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Inside the Episode
With Steve Hawk
Early Warning Signs
It's the day after John's arrival, and even as they go about their daily business and relapse into long-nurtured resentments, a few characters are beginning to understand – to varying degrees and with varying responses – that something miraculous is afoot in IB. One or two also suspect that John is somehow responsible.
Butchie, the junkie, is the first to lurch consciously toward the connection. He hasn't scored a fix in two days, and he's more mystified than elated by the blessed absence of a jones. "My old man levitated, I'm not feeling sick," Butchie whispers to himself while watching John from afar on the pier. "John – what the hell's going on?"
Bill, meanwhile, continues to harbor his ex-cop distrust of Butchie's strange new friend. But his corporeal concerns about John don't stop him from later performing a giant act of irrational faith – smuggling Zippy into Shaun's hospital room to see if the bird might bring the boy back to life.
This, of course, is a complete reversal of Bill's initial response to Zippy's own resurrection the day before, when Bill dismissed the miracle as a misperception of his increasingly enfeebled mind. "I don't know anymore if I'm on foot or horseback," Bill said at the time, "or if a bird's alive or dead."
Forget the Words: Watch The Action
David Milch, JFC's executive producer and the brains behind the show, believes that words more often than not fail to convey a person's true meaning. "Don't listen to what people say," Milch says. "Watch what they do."
Case in point: After Butchie learns of Shaun's accident and declares that he must get high to handle it, Freddy (the drug kingpin fresh in from Hawaii) pulls a gun and forces Butchie and John into his compact rental car. Given that Freddy just popped him in the jaw and accused him of being a rat, Butchie is reasonably concerned that Freddy plans to kill him. Instead, Freddy chauffeurs Butchie to the hospital to be with his son.
"Sunset Beach, the kid you used to put on your back and paddle him out to watch from the channel – that's the one broke his neck now?" Freddy asks. "That's some f***ed-up shit.
In other words: I'm sorry about your son.
Butchie: "That is some f***ed-up shit."
In other words: Condolences appreciated.
At the hospital, Butchie says, "Thanks for not killing me."
In other words: Thanks for the ride.
Freddy: "Get out before I blow both your f***ing heads off."
In other words: You're welcome.
One more thing about that scene: In his own angry way, Freddy is among the first characters to detect the supernatural at work. He's had a lot of experience with mind-altering drugs ("I took more acid than you ate f***ing Cheerios for breakfast"), and has come to California predisposed to believe.
"That mope in the back seat keeps changing f***ing shapes," Freddy tells Butchie while watching John in the rear-view mirror. And then, to John: "I ain't afraid of you, pal. I don't care what you are."
Is Room 24 Really Haunted?
Yes – at least as far as Barry the Lotto winner is concerned. During the climactic gun-wielding scene in the Snug Harbor parking lot the day before, Barry revealed that he'd been "deflowered" in that room at age 10. When he dares to open the door to Room 24 here, Barry sees – or perhaps merely believes he sees – the ghost of his abuser, and the specter terrifies him. Shaken, he returns to the hotel office and announces to Ramon and Dickstein that the room is haunted.
"You've mentioned you had an unpleasant experience there," says Dickstein, the lawyer who administered Barry's recent purchase of the motel.
"It was all one in my mind," Barry replies, making it clear that the abuse was recurring. "Time flies when you're having fun."
In this scene, Ramon, the hotel's manager, also reveals a predisposition to believe in the supernatural. When Barry says, "I woke up this morning happy. I mistook that freedom for power," Ramon sees through to the source of Barry's anxiety.
Ramon: "Ghost showed you what was what."
DVR Moment
If you have the show recorded, here's a moment worth replaying: In the hospital, shortly before Zippy kisses Shaun, keep an eye on Doctor Smith (the neurologist caring for the injured boy) as he watches Bill walk toward him with the bird in his pocket. Bill's approach clearly fills the physician with awe. When Smith says, "Are you here to see Shaun?" his expression and tone are almost pleading, as if to say, "Please say yes – please tell me you've come to save the boy." One might say the doctor's an early believer as well.
Alternate Titles
Three alternate titles to the official one ("His Visit: Day Two"):
a. "A Minor Temblor"
b. "Fume Control"
c. "A Family Outing"
Steve Hawk is a writer and lifelong surfer from Southern California. He acts as a writer and surf consultant for John From Cincinnati. Bio
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"His Visit: Day Two"
