last june i had my day of mauriat, millennium and madonna in which my memory took on a sudden lockstep fascination in regard to a second-season episode of the television series and its repeated use of the song that i discovered was "love is blue." i only remembered a few things about it, little moments really, but there was definitely a lasting effect even though i'd only seen that one episode that one time. well, this christmas, inspired by that day's pondering and my subsequent creation of a cd that features the song twenty times back-to-back, i was after the complete series on dvd. i got it, and over the last week i've watched straight through season one and up to the point in season two where i needed to be: 'a room with no view.'

having just watched it, the moments that stood out to me back in april of '98 were again just as striking: what i now recognise as an enchanting mix of symbolism, cultural commentary, and sexually-charged despair. it all ends up happening so quickly; i realised that i hadn't seen the entire episode and moments that had seemed much more drawn-out actually took place within the space of the first two or three commercial breaks. having the music on a loop, nearly always audible from the very beginning, had the original effect of sustaining an immersive viewing experience through those breaks, absent from the dvd version. seeing what i have of the series, and i'm watching it all for the first time, it's one of the lesser episodes, but i'm not disappointed with the culmination of the experience -- from remembering to re-living -- even if it took this long.