The Girl with the Goalden Boot

Monday, May 23, 2005

 

The Punjabi Powerhouse

The character of Neela has been growing on me recently. One of the reasons is probably her kickass dialogue. Hee. Last season, a tipsy and frustrated (but normally "soft-spoken and docile") Neela spewed out: "I'm sorry I completely monopolised the discourse". More recently, in the most recent episode aired in Australia, viewers were treated with this:

Abby: "Should I continue being oblivious, or do you wanna explain why you're bleeding from your cuticles?"
Neela: "I'm not crazy, am I?"
Abby: "Crazy?"
Neela: "I don't know how I managed to build up feelings for someone I've spoken to once in the past year."
Abby: "Well…you exchanged letters…"
Neela: "Letters? What are letters? You can think, you can say whatever the hell you want to someone thousands of miles away. It's all speculative, imagined! It doesn't mean anything, it's just on a piece of paper!"
Abby: "It's okay if you're mad."
Neela: "Mad? More like…furious! I'm furious that he didn't tell me he was coming! I'm furious that he could just walk away like that. I'm ridiculously desperate to see him…none of which is based on anything more substantial than the inner workings of my neurotic brain!"
Abby: "You know, I was ready to bestow my sage wisdom, but, I think you got it covered."
Neela: "Am I so pathetic, that I have to concoct to love life out of nothing?"
Abby: "That's not fair. You and Michael were very close. It's not so crazy that you're having these feelings."

The scene between Neela and Abby in the lounge in "Back in the World", IMO, contains some of the most carefully-crafted dialogue in the entire season. Sometimes I wonder if that's the way Americans see the British, because I seem to recall Elizabeth Corday using quite impressive vocab too. I'd love to speak like that spontaneously. :)

Lola Nadal 2:50 AM