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Season 01: Episode 04: His Visit: Day Three
By admin | July 3, 2007
As Imperial Beach wakes up, John finds himself standing alone in a field. He wanders, and eventually some Mexican gangsters pick him up in their van: “We drop you in I.B., ese?” John climbs into the van, but the driver soon pulls over to shake him down for money. John’s imitation routine doesn’t amuse the robbers, and when he starts batting their threats back at them, the driver stabs John viciously in the chest and drops him on the side of the road.
At a restaurant in I.B., Dr. Smith meets the hospital’s lawyer, who’s scrambling to absolve the facility of liability in Shaun’s case. Pointing to the photo of Shaun skateboarding in the day’s newspaper, the lawyer adds, “Does undercut ‘pain and suffering.’” Not amused, Dr. Smith informs the lawyer he’ll eliminate the hospital’s PR problem by resigning and admitting he misread the tests, which he destroyed after he realized the mistake. The lawyer leaves with his victory, and Dr. Smith heads off to find Butchie, drawn toward the events he can’t explain.
On a search of her own, Kai has been looking for John ever since waking up and realizing he disappeared from her trailer. After a trip to Butchie’s empty room at the Snug Harbor, Kai heads to work, where Butchie turns up sans John. “Did he freak out about boning you,” Butchie asks. Adding that she’s curious where John got the idea to bone her when he doesn’t know what the word means, Kai recounts John’s telling her to “see God” and the superheating of her body piercings. Starting to put the events together, Butchie shares his similar experience with Kai before the two of them set out to search for John at the pier.
Cissy, hoping to sneak past the reporters in her driveway by hiding under a hat and sunglasses, finds Linc at her door. “I haven’t got a clue what the new rules are,” he says. “But I know all the old ones are cancelled.” Cissy tells him that if he really wants to help, he can wash her dishes. As she leaves for work, Linc picks up the soap. Once Cissy settles in at the shop, she spots a journalist pretending to browse through the wet suits and tears into him before throwing him out. Shaun, too, kicks his friends out of the shop, supposedly for making a mess but conspicuously following a pal’s comment: “Yost died yesterday.”
While Mitch’s family deals with the events of the previous day, he wakes up in Cass’s hotel room, complaining about pain in his knee. Cass steps into the bathroom to quietly escape his New Age rambling about surfing and chakras, but he calls her back to show that he’s begun levitating again. When he leaves to buy herbs to apply to his knee, Cass visits Linc, who tells her she needs to be working harder to draw Mitch away from his family.
After a fruitless – but flirtatious – visit to the pier, Butchie and Kai recruit Bill’s help hunting down John. Promising to put word out with his friends in the department, Bill takes control of the search, dividing Imperial Beach into quadrants. Butchie and Kai end up back at the Snug Harbor where his awkward peck on her cheek ends with her jumping into his arms.
During his daily roving, Vietnam Joe finds John covered in blood on the side of the road and rushes him to the hospital. On the way to town, John place’s the veteran’s hand over his heart, and the wound miraculously heals. At the same moment, Cass – alone in her hotel room – receives a vision of the miracle taking place and leaves for the Snug Harbor.
Joe barrels into the hotel parking lot screaming, “Medic! Medic!” Dr. Smith runs up to examine John, whose closed wound calls for nothing more than a clean shirt and jacket. Joe becomes livid, claiming a hoax: “I guess it’s time to identify which warped rear-echelon asshole at the V.F.W. bar I drink at thought something I’d confided about events in-country was worth abusing for the sake of a chuckle!” John calms him with one cryptic sentence, “Tomorrow is another day.”
Bill interrupts the romance between Butchie and Kai, telling them John has shown up outside. When they step outside to see him, Cass pulls up to the hotel and leads John into her Porsche. As Bill engages in his usual face-off with Freddy, Butchie leaves with Kai to carry on at her trailer. “Butchie wants to bring down the hammer,” John calls as Cass drives him to her hotel. Back in her room, Mitch shows her a book on levitation he bought, and she asks him to leave, offering John’s arrival as a reason. “The joker in the deck,” Mitch says to John before heading home to his wife.
When Cass tells Linc she sent the surfer packing, he slams the door in her face, threatening to fire her and launching a diatribe through the wall. When he looks into the hallway to assess her reaction, she’s gone. Cass arranges her room to give John a place to sleep on the floor. “See God, Cass,” he tells her, and when she asks what he means, it sounds like she’s talking about a lot more than his words.
Back at his house, Bill rants to Zippy about ending his relationship with the Yost family, but through some unspoken connection with the creature, determines he should make peace with Freddy. Bringing coffee and doughnuts to the Snug Harbor, Bill tells the criminal, “My bird Zippy conveyed to me, despite the obvious dissimilarities between us, we should become friends.” Not as miffed as one would expect, Freddy picks through the doughnuts, asking if perhaps the bird meant another Freddy. The arrival of a beautiful blonde in a red Mustang cuts Bill’s retort short. “I’m looking for Butchie Yost,” she tells the men, ignoring Freddy’s attempts to come on to her and leaving when it becomes clear neither can help. The conversation reverts to Zippy, and Freddy offers, “I got a lizard back home, changes shapes.” Bill nods, “Chameleon, they’re called.”
July 5th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I dig it. I dig it completely. I understand what Milch is trying to do and his vision is very timely. My perspective may be biased due to my ex-junkie, surfer, redeemed by spirituality background. Never the less, the end IS near and we must wake up from our catatonic ,spiritually dead, earth destryoing state. Most of us have no idea how much danger lays ahead. Many many Muslims aim to kill us all. Without a grasp of religion we have no way to truly comprehend what motivates them. The earth is is the throws of convulsions attempting to rid itself of its human infection. More earthquakes have been recorded in the last couple of years than at any time in history. Floods, draughts and famines are all on the rise.
People are beginning to wake up to the sad state of the planet but its worse than it looks. Nothing is closer to nature than surfing and the spiritual aspect gives one time to pause and reflect without all of the distracting background noise.
The series will be that much more compelling as we as viewers become immersed. Milch could wow us with awesome visuals but it would be as fleeting as the first hit from a crack pipe. I mean the way the camera boat keeps time with the surfers is amazing especially taking into account that the framing of the shots is from a moving boat is flawless.
Give this series a chance. Milch is taking his time to develop his characters and back story.The payoff could change the way we perceive reality.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I didn’t start watching The Sopranos until the 3rd year and Deadwood until the 2nd year. John probably would have picked up more viewers in the 2nd year. I have read comments from the critics but I rarely like things critics like. I was really looking forward to the second season. Now I have to look forware to Milch’s next series.
August 19th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
This was one of the best shows HBO has offered. Please bring it back for season two so that some of the questions can be answered. Everyone I knew who watched it, LOVED it.
August 19th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
First Carnivale now this. Two shows that really said something more than the usual programmed bs and of course they have to be eliminated ASAP. Ya I know John was different (to say the very least) some or many felt it was contrived - full of itself - weird for weird sake and yet none of that is true if you really wacthed and didn’t just tune in for a few seconds, roll your eyes and then tune into yet another reality farce. It wasn’t just the mysticism or spirituality that got to me but the community that these cast of characters invoked. The best episodes for me anyhow was when everyone ended up together at the hotel parking lot enjoying a cookout - sharing their experiences - it was real and so achingly human. I am going to miss Zippy so damn much and Freddy (this guy is so beautiful in a very odd and even reassuring way) and Ed Neil WOW - so many breakthrough performances - real actors biting into a script not afraid to mix it up. I’d say bring it back but I know that will do no good because even as great as HBO is they still succumb to business as usual as sad as that is.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
bring back john from cincinatti
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
John from Cincinnati, if given a chance, could far exceed the success of the Sopranos. The writers, producers, directors and cast are purely brilliant.I hope HBO does not think for a minute that the “critics” in New York can even comprehend the messages being conveyed by this series. Anything remotely connected with the West Coast beach history, Surfing, and Real Imagination can only by reviewed and critiqued by someone within 100 miles of Hollywood.
Please give John a second chance, “greatness in all to many cases is not achieved nor realized until after death”….don’t let this be John’s epitaph….
Thank you for this novel approach to entertainment..
August 24th, 2007 at 8:50 am
We love “John..!”
Bring it back…..it is brilliant.
We need all the questions!
Chandler,
from the Outer Banks of North Carolina
August 24th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Yes bring it back. You are not going to begin to understand this show unless you sit and watch it for a while. If you want to completely get a show by flicking the remote, tune in to old repeats on “Nick at Night”, check your brain at the door and call me in the morning.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
how are we supposed to understand what’s going on, if we know nothing else? what is the point, seriously to even start an intense show like that if you are not going to keep showing it. WE LOVE JOHN FROM CINCINATTI!!!
August 24th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
So, basically, what we watch is determined by a few dudnderheaded critics? (What special skill does it require to get that job? Pompous opinions?)
August 24th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I am actually surprised at hbo not giving this show a chance. Six Feet Under took a couple of seasons to grasp the direction that they were going in. A show as original as this needs time to establish itself. The mark of a great show is not only to be entertained while watching it, but also to think about it when you are not watching it. Lets bring this show back, i miss the confusion.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
how can you bring us so far, get us so involved and then just dump out on us…i don’t know, butchie instead….hey all you jfc fans…i got my eye on you