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Theres a well-worn adage that says the book is always better than the movie (or TV show).
That adage is incorrect.
But a text-based story is not inherently greater than a narrative that unfolds onscreen.
The two are just different.
It is moving at times too.
The first can be summarized in two simple words: Claire Danes.
She didnt cry quietly.
She howled and they just let her.
Its one thing to read that.
In every scene between Libby and Rachel, Danes is shaky and unmoored.
She knows this is what people do, so she tries.
But shes such a wreck that she cant do it.
I want to be honest with you, Danes says through tears.
I dont think I can make you coffee right now.
When youre deeply, deeply depressed, this is what happens.
The simplest of tasks turns into an attempt to climb Kilimanjaro with an oxygen tank on your back.
You cant catch your breath or your strength.
You see, hear, and endure what thats like in a way prose cant fully articulate.
She enters rooms and forgets why shes there.
She thrashes in bed, trying to find the sleep that eludes her.
Then she orders more lo mein and spits it out again.
This goes on until she eventually starts having hallucinatory conversations with her kids.
Do you think shes going to win?
Rachel asks Libby when she sees Hillary Clinton campaigners in the park.
People really hate her.
In the past three years, many of us have been overwhelmed.
Many of us desperately need sleep but cant get it.
Many of us hole up in our homes, simultaneously afraid of and longing for human connection.
The TV series, and this episode in particular, has made me see Rachel more fully.
And its done something else: Its made me see more of myself in Rachel.
It makes you realize that person could just as easily be you.
