A Bit of a Different Kind of Writing This Week

This is a bit of a different writing for me this week. Not a lot of mindful introspection here. No deep sharings of journeys past and lessons learned. No wisdom to pass on in funny and not so funny ways. Because what is on my mind is The Blacklist. This great bit of television that I think is so friggin’ good. And I missed this past Thursday’s episode and was thinking about watching it now and that got me to thinking about why this show is great. And I thought I’d share that here because…well this is my blog and it’s called I Just Gotta Say This and that really means that I can say anything I want. And this is what I want to say. So…

The Blacklist…

I am not a big TV watcher.  I don't even have one.  A TV.  I used to.  But I was never really big on watching. Not everyday anyway. Though if I did find myself in front to it, well then I could sit for oh, like ten straight hours of Say Yes to the Dress.

Sitting like this, this is exactly how I love to watch TV if I am going to watch.  I like to sit and watch the entire season of something.  This once a week, wait for seven whole fucking days to find out who Nancy Botwin may sell pot to or have sex with or whether the Island is actually real or really just the deep, emotional turmoil of Jack Shephard's psyche.  No, I need to get it all fast.  In one long and extremely satisfying take. This is my TV watching drug of choice.

And so I watched Lost - all six seasons - in two marathon weekends.  I watched Dexter in much the same way.  And Sons of Anarchy.  And Weeds.  And the first season of Orange is the New Black.  And then the second.  And I never watched Breaking Bad. But I did watch House of Cards and love it!

My show of choice right now is The Blacklist.  I keep wanting to say how much I love Christian Slater even though this show stars James Spader.  Slater, Spader.  You can see why I keep making this mistake.  Either way, they are both great actors.  James Spader more so, though Christian Slater was very good in Heathers.  If you have not seen Heathers, please go watch that movie.  Now that is a great movie.  And one of the few that Winona Ryder was good in.  Though she was also pretty good in Edward Scissorhands with Johnny Depp.

I love Johnny Depp.  Though never got into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Now, what is interesting about Heathers is that Shannon Doherty was in that.  I mean, really!!  Shannon of Beverly Hills 90210 fame.  Truth, I never put that together until just now, writing this piece today and I googled Heathers to make sure of the spelling of Christian Slater's name and there was Shannon Doherty.  Crazy right!  And this shows how sucky I am at spelling because really, how many different ways are there to spell Christian or Slater.  Like one each….

So, James Spader and The Blacklist.  This is a great show.  I think so anyway.  Because there are so many layers to everything.  But more because there are so many layers to Red, the character that James Spader, not Christian Slater, plays.  He is so interesting.  I am at the episode where…..oh, no spoilers. But go watch this show.  That is where I am going when I am done writing this piece.  (Though now I am all caught up and have to watch like a normal person.  I am looking at this in a very this-is-a-life-lesson kind of way and seeing it as learning moderation).

But before I go, to watch more of this show (specifically this past Thursday’s episode), I want to leave you with this, that Red, aka James Spader not Christian Slater, said. Because this is why I really love this show.  Because of moments like this. When the writing is smart.  And celebrates the human experience of love and loss and passion and feeling. 

If you have not watched this show and do not want any spoilers at all, then perhaps you stop reading this writing.  If you want to read something so lovely, and you don't mind a bit of insight into James Spader's character rather than letting him unfold for you, keep reading.  He said this:

“Have you ever sailed across an ocean, Donald? On a sailboat surrounded by sea with no land in sight, without even the possibility of sighting land for days to come? To stand at the helm of your destiny?

I want that one more time.

I want to be in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, to feel the surge as ten racehorses go thundering by.

I want another meal in Paris at L’Ambroisie  in the place des Vosges.

I want another bottle of wine and then another.

I want the warmth of a woman in the cool set of sheets.

One more night of jazz at the Vanguard.

I want to stand on summits and smoke Cubans and feel the sun on my face for as long as I can.

Walk on the Wall again.

Climb the Tower.

Ride the River.

Stare at the frescos.

I want to sit in the garden and read one more good book.

Most of all I want to sleep. I want to sleep like I slept when I was a boy.

Give me that. Just one time.

…I think this is lovely. Really lovely. Beautiful.