"His Visit: Day One"
Much like the title character in
John from Cincinnati, there are some things I know and some things I don't. For instance, I certainly did not know what was going on throughout the entire first episode and I have no idea what to expect for the future of this series, and yet, for some reason I know that I enjoyed what I saw.
It might have something to do with the fact that I'm drawn to anything having to do with the beach lifestyle. The environment is like a character in itself, and in my opinion movies or TV shows that showcase the surfing lifestyle are even better. Call me crazy, but I actually feel refreshed after watching them. Last night before bed, it was almost as if I had spent the day reclining on a sun-drenched beach instead of watching TV in a house with no air-conditioning. Those waves just do it for me, man!
I have to admit, when I first signed on to blog this show, I didn't really know what to expect. I first heard it described as a surf noir, but really, what does that tell ya? Let's break the description down a little bit. It doesn't really take a whole lot more than a few well-sculpted boards and bodies to be considered part of the surf genre, and the prerequisites for a film noir are pretty cut-and-dry, what with the dark lighting, bleak settings and contemptuous characters. But to mix the two together? I could only picture Keanu Reeves' Johnny Utah from
Point Break shouting "I am an F.B.I agent!" through a billowing cloud of cigar smoke, all the while obscured by shadows in a dark alley.
I guess it's a little too early to tell how I feel about the show. The awkward John Monad appeared out of nowhere to utter the first words of the episode: "The end is near." What the heck does that mean? Hopefully for David Milch, the creative force behind earlier hits such as
NYPD Blue and
Deadwood, they won't serve as a prediction of the series' fate.
The rest of John's dialogue was just as confusing. His endless parroting of other's words could have been a lot more annoying if not for Austin Nichols' casual performance. I definitely cracked up when he told Butchie "I'll bone her" and later on when he challenged Ed O'Neill's character, Bill, by raising his voice and shouting "No, I have my eye on
you!" It should be interesting to see if the writers can maintain good dialogue for such a potentially boring character throughout the rest of the series.
Various weirdness of note throughout the episode:
Mitch's noncancerous levitation
Zippy the bird's death and subsequent revival
John's pockets producing whatever someone happened to ask him for
That lady handing Mrs. Yost something in jail
John and Shaun communicating via foot scribbles
The name John Monad. My immediate impression was that it must have been an anagram for nomad, but then I looked it up in the dictionary and saw that one of its meanings is "a divine spark." Given what I know so far, that sounds about right.
Find video from John from Cincinnati in our Online Video Guide.
