Ida Says HEY

Ida Says HEY

Nov 11

You all know how I feel about The Middleman. Many of you also know how I feel about approaching nerdlebrities in the wild. Could it be that these two topics are about to meet in the most satisfying of ways? Read on!

A couple weeks ago, I spotted Mary Pat Gleason at a screening. Definitely, definitely her. If you haven’t seen The Middleman, she plays the delightfully cranky android Ida — a formidable foil for Wendy Watson.

She asked me if that was my coat on that seat over there, was I saving it for someone? Oh, um…what? No! All yours, Mary Pat Gleason! At the time, I was Twittering away on my phone, refreshing relentlessly and following a scintillating debate between Kim and Caroline about the merits of Jean Grey. I giddily posted an updated about “the HEYDAR” being in the same room as me…should I go talk to her? Kim helpfully reminded me that Ida is not actually the HEYDAR, but operates the HEYDAR, and I should absolutely go talk to her!

I don’t think I would have done it, were it not for this bit of Twit-encouragement.

Anyway, after the movie, I was standing out in the lobby and saw her exiting the bathroom. I darted after her, tapped her on the shoulder and said something like, “Excuse me, I just wanted to tell you that I love you on The Middleman!”

“Oh!” she said. “I loved working on that show and I love you for saying that!”

I noted the troubling past tense in the first love declaration. “Is it…is it coming back?” I asked hopefully.

“We don’t think so,” she said.

I must have looked rather instantly devastated. “I know,” she said, patting my arm comfortingly. “I’m sad, too.”

Apparently, there is hope, but it sounds like the thin, desperate kind of hope that drives some people to spend the rest of their lives writing steamy, slashy series finale fanfic, all in the name of gaining closure on the likes of Wendy Watson and Co.