Is it just me, or......

[So-Called Angel]

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the REALLY bad acting done by Bess Armstrong in episode 16 "Resolutions". It's the part where Mr Katimski goes to the Chase house and starts shouting at Patty, and then Patty starts crying. Well, you know the bit where she's crying? I think it looks really fake. It actually makes me embarrassed for her.

I was really impressed with the quality of the acting in this show, so I was amazed that they didn't re-shoot this scene because it is a really bad piece of acting - in my humble opinion!

Just wondered if anyone else noticed or even agrees.

Ciao!

[lizardcub]

Wow, I don't remember this well. I'm excited to rewatch Resolutions and see (even though if you're right I'll be sad!).

I do remember that I thought her best acting was in So-Called Angels. I thought she did a great job in general (does anyone else tear up in Dancing in the Dark after her Cinderella breaks when she says, "But we don't know how!"?), but in that episode she really blew me away.

[sid_barrett]

. It actually makes me embarrassed for her.

wow, thought i was the only person who did that. sometimes its unbearable to watch bad acting, not just because its bad yaknow. anyway, i agree with you. i always liked Tom Irwins acting, very down to earth IMHO.

[So-Called Angel]

i always liked Tom Irwins acting, very down to earth IMHO.

I like his acting, too.

I'm not saying that Bess Armstrong isn't a good actress, it's just that she tends to over-act sometimes, IMHO!

[Megs]

I think that was a part of Patty's character, to overact and overdramatize things. It reminds me so much of my own mom. I think that Bess acted that scene beautifully. It was classic Patty. So, I disagree that her acting was off.

[glitter_punk]

I agree with you Megs on Patty's character overdramatizing things, because that reminds me of my own mom too, I found myself in the same situations Angela did as a I grew up (I was a young MSCL watcher, I'm 18 now) and I thought Patty's character was very real, and I'm sure connected with a lot of teens who felt that their mom overdramatized, overreacted, similar to patty.

[AngelaBee]

lizardcub, I totally agree...my heart always breaks at the scene with patti breaking the cinderella. I think the scenes with patti and graham were so powerful...you could feel the clash of their marraige..patti was trying so hard and graham had just given up interest...their failing marraige was symbolized by the fact that they couldn't dance with eachother...

[K-man]

AngelaBee, that's a great observation!

[Megs]

I thought she did a great job in general (does anyone else tear up in Dancing in the Dark after her Cinderella breaks when she says, "But we don't know how!"?), but in that episode she really blew me away.

Yeah, and I like how she yelled at Graham, "How can we be together for so long, and not know how to dance together?" And he yells back, "Because! Because we have been together for so long." And then she throws the Cinderella. That scene is so touching, and extremely painful. The emotion is intense. You see the characters coming to the realization about the state of their marriage. The acting is dead on. You really know how they feel and how the've gotten to that point in their life and in their marriage.

I also like later in that episode when Graham reheats the spaghetti for Angela, and he explains how hard it is to be a man. How at that age, boys don't always know how to be what we want them to be. How every man is still working on it. I love that line about how it is really hard to learn "how to be a man". Speaks a lot about Graham and what he is going through.

I don't believe that Graham lost interest in the marriage. I believe that he is questioning the marriage, and with that he is questioning the choices he made in his life to get him where he is now. I very much think that Graham still has interest in the marriage, b/c he didn't sleep with that girl in the pilot. He didn't kiss Haley. So, he is losing interest and questioning it, but he hasn't completely lost it yet. You can see after Patty throws the Cinderella, he comes right over to her and comforts her. He still loves her very much. So, I guess I will call it a mid-life crisis, however trite that is.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

I don't think it's trite to call it a midlife crisis - it's just the phrase that is cliche, not the actual act of having one. There comes a time in everyone's lives when we stop to take a look around and realize that we haven't moved for so long that the moss has grown beneath our feet. It's so easy for that to happen in a marriage because taking care of the kids and making enough money to pay the mortgage, put food on the table, and pay for saxophone lessons begins to take precedence over the initial relationship that started it all. When we fall in love, we may fantasize about marriage, but that is in the generic romantic idealized sense of marriage - not the waking up in the middle of the night when the baby is sick and still having to go to work in the morning (after rocking and singing and cleaning puke for four hours straight). We don't fantasize about driving kids to soccer practice, cleaning the toilets, or making sack lunches but that is what we end up doing. If you can't afford a maid, housekeeper, or nanny, this is what real life is. The job you took initially just for the money (even though it wasn't something you wanted to do) has hardened into permanence despite the fact that it still isn't something that you really want to do. The day that you realize you haven't talked to your spouse about each other (without reference to the kids) for weeks or the day you realize that you never fulfilled those dreams of going to Europe or going back to college or a million other things, that family you love so much starts to feel like an anchor hanging around your neck dragging you down until you drown, and many people's first instinct is to run away from it. Hopefully when the inner monologue concludes, you come to terms with the fact that your life isn't everything that you imagined it would be when you were 15, but it's still good and you wouldn't trade it for a Corvette, a combover, or a girl half your age. And that's why Graham, in the end, is a good guy, even though Angela felt betrayed by some of his actions.

[shorty]

[REALLY bad acting done by Bess Armstrong in episode 16 "Resolutions". It's the part where Mr Katimski goes to the Chase house and starts shouting at Patty, and then Patty starts crying. Well, you know the bit wherquote="So-Called Angel"]Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the e she's crying? I think it looks really fake. It actually makes me embarrassed for her.

I think that there was a definite element of comedy in this scene, with Katimski not having had a cup of coffee for hours and Patti's crying just sort of emphasised it. If you watch it closely you'll see what I mean, like it was the type of crying that happens in sitcoms, over-dramatic etc, so although the scene did have serious undertones, I think that there was some comedy intended.

[Megs]

I still think that it was just Patty being overdramatic. It is a very comical scene (if you don't really think about Rickie being alone and homeless). I love Mr. Kamitski.

[K-man]

Megs,
I agree that was a very comical scene. The first time I saw it I was cracking up. "WHO ARE YOU???"

[Natasha (candygirl)]

"WHO ARE YOU???"

Hee hee, my boyfriend laughs every time Graham says that!

Actually whenever Graham says anything, my boyfriend follows it up with, "That guy is the sh!t!"



Seriously, he really does that.

[Debs]

I just watched "Dancing in the Dark" and saw something I've never seen before: In the scene where Angela, Rayanne & Rickie are walking up Angela's stairs munching on goodies from the kitchen - my eyes were drawn beyond them, towards the front door, where Patty & Camille were waiting "outside" for their cue to enter. I swear! They are right there behind the net curtain; their movements indicate their preparation to enter.

Has anyone else noticed this before??? Am I (as usual) two years late on the gossip???

Debs xx