What do you think were the messages/meanings of Beware of the Dog?

[Raven Wolf]

I've been studying this episode quite a lot over the years, and have my own thoughts and ideas...but I often wonder if I'm reading more into it than is really there... If I'm just seeing a message because I Want to.... ? (i'll refrain from sharing my thoughts just yet...so as not to influence others...)

What are your thoughts/feelings on the underlying message or messages of Beware of the Dog?

[Guest Thomas]

I've been studying this episode quite a lot over the years, and have my own thoughts and ideas...but I often wonder if I'm reading more into it than is really there...

Speculate!!!!!!!!!!! It does no damage and may open ideas we have not yet thought of...

Unless a write defines a thing or situation (the man wore a blue jacket) then you can opt for any color you like. Now that is power. :-)

Best,

Thomas

[HighPlainsDrifter]

I've been studying this episode quite a lot over the years, and have my own thoughts and ideas...but I often wonder if I'm reading more into it than is really there... If I'm just seeing a message because I Want to.... ? (i'll refrain from sharing my thoughts just yet...so as not to influence others...)

What are your thoughts/feelings on the underlying message or messages of Beware of the Dog?

i always found Beware of the Dog intriguing and very different. To me it seemed that Frank was sent there by the MM Group to test him but the overall message was about the Dogs and what they represent. During this episode we also see Franks world off kilter. I guess overall, the dogs represent outside threat not only to Bucksnort but to Frank. Frank needs to get his world in order. Once he faced down the dogs and burnt down Beebe's house the Bucksnort area became safe again. For me the best closure of this episode is when Frank took down the For Sale sign

[hippyroo]

I think the hidden agenda for this show is that metrosexuals shouldn't build dream houses deep in the woods. I sort of get a "built on an indian burial ground" or a "night of living dead" vibe out of this episode. If there is some deep meaning here, it went over my balding head.

[Raven Wolf]

O.K. A few thoughts now.... then I'd like to see what comes back.

("Speculating")

One of the MANY underlying themes I saw in this episode was the theme of "Belonging". It started out with Frank being barked at by Jordan's dog, Ben.

Frank=

Ben, it's me. Save that tough dog stuff for guys you don't know.

By the climax of the episode, Frank has figured out that the dogs are terrerizing the town because someone is in a place where he doesn't belong.

Frank...to Mike...

You don't belong here.

There are many other layers.... but for now, I would like to hear what everyone thinks about this part... The idea of "Belonging". In the book "Animal Speak", by Ted Andrews.... different animals, birds, and insects are looked at, through some of the oldest Nature religions in history. One of the things stated about "Dog" in this book is a focus on Territory, and that "Dog knows it's home ground."

[ethsnafu]

Hi Gang

Here's my thing,

'Beware Of The Dog' is an episode that is so open in the ways you can take the source material and form a fable from it. My own interpretation rests on the narration which notes that each time a dog is killed another will replace it. In the first Season great emphasis was placed on combating evil in the Second the denouement asserts that with knowledge comes the responsibility to understand and that in slaying we only ever accomplish a success in the microcosm, in understanding we are armed and primed to effect change in much more expansive ways.

The Old Man represents wisdom versus action and inspires Frank and Lara to take a more theoretical, philosophical approach to their quest with the repeated 'lessons' both of them are assigned.

Dogs have featured in mythology for centuries often as consorts of malign deities or spirits and are known to have facilities to sense imbalance above and beyond human capabilities. The Old Man's use of the dogs as a lesson in this instance is also to remind Frank that his logical, deductive mind is secondary to the power of his intuitive abilities as the Dogs are able to sense an imbalance that Frank initially is not. Only in understanding the nature of the Dog's actions does Frank dispense with his logical deductions and happen upon the source of the imbalance through his higher facility.

In a moralistic way the episode certainly does delve into the notion of belonging. It is subtly implied that Beebe is homosexual and in the face of the closed-minded community syndrome his reaction to the oppression was to create a rampart in the form of his home. The Old Man states that evil the dogs sense does not come from the burial ground desecration but from the energies that have been produced by Beebe's solitary confinement. His desire to belong in stark contrast to the communities oppression has created a detrimental imbalance that the highly sensitive canines have detected.

You know, I haven't watched this episode for a while and I'm certainly having a 'Dog' night tomorrow. Here's hoping more will join me so we can bamboozle Erin with ideas and such.

Woof Woof

Eth

[ethsnafu]

I'm actually wondering if a Millennium Episode Club or something might be a good idea. Our glorious leaders such as Erin could propose a topic or episode and we could view it and come armed with fresh insights?

I know our lives don't often allow for such things but is anyone up for a mass Beware Of The Dog viewing in order that we can give Erin a more considered insight.

I shall be watching it again tomorrow, anyone else up for it?

Smiles

Eth

[4th Horseman]

I'm actually wondering if a Millennium Episode Club or something might be a good idea. Our glorious leaders such as Erin could propose a topic or episode and we could view it and come armed with fresh insights?

I know our lives don't often allow for such things but is anyone up for a mass Beware Of The Dog viewing in order that we can give Erin a more considered insight.

I shall be watching it again tomorrow, anyone else up for it?

Smiles

Eth

Evil begats Evil...as the allegory of the dogs "replacing" one another clearly shows. I had brought up the fact previously as well about Beebe's alluded homosexuality and its rejection by the townsfolk who obviously did not represent the most open minded community. I felt "Dogs" was not a typically strong effort as the essence of "not belonging" really made no sense. If you remember in the cafe where Frank is lying after the dog attack, there are inferences that this has been going on for years and that there had been means attempted to eradicate the dogs presence, all to no avail. What was it in the past that was seen as a continuation in Dogs? It is obvious that the townsfolks had had run-ins with the dogs before, so why the focus on Beebe..Was it that none of the townspeople belonged? Beebe's presence did not initiate the dogs behavior, it only exacerbated it. I have to agree a bit with roo here, and that is the reasoning behind the alleged idea of Beebe upsetting the balance of things seems to have alluded me for the moment...

4th Horseman..

[ethsnafu]

Dear Fourth,

Gosh you are so right I never considered that......

I agree with you that the assertion is that the 'evil' has persisted for a considerable time and I only wish my knowledge of this episode would allow me to rationalise the points you make. Mark's comments have only added to my desire to this episode again as he may well have pointed out a few holes in the Old Man's theory.

Staunch stuff my friend both you and Erin have made me really excited about viewing this episode again.

Best wishes,

Eth

[Guest SouthernCelt]

I've watched this episode on several occasions and have come away with the following conclusions of what the episode meant:

It was both a test and a lesson for Frank to see how he would deal with evil manifesting itself in a form other than serial killers and to show him that evil wasn't always presenting itself in a clearly recognizable form.

I've always suspected that the Old Man wanted this encounter with Frank more than anyone else in the Group because I think he saw the future problems with the rift in the Group coming and he was looking for someone that he could trust to be truly fighting the evil that was growing in the world and not wasting time arguing about when and how the end would come. But he knew that Frank would not accept much of what he could teach him without "digging it out" himself from further interaction with the evil.

I think Frank came away from the encounter with both a firmer conviction that evil was indeed becoming rampant in the world and it had to be opposed regardless of whether it was part of end-time prophecy or not. I think he also saw that he could no more walk away from this challenge and duty than he could from his family so he decided to stay where he was and do the best he could. I think he may have also realized that his efforts in both protecting his family and fighting the evil would prove to be the only way to assure that Jordan would not be assaulted by the evil more directly and that the Group would not be able to get their hooks into her.

I don't know that the whole thing with Beebe and his house was anything more than a prime opportunity for the Old Man to have a demonstrable presence of evil to expose to Frank and see how he dealt with it. I don't think the Old Man necessarily set up the scenario but he used it. Were Frank not being wooed by the Group, the Old Man could just as easily have let the dogs get Beebe when he refused to be scared away, then his house could have been destroyed with no one else the wiser as to why it needed to be removed.

I did also get the impression that the dogs "knew" who Frank was because whatever evil put them there knew who he was and what he could possibly do in the future adversarily to the aims of the evil. So in some ways, the evil was also testing Frank's strength to see if he had the fortitude to fight back or would run. From that standpoint, I don't think the house being on taboo property was necessarily an end in itself but part of the test from the side of evil as well.

I might think of other points later but I'll let that be it for now...I need to go see what all the barking and growling outside is all about.