Film — Live-Action
Light Turner: You killed him.
Mia Sutton: No, Light, I saved you. From yourself. Again. Because every time things get hard, you leave me to do the real stuff.
Mia Sutton: No, Light, I saved you. From yourself. Again. Because every time things get hard, you leave me to do the real stuff.
Literature
There was a time when the true signs of war were the lavish plumage of the women; Fifth Avenue dress shops and the finer restaurants were filed with these vanguards of war. Look at the jewels, the rare pelts, the gaudy birds on those elaborate hair-dress and know that war was already here; already the women had inherited the earth. The ominous smell of gunpowder was matched by a rising cloud of Schiaparelli's Shocking, The women were once more armed, and their happy voices sang of destruction to come...
— Dawn Powell, A Time to Be Born
Live-Action TV
"What's the point of being married to a city manager if we can't wield unfettered power to crush my enemies?"
— Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation ("The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic")
Theatre
Thoust have, great Glamys, that which cries,
Thus thou must do, if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Then wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue,
All that impedes thee from the Golden Round,
Which Fate and metaphysical aid doth seem,
To have thee crowned withall.
Thus thou must do, if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Then wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue,
All that impedes thee from the Golden Round,
Which Fate and metaphysical aid doth seem,
To have thee crowned withall.
— Lady Macbeth, Macbeth
Web Original
Lindsey Coulson's Val just terrifies me. There's no other word for it. Apparently under the thumb of her husband, she shows that she has an iron steel underneath all that amiability and is perfectly capable of manipulating her powerful husband to her will and setting him on whoever she chooses. With some subtle digs at his manhood, he is like putty in her hands. I'm sure under normal circumstances Val would be cracking company but she is the last person you want around in a crisis, the sort of person that suspects the worst and injects that fear into others.
Cleopatra's career started off evil enough: She conspired with Julius Caesar to overthrow her husband (who was also her brother. It was Egypt.) and make her pharaoh. Also, at some point between her blowjobs, she talked Caesar into adopting the leap year, which, as far as evil plans go, isn't as lame as some we've seen over the past century of comic books. But getting it on with Caesar was just the beginning of her sexy, sinister conspiracy, which eventually turned the whole damned planet upside down and did things to it that make us feel like we need to take a cold shower.
Once upon a time, Tom Cruise was sane, married to Nicole Kidman, and, although a Scientologist, capable of going out in public without seeming like he's overly concerned about the Marcab Confederacy (whose capital is one of the tail stars of the Big Dipper). Part of this is Nicole Kidman, who has experienced her own flavor of precipitous career decline, having basically managed to avoid being in a hit, or, indeed, a critical darling in about eight years. (This may be related to the fact that Nicole Kidman is now 80% plastic.) Despite this, she provided something like a moderating influence on Mr. Cruise, just as he provided her the opportunity to be the classic Hollywood leading lady she apparently wanted to be instead of the supporting/character actor she is.
