From: kimi@newsance.att.com (Kimiye Tipton;ball of confusion)
Subject: Re: NX Premiere "Northwest Passages"--LONG
Organization: AT&T IMS, Maitland, FL
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:40:48 GMT

In article <1aal9kINN1fq@eagle.natinst.com> winkeler@natinst.com (Keith Winkeler) writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.140351.7153@newsance.att.com> kimi@newsance.att.com 
(Kimiye Tipton;ball of confusion) writes, at great length, but not as 
long as this one:

>>So, it turns out Maggie was trying valiantly to have a great birthday,
>>and everyone else was dumping on her.  This is great-- real life!
>>Although it didn't quite go along with previous stories about her
>>character (remember when she learned she was going far-sighted?),
>
KW>I think it _is_ consistent with the far-sighted episode. In both
KW>shows, she is disconcerted by her age and reveals her insecurities
KW>in her efforts to hide her obvious worries.

Well, I thought she was trying very hard not to be disconcerted, but
nobody was helping her in the least ('cept Ed).  Whereas, in the 
optometrist episode, it had just hit her that she was showing signs of 
aging, and it was blowing her away.  She was self-pitying, self-absorbed,
and kept whining to everyone.  I guess what I was trying to say is
that there was growth in Maggie's attitude about aging since the 
far-sighted episode, and we really hadn't witnessed her getting to
that point.  It was still great, however, and so true that even when
you try to come to terms with something, you can't bring everyone
else along with you.  

The episode pointed out that the problems of aging are real, and it
wasn't just Maggie's insecurities and worries that were the problem,
but all of society's attitudes about youth and missed opportunities.
Ruth Ann's speech about how it was fine never to have children was
great-- Maggie really wants kids and is fooling herself that she's
got all the time in the world to do it.  But that's a valid worry
of aging, which she is trying to throw out along with the worry about
yogurt bum.

>>And the dream sequence-- YES!  Just what I asked Santa for.  Followed
>>by the best line in the whole show (see my .sig).  That whole
>>troup of boorish jerks-- instead of idealizing her lost beaux with
>>those little dioramas ("And what does the glued-on macaroni stand
>>for, man's inhumanity to man?"), Maggie sees what those guys were
>>like at their worst.  

>Whoa, I thinked you missed this one completely. If anything, this was
>the first episode in which the "boorish jerks" were portrayed neutrally
>and not negatively. In her delerium, she doesn't see them as jerks, but

No, no, no, _I'm_ the one who thought they were jerks.  Maggie was
idealizing these guys like crazy, while she was writing all those
letters for the river (except for the little digs that kept creep-
ing in :-).  The gang-bang at the picnic made them seem
like jerks to me, because much of what they were saying may have
been true, but it was so petty.  It was like they had to slap her in
the face with their criticisms before she could even remember what
they were really like--normal, complaining, self-absorbed men, and not
a one of them who cared very much for her.  

I really did think they were at their worst, but Maggie seemed to be 
astonished at seeing this side of them, maybe because they were all there
at once, dumping on her at the same time?  I still think she's trying
too hard to be Little Miss Perfect (even to the point of this
dream, under the control of her subconscious, where all her past
boyfriends dump petty stuff on her--she's making herself a victim
at the same time that she's acknowledging her mistakes).  Whoa--heavy!

>guys mouths. She is beginning to understand how she must have seemed
>from the other perspective. Now, having seen her own faults, she
>can develop a more healthy relationship (e.g. with Joel. Before, while

I think she's remembering what she covered up in guilt over their
deaths, and the addition of Steve Scanlon, the one-night-stand whose
death was news, was a hint that she has idealized every relationship
in her life, not just those whose funeral she's attended.  It's true 
that she could see her own faults reflected by these guys, but I didn't 
think that was half as important as her seeing that none of those guys 
was any great shakes.  It's like the time right before and after the
divorce when you really hate your (ex-)spouse, because you resent the
hell out of them for not being loveable anymore.  Maggie's so guilt-
ridden that she never got to that point (well, maybe with Rick).

Maggie has always turned into Suzie Homemaker with the men in her life,
in direct contrast to the independent, adventurous woman she wants to
be.  She's chosen men who would never really care deeply about her 
so she could separate those dependent, little-wifey game-playing needs
from the rest of her life.  

Of course she was using every one of them, and she probably even
knew it at the time.  What she didn't realize was the possibility that 
they weren't just as happy with the arrangement as she was.  After all,
she was doing with them just what was expected, right?  Submerging her
own ego (when it suited her), waiting on them, being gratingly cheerful
and forgiving, being a great sex partner, all the "good wife" stuff
that Mommy and Daddy (or society) taught her she must do.  So she
assuages her guilt over not staying in Grosse Pointe and marrying the
right guy by playing the role with unsuitable partners that could never 
get serious about her, who never cared enough about her to try to get
under her skin.  And during her fever dream, it bit her back, big time.

Joel was right-- Maggie is in denial, but not so much over her age as
over all those dead boyfriends, and love in general.

On the other hand, I really think the writers are doing a wonderful
job of writing Maggie and her travails lately-- she's turning into
a very complex person, rather than the knee-jerk feminist/liberal 
Joel-baiter that she tended to be in the past.

So, what else did I miss completely?  Obviously, this was an even 
better episode than I thought, with so much fodder for thought.
Excuse me while I go chew my cud for a while longer.  I haven't
even begun to think about Joel's place in the story....


Kimiye Tipton  kimi@kokomo.att.com or kimi@newsance.att.com  Maitland, FL
  I know you all remember Rick's predecessor Dave.  He fell asleep on
  a glacier and froze to death.  But before Dave there was Glenn, and
  Glenn and his Volvo took a wrong turn and ended up on a missile
  test range.  And then there was Bruce--victim of a terrible fishing
  accident.  And then there was Harry.  Remember Harry?  He died when
  he was out ... uh ... umm ... how was it?
  	Picnic.  At a picnic.
  Picnic.  Right.  Potato salad.
  				Chris eulogizes with Maggie's help (2.7)