistically-twisted shows I have seen in a long time. I haven't been an avid watcher of CBS's Criminal Minds. However, I am beginning to get hooked on this very intense show about FBI criminal profilers. Last week I was haunted by the episode about a child that murdered his classmates. If that alone wasn't bone-chilling enough, yesterday they showed an even more sinister episode.

Three teenage girls are kidnapped. They grew up together and were the best of friends. All were from loving homes and had bright futures. They found themselves locked in a basement storage room with only their underclothes on. Their captor informs them that they will receive no nourishment during their stay. He promises to let them go, but only two of them will go free. One of them must die and it is up the the three girls to decide who. After several days, the girls are cold, starving, and very disoriented. At first they held out hope that someone would find them, but they soon realize they have to make a decision.

The first girl becomes desperate and tries to convince the second girl that they must take action. The third girl is near death and too weak to move much. The first girl reasons that the third girl is close to death anyway and it is the only humane choice they have. The second girl doesn't want to do it, but reluctantly agrees that they have no other way out. They announce to their captor they have reached a decision. Two hammers are thrown down and the girls realize they have to do the killing themselves. Just as the first girl musters her courage to go through with it, the third girl grabs a hammer and wacks her her with it. The second girl is in complete shock. Their captor releases them as promised. When the FBI finally figure out who their captor is, they find him sitting in the basement storage room next the dead girl's body. He was getting revenge for something their parents had done years earlier and wanted to show that everyone's true colors come out under extreme circumstances.

This episode reminded me of the movie Saw. Though I haven't seen it, I've read the synopsis at imdb.com and was intrigued and disgusted at the same time by the plotline. I've seen some really dramatic stuff in reality and in tv land, but this episode just shook me to the core. Imagine if you were faced with such an intense situation. It isn't hard to answer questions like, "If someone threatened you and your child, but you had to choose who got to live or die, who would you choose?" That isn't a far leap if you have any parental instinct, the child would get to live. However, I don't know how I would react if I were in those girls' shoes. It is a bitter pill to swallow, that's for sure. Trying to rationalize who deserves to live or die would be crazy-making. Trying to be fair would be just as hard. Can you imagine doing rock, paper, scissors? What would you do? Not an easy question to answer.