Watching: authentic, smart, crime solving women as medicine for these times
part one: TV edition (book edition coming soon)
I’ve never been one for procedural crime shows. The body (sudden!), the red herring, the stressful/fraught investigation, the revelation. Especially the shows with constant drama and predictable, sappy dialogue, and the same themes over and over again.
But…
Perhaps it is the current situation in the United States. The rapid decline for women (among many others), in rights, in control of bodies, in government roles, in the endless tirade of messages: have more babies! but we won’t help when you do! she’s not hot anymore! And a vast silencing. A tightening of control.
Perhaps it is that I have just finished a thriller, in a small town New England education based setting (THE BOARD, out in Sept 9th! Pre-orders open!), and was immersed in that world for the years of writing and pandemic teaching, so my brain needs something to continue this type of thinking and story. A teacher in that story is chased out of town for doing what? You guessed it, being inclusive, teaching a true American history, and encouraging empathy and perspective taking with her students (radical!).
With constant news horrific and unending wars, I don’t want the super dark and vicious (loud) violence that makes my nervous system jumpy and sets me up for a night of sleep thinking and stressing. You know what I mean? Where you are “sleeping” but you are rerunning the story in your head, picturing the most violent scenes, wondering what you would do, and if the writers thought of XYZ (or is this just me?).
But just the just amount of story, and perspective, a smart, underestimated woman, using her cleverness, high intelligence, wits and her charm to solve a case? And then, add some situational comedy, such as a fascist dog? And a storyline as delicious as the radio host (I won’t say more), and where the dog ends up? Pokerface delivers, and I am only on the first season. Also, how much did I miss Natasha Lyonne after Orange is the New Black?
I can tell Maya Rudolph is a co-producer. Humor, badassery, laced with very specific details and observational skills (smells of wood, for example), to solve crimes, put the lying liars away, connect with locals living real lives, and make the world a better place. And let me pause here— folks that don’t have much agency or perceived power in this show— those working what others would call “unskilled labor” positions in areas of the country some would “flyover” country, are in fact key players in helping crimes and helping Charlie, the main character, either survive or solve the crime. Folks like a mini-mart clerk, nursing home worker, or waitress. This is deliberate, and giving these characters, depth, agency and humanity, and it is a balm in a media landscape overwrought with selfish, cruel, rich family dramas.
I’m sold. And I’m not the only one talking about it.
Also, if you can believe it, I have fallen into a show on actual network television, High Potential. I peaked at someone’s screen on a flight and they were watching it (do you do that, too?). The premise is equally delicious, an underestimated woman cleaning at a police station solves the crime stumping everyone. Turns out she has this delightful photographic memory, a depth of knowledge across history, geography, and nature, and applies this to each case. The show even gives us the factual information as well (love this, as a researcher and curious person). Double points that she is a mom of three, juggling complex teen years, and has a great supportive relationship with her former partner and the kid’s dad.
In a world as complex, terrifying and messy as now, I can’t seem to get enough of these one hour shows where a woman, dealing with all of her backstory and fullness of life experience, cuts through lying murders’ stories, and figures it all out.
So give me the stories of women taking up space, standing for those who need it or can’t, connecting with those at the margins, and being incredibly badass and brilliant.
Because right now, we all can’t seem to figure it out. What to do next in America. How to claw back our rights and voices and positions of power. I can at least watch as these women sift through the the bullshit and figure things out — using all of their many resources, with humor and grit, all within an hour or so.
What are you watching and comforts or inspires or simply entertains you?
(I promise I am reading, too. Look for part two about the BOOKS I am reading with a similar theme).
(And please share, re-stack, and like this post to give it more traction. I’m still a fresh new baby beginner here on Substack. Thank you!! Now have a fabulous weekend).