A taut, tension-filled eighth episode of HBO's John for Cincinnati this evening, with some great dabs of humor - but everyone understandably worried sick about Shaun, given John's pronouncements that "Shaun will soon be gone," and his making a terrorist-style video message to make his point.
Best line of the show, apropos the terrorist angle, comes from the "ball busting" Cissy - referring to the video message, before she sees it, "like that fuck bin Laden"? Not only the best line of the show but Rebecca De Mornay's best line so far.
Also in the best line department, in the runner-up return engagement category, we get Butchie saying "dumping out" and "boning" as he describes John's peculiar speech pattern.
But Shaun's not yet gone - he's just off to Sea World with Tina (who again has the honor being referred to as "whore" by Cissy).
In the end, he also signs a contract with Linc, with Cissy signing, too.
But not to worry, we have two episodes left, and we're nowhere near a happy ending.
In fact, quite to the contrary, John is not letting up on Shaun soon being gone, and in the coming attractions everyone seems to be saying that he is ...
But I'm stubbornly holding on to the prediction that Shaun being "gone" may not be bad.
Great song as usual under the closing credits of this weird-ass but compelling enigma of a series ... "When Love Came to Town"... U2 and B. B. King's rendition of the B. B. King classic.
See also reviews of other episodes ... Some Thoughts on John (from Cincinnati) ... Episode Two ... Episode Three ... Episode Four ... Episode 5 ... Episode 6 ... Episode 7 ... Episode 9 ... Episode 10
See also John from Cincinnati: The Meaning in a Sentence or Two
14 comments:
Isn't this just Deadwood at the Beach? I'm expecting Al Swearingen next week...
I still love the show, but it's about to fall over the 'WTF?!?!' cliff. You hit the nail on the head with the tension observation. I'm just interested to see how they're going to tie this all up, or if they will at all.
this weird-ass but compelling enigma of a series
Paul - this is one of the best descriptions of the show I've seen yet.
I am constantly having the WTF moments myself, but I'm enjoying the ride.
This show is the best. My viewing is enhanced by interacting with other fans. The best fan site I have found so far is:
http://www.thesnugharbormotel.com/index.php
Hopefully, fan sites like this will keep intereset up and get HBO to renew for a few more seasons.
Okay...this was by far the most confusing (or telling) episodes so far. Again, you had the whole Cass as Mary Magdeline thing going on with her following him and relaying his message (regardless of whether she wanted to or not). And then you had Link, who people thought might be out of the game at the end of last episode signing a contract with Shaunie, totally Judas and totally conflicting with what he said to Tina earier in this episode.
You also have Bill, who I've seen always as kind of a "doubting Thomas" character, witnessing John heal immediately from his wounds. The "I will be murdered twice" prediction could be seen as a metaphor for Bill not believing in him, hence the literal stabbing of himself to prove (or maybe in frustration -- it's such a mystery right now!) himself and the metaphorical murder of Bill not believing in him (Cass, too). It seems as if the only person believing in him right now is Butchie -- and out of all of the characters -- he has changed his "stead" the most (I don't know Butchie instead).
Yeah, I'm a rambler, but the show is just taking so many different twists and turns it's hard to grasp -- which makes it even more intriguing. The whole three-ring circus thing -- everything that happened at the motel could be construed as a three-ring circus, and you saw Shaunie juggle twice -- once casually when Tina picked him up from the side of the road and once at the end. It almost reminded me of a tarot card -- like the joker -- you don't know which way it's going to go. Far from biblical, but like I said, this was by far the most challenging of the episodes so far. And the whole stick figure thing on the cloth in Cass' hotel almost reminded me of the shroud. Yeah, it's a stretch, but why on the cloth????
I really enjoy this board, Paul! Your analysis is always very insightful. I really hope this show has time to develop. Take care! Theresa from Cleveland
Oh! And on your favorite comment of the episode note...my favorite line was from Butchie..."If this is an intervention, I'm clean." :-)
Yah - that was my second-and-a-half favorite line (behind the boning and dumping out, tied for second, and the bin Laden in first).
Hey Theresa, MaryKay, KWarhner, JohnB and everyone else - great to have you here! These little discussions are put of the fun of the show...
Anyone notice that the symbol painted in white on black hanging in the background of John's "Sean will be gone soon" video is the one he keeps tracing with his foot?
the symbol also looks like a stick figure missing it's arms.
Anyway, I think it's a mistake to look for a strictly literal translation to this "allegory". Look at how much trouble John has when he is asked what he means. He's pretty often limited to phrases he's heard other people use, and when he's asked to extrapolate he gets a kind of confused and hurt look on his face, like he knows he can't satisfactorily answer for whatever reason.
Yeah, for me, this show is like an existential freestyle jazz riff.
Dylan -- No doubt about the literal translation of the allegory as I think it's almost impossible. But...the whole stick figure looking thing without arms may have a deeper meaning of unwilling to wrap your arms around something or believing in something. As far as John's "parrot speech," remember that people often couldn't understand what Christ was saying either as he often spoke allegorically and almost never in a literal sense...
I'm sure there are a million theories out on this and knowing Milch, I'm sure we're all wrong :-). That's what's so fun about this show...just when you think you might have a grasp, it throws you a curve ball...
this show completely sucks and is a huge pretentious poor effort by all involved. The best news is it begins and ends with one season. Milch needs to retire or switch careers -- he has peaked.
Coming to this 2 years late after discovering the show through a recommendation from a friend.. I think 'John From Cincinnati' is far from perfect, but the oddball vibe and snatches of great dialogue are compelling enough to keep me watching. In spite of the mysterious tone I'm surprised how often I end up laughing out loud. Bill Jacks and Freddie the mobster should definately have their own spinoff show, any scene where those two guys riff off each other is comic gold.
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