TV Therapy

I‘ve come to the realization that almost every TV show that I really liked had at least one character that I could really relate to. These days, I can say with certainty that I can identify with Party of Five’s Bailey Salinger. In Queer As Folk, I think I relate most with Hal Sparks’ comics-loving character Michael Novotny, who’s always been drawn to the smart, free-spirited and (supposedly) unattainable ones. In Buffy, the closest characters with kindred personalities would be geeks Willow and Xander. I couldn’t identify with bad boy Spike at all, except when he was tamed in the final season, and specifically in the scene in “Touched” where he’s declaring his feelings for Buffy with complete clarity:

“I've been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I've seen things you couldn't imagine, and done things I prefer you didn't. I don't exactly have a reputation for being a thinker. I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain. So I make a lot of mistakes, a lot of wrong bloody calls. A hundred-plus years, and there's only one thing I've ever been sure of. You.”

Love that speech. But wait, there’s more:

”I'm not asking you for anything. When I say, 'I love you,’ it's not because I want you, or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are.”

Awww. That was so sweet. Strangely, I can also relate to some of the more amoral characters like Amanda Woodward, Titus Pullo and Brian Kinney, in their respective shows. I love hating them, but there are those rare occasions when they say things, do deeds or react to situations in familiar ways. It’s a little scary, but also enlightening when those connections happen.

Ah, television. It’s one of my valued shrinks, too.