itsnotmymind | Beadie Russell vs. Lisa Braeden

*Spoilers for The Wire and Supernatural*

I see a lot of similarities between McNulty/Beadie and Dean/Lisa. The man shows up unexpectedly on the woman's doorstep and is taken into her home, where he becomes her romantic partner and helps to raise her child/children. The man finds domestic bliss with the woman, but ultimately he reverts to form and the relationship is strained.

I've discussed at length how much I dislike the writing on Dean/Lisa. The writing on Beadie is a lot better, as one would expect from The Wire. I complained that Lisa never gets to be angry at Dean on her own behalf. But when Beadie finds out about McNulty faking the serial killer, her first response is not to think about his feelings, but her own. "You had no fucking right….This is my life, too." Lisa's decision to end things with Dean seemed out of the blue, more something that was required for the plot than something that had a lot of build-up. I think Beadie made a mistaken in taking McNulty back after everything he put her through, but it was her decision. It was foreshadowed by her statement that she doesn't like giving up, and I believed it as something she would do.