For whatever reason, I have been consuming a lot of women’s stories recently. Poetry, theatre, film, TV, the visual arts – it doesn’t matter what the medium is, I just want to climb in and stay there.
Finding the sweet spot in a woman’s life, when something vital is suddenly unlocked and she steps more fully into herself, is a treat for me. A very simple person might argue that my lust for such stories is directly traceable to the state of the world. When everything feels on fire, why not seek out the not-so-gentle serenity of an episode of Killing Eve? I see Villanelle’s (Jodie Comer) eyes glinting wildly when she is cornered in Killing Eve, and say out loud, “Oh no – she can’t die!” Sometimes, you just want to see a woman win, even a fictional unhinged assassin. (Luke Jennings’ Villanelle books are adapted by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.) It’s not soothing, exactly; it just gives me a rush. That’s how badly bruised the news cycle has left me.
The flip of my current television coin reveals another, rather different heroine. In The Good Fight, Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) is brilliant, and only metaphorically kills – in the courtroom and via impeccably tasteful brooches and necklaces. Lockhart has been successful for a long time, but there is a newness with which she faces the world. She and Villanelle are very good at their jobs, and in every episode they take knocks but largely bounce back.
One series takes place amid the heightened reality of espionage, the other in a Chicago law firm. Both are essentially dark fairytales. Perhaps the happy ending is making a comeback – and in 2018, I need to believe.
