What happened is that Black Mask allies himself with a woman named Sylvia, who's from Selina's past. He ends up kidnapping Selina's sister, Maggie, and Maggie's husband. The Black Mask then tortures Maggie and her husband; it's pretty twisted stuff. There's this part where he pulls out the husband's eyeball and forces him to swallow it while his wife watches in abject horror. After he takes some more punishment, the husband dies. As a result of this, Maggie's mind just snaps and by the time Selina finally rescues her sister, she has to go to an asylum.
But that's not all. In the adventure leading up to the rescue, Selina's two best friends endure some more pain. Slam Bradley, an older private eye who's secretly in love with her, gets hit by a car and winds up in serious condition in the hospital. Holly Robinson, Selina's best friend, gets attacked by a gang of youths and gets pounded by their skateboards before being kidnapped as well.
And then during the final battle with Black Mask and Sylvia, Holly, who had been set free, saves Selina's life. But to save her life, Holly is forced to shoot and kill Sylvia. That's intense because up to this point, Holly isn't really part of the violent side of Catwoman's life. So killing another person, even if it's to save her best friend, is a traumatic experience for Holly.
The emotional fallout of this leads to a sort of uncomfortable rift between Holly and Selina. They both want to talk to each other and make things better, but I guess they're too messed up mentally to figure out how to go about it. As a result, they just drift apart while wallowing in their own separate worlds of pain.
I guess that was a long-winded summary of the context of my favorite scene, but here it is.
A few weeks after Slam gets out of the hospital, Selina's still pretty beaten down mentally. So they end up talking to each other at one point, at a diner, and here's the part that always gets me.
SELINA
I've been having these dreams, you know, about Maggie... They aren't nightmares. In the dreams, she's normal again, and we're friends. I get this weird feeling of calm, like everything's going to be okay... And I'm so happy I could cry. And when I wake up, for a few seconds, I think the dream was real... It fools me, you know? And then real life crashes through. And God, I just want to die. I could stand knowing I'd wrecked everything, if I didn't have to live through it again like that all the time. And you know, there really should be a word for that feeling... When the dream is better than your real life. That moment of realization. They should have a word for that...
I've been having these dreams, you know, about Maggie... They aren't nightmares. In the dreams, she's normal again, and we're friends. I get this weird feeling of calm, like everything's going to be okay... And I'm so happy I could cry. And when I wake up, for a few seconds, I think the dream was real... It fools me, you know? And then real life crashes through. And God, I just want to die. I could stand knowing I'd wrecked everything, if I didn't have to live through it again like that all the time. And you know, there really should be a word for that feeling... When the dream is better than your real life. That moment of realization. They should have a word for that...
And now, for the part of this post that doesn't necessarily have much to do with the majesty of Brubaker's Catwoman.
Last night, I had this dream where I encountered my first major crush. I don't know why I dreamt about her. Memories of this dream are sort of hazy right now, but I think I still remember the gist of it. We met somewhere and started talking and catching up 'cause it's been years since we last saw each other.
It was one of those feel-good dreams, you know, where somewhere in the back of your mind you know it's just a dream and you're smiling in real life. So in the dream, we were talking and it felt like there was some chemistry and stuff. And then when I was feeling optimistic she told me she had a boyfriend. Then I felt sort of disappointed, and woke up, and discovered it was only 4AM.
It took me some time to fall back to sleep after that. It was an unusual feeling. During most of that dream, I was feeling happy, but right before I woke up from it, I felt let down. I wasn't sure if that was a good dream or not; it just made me feel conflicted. I felt very, very strange after that dream.
And you know what? There should be a word for that feeling. There should be a word.
Last night, I had this dream where I encountered my first major crush. I don't know why I dreamt about her. Memories of this dream are sort of hazy right now, but I think I still remember the gist of it. We met somewhere and started talking and catching up 'cause it's been years since we last saw each other.
It was one of those feel-good dreams, you know, where somewhere in the back of your mind you know it's just a dream and you're smiling in real life. So in the dream, we were talking and it felt like there was some chemistry and stuff. And then when I was feeling optimistic she told me she had a boyfriend. Then I felt sort of disappointed, and woke up, and discovered it was only 4AM.
It took me some time to fall back to sleep after that. It was an unusual feeling. During most of that dream, I was feeling happy, but right before I woke up from it, I felt let down. I wasn't sure if that was a good dream or not; it just made me feel conflicted. I felt very, very strange after that dream.
And you know what? There should be a word for that feeling. There should be a word.
