Binge Choice: Forensic Files

Sometimes, when your body is exhausted from flying and you're all alone in place far from your regular life, you opt for a bed-in television binge. For me, it's a little lazy treat that helps with decompression. Though most television can be a bit vapid, there is one show that holds my attention for many, many hours. And thankfully it is always playing in marathons... Forensic Files.

Before you snicker at the general population's insatiable appetite for true crime or analyze repetitive recreational exposure of murder and violence, allow me to offer a broader perspective, lest you think me slightly psychotic. Though the patterns of motive, the attempts of concealment and the occasional misdirection of investigations are often formulaic and predictable, there is something else predictable that is, despite the heartache and loss involved, reassuring and deeply touching. It was the beloved Mr. Rogers who said it first, "Look for the helpers." Yes, the show highlights often violent stories of murder--true stories. Usually there is one perpetrator of this violence. But there are always many, many individuals deeply dedicated to justice--many, many helpers who fight for the deceased. Some helpers wait decades to have the forensic evidence to convict the guilty party.

In the end, the dedication of The Helpers and the merits of science prevail and solve the crime and all is right in the world. Well, at least in the hotel room.