Difference between revisions of "The Rape of Heather Willis"

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"The Rape of Heather Willis"
Queen of the Willis episode
Promotional image for "The Rape of Heather Willis"
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 6
Directed by	Ava Zinn
Written by	Ava Zinn
Production code	703
Original air date	April 5, 2019
Guest actors
[[]] as Bobby Joe Bones [[]] as Horatio Cruz Josh Kaufman as himself
Episode chronology
<span /> ← Previous "[[]]" Next → "[[]]"

The Rape of Heather Willis is an upcoming seventh season four-part episode of the animated sitcom Queen of the Willis. It is scheduled to air in April 2019 in the United States.

The episode deals with Heather grappling with the effects and aftermath and being pregnant from the rape, after she was attacked and raped by one of the male employees at Craven Gifts who was a former classmate of Deanna's at Babyface High School, whom Deanna herself reveals to Ava and Angie she too was raped by another classmate and now Craven Gifts' biggeet deadbeat customer, Horatio Cruz. Forty-five years after stalking Angie for a relationship, it was revelaed that "Fat Bifoot Bobcat" brutally raped her in 1983. Ava and Heather are badly injured and must recover quickly, then go to the suspect's home to dispense justice. This episode is considered very controversial for its realistic and shocking depiction of a violent rape, which is unusual for an animated sitcom. Because of the controversial plot and voice acting, "The Rape of Heather Willis" is one of the most remembered and popular episodes of the series' revival.

The rest of the epsidoe deals with the efforts to bring not only the rapists of Heather and Deanna, but also "Fat Bigfoot Bobcat" to justice and the subsequent harassment that the Willis family receive. It also marks the final appearance of Tiffani Donovan, Anna Pamhouser, Lando Abhrams, Lilly Abhrams, and Trevelle Abhrams, of which the former two were shot and killed at the police station and the latter three were murdered.

The episode saw the introduction of Quillsville Police officers Ramona Battishill, Kymberly Millspaugh, and Elaine Reed as well as Craven Gifts employees Bobby Joe Bones, Zelda Kellie Martin, Amber Jena Irene Battishill, and Natalia Lightner, Craven North manager Ray Grissom, Craven North Assistant manager Hunter Boyd, Craven East manager Shane Kinney, Craven East assistant manager Caitlyn Sparks, Craven West manager Ben Sykes, and Craven West assistant manager Eliot Clingens.

The four-part episode's story was written and directed by series creator Ava Zinn and the teleplay was written by Nancy Boyd, Charlotte Clay, Thomas Higgins, and Dallas Barnes. It was rated TV-14 for intensely suggestive dialogue (D), strong coarse language (L), sexual situations (S) and intense violence (V). The episode was based on Zinn's experience as a three time survivor of rape and featured a live-action disclaimer and warning from Zinn herself.

It received generally mixed reviews, in addition to receiving some criticism for its portrayal of rape and sexual assault. It is mostly known for heavy use of profanity as the episode was bleep censored 212 times on the broadcast version. Ava Zinn revealed 16 of the characters used profanity as follows: fuck was said 149 times on the uncensored version.

Plot

Template:QOTW - The Rape of Heather Willis/Plot

Production and development

The episode's teleplay was written and directed by series creator and execuitive producer Ava Zinn and teleplay was written by Nancy Boyd, Charlotte Clay, Thomas Higgins, and Dallas Barnes and edited by Ava Zinn.

The episode saw the introduction of Quillsville Police officers Ramona Battishill, Kymberly Millspaugh, and Elaine Reed as well as Craven Gifts employees Bobby Joe Bones, Zelda Kellie Martin, Amber Jena Irene Battishill, and Natalia Lightner. Additional characters introduced are Craven North manager Ray Grissom, Craven North Assistant manager Hunter Boyd, Craven East manager Shane Kinney, Craven East assistant manager Caitlyn Sparks, Craven West manager Ben Sykes, and Craven West assistant manager Eliot Clingens. It also saw the final appearance of Tiffani Donovan, Anna Pamhouser, Lando Abhrams, Lilly Abhrams, and Trevelle Abhrams.

The episode reveals Craven Gifts' employees are diverse:

• Craven's main branch's staff of Bobby Joe Bones, Reginald Wilson, and Scott Schuller are the only remaining males at the main branch with Ava and Adrienne are Craven's only all-female management team.
• Ray Grissom reveals (and confirming Tina) that Craven Gifts staff are mostly have fat guys. Series creator Ava Zinn confirmed this was due to Indianapolis being one of the fattest cities in the United States.
• Eliot Clingens reveals that he is not only has been the assistant manager of Craven West since 1999, and the only females on the staff are an accountant and a few sales associates.
• During the conversation Ava and Adrienne have with the Craven Gifts meeting at The Broken Boilermaker, Ava reveals that Caitlyn is the assistant manager of the of Craven East.

David Caruso voiced Harry Willis in the episode.

Kathryn Morris voiced Lilly Rush in the episode.

In addition to the regular cast, Tracia Matthewson guest starred in the episode as Nancy Bones, Frank Davidson reprises his role as Officer Jarrett Dailey, actress Kathryn Morris reprises her role as Quillsville Police Sergeant Detective Lilly Rush, and David Caruso reprises his role as Harry Willis, who has provided his voice of Ava's father on five previous occasions ("Ten, Pretty, Pretty Angry Women", "The Unbearable Homophobia of Laying', "Buckeye Ava", "A Willis Thanksgiving" and "Quillsville Cold Case: Albert Willis").

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Concerns

In the episode, Heather decides to raise her child conceived in rape, the traumatic effect of the rape and the child's blood relationship to the rapist had the potential to create some psychological challenges (as Heather killed her rapist), but the circumstance of the child's conception is no guarantee to cause psychological problems. Ava Zinn states that Heather could have difficulty accepting the fact (as Heather wanted to have another child, yet it wasn't under the circumstances she dealt with). As Heather is already a mother of one daughter, series creator Ava Zinn states that she will give birth to a boy the following season.

In announcing the episode, Zinn states that Heather may also face legal difficulties as Heather's rape occured in Indiana. Had Bobby Joe survived, he would have maintained parental rights as Heather is to be the biological mother and Bobby Joe's paternal rights would be terminated anyway.^[1] Research by legal scholar Shauna Prewitt indicates that the resulting continued contact with the rapist is damaging for women who keep the child.^[1] She wrote in 2012 that in the US, 31 states allow rapists to assert custody and visitation rights over children conceived through rape.^[2]

Part 1 of the episode is based on Ava Zinn being raped by a female on April 22, 2015 (which was reported as a female on male rape) in Marion, Indiana, as well as two other times in 2002 and 2010.

Death of Pamhouser and Tiffani

In a Marti McDaniel Show interview with Karly Jameson that aired on CBS 13 Orlando in November 2019, Jameson revealed why they decided to kill off Pamhouser and Tiffani in the episode, saying: "Well, this was an idea that got pitched in the writers room a year ago and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up. As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes and future could be and we got very excited about the way this change will affect the dynamics and the characters."^[3] She also explained why they decided to kill off Pamhouser and Tiffani and not one of the other characters, saying: "It seemed more in the realm of a reality that two females (Tiffani and Pamhouser) would get shot and killed than if one of the transfemales (Ava and Melissa) died. As much as we love Pamhouser, and as much as everyone is loyal to their friends, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose Ava or Melissa, rather than the Pamhouser and Tiffani."^[3]

She also discussed how the other Queen of the Willis actors reacted when they heard Pamhouser and Tiffani would be killed in the episode, saying: "I think they were glad it wasn't them. [Laughs.] I think they were surprised, as anyone would be and I think they were pretty stunned especially this far into the show. They were as shocked as anyone."^[3] She also explained why they decided to replace Pamhouser and Tiffani with Alisan, Karly, Avril, and Kendra, saying: "It felt like the way that this show was conceived by Ava all those years ago, was this entire friend and family unit. So by losing Tiffani and Pamhouser, it felt like a void needed to be filled both comically, and also for the interpersonal relationships between all the characters. We felt that we needed to fill that role."^[3]

She went on to explain why they decided to place Kendra Kendall back to Quillsville saying: "I think it was Ava's idea actually place Kendra with Ava and Melissa. She loves television news and always loved the idea of Hoosier Anchorwoman! Kendra Kendall handing out with Diane Willis' cousin and Stephanie Rose's husband in particular and she thought it would be fun to write a character based around Kendra Kendall, her family and her personality and just who she was before Hoosier Anchorwoman! and now on Queen of the Willis."^[3] She went on to discuss if she was worried about the backlash from Queen of the Willis fans, saying: "I'm not, only because our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough, to know that they can trust us. We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series."^[3]

In January 2020, Ava Zinn spoke about how she was surprised by the fan reaction after Tiffani and Pamhouser were killed off, saying: "It surprised everyone. We were all very surprised, in a good way, that people still cared enough about those characters to be that angry. We thought it would create a little bit of a stir, but the rage wasn’t something we counted on."^[4]

Cultural references

"The Rape of Heather Willis" features several references to media, music, film, and other pop culture phenomena. The episode's title references series creator Ava Zinn's three sexual assaults from 2002, 2010, and 2015.

The character of Bobby Joe Bones is a parody of Nashville radio personality Bobby Bones. Ava Zinn began to write the episode just seconds after Bones was announced the winner of the 27th season of Dancing with the Stars.

The episode parodies the season three In the Heat of the Night episode "Raped" and the season four Hunter three-part episode "City of Passion".

Part 1 was bleep censored 157 times by 16 characters: Heather was bleep censored 47 times, Ava 32, Deanna 27, Angie 14, Nancy Bones 6, Bobby Joe Bones and Lilly Rush 5 each, Officer Battishill 3, Officer Dailey, Pia Yoque, and Tabby twice each, and Shushu, Ray Grissom, Amber Battishill, Akim Anastopolouo, and Officer Millspaugh once. This episode is notable for using the word "fuck" 118 times out of 157 (mostly "what the fuck").

The episode ends with "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing" performed by Crystal Gayle. A second song, "The Woman in Me" is also perfromed in the episode.

Reception

"The Rape of Heather Willis" first aired on WXXC in Fort Wayne on April 5, 2019 at 8:00 PM preceding INNCD 47 Action News at 7 and succeeding INNCD 47 Action News at 9 and INNCD 47 Action News at 10. The episode first aired on WEVI the following Saturday at 5:00 PM in Indianapolis.

In Fort Wayne, the episode compete against Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless on ABC-owned WMRI, MacGyver on NoSirGifts flagship station and CBS affiliate WTOR, Blindspot on United Broadcasting-owned NBC affiliate WFTW, Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids on Fox-owned WINO+, Dynasty on United Broadcasting-owned CW affiliate WGOM, and a repeat of Hogan's Heros and WKRP in Cincinnati ABC-owned MeTV affiliate WECW.

In Indianapolis, the episode will compete against an NBA basketball game on ABC-owned WHOO, The Masters on NoSirGifts-owned CBS affiliate WIFX, IndyCar series or Golf on NBC-owned WNBI, The PGA on Fox-owned WIND, and repeats of The Rifleman on ABC-owned MeTV affiliate WICW.

This episode received mixed critical reviews. One critic wrote of the episode before it aired, "The chilling serious episode of Queen of the Willis cripples the show’s strengths." Other shows, even the procedurals with rape and incest, are playing around during prom season, Queen of the Willis went for an episode about rape that wrote off any chance that comedy could save it if things took a wrong turn." The critic praised Ava Zinn's performance Ava Willis and Heather Willis like we never saw them before. It made Ava Zinn endearing every bit the opposite from from a typical episode, and I applaud Zinn for taking part in the #MeToo movement"

Another critic gave the episode a slightly more positive review, writing, ""The Rape of Heather Willis", judging by only the title, could have been a Lifetime movie or a made for TV film in the Ava Zinn fashion or anything else than a typical episode of the show, but it was pretty much a typical episode of the show."^[5] He continued, "it's pretty much that episode where someone on the Queen of the Willis writing staff needed a new way to get out of its comfort zone and this episode saw a family dealing with rape."

References

External links