The First One ... Is Free

I didn't mean for it to happen.

It started simply...

"Oh, that girl I liked in Godless who won the Emmy is doing a show on HBO? Cool." No big deal. I'll try it.

RUN.

Watch the trailer... Just try it. C'mon ~ just a little taste. 2 mins and 13 seconds.

Now tell me you don't HAVE to see this show. It is mesmerizing.

It had tantalizing, edgy cuts, this sleek trailer. It had Wever in a way I had never seen her before? It had Dominic Gleeson, sly and purring towards her, seductive, challenging her.

A Curious Woman, smiling trying to be friendly sits across from them both on the train as Dominic slides down casually next to Merritt.

Curious Woman: "Are you two together?"

He says: "Stranger on a Train" he says looking like a cat who ate the canary and proceeds to take Merritt's hand as if palm reading in a sort of sexy gauntlet he seems to throw down with a sly smile to her. I won't spoil that scene for you, suffice to say it is clever and fun and - dangerous. The chemistry between these two is off the charts.

Humor. Revenge? Thrilling chases. Steamy kisses. A train.

"What's THIS about??!" I HAD to find out. It seems to be some mysterious relationship thriller. It was a date. I marked the premiere in big letters on the calendar.

Here's the deal - okay, it's not so much this is a "dirty little secret" in terms of the content.

I am not watching "Housewives of Anywhere" or "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" (really, that's an actual thing... it is). How, in the name of God do you NOT know you are pregnant? Do you wake up one morning 6 months in and think - "I've got to cut down on the carbs?" Apparently there are so many people do that - there is more than one season about it.

The Guilt is - I confess - rather the act that I was completely caught up in binging, period. Binging! Me?!

I - do not - 'binge". I politely turn off a show after one episode and have resolutely trained myself not to stream-gorge. Honestly, I think the old school episode-a-week is the way shows were meant to be viewed. Like God intended. There is something to absorbing a show, waiting a week to see the next installment that's exciting. It builds something within you to talk about it with your friends. Buzz, is heady.

Where's the fun in just ravenously gulping down all the chocolates in the box at once?! Or eating the whole turkey with all the mashed potatos, gravy and rolls in one sitting. That's seriously not my cup of tea and will, hey, also make you sick as a dog.

(Note to Self: look up why we call dogs metaphorically 'sick' in that phraseology...? I don't get it.)

Maybe what is even more a secret, oh dear god - don't tell anybody ... is that I became a huge, gushing "fan" (and I hate that word, mind you) of Merritt Wever. Huge. Fan.

You gotta bring the heat if I am going to make it past 15 minutes of your pilot episode. My taste is The Great on Hulu, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon, The Morning Show on Apple TV and Succession on HBO ... they all knocked me out. They are all bold, different, finely crafted pieces of television writing and ensemble work. Back to RUN.

We started to watch the first epi which - OMG - then, an incredible surprise! We saw was produced by one of our FAVORITE all time binge-worthy certainly writers and the hottest-thing-to-hit-Hollywood-penmanship-in-decades, the fab Brit Phoebe Waller-Bridge. (3 Emmys, maybe more than one SAG Award, I think every other award she was up for last year for her genius series Fleabag now on Amazon. ALSO = run to watch. Spoiler Alert: Not for the sexually prim. You will see on Episode One. (winking even now) If you don't mind a little naughty talk and love a grand dark comic romp into a life on the edge - stop what you are doing right now. Right now. No, seriously, right now stop and leap to watch it on Amazon.

There, now you will have your own binge story to tell.

The Hitchcock-like RUN begins with a woman sitting in her car who is just about to go to the Mall. Familiar text alert sound "pings". She looks at her screen. She shakes. It only says: "RUN".

Then, that incredible close up of the incredible Merritt Wever's face.

She is nervous. Should she answer?

"Is she in danger? Is someone warning her? Is she going to answer?", we wonder? There is some untold major risk, clearly.

She is intrigued, breathless.

Her forefinger, shaking, dances over the phone key pad, trembling slightly.

She is afraid.

She is vulnerable.

Her gorgeous eyes tear slightly up.

She types back, heart pounding, "R-U-N".

Her hand goes over her mouth, breathing, shaking.

Okay, that's it - I am IN! Maybe one of the best trailers to a tv pilot I have ever seen. It grabs you by the shirt collar right from the get go and-never-lets-go. A train whistle blows. Dominic Gleeson, wry humor, they sit next to each other on the train. Banter. A shot of them naked facing one another. She is in his face, "WHY did you text me?" Them. Heat. Wever sass.

You want to SOooo know - everything about this. You need it.

The Innocent Beginning ~~~ My experience with HBO's RUN began on a typical Sunday night for us. We watch a lot of streaming, even before Covid. We are "dubious content eclectics" at television viewing. I am an award-winning writer, he is a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Pictures. (The Oscars) We are both veteran actors. You won't catch us watching just anything.

RUN was an automatic knock out of the ballpark.

I couldn't WAIT to see next week's episode. And, ohhhh HBO, thank you for making me wait. I may be in love with you for that. Why? Because, I wanted it! I looked forward to it for the next 6 days. I talked to friends about it and it made Sunday night oh-so-special! Popcorn, Pinot Gris, Phone off. Perfect.

They did not disappoint. We bided our time through the 7 weeks waiting each week with effusive delight. The episodes are each titled one word:

RUN, Kiss, F***, Chase, Jump, Tell and the finale - Trick.

Nicely done Vicky Jones and Writer's Room Team. Nicely DONE.

There is even a juicy cameo tidbit for us lovers-of-the-Phoebe in it. Yes, she Produced and was in. In between starting to write the screenplay for the next Bond movie and I don't know, discovering the cure for cancer? Phoebe always looks like she has the best secret in the world and is just never going to tell you. Let's keep it that way.

7 weeks of wonderfull, thrilling, edge-of-your-seat HBO fun.

My hat is off to you all. I somewhat sadly feel - ahem - HBO I'm looking at you ... they sorely took a misstep when they decided not to do a Season 2. (You're killin' me HBO.) Vicky Jones had excitement about running further. It had 80% on the Rotten Tomatos. It's been said it was the most popular HBO comedy in each US state apparently at the time. What part of more viewership did HBO not GET? We would have followed Ruby and Billy ANYWHERE!

As thus, it was a short romance this love affair with a train, heated kisses, snappy patter and the two of them.

There is a secret here still...

I couldn't get enough of Merritt after that. I thought, I can re-watch Godless. (and I assure you, I will)

She totes a gun and is a "don't mess with me" fine example of just the kind of women in my genealogy, Texas girl that I am.

Her face.

The time she takes with her words. She lingers. How does she do that?

The quirk, her expressions? Somehow, I cannot take my eyes off of her.

"OH - wait, she has a show with Toni Collette!" We find: Unbelievable on Netflix and start that detective journey.

Alright, I will be honest with you. I went full on binge. Not all in one night mind you, I am new to the concept. But for sure I've done more than one of those episodes back-to-back. In fact, pretty sure - altho, don't quote me because I was delirious waiting for my dinner and the show every night - that I watched every day for a week.

Unbelievable, a mini-series based on a true story. No more, alas.

But, wait, waittttt! What's this? I feverishly Google. Nurse Jackie? A cuddly young Merritt on Nurse Jackie!!!

Insert: Emoticon with Stars in Eyes

Where do I find it? I get a Showtime subscription.

It's not on there. What? Showtime produced it. Google Search - ah, on Amazon. Awesome, I am on it. All popcorn and salivary glands, I start streaming sometime in November. It was Quarantine - it's what we do. I get my girlfriend in Colorado hooked on it. I was pretty busy in November. Got only 4 episodes in.

December and ready to catch up.

Darling Kirsten Dunst-Like Girlfriend: "I am on Season 4 of Nurse Jackie. I can't stop watching. But I had to pay for it now."

Wait - what?

Darling Girlfriend: "It's not on Amazon for free anymore. They took it off."

Wait - WHATttttt???? Noooooooooo. There are 7 Seasons! I HAVE to see it! It became a re-negotiation of rights. Damn it. Kiss and make up Amazon and Showtime, already.

The Lurid Ending: And, that's it... Please keep it under your hat. This is my dirty little secret.

My Quarantine Guilty Pleasure. $8 per season ... $48 later - I binged. I binged and I don't care who knows it. So there. I can't stop watching HER.

Full on, googly-eyed (oh for the love of God) 'fan'.

Merritt Wever has joined the ranks of those actors I cannot get enough of because how do they DO it?

I can't ever catch them 'acting'. What are they thinking when they work? A mysterious life lurks behind their performance. It's in their eyes, a sparkle, a nuance like no other. HOW are they pulling that off???

Meryl, Ben Kingsley, Sir Anthony, Sam Rockwell - they all amaze me.

And, now ladies and gentlemen, Merritt Wever. My Quarantine Thespian Crush.