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SNL: "Motherlover"

Patricia Clarkson steals the show in "House of Cards." Her best moment is in the last episode. She has slipped Claire some Chinese poison; "just don't exceed the dosage, or you can kill someone." Claire has of course (implausibly) used a full bottle on the loathsome Tom Yates (and this shows, emphatically, that "House of Cards" is not a serious drama, and does not want to be; it's a delightful low-rent noir, in the style of "Dressed to Kill," and God bless it for that). Clarkson--"Ms. Davis"--seems to intuit that Claire has used the Chinese extract for nefarious purposes. But of course she can't say that; this is Washington, DC, and Claire is a power broker, THE power broker. So--coolly--Ms. Davis says, "Your husband's liver could fail at any time. I can't do that for you, obviously, but I know some people. I could make some calls." And then she picks up the Chinese extract. "Remember this stuff can be quite lethal." So, in a few short lines, the writers have established that Ms. Davis is fully, batshit crazy, and that she doesn't even have anything resembling minor qualms about the possibility of homicide. They've also established that Ms. Davis is shrewd: She has let Claire know, without using direct statements, that she has Claire's number. She is watching Claire, and can employ blackmail at any moment. Surely, Claire does not miss this.

Patricia Clarkson is the daughter of a powerful female politician in New Orleans. She attended Fordham, where she graduated summa cum laude, and she has had fruitful affiliations with Justin Timberlake, Lisa Cholodenko, Alan Ball, and Zal Batmanglij. (These are big names.) She's politically outspoken and circumspect about her private life. "I've never married, never wanted to have children; I don't have that gene." (Echoes of Helen Mirren, regarding child-rearing, in that comment.)

Now it's time to discuss "Motherlover," the high point in Clarkson's career, and maybe the thing she'll be most fondly remembered for. Two young men have been released from prison. Dang! While incarcerated, they forgot Mother's Day. This is especially problematic, because the mothers in question are lonely. One is unsatisfied in bed "ever since Dad passed away." The other seems to be recovering from a divorce. In any case, the young men decide they will "fuck each other's moms." This smart solution leads to some unforgettable moments: "Every Mother's Day needs a Mother's Night" (my favorite line). "I'ma bring your mom lube and roses; I'ma bring a camera for a million poses." Clarkson preens and stretches her legs, catlike, while leaning (bizarrely) against a municipal trash can in a filthy NYC park. Similarly, Susan Sarandon--instead of transporting herself to Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast (as we'd expect from a music video)--thrusts out her bosom while leaning against a dingy brick building somewhere in Brooklyn. She scratches her back against the filthy wall, suggesting that her erotic energies are overwhelming her. Clarkson would like to remove her photo of her son, Timberlake, from the bedroom before Doing the Deed, but Samberg will have none of this; instead, he displays the photo more prominently, and Clarkson, titillated, wags one finger at him. This seems to be the clearest indication of the song's big, main, unstated joke--that the two young men would actually like to fuck *each other*, and that their moms are serving as a means of getting around/past thoughts of this (apparently unacceptable) homoerotic passion. "I'm touching that lady where you came out as a baby." The speaker is thinking of his male friend even as he describes an act of heterosexual finger-banging. "If doing this is wrong, I don't wanna be right." (Indeed!)

It seems to me most great art/storytelling comes from questions of boundary-blurring. We're all struggling to understand how to relate to one another, and hilarity and tragedy ensue, sometimes simultaneously, when we imagine our own private notion of boundaries has universal relevance and authority. That's a big source of this clip's appeal, I think. Also, it's fun to see two guys behaving as teenagers, making jokes about lube, discarded rubbers, and: "IT WOULD BE MY HONOR TO BE YOUR NEW STEPFATHER." Go ahead and disagree with me. Bring it on. Or just watch the clip below--and thank me later!

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/snl-digital-short-motherlover/n12493?snl=1

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