Life Lessons From Amy Brenneman

When I came back to my room from lunch this afternoon, I turned on the television, almost as if the universe was telling me it was the right thing to do. I was soon rewarded with seventy minutes of high drama of “Judging Amy.” The issues in the show resonated with things I’m currently grappling with in my own life: addiction (my nascent gambling problem), foster care (teaching the kid’s workshop), and murder (my ongoing investigation of the mysterious boat from a few days ago). I made some calls to Sue during the commercial breaks to get some back story, and then settled in to watch one of the finest hourlong dramas of our time.

Sue and I later had a somewhat contentious debate about the character of Judge Amy, who I find to be warm and compassionate but whom Sue describes as “a coldhearted bitch” (direct quote). Sue argues that Amy is only a judge because it gives her a power trip to control families and that she is very self-centered in her new relationship with the lawyer whose wife was brutally murdered. I countered that the most manipulative character on the show is, in fact, Amy’s daughter, but Sue pointed out that she has just learned from the master. In any case, I am using Tyne Daly’s tenacious ability to ferret out the truth in her complex DCFS cases as inspiration for my own detective process. I hope to be able to report with results soon.