[ SECRET POST #5958 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5958 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



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03.
[Succession, Roman Roy]



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04.
[minecraft youtube?]



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05.
[Green Hell]



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06.
[Lost Ruins]
























Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #852.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I dunno, I think it'd work. Saying it's just one technique is a little simplistic. You'd still have the forensic aspect of gathering evidence that CSI has, it's just that the focus would be on geneaology and the person doing it. Like in real life, you can't make a case on geneaology alone, you still need corroborating evidence - that's the whole range of techniques and detective work.

Then even on the geneaology side, you'd have the additional aspect of historical research, which CSI doesn't generally cover. That's tracking down family trees, poring over birth and death records, talking to people about their family members, memories, family histories, old stories about who did what and where and when, etc. etc. There'd be potential for historical settings, international settings, unpacking an entire family history... and all the secrets that DNA can uncover. I don't know if you're familiar with what a huge can of worms DNA test kits have opened for people, but just the act of giving all your family a kit for Christmas has thrown major bombshells into a family. That's a lot of potential for conflict and drama.

[dantesspirit]

My cousin found my dad's half sister, via my DNA testing, on Facebook.

He sent her a message and she promptly blocked him. So obviously there's family history she doesn't want to be a part of.

I found out I have Black ancestry(paternal 3rd great grandmother's line, intermarried enough that they could pass by her generation and no one thought twice). On one hand, I wish my dad was here so I could see his face when I told him. On the other, he was racist enough that I'm glad he's not. On the third hand, it confirmed that the family myth/legend of having Native American ancestry was as I thought- not the least bit true.

Bombshells and cans of worms indeed. I was lucky, other than the Black ancestry, nothing I found was a huge revelation. Other people though, hoo boy.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Yes, I'm familiar with the skeletons in the closet that DNA test kits can uncover for families. I'm also quite familiar with how geneaological research works. And as a fan of crime procedurals with an understanding of forensic genaeology from true crime I just don't think there's enough there to support an entire multi season 20 episode per season show based on the concept alone.

This is mostly because DNA is binary in crime scenes - it indicates the presence of someone's biological material. Other 'concept' crime shows like Numb3rs or Lie To Me also had a problem of the concept being limiting, but I think with those shows there was at least enough room to move that other crime fighting techniques/ dramatic storytelling could complement the concept.

But with the focus on DNA, there's less ambiguity to hang a narrative on. As a plot device it works much better as the final dramatic reveal than the initial confounding piece of evidence. And even drawing on family drama (secret adoptions, infidelity, sisters actually being mothers etc) or the tension of missing records/ unclear family history, I just don't think there's enough drama there for it to be the bulk of the plot.

I think a factor here is that in a lot of genaeology you are uncovering the history of a known individual, ie their history is the mystery. But in a crime show, the individual's identity is a mystery, and the majority of their interesting family history will be largely irrelevant to finding that out. In other words, the interesting family history stuff needs to be either directly linked to the crime or to finding out the person's identity (or appear to be so) - and writing stories in such a way that e.g. the suspect's grandma's double life is relevant to the crime could get convoluted and unbelievable fast.

That said, I would absolutely watch a documentary on developments in forensic genaeology or on how it helped solve a particular case.

I would also watch a mini series where there's a murder and you gradually find out that it was precipitated by a DNA test that revealed a family secret, but is tightly plotted to keep you guessing about both the secret and the killer.

I can maybe see it working in a cold case miniseries, where perhaps improvements in DNA technology allow for old evidence to be analyzed, and there are cases where it was suspected to be a stranger attack nut DNA reveals that it was a family member, or vice versa. I think it would have to be a miniseries to be able to focus more intensely on the reveals about the suspect/suspects for it to work dramatically.

And of course it would work like a treat as something that is drawn on occasionally in a detective show.

However fundamentally I don't think forensic genaeology would work as a lynchpin concept for an episodic crime procedural in particular.

This is just my opinion of course. And I could be proven completely wrong (who knows what there is already in development?).