Tuned In

JFC Watch: Anyone? Anyone?

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I’m not sure how many more weeks I’ll be able to do a John from Cincinnati Watch here, seeing as how part of the bargain in recapping a show is that the story should somehow, y’know, advance in each episode. Last night: John gets Joe to heal him after being stabbed by the Mexican Central Casting Gang, borrowing some Vietnam tidbit from Joe’s subconscious in the process, and Bill gets instructions from Zippy the parrot. Next week, Cissy continues to be concerned about Sean, and she touches a gun. Did I leave anything out?

OK, I’m probably not being fair, but my problem is that there’s simply too much talking and not enough doing on this show to lend import to the talking. So we may as well do some talking too: if anyone’s still following the show, what do you think is the deal with John Monad at this point?

I know people have pointed out the JC initials already, but it seems a little too literal for David Milch to actually make John Jesus Christ. (Or, for that matter, John the Baptist, what with all the water.) But it seems the clues by now point more toward the divine than the extraterrestrial. The idea behind the series now, it seems to me is: what would it look like if a set of people, today, found themselves literally living among the events of a New New Testament? In which case it would fit both the spirit of the first New Testament, and Milch’s own predilections, to set it among outcasts and junkies.

The only problem is, so far the old New Testament was quite a bit more compellingly plotted, and the reactions to the miracles a bit more convincing. Where are the Romans? Oh, right: HBO cancelled them.