Dirty John
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Look, I get that this isntDirty John: The Linda Kolkena Story.
But its really bothering me that the series continues to treat Linda as a one-dimensional character.
Yes, she had an affair with someones husband, but this isntThe Scarlet Letterand she isnt Hester Prynne.
She was 21 when she met Dan and 28 when she was murdered in her sleep.
We can find her actions morally reprehensible but she certainly didnt deserve to die because of them.
By not giving us any insight into Linda, the show is implicitly blaming the victim.
What was her childhood like?
Why was she so willing to carry on with someone elses husband?
Heres what we do learn in The Twelfth of Never: Betty wants her wedding china back.
It has somehow become symbolic of everything she has lost.
Dan claims to not know where the china is.
Betty is convinced that Linda did it.
If it wasnt the whore, who was it?
she tells her friends.
By the end of the episode, the show has implied that its Betty herself who wrote those words.
Perhaps this is yet another outward indicator of her mental well-being slipping away.
Betty and Dans oldest daughter, Tracy (again, notthe actual name of a Broderick child.
The show changed all the names of the children) graduates from high school.
Betty thinks that surely Dan will have to be nice to her on this momentous occasion.
But he is not.
He brings Linda to the high-school graduation and, to Bettys further rage, Tracy hugs Linda first.
When Tracy finally finds her mom, Betty cant put her issues aside to celebrate her daughters big day.
How could he bring her here?
she asks her daughter.
She is unable to let Tracy have the graduation be about her and not about her acrimonious parents.
This is also the episode where the divorce finally becomes final.
Betty decides to represent herself, ensuring that she will be hoisted by her own petard.
Even the sympathetic judge who tries to help her cannot really help her.
I keep thinking of that famous Jennifer Aniston quote about Brad Pitt having a sensitivity chip missing.
The fact that Dan lied to Betty for months about his affair with Linda is irrelevant.
Betty is unable to let go of the fact that she deserves more money.
All these people wanting to help her are no match for Dan Broderick.
Thoughts for your 80s Mixtape:
Interestingly there was no 80s song this episode.
No flashback tune to bring any amount of levity to the proceedings.
Bettys parents are the worst.
Their grandchildren are being directly and traumatically affected by this and her parents still wont help her.
Amanda Peet is truly amazing and this is the role of her career.
In particular I applaud the show for keeping Betty looking put together through all of this.
I like that, to use the sexist term usually applied to women, she hasnt let herself go.
She still looks fantastic even as her life is falling apart.
