An ode to the world's best teen drama

The day after Christmas I took my brother to Best Buy and came home with the complete series of "My So-Called Life," which was re-released on DVD in October for a more affordable price than the first run ($54.99) and includes all 19 episodes (some with commentary) on five DVDs, and a bonus DVD of special features. Instead of rushing to the special features that I really wanted to see, I decided to first watch the series from beginning to end, and re-watch the episodes with commentary. I completely immersed myself in the world of Angela Chase & co. and finished it all in four days.

MSCL ran for barely a season but it was long enough to give viewers a detailed peek into 15-year-old Angela Chase's life (Angela played by a 13- and 14-year-old Claire Danes). Trying to explain what the show is about can't do it justice, but basically it's based around Angela and her new best friends (the loopy and rebellious Rayanne Graff and Rickie Vasquez, who is gay and abused by his family); her obsession with dreamy Jordan Catalano, (Jaret Leto when he was young, gorgeous and not in a shitty band); her changing relationship with childhood best friend Sharon Chersky; her awkward, semi-nerdy and stalkerish (but adorable) neighbor Brian Krakow who's in love with her; her relationship with her family; and that doesn't even say anything.

Watching the series from beginning to end was exciting and depressing: exciting because there were episodes I hadn't seen before, and because I picked up new things from the ones I had seen, and depressing because there was nothing else after the last episode and I didn't want it to be over.

I remember seeing MSCL on TV when it was on MTV the late '90s, except that I was too young to remember anything about the show (it was first aired even before that, in 1994-95), so I really started watching it when it was shown on the N in 2004. It's incredible that even almost 15 years after it was filmed, the plots and characters in MSCL are still completely believable (minus some of the outrageous clothing).

All of the characters are so well-developed and realistic that it's impossible to not care about them. The stories in MSCL are powerful (I sobbed during the Christmas episode) because average people can relate to them, compared to today's teen dramas about snotty rich people who represent only a tiny part of the population. MSCL's characters and plots are edgy without being fake or exaggerated, the dialogue is clever, and the show's content really pushed the envelope when it was on air. I could go on and on and analyze every episode and rave about how amazing each one is, but it'd probably be more valuable to just watch it yourself.

When I finally got to the special effects (last night) they weren't as awesome as I hoped they would be, but I'm glad I watched the whole show before seeing them or I wouldn't have remembered a lot of the stuff mentioned on the bonus disc.

I really love the relationship between Angela and Brian — he's smart, a little dorky, very innocent, and is always around. He's completely in love with her (though she doesn't really know it, at least not to what extent, until the last episode), and she guiltily uses him for little things (like his bike) because she knows he'll do whatever she asks him — except here (hahaha):

Brian : You're in some kind of dream world, or something that revolves around you. You have like, no concept of anybody else's life —
Angela : I know.
Brian : You couldn't even begin to imagine the pressure I'm under. You think you're under pressure? You? That is so like, laughable.
Angela : Brian, you are completely right, OK, but could you just please explain geometry to me anyway?
Brian : Are you completely insane ?
Angela : Yes, I probably am.
Brian : You think I care? You could not possibly conceive of how much studying I have to do tonight! Have you ever even heard of calculus? Geometry is a paid vacation compared to calculus. Okay? I mean, do you, do you have any idea what it's like to be an accelerated? I mean, do you like realize the pressure on a person when it's like assumed that they will always get As? 'Hey, Brian, pull another A?' 'That Brian, he always gets an A.' You have the option of insanity. I do not. And that … makes me crazy!

And a lovely scene between Angela and Brian, talking about Angela's guy problems (if you're reading this as a Facebook note, click on "view original post" to see the YouTube video):