One of my favorite Northern Exposure scenes
Adam has set himself up as cook in the Brick (episode 3x07). He's behind the bar when Maggie wakes up after drinking herself into a stupor the night before. Joel and Elaine have hooked back up.
Adam proceeds to pick both Fleischman and O'Connell apart, deadly accurately, just because Maggie is looking for a shoulder to cry on. Adam resents it. And he's a mean son of a bitch.
Adam: "Fleischman will go back to New York, where he'll drive himself ruthlessly to the top, in desperate but doomed attempt to out pace his own demons. Now, in the process, and along the way, he'll lose everything that ever had any meaning for him. And in the end, he'll be alone, miserable, and very, very rich."
Maggie: [a sad sack, hungover, obviously empathetic] "Poor Fleischman."
Adam: "You, on the other hand, will be surrounded by cats." [Maggie is blindsided by this turn] "Lots and lots of cats. In a drafty old house, which you've remodeled all by yourself, where you will eat, breathe, and sleep every day and every night by yourself...except for the cats."
[The horrified look on Janine Turner's face is priceless.]
[Adam nods, to gloat, in mock sympathy.]
It's a good moment, just in an H.L. Mencken kind of way. It's also good as a springboard for the changes Joel and Maggie go through in the 3rd season.
Adam proceeds to pick both Fleischman and O'Connell apart, deadly accurately, just because Maggie is looking for a shoulder to cry on. Adam resents it. And he's a mean son of a bitch.
Adam: "Fleischman will go back to New York, where he'll drive himself ruthlessly to the top, in desperate but doomed attempt to out pace his own demons. Now, in the process, and along the way, he'll lose everything that ever had any meaning for him. And in the end, he'll be alone, miserable, and very, very rich."
Maggie: [a sad sack, hungover, obviously empathetic] "Poor Fleischman."
Adam: "You, on the other hand, will be surrounded by cats." [Maggie is blindsided by this turn] "Lots and lots of cats. In a drafty old house, which you've remodeled all by yourself, where you will eat, breathe, and sleep every day and every night by yourself...except for the cats."
[The horrified look on Janine Turner's face is priceless.]
[Adam nods, to gloat, in mock sympathy.]
It's a good moment, just in an H.L. Mencken kind of way. It's also good as a springboard for the changes Joel and Maggie go through in the 3rd season.