The Big C delivers a fantastic season and finale

The Big C was one of my most anticipated shows of 2010, and it lived up to all of my expectations. No, it surpassed them. I am in awe of creator and writer, Darlene Hunt. Until now, her resume has been thin. She wrote and produced a few episodes of 90210 in the first season. She has some acting credits. But nothing that would make me think she would pull this excellence out of her ass.

This show is definitely not for everyone. It deals with subjects not lightly taken. Cancer. And death. Dying of cancer. Laura Linney, who can really do no wrong, plays Cathy with such life — it’s sometimes too much for me. How lucky are we that this award winning actress is playing a cancer patient dealing with death with more life than I’ve seen on anything since, well, I’m going to say it … Six Feet Under.  Until the credits rolled tonight, I didn’t know what could be used as a comparison. Now I do. Perhaps it was the use of a Sia song in the closing scene that brought it all together. Whatever it was … The Big C is now in the top of my list of all time favorite shows.

This season ended with two of the most incredible episodes of television I’ve seen in ages. Any show that can make me laugh out loud, laugh until I cried, and cry until I am practically inconsolable meets that criteria. There are really tough subjects here. Cancer, death, homelessness, Alzheimer’s, extra marital affairs, suicide, deception and denial. The writers have given us material to make us think. My favorite is: does life stop when you find out you are dying?  The decided answer was no. In fact, all season long, Cathy confided in only one person until the very end: her neighbor Marlene. A crazy old bitch who also happened to have Alzheimer’s.

They became an unlikely and yet perfect duo as they let each other into lives that were otherwise closed to everyone around them. They shared crazy stuff together, and their affection for each other that grew because they accepted each other for who they were; ugly, festering, emotional wounds included. Last week, the reality of Marlene’s disease came to a head when she almost killed Cathy’s son, Adam, because of her disease. When she realized the degree to which her Alzheimer’s progressed, she took the same gun she used to threaten Adam and killed herself. I was unprepared and yet expected it to happen.

The season finale dealt with Cathy’s emotions as life continued around her even in the wake of Marlene’s death. Adam was basically unresponsive to what happened. Marlene’s daughters were throwing her life away like it was nothing but trash. Cathy’s homeless brother, Sean, is going to be a father. All of these things sent Cathy’s life spiraling INTO control. She saw the light. She realized that not trying to kick death’s ass wasn’t who she was. She decided on treatment. To live as long as she possibly could. I’ve understood every step she has taken, and followed her into her interleukin hallucination as the season ended. I laughed and I cried. The character of Cathy is a hero to me, and I cannot wait until season two. If you haven’t watched … I beg you. Watch. If you open your heart and your mind, you will not be disappointed.

Other than that:

This doesn’t fit in my post, but it is soooo me I can’t let it go unmentioned. In their quest to get Adam to emote, Cathy and Paul watch a family movie with him. We enter the scene at the end, when both of them are in tears, soon to be inconsolable.

“When you said let’s watch a family movie, I was thinkin’ Ace Ventura: Pet Detective or somethin’ fuckin’ animated. But you made us sit through Where The Red Fern Grows. (conversation continues, Adam is not crying) It’s the saddest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen!” – Paul

Clacked by Carissa Pavlica
on Nov 16, 2010 @ 11:30 EST5EDT