Baldwin: “You don’t want this.”

I was thinking about this stellar show and how good it is, and realized that the scene with Baldwin trying to discourage her assailant probably epitomizes its greatness in terms of its depth and compassion. The guy intends to harm her. She knows he is no threat to her. She DOES NOT want to hurt him nor anyone else. She does not say, “You don’t want this, motherfucker.” She does not shout or sneer. She makes what is a gentle statement of fact. Three seconds later he is dead. She did all that she could to prevent that conclusion. She did not posture, pose nor threaten. She simply told him what was going to happen. Name me another action hero—because Baldwin IS an action hero—who has that much depth, enlightenment and maturity not to degenerate into the adolescent male testosterone pool but instead try to neutralize the conflict.

A Zen master can do that. Few others.

Counterpart was insanely great.