Just watched this one. It was really sad. Even though they’d never had a death to my knowledge, I told my wife while we were watching that this guy was a goner. Between the cancer and the late-stage alcoholism I knew he was too far gone to recover. Tragic way to end after only 34 short years. He seemed like a really good guy.
No one saw Lawrence?
I didn’t see Lawrence. Is it a new episode or can I catch it On Demand?
I’m pretty sure it’s new. It was on our tivo, recorded sometime in the last week.
I saw that ep and I could see he was a goner too. I wasn’t sure what was going to get him, the cancer or his liver giving out. IMO, I kinda-sorta put him in the category of “isn’t going to stay clean” halfway thru the show.
It’s also on youtube.
I did see it, and the ending didn’t surprise me either. It’s the first time I actually felt sad about an ending (not a big surprise, since he’s the only who’s died, if I recall correctly) rather than glad/relieved/disappointed depending on the outcome.
On a more personal note, I am addicted (heh) to this show and I think it’s because I see the people profiled as kind of what I might have been had I not had a different personality, upbringing, support system, or who knows what else. I guess it brings to life something I am intensely interested in and puzzled by - what causes some people to react to adverse conditions by becoming stronger for it and others to start self-destructing.
By the end, I knew it was coming. This one was super-sad…
And maybe I’m an ogre, but I’ve been through some pretty hard times, and I hope the mother feels like this is her fault. It might be, or not, but to leave your three children with a man who regularly badly beats them is never okay. Not even for a month, not even for a minute. I usually have a problem with the moms, but this was just beyond the pale.
What a shame…
I like INTERVENTION too. The psychology of the addict and the people surrounding them is fascinating to me.
Did you catch the “special report” about this group of kids from the same town who were all heroin addicts? It was fucking scary. They were doing Oxycontin, then when that got too expensive, went on to heroin. Doesn’t surprise me, seeing as Oxycontin is supposed to be just as addictive as heroin.
His death wasn’t surprising at all. I’d never seen a subject obviously physically affected by his addiction. He also didn’t seem to have any deep emotional attachment to any of his friends or family, which from what I can tell is needed for these folks to agree to treatment. Part of you has to care. He just didn’t care anymore.
If all a guy had to go off of was this show, you could forgive him for thinking moms in general are pretty monstrous. When I was younger I used to be terrified that recreational drinking or drug use would leave me addicted. The older I get, though, the more I realize that there’s almost always something emotional to it. All of the “party animals” from my youth have calmed down, while a few of the quiet types have moved on to harder drugs.
We’re fairly regular watchers of Intervention but I missed this episode.
I’m slightly confused though, was he dying from cancer anyway? What would be the point of quitting drinking if you were about to go?
If I recall correctly, he was operated on for cancer and then was supposed to follow up with a local doctor and get chemo and/or radiation but never did.