
Hear her roar
In “Dallas’s” fourth-season episode “The Gathering Storm,” Lucy and Mitch (Charlene Tilton, Leigh McCloskey) argue in their living room.
MITCH: Lucy, do you realize what’s happening to us?
LUCY: No, but apparently you do.
MITCH: We’re like roommates. We pass each other either coming or going. We don’t have a marriage. We have a quick-change routine.
LUCY: And naturally, it’s my fault.
MITCH: Well, it certainly isn’t mine. I don’t have limousines calling for me at dawn every day and I don’t come dragging in at 10:30 at night.
LUCY: Oh, no. Oh, no. Now that I just won’t take! You said it, mister. You said it loud and clear. We’ll live on “our income.” [Does air quotes] Remember that?
MITCH: I didn’t say, “our income.” I said we’d live on mine.
LUCY: Oh, great. So you’re going to park cars and work at the lab for nickels and dimes. And we’re going to live happily ever after. Is that it?
MITCH: Yes, if we have to!
LUCY: I don’t believe this. What rulebook did you drag that out of? Something that was written in the Dark Ages?
MITCH: [Sighs] I don’t need a rulebook to tell me how I feel.
LUCY: Feel about what?
MITCH: Well, that damn gold chain for one thing. Don’t you know I wanna be able to give you things like that, but I can’t?
LUCY: Oh Mitch, stop it.
MITCH: Yeah, what, at nickels and dimes you’d have to wait 10 years.
LUCY: OK, I’m sorry I said that. But it’s not my money. And it’s not your money. It’s ours. What difference does it make who earns it?
MITCH: It makes all the difference in the world. Now, if you don’t see that, and if you can’t understand what’s wrong, then we’re in real trouble.
LUCY: You said it. Not me. Just remember that. [She turns and begins walking away.]
MITCH: Lucy, look.
LUCY: [Facing him, screaming] No, you look. I have had it up to here with this stupid macho act of yours. I work my butt off to bring money home so we can live decently and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna apologize for that!
MITCH: You really don’t see anything wrong then, do you?
LUCY: Not a thing!
MITCH: Well, then I guess there’s nothing left to be said. [Grabs his coat, leaves]