“I just want to live a little longer without everything being about my being sick,” Cathy Jamison told Dr. Todd. “I just want to be happy…. Telling Paul I have cancer will not make me happy.”
That’s the justification Cathy gave to Dr. Todd, who was embarrassed by the fact that he’d confronted Paul about leaving his wife in her time of need, for keeping this vital information from her spouse. And, for perhaps the first time since I’ve started getting annoyed with The Big C’s Cathy for not telling her family about her cancer, I discovered I was no longer angry with her character.
Sure, Cathy shouldn’t have been at all shocked to find herself sitting alone in the ER waiting room after Paul told her he wanted a divorce. But she had been starting to steel herself to tell him, finally, when Paul stalked off. Plus it was revealed that she’d actually been trying to get into a clinical trial to treat her melanoma and had just found out she’d been rejected, something which moved her to tears. And my at times harsh judgment of her just melted.
Paul’s reaction shouldn’t have come as a surprise, not after the crappy way he’s been treated. Cathy has been punishing him for letting her down all these years and not making her happy, as he bears the brunt of her anger about her cancer. There she was, trying to OD on happiness, take risks, act like an adolescent trying to outrun death, make peace with the notion that it was likely she wouldn’t be around to finish raising her son (hence the teaching a 14-year-old how to drive) when her kid went and crashed a car into a tree. All of which can be partially blamed on Cathy. Paul was too drunk to drive Adam home from a party because he’d been trying to numb his pain with liquor after seeing Cathy and Lenny gettin’ frisky on the Jamison family patio.
The irony of Adam landing in the hospital, where he was wearing a hospital gown like the ones we see Cathy wearing during her visits with Dr. Todd, just as Cathy was letting go, albeit under the influence of a controlled substance — “Maybe I don’t have to work so hard, I don’t have to worry so much … I should exist around him” — was delicious and not lost on her, something which I hope will transform into a motivational realization.
Cathy’s family still needs her. And, if anything, she’s at least dedicated to her son. Here’s to hoping that this car wreck might inspire her to fight her cancer rather than just let it wash over her while she gets a bikini wax.
Do you think the accident, along with Paul’s angry demand for a divorce, will do anything to change Cathy’s behavior?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Oct 19, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
It’s interesting that Adam, for once, was actually trying to be the responsible one this week while his parents turned into kids. I don’t know if these events will change Cathy, but by my count there are probably 4 episodes left to the season, so I hope she at least tells Adam and Paul what’s going on just in case there is no season two.
there’s already gonna be a Season 2 i believe