That guy who plays van Alden is such a good actor. I hate him. I mean his character. That drowning the Jew scene was very close to too painful to watch.
I had to fast-forward through that one too. It was ridiculous. That entire character is ridiculous. They go out of their way to make sure we know he's a "Christian" (at least HBO's idea of what a Christian is), so of course he has to be a murdering psychopath adulterer.
It would have been much more interesting to have one character on the show that keeps his values and doesn't give in to all the depravity around him.
I see it a little differently. Where I think most people in the show are a very murky combo of good and bad, Van Alden sees everything in complete black and white and there is absolutely no grey area at all, including his own thoughts and actions. IMO, he has no concept at all how to handle emotions. He feels rage at Sesbo and instead of turning him in, he kills him. Feeling lonely, instead of finding comfort in his wife, goes out and finds an easy girl. Instead of coming clean to the US attorney, he runs and changes his identity. He can’t do anything a little bit. Everything is the most extreme thing possible.
In the 3rd season, the new “wife” seems to be better for him in terms of getting him to relax and be more in the grey area, but then..um things happen. SJ have you watched season three yet? You must!
They go out of their way to make sure we know he’s a “Christian” (at least HBO’s idea of what a Christian is), so of course he has to be a murdering psychopath adulterer.
Exactly. I do hate that in movies and shows. The perennial Evil Christian. No one is a decent person on that show except Richard.