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November 26, 2006

Cut my son's bonds

The actress Alice Krige was born in South Africa which is why she has the kind of diamond dust commonwealth accent that drives me crazy. This made her a great Jessica Atreides in the kickass Children of Dune mini-series. Other iceblood matriarchs include the madam Maddie in Deadwood and the fricking Borg Queen in Star Trek, for god sakes.

But her finest role is as Alma in the second season of Six Feet Under. She plays the instructor of the Landmark Forum-style self-help group, The Plan. The complete ridiculousness of The Plan's idea of personal transformation by architectural metaphor (which I also take to be a dig on Ayn Rand) is played off some really genuine moments of Ruth becoming a stronger person. That ambiguity is one of my favorite parts of the show.

And Alice Krige totally sells this. She's so strong as the instructor that even the weird "rebuild your life plank by plank" jargon comes off as momentarily believable to me.

She and Tilda Swinton should do some kinda of two-woman show together.

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