The Divorcé Part 5

    The door opened. Dr. Friedman waved me in with a smile. "Sam, right on time as always." He closed the door behind me and waved at the proverbial shrink couch. "Take your favorite seat."

   I sat in the big soft lumpy sofa and relaxed. I'd been seeing Friedman since a bit before the divorce, when I knew things were coming at me. 

   Friedman checked his notes as he sat in his swivel chair, then looked up. "Last time we spoke, you were getting back into the dating world."

   "I've been wading in, testing the waters so to speak."

  "And how does the water feel?"

  "Good at times...other times cold."

  "Might depend on which end of the pool you're in."

  "Brad, I'm not even going tot try to analyze that."

   Friedman laughed. "Well, the shallow end tends to warm faster as its the safer end...on the other hand, the deep end has more variety but can take longer to navigate." He stopped. "Forget it...I'm no good at ad lib analogies." He checked his notes again. "There's a topic you and I didn't grab tightly on , and this is 2 sessions ago. You were so excited about your dating that we didn't touch on it again at all."

  "Which is?"

  "The woman at work. Natasha was her name, right?"

  "Oh yeah, we're going way back!"

  "You brought me there, I never left." Friedman sat forward. "You indicated that you'd fallen for her."

   I sat back and looked up at the ceiling, the memory coming back. "Yeah, this is 6 years ago."

  "Tell me about her."

  "I didn't tell you last time?"

  "You told me her name and that you were in love with her, but that's as far as we got. No, wait, you told me she was also married, right?"

  "Right. You know I'm thinking on that time and realizing something right off the bat...I was more in love with the idea of her than actually being in love with her."

  "All right. What idea of her was so appealing?"

  "Now that's a question I've asked myself time and time again...but I don't have a solid clue. SHe was pretty enough. Had the most kissable lips I'd ever seen, that's for sure."

  "Did you ever kiss them?"

  "Oh no, not even a cheek peck. Despite my feelings, I still respected her marriage."

   Friedman sat back and folded his arms. "All right, let's go back to then. What was it about her that got those feelings going?"

  "Hoo boy! Well, when I first started at the office, it took a bit to fit in. You know, new guy and all coming into an established colleague web. Well, at a staff lunch function, I was sitting by myself...this was about 3 months in...and she asks me to come sit with her and some of her friends. I wasn't precisely involved in their conversation, ladies and all, but I wasn't alone. That was the start."

  "Sounds friendly but it doesn't exactly spell out love to me."

  "Not to me, either. Just as time went, we talked more and got to know each other. Before I knew it I was thinking a lot about her. At first I thought it was pure lust. There was some of that, but not overwhelming. No, this was a heart matter. My day was definitely improved when I'd had some contact with her, either in person or even text. Luckily for me, she never really knew my feelings, at least I don't think she did. Then something happened...some crisis in her husband's family and she took a little time off so they could travel."

   Friedman nodded. "Did she come back?"

  "Yeah, but she was a lot more reserved...very inward...after. I tried to offer an ear of support, but she kept it inside, so I backed away. After about a year, no it was two years, she transferred to another office in another town. It was quiet, no going away party or anything, in fact quite sudden."

  "I see. So you developed some friendly, I'll go with FOND, feelings for another woman. Sounds perfectly normal and nothing to feel ashamed of...if you feel ashamed."

  "I don't now, I did a little then, probably because I mentioned Natasha more than a healthy mention at home."

  "And your wife didn't care for that."

  "We had a few fights about it."

  "And when Natasha left, did it get back to normal?"

   I looked at Brad with a frown. "Normal? I did get a divorce not all that long after."

  "Right. So here's a question: do you think your feelings for Natasha were a factor in your divorce?"

   I looked back at the ceiling. "That is hard to say. My marriage was never normal, whatever that word means. Three years passed between Natasha leaving and my wife leaving, so somehow I doubt it was a main factor."

  "But it might have been one."

  "Could be. I doubt it."

   Friedman closed his notebook. "Sam, we've been dancing around this for a while. We never really hit at it, though."

  "Right, the why of it all."

  "Your feelings for Natasha, innocent as they seem to me, are the first clues as to cause. Apart from that, nothing on your end seems to justify any of it. Although, when she left, you didn't seem too anguished over it apart from the change in life."

  "So ok, I developed feelings for another woman, my wife languished over it for 3 years, then decided I wasn't worth fighting to save our marriage, so she split. Simple, right?"

   Friedman laughed. "Nah, this will take some more cracking. Collecting a $20 copay from you weekly was in fact my life's ambition, so we will look more into this next week. Same time?"

  "Same Bat channel!"

Rest In Peace, Mr. Bond

    This weekend my family and I went to see the latest...and quite honestly last, movie of the James Bond Franchise. It was a really touching end and Daniel Craig pulled it off well. 

   Now, when I mean franchise, I mean a single production company's produced series of films. In this case, I mean the James Bond film franchise that has been in existence since the release of Dr. No in 1962. Yes, the James Bond film franchise has been in existence for nearly 60 years.

   When the series began, it starred Sean Connery as Britain's favorite secret agent with the number 007, the license to kill, created by Ian Fleming. The first movie story began simply, with Bond traveling to Jamaica to find out what happened to Professor Strangways. In that movie we meet many of the regulars that were to be included in the series: Bond's superior M, a gruff old naval admiral whom Bond respected and annoyed quite frequently; Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary who carried an innocent flirtation with Bond over the course of many films; Q, the British Secret Service armorer who supplied Bond with many weapons and oddly futuristic gadgets and who was frequently annoyed by Bond's lack of respect for said equipment, particularly cars; and Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA counterpart, who appeared infrequently over the course of the series...seen just once in the Roger Moore era and never in the Pierce Brosnan era.

   From the success of Dr. No, fans of Britain's new superhero were treated to a movie a year from 1962 to 1965, then every other year as a pattern most of the time for a while. After Thunderball, there was a 2-year wait until the release of You Only Live Twice, which set a new precedent for creating an almost entirely new story from the existing book source. The previous 4 movies had probably 80% source material intact if not more. I've written about that movie and book before, and to briefly repeat, I enjoy both about equally, which is a lot.

   After Connery took the reins for 5 films, he was getting tired of playing Bond and quit after You Only Live Twice. The producers found a new face in Aussie George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This movie is fantastic by my standards even though Lazenby was not Connery, a fact many took a huge disliking to. Yet, if one puts aside the man's lack of acting experience, the movie is great and returns to the book faithfulness. On Her Majesty's Secret Service saw James Bond falling in love with a troubled woman whom he rescues a few times and she later rescues him. She tragically dies from an attempt on Bond's wife from Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the SPECTRE chief who, in my opinion, is probably Bond's greatest foe of all time.

   Sean Connery was coaxed to return for Diamonds Are Forever, a film that really delved into silly antics in its second half. It was once a favorite of mine, but is now viewed just for its Las Vegas scenes.  The next movie, Live and Let Die, introduced the Roger Moore era of Bond...an era that with maybe one or two exceptions, represented the low end of the franchise for 7 films. The Moore era consisted of a lot of silly 1 liners, extravagant gadgets, and some pretty silly stories.

   Then in 1987, we were introduced to the short Timothy Dalton era...I say era because he got 2 films under his belt unlike Lazenby's single entry. Dalton was a breath of fresh air to Bond fans, particularly fans of the books, since he used the source material to model his portrayal, a return to the brutal agent we met in 1962. Bond in the Dalton era had a penchant for avenging the deaths of friends and colleagues, giving Bond a new dark edge. 

   After those 2 entries, the series fell to the wayside due to legal problems for 6 years. When te problems were over, fans were introduced to Bond #5, Pierce Brosnan,,,yes, Remington Steele himself.  In fact, his first entry Goldeneye was quite enjoyable. Brosnan didn't have the hard edge of early Connery or both Dalton entries, but he held his own. However, the new coolness couldn't help the lackluster stories that ensued, and by the time we got Die Another Day, the Brosnan era was long stale.

   And then came Daniel Craig, who brought a new hard edge that surpassed Dalton's big time, and Bond was alive again in 2006 with Casino Royale, the best on-screen vision of that story since a 1954 teleplay featuring an American as Bond....and the 1967 Bond spoof with that title starring David Niven deserves no mention. After that came Quantum of Solace, which seemed like one huge chase scene to me and not much story, so I didn't watch all of it. Skyfall was much better...and then came SPECTRE, which tied the previous 3 films together, a first for the franchise. 

   I'd like to mention the latest film No Time to Die a bit more, but it's too new, and it is too early to tell if it is truly the end or not. ONe thing I do want to note, though, is the return of Bond feeling love again, only losing it but in an entirely, and heroically self-sacrificing, way. This is shown thematically and musically connected to On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

   One thing I need to mention with the franchise is the retconning of a few key characters. The old gruff M was replaced at the start of the Brosnan era with Dame Judi Dench, who was referred as the old man's replacement. After her death in Skyfall, Joint Intelligence Committee chairman Gareth Mallory (played by Ralph Fiennes) became the new M.

   Then there is the villain Blofeld, who in the 60s and early 70s was played by different actors each time, and was last seen being rammed in his bathosub into a control building on an oil rig in Diamonds Are Forever, his fate unknown. In 2015's SPECTRE, his story was rewritten as having a childhood connection to Bond. Felix Leiter was also reintroduced as an African American in Casino Royale.  

   Miss Moneypenny was also rewritten as an agent who retires from active duty to become M's secretary. Q went from a crusty old coot to R (John Cleese) in the final Brosnan films to a much younger man played by Ben Whishaw in the Craig films...I liked this later version, actually.

    Of course, many of the early stories, right up to 2006's Casino Royale had at least some if not more source material to use. The source material was quite British and often very dry. I read most of them and while more than half were pretty easy to get through, a few I couldn't finish, 1955's Moonraker in particular. The early novels had the Soviet group SMERSH as the antagonists, but by 1961 SPECTRE had emerged. The last novels also showed a change of style to longer in depth of description or emotional narrative in the form of long-ass paragraphs. Still, they were enjoyable. I reread a few often and picture Daniel Craig in the role now...and his portrayal fits just about all of them. Another author named John Gardner picked up the Bond book writing in 1981. I liked them for a while, but my current tastes have left those behind.

   With all that said, is there a future for Bond? I'd like to say no, we have many films to enjoy with several different interpretations...yes, even Roger Moore fans have a place (preferably at the bottom of a canyon). However, we all know that the film world is having trouble in the area of originality, and we might see another form of Bond again in my lifetime, probably made by a different production company and likely non-book source material.

   To conclude, Rest in Peace, Mr. Bond.