|
|
Post by Cindy on Jan 21, 2006 15:42:06 GMT -5
What a great Maddie episode. This one is so emotional to me. I feel really sad watching Maddie's lonliess and denial of her feelings. And seeing her react to the future scenes is really touching. Cybill is so good in this episode. I was crying right along with her, especially at the end when she came back into the office and was trying to make amends.
This is such a great Christmas episode, I always try to watch it Christmas Eve... that is a tradition in my household. Watching this one and Twas the Episode Before Christmas. You can really see how Maddie has changed in the one year by watching those back to back.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sakura on Jan 21, 2006 15:49:03 GMT -5
Yeah,a great episode,I love it,and I watched last Christmas,with my twin cousins,and they love it.
I also  a little,when I watch the last part,and the Flashbacks were so great.
Sakura
|
|
|
|
Post by queensgirl on Jan 21, 2006 16:07:06 GMT -5
I love this episode, absolutely, but one thing that always puzzled me about it was that at some points, Maddie acts worse than she usually does. I don't mean the time she gives the employees the verbal what-for. That can be somewhat justified.
I mean the time she makes snippy comments about Agnes, I forget the exact words but maybe it's she doesn't keep up with work, she doesn't pay attention or something... and that sounded mean to me, but not only that, out of step, because it seemed up to then, she kind of liked Agnes! Maddie isn't really close to many people throughout the series, but in a certain sense of empathy, Agnes is a bit protective of her, maybe feels sorry for her. And I thought Maddie treated Agnes as basically a good worker, doing her job right, if nothing else.
Then there's the way she hates working at the agency. I mean, she hates it. Depressed people often do have a distaste for their jobs, feel useless or unnoticed; this explains why Maddie's speeches can be taken as angry or sad. I know they're having to cram a lot of 'story world' time into one episode, but this is just a sea change from the way she 'bravely carries on' with her work the rest of the time. Maybe she never really thought of herself as 'cut out to be a detective,' but once she wound up there, she took her image and her effort level very seriously indeed. She didn't want to be seen as weak or bad at business. Yes, it is a show about why people shouldn't give up, so they had to show her giving up to begin with. It's just kind of a quick turn-around for her, accomplished just within the space of this episode. Although I can believe the story eventually, it does seem a little compressed to me.
It's not just that Maddie feels bad, we can see that's what the story's about, but that for some reason the writers seem to have skipped over things that were already established as marking points in her character. It's a small flaw in the episode, but it threw it off a little for me. Not enough to ruin it, certainly, just in the sense that these are little fact errors that don't quite belong.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cindy on Jan 23, 2006 0:19:40 GMT -5
I think that a lot of Maddie's bad behavior in this episode can be understood by the fact that she has just lost her aunt and she feels her family blames her for not going sooner to see her aunt in the hospital. It really affects her state of mind and therefore to me justifies some of her anger and emotional turmoil (although it is misdirected at her staff).
This episode shows Maddie under pressure at work (they have a large work load and are behind schedule) and at home (the family tragedy and guilt). She really seems to have no other social or play time outside of the office and home....so in that respects both sides of her life are crumbling in on her. Maddie is a very steady person who does not seem to like things that are out of control and right now she feels that both work and the family situation are out of her control. I think she does maybe say and do things that paints her at times in a more negative light....but then think about the film "It's A Wonderful JLlife" and you see a compassionate, caring man like George Bailey do rash out of character things (contemplate suicide) when in a desperate situation.
|
|
|
|
Post by queensgirl on Jan 23, 2006 0:38:30 GMT -5
True enough. Kind of a funny thing: unless I miss my guess, there were no holiday-themed episodes in the last two years. Figures. Comedy and happy endings were few and far between in those seasons. Weird coincidence: "I See London," another episode dealing with the fear of death, aired on Valentine's Day, 1989. Whuh?   As far as I remember, it has nothing to do with that holiday. Correct me if I'm wrong. |
|
Johanna
3rd Level
Stranger who? Stranger me? They don't get any stranger...
Posts: 671
|
Post by Johanna on Jan 23, 2006 7:14:38 GMT -5
I think this whole episode is just so sad, but the ending makes up for it. She finally realizes what she would be without BM investigatons, what we have known all along. My favourite part of an episode is almost always the epilogues, and this is definitely an ending I like to fast-forward to.  |
|
|
|
Post by Hazel on Jan 23, 2006 15:51:00 GMT -5
The flashback as Maddie is racing to her death is phenomenal. So many emotions and memories conjured in what? A five second montage? It is magical. And very telling that when her life flashes before her, it is memories of David that come flooding back. Best montage of the series, IMO.
|
|
|
|
Post by gypsygem81 on Jan 24, 2006 12:43:38 GMT -5
I think this is a wonderful episode! But I really sypmpathize with Maddie in this one. I know I've said this somewhere already, but the employees really irritate me in this episode! I would have fired McGillicudy too if I was the boss and he'd spoken to me like that! I can't believe they're so rude and disrespectful towards Maddie. It's not like she's making them work over Christmas on purpose. And it's not like they have a difficult job! OMG, that scene really winds me up! I really don't blame Maddie for being upset - the fact that she would be working over Christmas instead of going home to see her parents, the reaction of her staff and the fact that David has taken their side over hers, the news she has just recieved about her aunt, and then McGillicuddy - I guess this was just the straw that broke the camels back.
However, I do also understand that it's just a tv show!! And that they have adapted the situation and the characters to fit the story line, so I don't mind if some people are a bit out of character. It's not beyond the boundaries of belief and I wouldn't have this episode any other way.
Love Gem
|
|
|
|
Post by queensgirl on Jan 24, 2006 17:08:23 GMT -5
Right you are. People have been shown the door for far less than what Mac says to her. And the black armbands! The whole staff is lucky they didn't spend the rest of the holiday season on the unemployment line. People gave Maddie a lot of flak for being a tough boss, but I've worked for worse. For every time she snapped at somebody, she let ten other things slide. Limbo parties? Strip poker? She might yell, but nobody suffered the worse for it. (She even walks right by the poker game, if you watch closely in the opening of "Blonde on Blonde," and this very lack of normal response is what first tips off David that something's out of the ordinary.) And David's way of acting pretty much every day would have been the cause of 'the boot' for most people. He criticizes her all the time, but when you think about it, he's pretty lucky where she is concerned, as she actually errs on the side of being quite tolerant. She can lose her temper, but there are very few times she was ever close to firing somebody, and that was usually a question of the budget. Maybe David thinks she's too tough only because before she showed up to actively run the ship, he was even crazier. He's never tried to be serious at all before, which is why normal corporate behavior looks like it's too serious to him. It's funny how David chides Maddie sometimes for being too emotional, then at other times for being unemotional. For pity's sake, make up your mind! And he doesn't brook criticism about himself--couldn't possibly make sense, he isn't ever wrong, is he?  Granted, Maddie doesn't tell the employees right away just what was bothering her, which may have changed the reaction then and there, but since it's very personal, you can sort of understand. More to the point, most people still don't get to lip back at work, and they did owe her some measure of respect. It's hard to run a business. You do have to make money, that is a fact of life, because the landlord doesn't take love letters.  I've had to work overtime, weekends and holidays, and it stinks, but it's something you have to do sometimes. Most people don't have sympathy for management, but they have it just as rough, if not more so, than the other workers. Still one of my favorite episodes. |
|
|
|
Post by diane on Jan 28, 2006 11:04:57 GMT -5
Oooooooh, I just don't have the time.
But, rest assured I will be back with my analysis of this, my very favorite episode, which in my opinion, showcases the quintessential Maddie.
|
|
|
|
Post by Maddie Addison on May 24, 2006 1:19:27 GMT -5
This episode is wonderful. I really like AU episodes and this one is already one of my favorites. I cried so much in the end. And the kiss? Awwww ! |
|
Turbo Grom
1st Level
A gnat with a lobotomy could fool you!
Posts: 179
|
Post by Turbo Grom on Oct 30, 2006 12:44:48 GMT -5
I almost cried while watching the end of it. Actually scene in bar at the end.
This is great episode. I love it whole. But I noticed one thing (I wouldn't if I didn't know that 'Annie thing'). David said on balcony that it's hard to marry becouse you can always meet better woman later. At that moment I knew Maddie and him won't finish together. That was kinda... well. Very simbolic and predictable. I don't know how to explain in english.
And DiPesto and Viola acting just like Maddie and David. Agnes is so cruel and cold that Maddie must've understood that she acts just in that way. Great part. And that in car when Maddie tried to killed herself. Her face. Her expression. Oh, I almost forget. While I'm talking about expressions - when Maddie found out that David is going to marry that woman. Her face was... If it wasn't kinda funny I would cry.
All in all, this is such a great episode!
|
|
|
|
Post by mackidockie on Sept 28, 2011 18:21:26 GMT -5
I think this is a wonderful episode! But I really sypmpathize with Maddie in this one. I know I've said this somewhere already, but the employees really irritate me in this episode! I would have fired McGillicudy too if I was the boss and he'd spoken to me like that! I can't believe they're so rude and disrespectful towards Maddie. It's not like she's making them work over Christmas on purpose. And it's not like they have a difficult job! OMG, that scene really winds me up! I really don't blame Maddie for being upset - the fact that she would be working over Christmas instead of going home to see her parents, the reaction of her staff and the fact that David has taken their side over hers, the news she has just recieved about her aunt, and then McGillicuddy - I guess this was just the straw that broke the camels back. THANK YOU! I could have never said it better! You don't talk like that to your boss, and you certainly don't have that attitude, especially if you have being paid for doing absolutely nothing before Maddie came in. I really don't like the employees' attitude towards her. Like she said, she could have fired all of the, but because of David's advice, who's coincidentally on their side, she finally kept all of them. I'm not surprised about David's attitude. He was always portrayed as the good cop and Maddie as the bad cop. |
|
a little,when I watch the last part,and the Flashbacks were so great.
I've had to work overtime, weekends and holidays, and it stinks, but it's something you have to do sometimes. Most people don't have sympathy for management, but they have it just as rough, if not more so, than the other workers. Still one of my favorite episodes. 
