Yesterday, I was bloated and puffy, so I made a corporate decision to stay indoors cuddled up in my red fuzzy blankie and watch a marathon of HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me." I also attempted to do a mini detox where I was going to just eat fruits and veggies, and drink only water and tea. The intention was to give my body a day break from heavy digestion of meats, breads, and dairy.
I was good with the mini detox until 7:15pm, then I broke down. I didn't go the whole day on my mini detox, but considering that I was watching Tell Me You Love Me all day long, I'm surprised I didn't break the detox much earlier in the day with a tub of Hagen Daz Rocky Road and a bag full of Tortilla chips with salsa because that darn TV show triggered ALL kinds of emotions for me.
Warning:If you have just broken up with someone or are currently in a relationship that is falling apart, then I advise you to not watch a marathon of Tell Me You Love Me. Oh-no-no-no! Watch it in chunks. I must have been having some kind of frightening need for punishment or perhaps purging because I had to watch all 9 episodes. And when I say purging, I mean crying, lots of crying with tissue spewn all over the floor.
The show focuses primarily on 3 couples and then the therapist that all 3 couples are seeing.
All age groups are pretty much represented: the 20-something aspiring girl chef who is
engaged but breaks up with fiancee because of fidelity issues, mostly hers, then hooks up with new guy only to
have fiancee come back. Did I mention 20-something girl confuses sex
with intimacy? Then there's the early 30-something couple who are rich,
pretty, and have been trying for over a year to conceive to no avail. I
like the husband, but the wife irritates me to no un-end with her cold
meanness. Did I mention she's a lawyer? She also reminds me of the kind of people in Corpse-rate America that used to make me want to karate kick because of their cold hearted snakeness. Yup explains a lot. Sister of lawyer is the BFF of the 20-something girl in couple #1. See the degrees of linked-in-ness.
Then there's the nice early 40-something couple with 2 kids who live in a nice house in the suburbs, and haven't had sex in a year. They are very nice people, both of them, but they, mostly hubbie, is afraid to look at the messy parts of their relationship and really say, out loud, what's on their mind because they are both so nice. Lastly, there is the therapist and her hubbie who are 60-something, married 43 years with no kids. In the show we get to see the seniors "do it." I don't think there has ever been a show where we get to see senior citizens doing it like in soft porn flicks. Honestly, I think it's a healthy new image to see, but it made me uncomfortable. Yes, I'm admitting that my stereotypes are getting the best of me. That's why there's therapy.
Tell Me You Love Me is really an excellent show because it does get to the core emotional issues that can drive couples apart and to eventually hate each other. In all the couples, I could see pieces of myself. I related mostly to Katie the 40-something wife, played by Allie Walker. I'm not a mother with a house to run, but I could relate mostly to her gentleness, her conflicting need to be a "good girl" yet find a way to have her needs met, her desire to keep her family together, and her angst.
The closed off 30-something lawyer wife reminded me of one of the girlfriends I recently had it out with. Unlike the husband in TMYLM, I couldn't deal with the meanness and the coldness any more even though there were lots of fantastic qualities to this girlfriend of mine. There were too many conditions required for our friendship to work, and I was tired of being taken for granted. Although she will tell you, that I cry "Oh poor me." But, whatever. I'm free of drama.
Despite the occasional tear wiping, I really like Tell Me You Love Me. It's honest, real, and approachable, but perhaps for some people a little too close to home. It's definitely a good watch in my book.
