leaves are many, the root is one; Though there are many branches, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; I shake off my branches and flowers in the sun.
Now I may wither into the truth. Now I may wither into the truth. A
few days before I comment on the composition, I will teach the students this little poem by Yeats by the way. "Truth from Time", then inexplicably think of a recent drama, Medium, translated as "spirits hunting down the murderer."
It was already its sixth season when I first watched it. The paradox of American dramas is that if the ratings of the new drama are not good, it will die immediately, and if it succeeds, it must be filmed endlessly until it is rejected by the audience. Therefore, except for a few with strong vitality, at this stage, most of the screenwriter Jiang Lang is exhausted, and the series is dying. Moreover, this drama is a "supernatural crime". Although I love supernatural and crime dramas very much, I humbly think that if they are mixed together, it would be a humiliation to the crime drama-you said there must be an all-knowing witch Sitting in town, you need forensics, forensics, criminal psychology...what are you doing, and what are the wise police and detectives in CSI, CM, and Closer?
So I reluctantly used it to survive the "drama famine" with a contemptuous attitude. The reason that attracted me to watch is even more absurd. The heroine Allison... is an ordinary American aunt at all! What I am curious about is how can an unbeautiful heroine, a story that is not logical (what crime drama should be in my eyes), can survive six seasons, even if it is just lingering?
Then I reacted. Fortunately, a good policeman Scanlon and a good prosecutor Devalos, our heroine can only provide a fragmented dream or some kind of image like the apocalypse of the Bible. Sometimes it has already happened, sometimes it is possible. Yes, some are comics full of symbolic metaphors, and even more unfounded, er, purely random thoughts based on insecurities that ordinary people will have. It is hard to believe in a witch, and even harder to believe in a hysterical aunt. Besides, to produce enough legal evidence to truly solve these headless cases in reality, she cannot do it alone. So Scanlon and Devalos had no choice but to question her while busy looking for evidence. They would be furious, exhausted, and even affected, but in the end they were able to follow the clues provided by her to bring the real murderer to justice. In other words, there are still crime dramas. I can't help but admire the screenwriters, so many stories, and follow a general pattern, but they are actually not very repetitive, although some of them have the shadow of other classic ghost or crime dramas. In a certain episode of the third season, I wondered whether it would win an Emmy based on this. Allison repeated the bad day twice in her dream, and each time she tried to correct the mistake of the last time, it ended in another tragedy. But when this day really came, she finally got smarter and got rid of the crisis. Medium's philosophy is: Although the future can be foreseen, it is not certain. The direction of the event ultimately depends on us. This is why Allison has to do his best to follow the trajectory of dreams, prevent crime or punish the murderer, and even change the fate of others.
The biggest advantage of Allison is that his nerves are as strong as Xiaoqiang. No matter whether others believe it or not (she often suspects that she is wrong, and she does it often), but she always insists that what she sees is "there must be a reason." A woman who has nightmares every night for forty years without going crazy, her ideals of saving the world (at least saving lives and pursuing justice) after marrying and giving birth to three children will not die away. It is really an extremely remarkable thing. But her annoying place is also here. The best husband is not someone else. It is her husband Joe. Well, think about it. We generally believe that to be a wife or a mother is it more important to take care of the family or save the world? But because of those nightmares and emergency calls in the middle of the night, she always bounced off the bed, awakened her husband, told him to accompany her with insomnia, treated him as a trash basket, and dumped all her worries and frustrations to him. When the case was not resolved, she was entangled by ghosts and often performed some shocking and inexplicable behaviors, and her nasty premonitions were useless for her relatives alone and could not help him make a fortune (from starting a business to buying stocks). But it does not prevent her from believing that real hysteria has messed up their lives...
So you call her self-centered, neurotic, irritable, irritable, and even a little rude. This is almost sinful! But if you think about it the other way round, it is precisely because of this that she is more credible and amiable. If her every premonition is accurate, if she can see everything that ordinary people can’t see, and is calm, wise, and insightful, then it’s not Allison, but God, or at least the apostle and saint... Then this drama is also What's so interesting. So in the end you will be like Joe, who is furious from time to time by her, but you still decide to tolerate her and even continue to serve as her strong backing.
Speaking of this, many people will think of another American drama Ghost Whisperer. They are really similar. The heroines are all women who are troubled by talents. They have a nearly perfect husband and a number of ideal friends to help them. To complete the "impossible task", the new season of Ghost Whisperer directly pulled the time to 5 years later, let the heroine have a child, I don't know if it was inspired by Medium. But the difference between them is so obvious. Ghost Whisperer takes the warm route (there were a few episodes to go the dark route, but it seemed unsuccessful, and soon came back), the ghost lingers, just to "make up for the shortcomings of life." The heroine Melinda is a full vase, well, it is the popular beauty we like, with charming eyes and full breasts. In the past few seasons, she always wears low-cut dresses and nightgowns (this season seems to be much more conservative, probably because she is a mother) In appearance, it seems that "Look, I'm beautiful" all the time. She is also gentle and loving, although she chases ghosts all day, she still does not lose the charm of the little woman. She has a lot of emotions and tears are filled with tears at every turn, which is her usual invincible signature expression. As for her husband, it is simply the ultimate version of the "good husband" that women can imagine (it's no wonder the actor once wanted to quit the show, the screenwriter designed his death and caused audiences to protest, and finally returned with a corpse). This season, he has turned from a lifeguard to a doctor. Their marriage continues to be romantic, and even for her to change a beautiful car, he has to put a big bow as a surprise gift... In short, it is the modern age of "the prince and the princess live happily ever after." Version. There is no sense of reality, but it is enough to satisfy the audience’s fantasy. After all, when we are entertaining, we don’t need too much truth, right?
Joe's perfection comes from a fragmented life. He is an ordinary and conservative American man who loves his wife, loves his family, works hard, lives a reasonable life, and has a sense of humor. But it also means his mediocrity. As he himself said: There are many opportunities in this industry. Aerospace science and technology engineers like him, the best, have already succeeded in starting their own businesses. He works for a company and sits in a middle-level position. His performance is not bad, but he is not indispensable. He once tried to "leave", but hesitated to stay; he had the experience of starting a business, and finally got rid of it. He also suffered a mid-life crisis, was unemployed, and was heavily in debt. He worked hard to take on the responsibilities of the family, taking care of his wife and children, and busy, but he didn't even have the ability to spend a thousand dollars to satisfy his daughter's wish to go camping on vacation. When I was most embarrassed, I had to let go of my self-esteem and borrow money from my mother to live a life...
This kind of life is actually suffocating, exhausting, and even desperate. We came to the world to live this way? Is there another possibility for more publicity and beauty? If she didn't meet him and he didn't meet her, would the whole story be rewritten? As this goes on day after day, is there a day that suddenly collapses?
The feelings between them will also stumble. He was not happy with Allison’s ability. When Allison was the craziest (such as sleeping on the highway in the middle of the night), he had to slap her up suddenly. More often, he had to fight for reasons. She pulled back from the "abnormal" thinking to the logic that ordinary people should have. He also had the mental trauma after the kidnapping and the ambiguity of his colleagues texting in the middle of the night, and he could not bear the nightmare of Allison and asked to be separated...
However, he still insisted on his responsibility and stayed by her side, because they were one. Medium is probably the TV series with the most "bed scenes". The moment Allison wakes up from a nightmare, he always instinctively grabs Joe's hand, knowing that someone will be there forever. It's great. It's good to be able to talk about those gods who are not good enough for outsiders and tell him without hesitation. There is always someone who believes that you are not crazy, which is great. It's great that someone who doesn't understand your talents and feelings can help you straighten out the mess in your life. When I lay down at night, I habitually asked "How was your day?" "It seems that you did not have a very good day?" It is forbidden to talk about the same case, and both people feel very distorted. There are also a bunch of quirky children that bother two people together, which is great.
That is the sadness and joy of middle age, that is, staying together beyond romance. Every love always starts with "a fair lady, a gentleman is so awkward", but it can end with "hold your hand and grow old with your son", not too many. The numbness will be, even if you grow old, old age makes me complain. "There are not a few. Although the life described by Medium is difficult, it always has bright colors and hope. This is about what makes people care about in addition to the story.
Back to Yeats's poem. Then for you, like a flower and a beautiful family, like a fleeting year. Good dramas are always filmed season by season, and we chase after season by season, and we look at ourselves getting old together with our beloved protagonist, feeling extremely sad. Looking back at House recently, I found that not only the beauty, but also the uncle could not escape this fate. It was simply sad.
But because of Medium, I started looking back from the sixth season. After getting used to the aunt Allison, I was surprised to find that she was actually pretty in the first and second seasons. And Joe, much younger and handsome. Look at the sixth season, in fact, she is still good-looking. Although she is so fat, she is kind to the mother of three children. And I found that her character still changed. In the previous few seasons, she felt very good about herself. She often used the title of "District Attorney's Office" to bluff people (in fact, she was not a civil servant, but was always a "spiritual medium" who could not reveal her identity), and did things without thinking. Following the "intuition" guide, let the boss, colleagues, and husband wipe their butt after a leak, making them more paranoid and irritable. But after suffering several big setbacks, including the loss of her boss, she slowly became more restrained, more considerate of others, and more sacrificed, becoming a wiser wife and mother. You see, it's not easy to grow up. It's not perfect as an adult. I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.
View more about Medium reviews
