MagneticMediaFed

Wait… what?

It always ends with a parade, no? It doesn’t matter how aggravating the plot or the dialogue or the nonsensical (or at least moderately nonsensical) doublespeak, just so long as we’re all treated to a parade. Parades are fun for the whole family — especially if your family happens to be a group of dysfunctional surfers who may or may not have just been visited by the son of god. That’s how John From Cincinnati, perhaps the oddest series I’ve ever seen, ended its first (and likely only) season Sunday night. A full breakdown after the jump…

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Picture via HBO.com

First of all, this was a great episode. Maybe not great in the same way that His Visit: Day Five was great, what with that speech at the end and all the mind-buggery, but this episode is certainly in the top two… at least for me. If anything, this was THE quotable episode of the season, chalk full of gems from everyone from Bill to John to Freddy and Palaka. Perhaps what made this episode so much fun was that even if you find the series overly dense (and really, who doesn’t) when the characters are given some room to really express themselves there’s an undeniable pleasure in just seeing their interactions with one another. More after the break…

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“This is what I used to record Mr. Belding in the bathroom!”

C’mon, Marc-Paul, everyone knows that the first rule of recorded blackmail is to make sure the blackmailee isn’t recording the blackmailer. Man, TV characters can be so foolish (when needed).

For a show that seems so unbound by television conventions, I have to admit I was a little disappointed this is episode’s straightforwardness. It’s not that I want every week to be as mind-crushing as John’s big speech at the end of last week’s episode, but when you set up a series as expressionistic as this, it’s something of a cop-out to just tell a story straight-up — it doesn’t help things that the story itself wasn’t particularly interesting. More after the jump…

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“In His-Word-in-Cass’s-camera, the Internet is big.”

Well that was a head trip. Before we get too far along, I encourage anyone who’s interested to check out Steve Hawk’s blog over at HBO.com. He has John’s big monologue printed in its entirety (not that that will suddenly make the last ten minutes of the show any more clear, but it’s a start). Perhaps more interesting is a Milch quote he recently took note of, “The tactics of fictive persuasion have nothing to do with reasoned discourse” (classic Milchspeak!). In other words, why does storytelling have to necessarily be built on a chain of practical happenings?

As confusing as that episode was trying to be, when I turned off the television I felt like I took away the information I was suppose to have learned — even if that information was delivered in the most haphazard of ways. More specifics after the break…

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Pic via HBO.com

This was probably the series weakest episode to date, scarred significantly by the absence of all of the most interesting characters. Thank god Bill had at least a few scenes, albeit with Zippy, a character not known for his range so much as his feathers (and magical healing powers, of course). More after the break…

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I don’t know Butchie instead.

I’m part of a small group of people who absolutely love David Milch’s new HBO series John From Cincinnati. As a member of this group, I’m entitled to heap upon glowing praise for a series that I don’t even slightly understand. I’m also given a 10% discount at participating Sizzler locations. The problem with this group of smart, attractive and wholly likable people is their only words of recommendation when it comes to this particular series is “it’s just so odd you have to keep watching” — not exactly a ringing endorsement. After watching the third episode Monday afternoon on HBO On-Demand I tried to figure out what it is that attracts me to the show — outside of the oddities. More after the jump…

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Pic via HBO.com

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, but you really have to let a series involving a family of surfers, a magical man and levitation marinate a bit, don’t you think?

My thoughts on one of the more interesting new series of the year after the break…

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