Finally, the TV industry produced a heart-warming and thought provoking drama with well chosen actors - The Big C.
Image courtesy of www.imdb.com
Not only each and every aspects of the movies is perfectly put, the message that it invokes at the end of every episode, makes you question about life (and death) in a more interesting way. The theme song is so cute (as you can hear in the trailer below) and started the show with a light bubbly tone. But as the characters and stories develop, the show carries deeper meaning and makes us ponder upon life's more complicated circumstances.
The main character of the show - Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney) found out that she has cancer and most probably won't live much longer, started to live her life to the fullest while also preparing herself for her final days without telling anybody about it, not even her family members.
The most recent episode #13 - Taking the Plunge has one of the best ending that wrenched your heart in a touching manner.
*Warning! Spoilers ahead ... please read at your own risk! And after typing so much about the scene, I found the video on youtube, so you may skip what I wrote and go straight to the video below.*
Cathy's son - Adam, a typical teenager who simply can't be bothered with many things. In this episode, he has been seen to keep asking money from his mom and dad and both of them to refuse to give as he seriously has been asking too much. When his parents are not around and his mom has accidentally left her purse at home, he opened up her wallet and took some money but he also found an envelope that wrote "Don't open until I'm gone". He opened it and found a key to a self storage unit. He rode his bicycle and opened up the storage door and saw a sports car, a bicycle and hundreds and hundreds of nicely wrapped presents. Plus at the center of the storage room a photo of his mom and him. Puzzled, he started to approach the gifts and realized there's a card attached to all the presents.
"Happy 30th Birthday, Adam." (On the sports car)
"Dear Adam, Happy 19th Birthday. Love Mom." (On the bicycle)
"For Adam, Happy 26th Birthday. Love, Mom."
"2012. Merry Christmas, Adam. I love you, Mom."
"2015. Merry Christmas, Adam! XX Mom")
"Congratulations to my high school graduate. XX Mom"
"For Adam on your college graduation. Love Mom."
He knew by then that his mom doesn't have much time to live. He took a look at the photo on the wall and cried.
Life is precious. Who doesn't know that?
Death is inevitable. But many tends to forget.
What you do in between is your choice. You can be pushed around by others. Living by their standards, or you can simply reclaim it and make it your own. Taking a plunge in life means getting your feet wet and immersed yourself in it. Like Cathy, she sets her own standard. She wants a pool at her backyard, she gets it, even though people think she's crazy. Heck, her days are numbered!
Life is too short. Be the master of your own life and make your own choices. So one day when you are near your death bed and look back, you can tell your self,"Yes, that's exactly how I want it to be. My birth. My life. My death." If you decide to be pathetic, then be proud of your pathetic choices. Don't blame others. There is no fixed rule that say "you must live a happy life". Set your own standard. Tweak it along the way and be proud of it. Start to own your life that is given to you before it's being taken away.
