Post by queensgirl on Mar 14, 2006 18:01:20 GMT -5
There is a subtle theme under the surface in this sequence of episodes.
Of course, we all know about the overt physical attraction that creates a crisis by the end of the saga. In each episode, however, there is a type of parallel to this, in the form of scenes, some funny, others very dramatic, of the principals in our story having to sit by and watch while only others may carry on with actual intimacy. It’s almost as if fate is laughing at their desire to be together, and because of their unwillingness to be honest and above-board, won’t let them consummate the emotions until the last minute.
In “Blonde on Blonde,” Dave has his harrowing moment scrambling along the ledge outside the windows. He sees a businessman watching a blue movie. Down the lane, he sees whom he thinks is Maddie involved in a tryst with a mysterious man. That turns out not to be true (because it's not her), although David will soon have a lot more to worry about.
Next, in “Sam and Dave,” when Bert and Mr. Addison go on the surveillance trip, David lets Bert run the camera because he himself is too anxious to do anything but stretch out on the bed. You’d figure the task of the assignment is one the normally ribald David would approach with gladness, but no. Once Bert begins to recite the sequence of events taking place in the room across the way, David can’t take it at all, and again contradicts type by panicking. He runs off to catch the people he’s really concerned about before they can get to do anything more detailed.
Third, in “Maddie’s Turn to Cry,” they have to listen to Alan McLafferty’s mistress Elaine Johnson explain her supposed greater knowledge of the less savory aspects of love and sex. Johnson, who had earlier been brazen in her semi-mocking appeal to David, shows a tad of commiseration for Maddie with the remark about the differences between attitudes of men and women. Then the detectives try to track down the married couple, only to find out they are no longer a couple after all. So Elaine’s prediction of the fakeness of it all sadly rang true, and poor Mrs. McLafferty wound up on the wrong end of a gun.
In “I Am Curious,” after David wrecks his office and sits there brooding in front of the television, he watches “Divorce Court,” and scoffs at the idea of truth in love or hope in the institution of marriage.
Note the last line in the show in the background that can be heard before David storms out to the garage. A lawyer is talking about how a woman busted her spouse and his paramour in flagrante. “Didn’t she catch you…” doing something rather graphic with her husband?
It can be said that even the infamous ‘mistaken identity’ scene in Maddie’s room is another case of this. She expected a different man to be there, and she thought she was doing something else with someone else. So it’s a wickedly ironic echo of her deepest feelings.
Temptation eventually makes reality unbearable. However, it also forces the two out of their stasis and pushes them to acknowledge and act on the truth.
Of course, we all know about the overt physical attraction that creates a crisis by the end of the saga. In each episode, however, there is a type of parallel to this, in the form of scenes, some funny, others very dramatic, of the principals in our story having to sit by and watch while only others may carry on with actual intimacy. It’s almost as if fate is laughing at their desire to be together, and because of their unwillingness to be honest and above-board, won’t let them consummate the emotions until the last minute.
In “Blonde on Blonde,” Dave has his harrowing moment scrambling along the ledge outside the windows. He sees a businessman watching a blue movie. Down the lane, he sees whom he thinks is Maddie involved in a tryst with a mysterious man. That turns out not to be true (because it's not her), although David will soon have a lot more to worry about.
Next, in “Sam and Dave,” when Bert and Mr. Addison go on the surveillance trip, David lets Bert run the camera because he himself is too anxious to do anything but stretch out on the bed. You’d figure the task of the assignment is one the normally ribald David would approach with gladness, but no. Once Bert begins to recite the sequence of events taking place in the room across the way, David can’t take it at all, and again contradicts type by panicking. He runs off to catch the people he’s really concerned about before they can get to do anything more detailed.
Third, in “Maddie’s Turn to Cry,” they have to listen to Alan McLafferty’s mistress Elaine Johnson explain her supposed greater knowledge of the less savory aspects of love and sex. Johnson, who had earlier been brazen in her semi-mocking appeal to David, shows a tad of commiseration for Maddie with the remark about the differences between attitudes of men and women. Then the detectives try to track down the married couple, only to find out they are no longer a couple after all. So Elaine’s prediction of the fakeness of it all sadly rang true, and poor Mrs. McLafferty wound up on the wrong end of a gun.
In “I Am Curious,” after David wrecks his office and sits there brooding in front of the television, he watches “Divorce Court,” and scoffs at the idea of truth in love or hope in the institution of marriage.
Note the last line in the show in the background that can be heard before David storms out to the garage. A lawyer is talking about how a woman busted her spouse and his paramour in flagrante. “Didn’t she catch you…” doing something rather graphic with her husband?
It can be said that even the infamous ‘mistaken identity’ scene in Maddie’s room is another case of this. She expected a different man to be there, and she thought she was doing something else with someone else. So it’s a wickedly ironic echo of her deepest feelings.
Temptation eventually makes reality unbearable. However, it also forces the two out of their stasis and pushes them to acknowledge and act on the truth.