YMMV / Tangerine (1997)

• Ambiguous Situation: Does Erik have some form of mental disorder or psychosis that causes him to act the way he does, or does his status in the family as the golden child who can do no wrong make him feel like he's untouchable?
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Tino and Victor take no nonsense from Arthur or Erik. To avenge Luis, they storm the commemoration center and proceed to give Erik a black eye. For the first time in the book, someone actually got the jump on him. Tino and Victor are only angry that Paul tried to help him by jumping on a coach for trying to break up the fight, saying that he has more to lose than they do. He says that he couldn't let them take on Erik alone.
  • The neighbors find out what kind of monster Erik is, and learning he and Arthur were stealing their heirlooms. They go You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! when the Fisher parents — Paul has opted to talk with Joey on the phone— try to convince them to not call the police. One man gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and that this wasn't just "Boys will be boys."
  • Just as the Fisher parents convince everyone to not press charges for the burglaries, a police car comes roaring up to the curb. Two cops come out and swiftly arrest Arthur, reading the kid his rights. Arthur's father tries to defend him, but Paul shuts him up and says that he saw Arthur kill Luis, and that Erik gave the order. Erik is forced to admit this is true when Mr. Fisher asks, and the cop orders him to not leave his house.
  • When we learn why Paul's grandparents are estranged. They reveal they were furious on his behalf that the parents covered up that Erik poured paint in his eyes, and had wanted Erik to face some sort of punishment. When Mr. Fisher says it's fine for them to say I Told You So, the grandparents point out that this is an "I told you so" situation. Mrs. Fisher is forced to admit they're right on this.
• One-Scene Wonder: One of the Fishers' neighbors opens his mouth during The Reveal of Erik and Arthur's burglaries, and the discussion of how to handle them (hopefully without involving the police, pretty please), and lays the smackdown.
  I'll tell you what I never did. I never broke into an old lady's bedroom, and ransacked through her underwear drawer, and stole her pearl necklace that was handed down to her by her own grandmother, and then gave it to my girlfriend like I was a big man or something. I never did that. And I don't know anybody else who did, either. Your kid, and that other kid, are in a class all by themselves.
• Rule of Symbolism: The muck fire. The lignite that underlies Tangerine County is always burning, somewhere, just a little bit, but it flares up when lightning hits the ground hard enough, in enough places. And then there's trouble.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Paul confronts his parents and reveals he remembered that Erik poured paint into his eyes. His mother starts crying when recalling how the doctor said he might have become fully blind. Then his father sobs "like a baby" when trying to explain they didn't want him to hate his brother for his actions, and Paul retorts that they must have preferred Paul to hate himself then on. His mother probably not as much, but his father especially broke down after Paul asked this. His parents regardless do love him, at least, and are not that bad of parents, but to do that to your own child, just terrible. Paul walks away, disgusted by their self-pity.
  • The ending of the book, to a minor extent. Erik is finally facing justice and has entered Villainous BSoD over the house arrest and eventual trial, but Paul understandably feels that a lot of the damage has been done. Luis is dead, Antoine forfeited his scholarships and college chances to report on the murder, and he still has bad eyes. Plus, his father has washed his hands of Erik, while his mother still feels some concern about if Erik will be facing criminal charges.
• The Woobie:
  • Luis Cruz, all the way. A kind, talented, role model-worthy big brother... who dies unceremoniously on the orders of Erik.
  • Paul, too. He's living in Erik's shadow, gaslighted by his parents on how his vision worsened because they thought it would be better for him not to hate this brother (though, he thought anyway, they must have preferred him hating himself instead), his parents though they love him misunderstand him, he gets treated as a freak due to his glasses, has trouble with dating girls, can't get anyone to listen to what he has to say, and though it is not entirely terrible for him he is sent to a private school because of expulsion from all public schools in the area. Oh, and then there's the fact that he was made legally blind by his own brother, who he never even reconciles with.