Addicted: Crack Whore Teachable Moments
On last night's Addicted, the Albanian-born Klea was living the American dream, prostituting herself for meth and crying herself to sleep each night, until interventionist/host/emotionless mother-figure Kristina Wandzilak came along, setting her straight with her own brand of tough lovelessness.
In her video plea for help, Klea reaches out to Kristina while simultaneously reaching for her crack pipe. As viewers hear countless times throughout each episode (starting with her expository intro), Kristina has been there before, she knows how Klea feels, even if she herself barely betrays any feelings. Addicts' stories are different in the details but generally share underlying elements of early psychological, sexual, or physical abuse and a subsequent subconscious desire for self-destruction.
Hearing Klea's twisted defense of prostitution as feminist empowerment and seeing her post-coital meth smoke dissolve into a tearful breakdown, Kristina worries that the girl is ripe for relapse after treatment. After an initial detox period, Klea meets Carol, Kristina's crack whore friend, who is brought in to exemplify the future a functioning addict faces if they manage to survive at all. Despite the despair of her situation, Carol is warm and friendly, telling her life story with the same detached candor as Klea and Kristina, but leaving time for hugs after the tour of her drug den. The three, in their various stages of addiction, are a strung out version of the mythic Fates: the young meth-maiden, the supportive mother in recovery, and the wizened, world-weary whore, spinning a common thread of destiny. Showing Klea exactly what life holds for her scares her into a character-changing realization; the "glamorous side" of methamphetamine disappears.
Nearing 30 days sober, Klea is given a chance to tell her story. Reading from a prepared statement Klea describes her history of horrors, the miseries which shaped her life and culminated in her substance abuse. Once hardened, the recovered Klea is a different sort of street-smart, able to admit to her own fragility, finally learning how to protect herself from her own demons. She is utterly hopeful, leaving the screen smiling and renewed, the inverse of Carol's happy helplessness. Blissful in the face of Kristina's wary pride, Klea is one of the lucky ones. She has been saved, and she knows it.