Writer: Wayne Loren Wilson
Director: Adam DavidsonCast: Bruce Greenwood (Mitch Yost), Rebecca DeMornay (Cissy Yost), Luke Perry (Linc Stark), Matt Winston (Barry Cunningham), Keala Kennelly (Kai), Brian Van Holt (Butchie Yost), Greyson Fletcher (Shaun Yost), Ed O'Neill (Bill Jacks), Paul Ben-Victor (Palaka), Luis Guzman (Ramon), Emily Rose (Cass), Dayton Callie (Freddie), Chandra West (Tina Blake), Matt Mather (Dwayne), Jim Beaver (Vietnam Joe), Willie Garson (Meyer Dickstein), Howard Hesseman (Erlemeyer) & Garret Dillahunt (Dr. Smith)
Shaun mysteriously disappears, throwing his family and the local community into panic...I never thought I'd be glad to see Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood), who has been absent for awhile. John From Cincinatti doesn't really have a leading character, but Mitch seemed to be the closest thing we have to one, so his return gives the show a bit of stability. His reappearance also calm Cissy's histrionics slightly, with Rebecca DeMornay giving another excruciating performance -- but in a good way.
Mitch return from the U.S/Mexico border with old friend Erlemeyer (counter-culture icon Howard Hesseman), a reclusive beach-dweller, known as " The Chemist", who provided Mitch with drugs back in his youth. The white-haired man has a history with the Yosts, but why Mitch has decided to bring him to I.B is left dangling.
Mitch and Erlemeyer's reunion coincided with the predicted disappearance of 14-year-old Shaun (Greyson Fletcher), sending Cissy into meltdown and the whole community into shock. Everyone suspects John has kidnapped the boy, after his recent "Shaun will soon be gone" proclamation, but Butchie (Brian Van Holt) doubts dimwit John is any danger to his son.
Even stranger, Bill Jacks (Ed O'Neill) discovers his resurrected parakeet Zippy has also gone missing. Is Shaun's disappearance tied to the bird that seemed to bring him back to life? Whatever the answer, Bill's white cockatoo suddenly starts telepathically talking to him, after 15 years of silence...
The Snug Harbor Motel's residents seem to be developing with the absence of John, fending for themselves in the apparently haunted bar -- now occupied by a ghostly Shaun and the animated corpse of the paedophile who abused Barry! Ramon (Luis Guzman) also makes an important discovery in an Avon catalogue, regarding John's bizarre stick-figure symbols...
There's a sense that the show's myriad of details are finding focus in the penultimate episode, although the show is still a sprawling mass of confusion at heart. I don't think creator David Milch has any idea what's really going on, just a hazy direction that seems to make sense on some spiritual level.
The script, by Wayne Loren Wilson, is solid and it's another simply storyline that helps you focus on the smaller details. As the show has progressed, the initial overload of characters and weirdness distracted me, whereas now I'm finding I can muse on the show's mysteries much easier.
I don't think everything is going to be answered in next week's finale, although suspicions that John From Cincinatti was designed as a contained 10-part story are rife -- so it will be something of a coup if the show stuns everyone by resolving itself neatly.
Posthumous Review
Written: 16 August 2007
HBO
