"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Hightown 1.4: Banging on the Hood



That's what Osito tells Ray - "bang on the hood" -  when Ray shows up at the body shop with some bogus question about what to do about what's wrong with his car.  It's a good line, because it captures Osito's savvy about what Ray is up to, right before Osito comes right out and lets Ray know.  But I also like that line because it also resonates with the spirit of this episode, in at least two ways.

First, there's a whole lot of banging going on, at least between Junior and Donna, whom he's trying to get back with.  And between Ray and Renee, an even more complicated situation, as I've said before, because Renee is with Ray now for two reasons.  One, her husband Frankie in jail is telling her to do that.  And two - though maybe that's really the primary reason - she's really attracted to Ray.  So, yeah, there's so much banging in this episode, that it has an even coarser name (look it up the name of the episode).

But banging on the hood is also what just about everybody seems up to, in the sense that they don't really know how to fix what's wrong with their lives, or get what they're after, so they just bang on the hood of their lives and hope for the best (as far as metaphors go, that's just me banging on the hood).

Jackie is usually the prime example of that.  She gets back on the fish police tonight, after driving a car when she shouldn't be behind the wheel (having been tagged with a DWI), and caps off a successful night on the water with the fish police by having a drink, which, again, she shouldn'tbe having.  But there's also something else looming on the horizon, which is far worse than banging on the hood.

Little by little, Jackie and Junior are on a collision course.  The closer Jackie gets to the murder of Sherry,  the closer she gets to getting on Frankie's hit list.   And who will Frankie, through Osito, choose for this task?  That would have to be Junior.

See you back here next week.


See also Hightown 1.1: Top-Notch Saltwater and Characters ... Hightown 1.2: Sludge and Sun ... Hightown 1.3: Dirty Laundry


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