Rate "Force of Nature"

[MoonlightingMagic]

That's what I feel is so difficult about writing around the Annie Arc. David acts like he no longer loves Maddie, and I think that lack of feeling stays with him throughout the rest of the series. The way I am dealing with it is by writing that he's been so hurt by her that the only way he can handle still having to be around her, is to act mean and spiteful. I think the fact that he is mean does show that he's still in love with her deep down.

Maybe it's being mean and spiteful towards Maddie that makes him overlook how wrong it is that he's sleeping with her married cousin.

I know most of us, myself included, think it is out-of-character for David to be okay with sleeping with a married woman, but in my story I can't change that he does that because my goal is to not alter the original series. So, the sad truth is he does sleep with a married woman, and he seems very content in doing so for a couple of weeks at least. I think it's also out-of-character for him to be so mean and nasty to Maddie. I think he's just so broken at this point in time. I mean, the baby was lost only 6 months ago, and he's been in this downward spiral of slowly losing Maddie all that time. Plus, and this is only something I made up for my stories, his best friend Benny has recently been admitted to rehab for being an alcoholic. Benny was the guy David would hang out with at the bar on the weekends and was part of his bowling league. So, between losing Maddie and Benny, David's pretty much lost his support system, making him ripe for someone like "bored housewife" Annie to come along.

Agree. In real life I think David would have moved on but just the idea that he stayed on and had to be with her everyday after the way she treated him would make anyone mean and bitter. OK he was wrong for not being there after the loss of the baby but she was mean to him in so many ways - PALS??

 

[Boink]

From a storytelling perspective, a once-great romance could suffer no cause of death more agonizing than an interminable lack of communication and/or failure to recognize a good thing until it's too late. And what makes it so agonizing is that what once seemed so exceptional has been exposed as terribly ordinary.

Telling much of "Force of Nature" from Annie's point of view was a brilliant way to reinforce that David was already gone (while also making Annie a bit more relatable from a purely selfish perspective), as was having Maddie express her regret by delivering her entire speech without David there to hear it (think Gone with the Wind without Scarlett ever giving Rhett the satisfaction of not giving a damn). It is even more empty and painful this way... so believable and so sad.

The bottom line: Marlena has done a wonderful job filling a hollow, sick joke of an episode (in my humble opinion, WGC barely edges out LE for the bottom of the OS barrel) with a healthy dose of tragically human tendencies.

We still might not like it, but we can now at least understand it. And that is probably what hurts the most.

 

[Marlena]

From a storytelling perspective, a once-great romance could suffer no cause of death more agonizing than an interminable lack of communication and/or failure to recognize a good thing until it's too late. And what makes it so agonizing is that what once seemed so exceptional has been exposed as terribly ordinary.

Telling much of "Force of Nature" from Annie's point of view was a brilliant way to reinforce that David was already gone (while also making Annie a bit more relatable from a purely selfish perspective), as was having Maddie express her regret by delivering her entire speech without David there to hear it (think Gone with the Wind without Scarlett ever giving Rhett the satisfaction of not giving a damn). It is even more empty and painful this way... so believable and so sad.

The bottom line: Marlena has done a wonderful job filling a hollow, sick joke of an episode (in my humble opinion, WGC barely edges out LE for the bottom of the OS barrel) with a healthy dose of tragically human tendencies.

We still might not like it, but we can now at least understand it. And that is probably what hurts the most.

Wow, thank you for this, Boink. As you know, I really appreciate your reviews.

And, just to let you all know, your feedback on this story motivated me to start writing the next installment in my Season 5 background story. But, we are not quite up to EKNM just yet. What happens the day after David leaves Maddie sitting on his bed to go run after Annie? It's a Wednesday, just a regular work day at Blue Moon, right? Can Maddie and David pull it together enough to help a client looking for a lost love? Be on the lookout for a new story coming up soon!

Oh, how I wish I could of been a writer on this show back in the day...

 

[FanofMoonlighting]

Wow, thank you for this, Boink. As you know, I really appreciate your reviews.

And, just to let you all know, your feedback on this story motivated me to start writing the next installment in my Season 5 background story. But, we are not quite up to EKNM just yet. What happens the day after David leaves Maddie sitting on his bed to go run after Annie? It's a Wednesday, just a regular work day at Blue Moon, right? Can Maddie and David pull it together enough to help a client looking for a lost love? Be on the lookout for a new story coming up soon!

Oh, how I wish I could of been a writer on this show back in the day...

Your next story sounds really interesting. I wondered what happened after David left Maddie in his apartment. I also wish you had been a writer back then! It would have been great if a fan had been a writer on the show. It could have been so much better!

 

[Nala]

Marlena this is such a great story, thank you for writing it!
I'm one of the few people who only saw this episode for the very first time very recently, so maybe I have a fresh eye... In the Annie arc David actually looks happy. And as much as we want David and Maddie to be together, we also want them to be happy. Annie doesn't judge David, she just takes him for what he is. While Maddie is forever doubting him and definitely at times making him feel that he's beneath her. Obviously nothing makes up for him going with a married woman, but I think the point of the writers was to show that David didn't have to be with someone who felt that he wasn't good enough. We saw this also with Terri. Obviously the flip side is that only Maddie knows how David's true nature and all his baggage, and yet she still loves him.

 

[Nala]

I don't know, Sue, that derogatory look and the way she says to him right after they have sex, "I mean, look at this place, you have no lights, you have no furniture... when was the last time these sheets were washed??"

She is better at adulting than he is! And a woman like Maddie needs an adult.

 

[MoonlightingMagic]

She is better at adulting than he is! And a woman like Maddie needs an adult.

Yes she does but David did mature over the years and she had solid proof that he could be responsible and adult when he needed to. I always felt the reason Maddie didn't want to stay with David was because of the way he made her feel. She hated that she had no control over the strong powerful feelings he evoked in her - both sexual and emotional. She always stated she wanted to be with a 'safe' man and David was the complete opposite! Dangerous, seductive, highly sexual and knew how to make her feel like a woman. I also believe she was terrified that he would leave her for a younger woman (since she was older) and wasn't sure he would stay true - she had too much thinking time - only time she was happy was when she was in his arms - when it was over the doubts and worries filled her head. I think that David could have won her over but his fears and insecurities got in the way too -

 

[Nala]

Yes she does but David did mature over the years and she had solid proof that he could be responsible and adult when he needed to. I always felt the reason Maddie didn't want to stay with David was because of the way he made her feel. She hated that she had no control over the strong powerful feelings he evoked in her - both sexual and emotional. She always stated she wanted to be with a 'safe' man and David was the complete opposite! Dangerous, seductive, highly sexual and knew how to make her feel like a woman. I also believe she was terrified that he would leave her for a younger woman (since she was older) and wasn't sure he would stay true - she had too much thinking time - only time she was happy was when she was in his arms - when it was over the doubts and worries filled her head. I think that David could have won her over but his fears and insecurities got in the way too -

Their relationship is so incredibly frustrating! They never discussed their fears and doubts in any kind of constructive way. Just tore into each other and hurt each other in every way possible.

 

[BlueMoon]

Really nice read that fills in some painful blanks. It did feel like Maddie was on the verge of telling him some truth there but backed into old habits. David admitting to himself that he still loved her but it didn’t really matter because nothing would change was just a gut punch. You captured the emptiness at the end of WGC so well. It is only made sadder because it is brought on by their own inability to honestly communicate how they feel.

 

[Marlena]

Really nice read that fills in some painful blanks. It did feel like Maddie was on the verge of telling him some truth there but backed into old habits. David admitting to himself that he still loved her but it didn’t really matter because nothing would change was just a gut punch. You captured the emptiness at the end of WGC so well. It is only made sadder because it is brought on by their own inability to honestly communicate how they feel.

Thank you for your kind words, BlueMoon!