It's Not Me, It's You: Breaking Up with My Stories
It's Not Me, It's You: Breaking Up with My Stories
Jun 21Disclaimer: the shows I’m going to mention in this post aren’t really genre, but the subject matter I’m discussing in reference to those shows is most definitely geeky. Also there are potential SPOILERS ahead, so read at your own risk.
I don’t give up on shows lightly. If I love a bit of TV, I will cling to it ferociously, occasionally going down with the sinking ship — hand over heart, eyes all misty, trying to remember what the hell I fell in love with in the first place. Even if I don’t like the direction a show is taking, it’s hard for me to just up and abandon the characters I’ve come to care for. I think the last time I did it was The O.C. — I adored that show’s first season and detested its second, and then it got stuck in an overcrowded time period and we can only TiVo two shows at once, so I jumped. I still feel a little bit bad. I bet my leaving is why little Seth Cohen started smoking pot and awesome, Berkeley-fied Sandy Cohen suddenly turned into The Man and also a giant douche (at least he seemed to be back to his old, lovable self in the season finale, which I did watch, mostly because it gloriously killed off one of the reasons I started hating the show in the first place, the sulky, irritating, badly acted Marissa Cooper).
Anyway. Point is, within a 24-hour period, I have actually given serious thought to quitting two former favorites and I’m still not sure what I’m gonna do. The first is the formerly kick-ass Nip/Tuck, which suffered a shitty, Carver-fied season last year. Still, that alone is not enough to make me delete my season pass. After all, the show can surely get its mojo back now that the Carver crap is handled, and I can’t just leave Gina! She needs me! Who else is going to thrill in her every vindictive “asshole”? But then, there was a potential SPOILER posted in E! Online’s Watch with Kristin column and it’s a big ‘un. Kristin says that Joely Richardson, aka Julia, is gone after about ten eps.
Excuse me, what?
OK. Yes, the character of Julia can be annoying (but at least it’s interesting, amazingly acted annoying, which is pretty much the exact opposite of Marissa Cooper). Yes, they threw a lot of weird shit at her last year and yes, she waffles a lot when it comes to Sean. But…but…the reason I fell in love with the show in the first place is the twisted, utterly dysfunctional family dynamic between Julia, Christian and Sean. That’s the reason I watch (OK, Julian McMahon without his shirt off might be another reason, but the other thing is the primary reason…most of the time). That’s what gives the show a heart, what makes it so much more than envelope-pushing and twisted sex and graphic plastic surgery sequences. Take away a corner of the show’s primary emotional triangle, and I don’t know if it will work for me. Plus, I’d just like to point out that Joely acts the hell out of even the dumbest storylines.
Anyway, this one’s still in unconfirmed spoilerville, so for now, I will dutifully tune in when the show returns in September and hope for the best.
The other situation is a bit messier, trickier. The show in question there is Rescue Me, the usually fantastic firefighter series that is saving me from summer reruns. I got into the show by accident last season — I was assigned an article on Steven Pasquale, who plays endearingly dumb fireman Sean. Fittingly, he’s one of my favorites now, and for the first couple of eps this season, the series really seemed to be humming along on all cylinders, playing comedy and drama side by side with astonishing deftness.
But last night, there was a scene so sickness-inducing, it may turn me off from the show forever. There’s no nice way to say it: Tommy, the Denis Leary character, rapes his ex-wife, Janet. And even worse, she basically gets into it, turning the whole thing into a scene of “passion.”
Let me just say this: I generally do not have a problem with characters doing awful things. I know it makes for good drama. I know what they were trying to do here — they wanted to show us the sick dynamic Tommy and Janet have and I’m guessing they’re also going to make Janet pregnant, since there was so much talk about a “Gavin heir” in the episode.
But this scene and the way it was played made me want to vomit. The thing about Tommy is sure, he’s not always a nice guy and he often does stuff that might fall under the Morally Questionable column so favored by many of the great characters on FX dramas. But I can’t help but love him because I feel that underneath, he’s still a decent guy. Like, that scene in the season premiere, where he’s trying to stop Sheila’s teenage son from sleeping with Sexy Teacher? And he’s not exactly doing it well, but at least he’s trying and it’s actually kind of sweet? That was genius. That’s why I love Tommy.
But this? I don’t know if he can come back from this. I don’t know if I can deal with Tommy being a rapist, especially the way they played that scene: was Tommy actually supposed to be smug afterwards? Pleased that he proved his manhood and got one over on his brother Johnny, who’s sleeping with Janet? Rescue Me, your usually excellent brand of intense drama that suddenly, improbably turns into comedy is SO NOT WORKING in this instance. The scene was beyond disturbing and I am usually all for disturbing — but it didn’t work. I’m sure we can rationalize the scene. I’m sure folks can talk for days about how it’s realistic for the characters and so on and so forth. I disagree. It took Tommy over the line, beyond “morally conflicted” and into “reprehensible.”
And don’t even get me started on Janet’s reaction. So she ends up enjoying it? She wanted it anyway? Give me a fucking break, Rescue Me. That’s not complex. That’s just nasty.
Right now, I don’t know where I stand on this show. We may need some time apart, Rescue Me. Perhaps we are just different people, too different to make it work. I don’t even know. I just know that that scene repulsed me to the point of wanting to avoid you at all costs right now.
In any case, all this has got me thinking: what would make you give up on a show you once loved? How seriously do you take such a matter? What kind of consideration goes into it? The fact that both of these situations upset me so is probably an indication of my unhealthy TV love, but surely I can’t be alone.
