"Up on the Roof" Top Dialogue Poll

[maggiethecat]

Okay, inuvik, here's your chance to resume voting.

Nowhere is it written, I suppose, that we have to go in order of episode, so I thought why not polish off "Up on the Roof" while we're waiting for the ten perfect lines from "Rub a Tub Tub" and "Four Feet Under?"

Although I have a feeling we all know #10 will be [drum roll] the winner.

[bjobsessed]

I bet you can all guess which one I voted for.

[maggiethecat]

I don't want to shock you all -- especially bjo, who loves this line more than life itself! -- but I did not vote for "I'd rather lose my sight than my courage."

I voted for "This is a handkerchief." Every time I see it again it gives me cold chills, and for so many reasons: for the look of determined sadness on Jim's face; for Karen's softly uttered "Oh, man."; and for what it tells us about the character of Dunbar, that he will do what he has to -- even if it means bringing down a fellow officer of the NYPD, despite their past history -- to see the right thing done. Somewhere along the line, for Jim, this case stopped being about Terry (to an extent) and became about a young black man with his life ahead of him who had been put in a wrongful position by ciurcumstances, and who clearly needed justice.

And that is why this line knocks me out every time, as does the ensuing moment when Jim calls Terry on his cell . . .



Maybe I loved and respected the character of Dunbar so much because he always did the right thing, whatever the cost. And the cost was usually considerable.

Hence my vote.

[Katryna]

For the reasons Maggie so brilliantly described, I also voted for "This is a Handkerchief".

[rducasey]

I voted for "tell me about it", as a response to Terry's "this isn't the same Jimmy Dunbar I knew"- words that I bet he wished he hadn't said moments after saying them and hearing Jim's response.

[maggiethecat]

Just like The Pilot, rducasey and kathy and bjo . . . every line is golden.

[Deleted]

Yea, Mags, I'm with you on the hankerchief line for sure!

[Chris]

I had a hard time deciding whether to vote for
"You bustin' my balls?" or
"Id rather lose my sight than my courage."

The comment on Karen bustin' Jms balls is priceless, it cracks me up everytime I hear it, but the little Romantic inside me melts when Jim says that Golden Line: "Id rather lose my sight than my courage." so I ended up voting for that.

And Maggie you are so right about The Handkerchief comment but I just had to oblige to my Inner Romantic....

[mlm828]

The "this is a handkerchief" moment is one of my favorites. But for a single line of dialogue, I had to go with "I'd rather lose my sight than my courage." It's quite simply the perfect end to this episode and tells us Jim has dealt with Terry and is moving on. It doesn't get any better.

[hoosier]

Another episode where it is soooo difficult to pick just one. I had to go with my gut and chose "Is it okay to go out there?" That line is so poignant it gets me every time. Jim trusted Terry to have his back and, even in his dreams, Terry fails. Is he hoping that Terry will one day redeem himself by standing up and taking responsibility for his actions? Hoping that the past year was nothing but a bad dream he will wake from this time?

[inuvik]

I picked "he's not my partner"! That scene with Galloway was so powerful. Poor Jim, you could see how deeply affected he was by Terry. So much he's making Freudian slips in the good dr's office.

(don't get me started on Dr. G not picking it up! )

[janna]

I voted for "He is not my partner" because it is one of the few moments he losts control...

[krissie]

So many great moments to choose from... And I finally managed to make a choice after discounting a few potentials.

I love the exchange between Karen and Jim on the sidewalk, but I couldn't quite bring myself to choose the 'busting balls' quote. The thing is, why is Karen busting Jim's balls? Yes, I know anyone who has seen the episode will know, but that one phrase alone doesn't tell us. We're left to fill in the gaps (which is fun in its own way).

I used the same reasoning to not chose the the moment in Dr Galloway's office (which is one of my favourites in the episode) and for not choosing 'This is a handkerchief'.

For what the sentence says all by itself and for not needing to hear the surrounding dialogue, I had to go with 'I'd rather lose my sight than my courage'.

Krissie

[maggiethecat]

I believe everyone but Shmeep, Housemouse, and anna have voted in this poll, so when they do we can call a winner.

[shmeep]

Ooops. Didn't realize I didn't vote. Sorry!