Wednesday, June 02, 2010

When I finally cried

Of all the Lost deaths, this one finally broke the dam.

I've been watching Lost for six years now and, if you include DVD rewatching, I've cried more than any forty year old dude ever should while watching a television show.  Certainly quite a bit more than I've ever cried during my adult life while not watching a television show.  

And yet during this final season of Lost, despite the brilliance of its execution and delivery, I found myself exceedingly dry eyed all throughout.  I'm not exactly certain why this was, although certainly my only complaint, the ham-handed handling of the deaths of Sun, Jin and Sayid, did remove what would have been the single greatest motivator for letting a couple of eye rivers flow.  Also, my blogging about the show has made me so analytical, and so obsessed with trying to remain analytical at all times, that I'm sure I was not always in the detached immersion state the show has so often prompted me to assume during previous years.  And so, while I was moved early and often this season, and while I found myself misty at various times all year, and especially during the finale, the waterworks just never flowed.

Then Nunu died.  

Nunu was Jorge Garcia's dog, and you probably saw Nunu during Everybody Loves Hugo (she was the cute little babe in Hurley's arm during the slide show presentation that opened the episode).  A great deal of my enjoyment of Lost this season came via Jorge's blog, which was often funny, and which always presented us with a thoughtful dissection, via podcast, of each and every episode the day after it aired.  Through Jorge's blog, I met Nunu long before Everybody Loves Hugo, and I feel for her immediately thanks to both pictures and descriptions of her deeds (the thing with the shoes rewrote the definition of the word funny).  Being a dog lover who has had anywhere from one to four of them living with me most of my adult life (although, oddly enough, not during my childhood), I'm just the sort of douche who would bond to a picture of an extremely cute dog I'm never going to actually see in  person.  After all, I can almost be moved to tears during those pet rescue commercials, so that's how over the damn bend I am for animals.

And then today I clicked over to Jorge's other blog and learned that Nunu had been struck by a car and killed on Jorge's last day in Hawaii.  And the dam broke.  I was just devastated.  All the pent up emotion I had been suppressing over the end of Lost finally came bursting through.  I cried for Nunu, and I especially cried for Jorge and Beth, as no one should ever lose a pet this way, and then I even began to cry for Jack and Sun and Jin and Sayid and Shannon and everyone else who had been dealt such a shitty deal over on Craphole Island.  All the emotions I had been subconsciously suppressing the past few months came out in spades.  Real people, pets, fictional characters, they all merged in my mind, and I cried.

I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, as the closest I came to really letting go during the finale was when Vincent came busting out of the bushes and lay down next to Jack as he lay dying.  Seeing Vincent doing something so amazingly dog-like (as opposed to fake Hollywood dog-like), just got to me more than Jack's actual death itself did.  I was so busted up that I had to make a joke about it to myself, turning Vincent into a hungry dog just waiting for Jack to hurry up and die already.  In fact, that was going to be the picture and caption I used on my first real post about the finale right up until I changed my mind moments before posting it.

You'll never read this, Jorge, but I am so sorry about what happened.  I've lost a number of pets well before their time, and it hurts as much as losing anything in your life, I know.  But I thank you for sharing Nunu with us while she was still here.  And I thank you for sharing yourself with us in a way that so few people of fame ever try to do, and which they couldn't do in a genuine manner even if they tried.  I always keep celebrity in a box, never letting it get out of control or affect my opinions of people I don't actually know, but you managed to break into that box.  You always felt like a friend I just hadn't actually met yet, as ridiculous as that may sound, and Nunu was a big reason why I felt that way.  In fact, meeting her was probably higher on my list than was meeting you.  Meeting you would have just been a gateway to getting to meet Nunu and watch her drag all your shoes under a table to keep you from going to work.  Here is to hoping we all see her again in the great sideways world in the sky.

Nunu Garcia Shady, rest in peace.

2 comments:

  1. Damn, that's about the cutest dog and saddest story I've seen and heard in a while. I went to the other blog and it nearly made me cry. And on the last day, too. Sort a very Hurley thing to have happen to Mr. Garcia.

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  2. Kevin Not SmithJune 04, 2010 10:17 AM

    I got turned on to Jack's beard through you, Schmoker. Also an animal lover here, and have also lost pets this way. I can completely identify. A nice tribute to Jorge, Nunu and Lost.

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