My so-called Life Goes On and Everything Is Wonderful
Back in the 1990’s, one of the best television shows ever aired it’s only season. I never saw it, only barely heard of it. A year later, I caught the first episode in reruns, because I had heard inklings it was good, and at that point I thought it was a half hour sitcom, then found out it was a drama.
Then I watched it.
And instantly fell in love with My so-called Life.
Angela Chase is a 15 year old girl who is filled with the usual angst and pain of growing up and being her and relating to her family and friends.
And she has major feelings for the local bad boy, who of course, may or may not knows she exists.
And to make her so-called life more complicated, she desperately wants to reinvent herself.
To help accomplish this one goal, in the first episode Angela dyes her hair red, which strains her relationship with her already controlling mother. This is part of the start of the revolution she undergoes as the series progresses. All leading to the finale and it’s starting cliffhanger ending.
Angela Chase was played by the amazing Claire Danes, and this launched her career as she was a real teenager at the time. She was living the life imagined by the shows creator, Winnie Holzman, who had plans for a season two. Which never happened.
So this is where My so-called Life Goes On, written by Catherine Clark, picks up from. Holzman generously gives her ideas for the immediate aftermath of the series finale to Clark, who runs with them and builds a great narrative. The show ended in 1995, and this novel came out in 1999, so it is safe to assume they knew a revival was not in the cards.
We begin with Angela working her first job at her dad’s newly opened restaurant. And she hates every moment of it. She is also still dating bad boy Jordan Catalano, and also still doubting herself for doing so. We catch up quickly with her friends, with Rickie still coming to grips with coming out, with Rayanne going through summer jobs like wildfire, and with Brian overscheduling himself as usual. Things progress, and a few shockers abound, and the new status quo in the beginning of the novel becomes an even newer status quo at the end.
Clark captures the characters superbly. It really feels like Holzman’s thoughts and the actors voices all through Goes On, which helps brings the magic of what was back so wonderfully.
Seeing the continuing evolving friendship between Sharon and Rayanne, such opposites in general attitude and opposites as once enemies, is gratifying with where it goes in Goes On. Having the blown up tortured almost romance between Brian and Delia get lovingly renewed, after all the wrongs the massively socially inept to the point of painful Brian caused their blossoming relationship, is hopeful, even if he is still keeping one secret.
One huge pivotal moment, possibly of the magnitude of Angela dying her hear red, happens in the midway point of Goes On, and sets the stage for the climatic ending. I fully believe fans of the show will love this storyline, just as I did, and of course see the new complications thrown into the mix between Angela and Brian because of this. I am Team Angela and Brian, by the way.
In a perfect world, My so-called Life would have gone on and on, and further revolutionized television. But in our reality, that unfortunately did not happen. So we get the next best thing, Angela Chase’s story goes on.
Scoopriches