While the impression is based on the premise of Hillary's competence, it also promotes some of the most durable and, in many ways, sexist, popular tropes about her: that she is narcissistic, grasping (in her first performance, McKinnon literally grabs at the air), shrill, and, at this late stage, desperate for the office.
As the game moved into the closing stages Powell, desperate for her side to salvage at least a point, sent her second and third substitutes on and it was Smith and Duggan who combined for the goal.
In the common view, the writer is at this stage so desperate that he's sitting around with a list of characters, a list of themes, and a framework for his plot, and ostensibly trying to mesh the three elements.
With fires racing uncontrollably across much of Southern California, firefighters on the northwestern edge of Los Angeles staged a desperate effort on Monday to defend the city and the coastal community of Malibu from the deadly rush of flames.
Dave is virtually anonymous, Graham spends the most thrilling, spinetingling moments staring at his fretboard and Alex stands on the stage amps, desperate to hog the spotlight that little bit more than his bandmates.
Assayas stages the desperate solitude of grief, the practical solitude of the artist, the incidental solitude of the long-distance relationship, the professional solitude of the freelance solo practitioner.
It sounded somewhat staged, a desperate flip-flop, considering the Giants' paper-thin schedule and the realization that they will not have proved much unless they barge their way into the playoffs, as opposed to straggle in through the back door.
But though both actors have been trapped by armies of fans besieging the stage door, desperate to catch a glimpse of Sherlock or Doctor Who, respectively, neither has yet needed, as far as I know, a man with a machine gun on guard.
But nothing could mask another desperate staging post on the extraordinary fall of a club whose fans say will "never die" but which is doing precisely that.
These massive moves have become more common in recent years and reflect two things: on transition stages such as this, the battle to win a stage is more desperate than ever.
