Does anyone watch The Good Wife? I just started a binge
watch of the first season as part of the March 2014 Mediocrates Depression Tour. I’ve watched all 8 seasons of Weeds, 2
seasons of House of Cards and now The Good Wife. I’ve currently made my way to season
2. I normally don’t like a weekly episodic that wraps up neatly at the end of
the hour. I like character studies. The Good Wife as it so happens out is a
veritable cornucopia of character studies. I catch myself sort of ignoring the
weekly legal drama and focusing on the soapy operatic deliciousness. I adore
Josh Charles and have ever since Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. His unrequited love for Alicia didn’t quite
fly with me at first but it became a matter of course as I sank deeper into my
covers with the small screen churning out the theatre.
Alicia is long suffering and quiet and as I watch, I find
myself screaming at her to be angry, to stand up for herself, to say something
instead of just standing there being silent through any and all outrages. As much
as I love Chris Noth, (who doesn’t love Mr. Big or the plaid tie wearing Mike
Logan?) I hear myself thinking loudly…Why are you letting that motherfucker
back in your house after what he’s done? When her brother tells her that she’s
like the person on the Titanic that drowns because she’s too polite to leave
her room, I just cringe and think holy sheep shit, YES!!!! Then I wonder why
I’m so irritated at her until I realize how much she reminds me of myself.
I often tell myself that staying silent will show my quiet
strength, only it’s not strength that keeps me quiet most times. It’s fear.
I slowly began to grasp that she’s handling her fears by internalizing
and trying to deal as best she knows how; navigating uncharted waters with
all the skill of Gilligan. Just like
me. Reactive not proactive. I have been spending hours lying covered with
the heavy blanket of nothing only rising when required to work, visit the
powder room, throw some food down my throat or sporadically shower. I had been
in the midst of much worse but was dealing with boyfriend problems that were
throwing my future into shadow and my certainty with my peace askew. I was
handling it with much less aplomb than she and that was sort of pissing me off.
Then there’s Kalinda.
I love me some Kalinda. When
asked if she’s gay, her answer is, “Why does it matter?” That’s a great
response and one I should utilize more often when asked questions I don’t want
to answer. She’s fearless and bitchy and
everyone loves her for it. The moment that she told Alicia that flipping
someone off was good for the soul, I had to wholeheartedly agree with her. It IS good for you when the recipient has
been deemed worthy. And so what if your answer or demeanor might possibly sting
another sometimes? There are times that people deserve a sting and you don’t
have to be hateful to deliver it as I was learning from good old Kalinda. Yeah! I
should be more like hard assed Kalinda.
So, I got up. I haven’t
watched any more Netflix. Well, not
compulsively anyway. I have laid out a
tentative plan for my future that may or may not include my boo. I had hoped
that this sensitive, caring, passionate man would be in my future but it’s gotten
lost in the mist of neuroses and curiously, not my own. I finally met someone more neurotic than I,
it seems. I have so many other things to
take care of and look after. A teenaged
daughter about to be driving, a father with cancer, a mom who is caring for a
man with cancer, a teenaged son that desperately needs guidance and refuses to
take it, a career that needs nurturing.
I have to keep my head down and work
this shit out and if he falls into place then that will be wonderful. If he doesn’t, it’ll hurt but we’ll all make
it. I don’t need anyone else to fix me; I can “fix” myself. Don’t
get me wrong, the nothing is there. It’s
jumping up and down and rubbing its hands together in dark anticipation but I
will keep it at bay. I’ve got things to
do. I’ve got me to do.
