It’s the second episode of HBO’s John from Cincinnati, and Cultural Learnings has decided to see just how weird it can get. A series of scenes will be analyzed based on their weirdness, and then a final conclusion will be made. How long will this last? Well, until things get either too weird or not weird enough.
How Weird is John from Cincinnati?
Episode Two: “His Visit, Day Two”
Scene:
Young Woman from last week approaches Mitch about filming him for a surf video.
Weirdness Factor:
Mild. Only because this young twenty-something surf filmmaker is driving a vintage one-seated…Porsche, maybe? That’s not normal.
Scene:
John from Cincinnati continues acting strangely, sits down on the toilet and is somewhat unable to use the bathroom. And then we watch Butchie take a dump. And he talks about it. A dump a grown man can be proud of.
Weirdness Factor:
Strong. Did we really need to see them take a shit? Was that the only way they could show us that John doesn’t need to use the bathroom? Or that Butchie isn’t getting dope sick while he’s around him?
Scene:
Lottery winner reveals he has seizures, and has them with his teddy bear, and then he has visions (How he got the lottery numbers), and now wants to turn the hotel into an upgraded form and learn how to surf. And has serious issues with Room 24 still.
Weirdness Factor:
Strong. I still have no idea what he’s up to, entirely confusing.
Scenes:
Ed O’Neill stands around talking to no one with no coherence of dialogue whatsoever multiple times. He thinks it is likely his dead wife. And he keeps calling someone named Anderson.
Weirdness Factor:
Strong. I have no idea what is going on. His character is just so random, so strange, so bizarre…I don’t GET him.
Scene:
Teenage boys hand around preparing for the surf competition while teenage girls walk by the tent to ogle them, and Shaun basically just sits there wide-eyed and bushy tailed with no idea what he’s doing.
Weirdness Factor:
Non-existent, it’s exactly as it should be. Shaun is still suffering from absolutely terrible acting, but when he plays the young surfer who can only surf and struggles with everything else, I’m perfectly okay with it. Make him a mute, it would make me care for him 100% more.
Scene:
A slight tremor hits Intrepid Beach area, creeping out Ed O’Neill, alarming John and nearly drowning Shaun after breaking his neck.
Weirdness Factor:
Mild. Much like Heroes’ eclipse, this was designed to show how one event affects all people in some way (Some more than others). In this case, it was kind of random, but not really supernatural. But it did give me a glimmer of hope that Shaun might be disappearing from the show.
Scene:
John sits in a public toilet mimicking the sounds from the other stall, including the toilet paper roll.
Weirdness Factor:
Strong. But it was really quite funny and less disturbing than before.
Scene:
The bird from last week kissed Shaun. And he woke up from being BRAINDEAD.
Weirdness Factor:
Strong, although it was choreographed from ten miles away. And makes me incredibly angry, since I really think he should have stayed dead. And is it the bird that can bring people make to life? Or is this some type of retributive “Pay it Forward”, reincarnation style? I don’t even know what’s going on.
The Verdict:
Moderately Weird.
The episode seemed to dabble in the supernatural a bit, but most of its weirdness was of the non-levitation variety. As a result, combined with some heavy storylines not quite so involved in that weirdness, the episode felt somewhat more normal than last week’s. The scenes with Butchie and John, in particular, were incredibly entertaining, and I wish there were more like them as opposed to the Ed O’Neill scenes that make no sense. At all. Mitch is also pretty much an asshole, and I don’t know how that makes me want to care about him. Really, I just want the Butchie and John show. Can we get that for a week to see? That would be great, thanks.
Cultural Learnings 