So, I’m re-watching This Close, which is a tv series made by two Deaf actors and it’s done in ASL. It started out as a webshow on You tube. Shoshanna Stern and Josh Feldman wrote, produced and created it. I watched it when it premiered on tv (Sundance Now was the first place it’s aired and I have chased it around to all the distribution places it has been shown.) The first season was FINALLY for sale on Amazon prime, and I bought it up IMMEDIATELY. I freaking LOVE this show. I’ve been wanting to talk to you all about it for a long time now, but never did. So here we go.
There are two seasons. I will talk about season one, as it pertained to me and as it affected me as I watched it for the first time as well as repeatedly. I’ll talk about season two as well but I want to start at the beginning because every episode was a literal event.
So the premise is about two best friends, (this sign for best friends is this close, which is why it’s called that.) who are deaf and it’s their lives as they navigate being deaf in LA.
I identified IMMEDIATELY with the female lead, Kate Bailey. (Shoshanna’s character) And I cried SO MANY TIMES in so many episodes because FINALLY I was getting to see my own experiences, my own thoughts, feelings, obstacles being shown on the screen by DEAF PEOPLE. I recognized in Kate, myself. Her drive, her ambition, her need to prove her deafness doesn’t prevent her form anything she wishes to do even when those around her treat he like she’s daft.
One of the many things I like is that they set their characters up right away, not dawdling. You know immediately WHO each character is, what their motivations are, what they are dealing with etc. Because of this, I was a huge fan of Kate, and NOT a fan of Michael (Josh Feldman’s character). In fact i wanted to slap Michael, a feeling that only grew with every episode. As a result, I fast forwarded through Michael’s scenes and watched Kate’s.
the first episode takes place at a book signing for Michael, and it’s their trip to Seattle and like I said, you get a pretty good picture of what Michael is dealing with, and just a glimpse of what Kate is. it’s both hilarious and sad times. What really got me was they address the things we as deaf people have to deal with in different situations, like how airlines react to us. I won’t give any spoilers but it’s done really really well.
I need to stop and apologize here for a second. I try to catch my spelling errors as i go but sometimes I do miss them and as my hearing as diminished so heavily, spelling has become utter hell for me. I’ll write about that later, but just know that I try to catch and edit things but I’m also usually writing these posts early in the morning, between 4 or 5 a.m or later at night, after I’ve worked a full day and my brain is exhausted. I suffer GREATLY these days from hearing fatigue as no one signs in my office. More on that later.
Anyway, so the first episode was amazing and had me hooked and it only grew from there. The episodes got better too, deeper, richer, more involved.
I will write about the episodes as I re watch them. I need to stop writing now, I’m really, really tired and I need to rest.
More later, so much more. I have so much to tell you and so much to write about.
for now,
Peace, hugs and turtles,
MBB
Between Silence And Sound 