Writer: Alix Lambert
Director: Tom VaughnCast: Austin Nichols (John Monad), Rebecca DeMornay (Cissy Yost), Luke Perry (Linc Stark), Keala Kennelly (Kai), Brian Van Holt (Butchie Yost), Jim Beaver (Vietnam Joe), Greyson Fletcher (Shaun Yost), Ed O'Neill (Bill Jacks), Paul Ben-Victor (Palaka), Luis Guzman (Ramon), Emily Rose (Cass), Dayton Callie (Freddie), Matt Mather (Dwayne), Bruce Greenwood (Mitch Yost) & Chandra West (Tina Blake)
John tries to help Cissy and Bill confront events from their past, as Butchie tries to organize a reunion between Tina and Shaun...Six episodes is enough time to gauge the quality of a new TV show. John From Cincinatti is a curious mix of the sombre, the dull, the irritating, the intriguing, the mysterious and the humorous. There's either a deep and complex plot being slowly spun each week, or a laborious exercise in trippy confusion.
Thankfully, with His Visit, Day Five, the show takes a firm step forward and solidifies a few suspicions concerning eponymous John (Austin Nichols) and his impact on the local community. Here, John Monad and Vietnam Joe (Jim Beaver) team-up with Bill Jacks (Ed O'Neill), to find the hoodlums that "fatally" stabbed him...
Their search doesn't get far, as John senses some disruption with Cissy and "astrally-projects" himself across town, just outside her kitchen window. Amusingly, this "projection" doesn't speak in the same stilted manner, meaning John can converse normally when freed from physical restraint. His first act is to warn Cissy against suicidal thoughts, asking her, in the manner of a radio huckster to "Act now, Cissy. Baptize that fucking pistol!". It's the first unquestionably divine/supernatural act John has made in the show -- just when we needed a bit of solidity, too.
Rebecca DeMornay is superb here as Cissy, as her hissy-fit character is finally given some context (an acid-fueled molestation of her son Butchie when he was 13.) It'll be easier to get a handle on Cissy's outbursts and self-loathing from now on, and a good sign that the writers know what they're doing. It also highlights a dilemma when reviewing TV shows, as future episodes can provide hitherto unknown revelations that contextualize reasons for a character's annoying, aggressive or unlikeable behaviour.
Brian Van Holt remains his usual foul-mouthed self as Butchie, trying (very badly) to organize a reunion between surfer son Shaun (the ever-vacant Greyson Fletcher) and pornstar ex-lover Tina (a nicely understated Chandra West.) The culmination of events, when Cissy shares time with Tina and shows her how to make tuna sandwiches for grandson Shaun, together with the eventual meeting between mother and son, is also one of the better human moments of the series so far. Oh, and the "loaves and fish" has an obvious Biblical parallel...
This is still a maddeningly difficult show to feel at ease watching, with most characters remaining closed-off -- perhaps intentionally, so that John can open them up for us. The motel's "Three Wise Men" (lawyer Meyer, manager Ramon and new owner Barry) are still open to interpretation, although it was interesting to see Meyer gain a wife here --- played by 80s icon Jennifer Grey of Dirty Dancing fame, no less!
Ed O'Neill should also get a belated mention as gruff Bill Jacks, a widower who lives with caged birds and is curiously distrustful of John. O'Neill is famous for playing Al Bundy for years on sitcom Married... With Children, so it's quite a revelation to see him give a fine dramatic performance in something so tonally different. He's so good, he put the ghost of Bundy to bed within minutes of his appearance in episode 1.
This episode is certainly the strongest evidence for John's effecting the town's residents, with or without their knowledge. Filmmaker Cass (the delectable Emily Rose) spends a scene almost turning spiritual in her video work, banging pots and pans as if to summon a spirit guide, and even Bitter Freddie (Dayton Callie) shows a musical side with a saxophone.
But it's the closing moments that signal seismic shift, as John (still in his "projected" persona), somehow brings everyone together at the motel whilst speaking an eloquent monologue. For anyone struggling to understand this show, it's a vital piece of information, although it's quite a cryptic piece of prose in itself! The actions often speak a bit clearer, with polar opposites Freddie and Bill making beautiful music together and a spooky moment when John goes into the "haunted" Room 24 and calmly emerged carrying a grey-skinned corpse!
Certainly, John From Cincinatti is an acquired taste. Every time you feel you're about to get a grasp on it, something happens to cloud the water again. It's intentionally thick with confusion, bewildering characters and length monologues, but episode 6 is the first time I truly got the impression there might be a point to it all. Or, if not, there's at least enough queasy logic that the writers can begin to shape it into something quite profound over time.
His Visit, Day Five won't convert you to John From Cincinatti if you've made your mind up about it, or abandoned it episodes ago, but it's a reminder to the faithful few that there might be some method to its madness...
Posthumous Review
Written: 26 July 2007
HBO
