Suspense – HATE it!

Here’s an unadmirable trait of mine – I flip to the back of the book to see how wickedly suspenseful yarns turns out. I NEED to know that the hero makes it out alive. I MUST know that there’s, if not a happy ending, an unhorrific one.

Suspense – HATE it! At least with murder mysteries and any other story where I’m wild for the hero and his/her mission. With movies versus books, I can’t skip to the end so that I can lower the agitata levels. This is hard!

Star Wars – how I ever made it through to the end of any of those flicks is just beyond me.
Alien – I saw it for the first time on vid with Kevin. We were all set up on his couch for a big movie night. There was Mountain Dew (yes. EWWWWWW! I couldn’t drink that shit now on a bet), chips and dip. The lights were low. We were ready to be scared. OK, I thought I was ready.

When Kane got nailed by the facehugger I was off the couch and down on the carpet doing sit ups. Yeah, you work off tension your way, I”ll do it mine. When the Chestburster made his/her/its grand entrance, I was a crunchy blur.

    "In a few hours it's gonna burst through your ribcage, and you're gonna die. Any questions?"
    ―Ripley 8, to Larry Purvis regarding the Chestburster (from Alien Resurrection)

I begged Kevin to tell me how things turned out – does Ripley survive!!!!! He wouldn’t give it up. Mebbe he just enjoyed watching me exercise out the crazy tension?

In any case, now, eons later, I’m no better (though I could really stand to start doing those sit ups again).

Jen, Oni and I have been watching the series Dexter. He’s a blood spatter forensics dude with a fictional Miami police department. He’s also a brilliantly warm, caring, father, brother, husband and serial killer. Dexter’s a vigilante – he only kills the really bad guys who somehow escape the law.

The show’s not cartoonish. He’s no Caped Crusader, no Dark Knight. Nope, by season four Dexter’s a good suburban dad with a binding passion to take out a very different, dangerous kind of trash.

The suspense’s is so thick, I think I’ll likely start doing sit ups again. Yes, overcome by crazed WHAT-HAPPENS-NEXT, I did the online version of flipping to the back of the book – peeked at the show's Wikipedia page. I now know how this season ends. I know how the series end. I’m not proud of myself.

Yeah, of course I’m gonna keep watching. I love the characters. The story telling is fabulous. Knowing the end doesn’t change that – I’m just now ready for the and-they-didn’t-live happily-ever-after ending.

*sigh*