The Rustle of the Sheets . . .Essay #66
"More Thoughts (And How!)"By Melissa -- posted on the Mannyac Board.
The Rustle of the Sheets . . .Anyway, here goes some of my thoughts (and please bear with me) ...
1) Morning/Day after the break-up scene:
Michelle goes to visit Drew and gives her "I am now free from Morticia" spiel, and Drew goes semi-ballistic with "Once again, Miss Priss, you get what you want ... How do you do that?" followed by Michelle's little smile with "Yeah, I did get what I want" deal.
Okay, first time, I thought (like many here), "Hey wait a minute, Drew 'Miss flashy, but flat and shallow' Jacobs -- 'Miss Priss' saved your sorry ass, along with your dreamboat Joe's," and cursed the writers for making Michelle reply the way she did. I am still damning them for even remotely suggesting, through that little exchange, that Michelle has things handed to her in a silver platter, while Poor Drew gets her life messed up ... Now, however, I'd like to see that little exchange as being more about Michelle's confusion, her uncertainty of her 'wants' and not really about Poor Drew (I know, wishful thinking). It's the way Michelle smiled almost hesitantly, and how she immediately said "So why do I have this empty, sinking feeling [even though I got what I've been wishing for]" -- it's an abrupt shift to Michelle's state of mind, and that's making me feel more hopeful that it's not really about feeling sorry for Drew.
2) Bauer kitchen "break-up" scene vs Towers "annulment" scenes
I actually think that the Towers scenes from last Wednesday's episode are just as powerful, if not even more so (but in a different way), as the break-up scenes in the Bauer kitchen. Each is certainly dramatic, but the first is sweetly heartbreaking, while the latter is highly charged, for lack of a better phrase. And Danny, ooooh Danny -- Paul Anthony Stewart, whatever -- absolutely took my breath away in both. Danny is desperate -- and I mean hanging by the threads -- both times.
In the first, he is absolutely forlorn in his desperation. From Danny's point of view, Michelle has betrayed him (and I emphasize him, as in personally; while at that point, Michelle still thinks the betrayal was about the family/Carmen, and not him), mistrusts and fears him. Plus, he himself has just lost his highly valued self-control. You could see in his eyes the death of all his hopes for him and Michelle. Yet, at that point, he has not shut down. He is still showing his vulnerability to Michelle, though she's too much of a wreck herself to really see it and appropriately reach out to him. The Michelle who showed up (and tried to reach out) at Towers would have connected with this Danny.
Which brings me to the Danny in the Towers scenes. This Danny has shut down and is definitely steely, quite angry and impatient in his desperation. No wonder poor Michelle is stunned!
Allow me to divide the Danny scenes in three parts (to show the neat framing) ...
The screen didn't show his entire body movements, but I bet he slammed a hand on the table. He is fighting so hard to not completely lose it, but he is boiling! Then he throws back at Michelle a lot of her earlier I-want-out-of-this-situation mantra, says that he's now giving her what she has always wanted, and finally rails "What else do you want from me?"
He might as well have said 'You've taken everything I have to give, now go away and leave me alone before you destroy me even more!' He storms off, leaving Michelle in her own anguished desperation. Wow, that has got to be one of my favorite sequences, in terms of sheer tension and acting from Stewart and Joie Lenz. I was and still am floored just thinking about that sequence.
3) Etc. etc. etc.
I understand that Michelle is confused, but I can't help but wanna give her some hard shaking at times. In the morning/day immediately after the intense break-up, she knows without a doubt that Danny loves her. I realize that going to dinner with Jesse was an afterthought (yeah, that Drew girl pushed it), but still -- she let Danny see her and Jesse walk away together.
Yes, it was good to see that her eyes were glued on Danny the whole time, but wasn't it just a teeny-bit insensitive (okay, I should say unthinking) on her part to go off with Blue-boy like that in front of Danny-who-she-knows-loves-her-so? ... Next, Millenium, with Michelle and Jesse again in Danny's face. By the end of the night, our MAN is a goner.
I can't help but wonder if the Michelle and Jesse's 'reunion' helped pushed Danny to cocoon himself even more, to the point of his reactions at Towers. (Those Towers scenes were definitely coming.) We know that the shut down goes much deeper than what the pairing of Michelle and Jesse alone can inflict. And when I say Michelle and Jesse here, I refer only to Michelle's seeming "love and devotion" to her old flame, which we know is 'misguided.'
Finally ... I continually see so many symmetries (or more accurately, anti-symmetries) in Michelle and Danny, their motivations and actions, both individually and while entwined together in their story. Star-crossed, indeed! But I love the fact that so far, the cross-purposes come straight from their characterization. Here's hoping TPTB don't start throwing purely external obstacles (like that Danny/Drew fruit thing) their way ...
As long as they continue decking Drew in those laughable garb while dressing Michelle in quieter but glamorous and elegant attire, I am actually happy, because then I know (or at least like to think) that they want me to think of Drew as the flashy fluff and Michelle as the classy heavy weight.
One more wish -- I want to see Danny and Michelle square off in a battle of wills and wit (right before admitting their true feelings for each other, and many other times afterwards). Their characterizations are begging for it .... Drama or comedy. Either way, sparks will fly! Poor Drew and Jesse would not be fit to participate in such a battle (not even with each other).
Melissa