Episode 108: His Visit: Day Seven

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Original Air Date	July 29, 2007
Next Airing	TBA
Written by	Abby Gewanter
Director	Jesse Bochco
Next episode	"His Visit: Day Eight"

Cass doesn't remember making a film for John; Kai gets fed up; Cissy brings Mitch's stuff to the Snug Harbor Motel; Barry talks theater to Teddy; Freddy and Bill team up to find out what "soon" means.

Synopsis

Beach: Butchie is out surfing, geting his sea legs back. He's joined by another surfer, Sonny Mac, and they watch each other's performance. Kai drives Shaun to the beach, but when they see Butchie's van parked there, they keep driving.

Naval Radio Station: John and Cass drive out to the antenna array. John tells Cass that they made a tape last night, although Cass can't remember making it. John tells her, "We don't remember my father's words." The pair walk around the area, examining the features of the landscape -- a river, a carving of a face, an old guard tower.

Beach: Butchie and Sonny put their boards away. Butchie asks Sonny how he did, and Sonny says that Butchie knows. Butchie grins; he's getting his skills back.

Naval Radio Station: John says some last words to Cass, then disappears.

Clubhouse: Cissy is smoking in Mitch's clubhouse, completely fed up with his absence. She calls Meyer, and tells him that she's retaining him: she's going to file for divorce. She agrees to meet Meyer at the Snug Harbor Motel, and starts packing Mitch's stuff.

Snug Harbor Motel: Freddy wakes up from a bad dream.

Hotel, Cass' room: Cass comes back to her hotel, and sets up her video camera. She finds the footage that she and John shot the night before -- John is standing in front of a black curtain, with the stick figure printed on it in white. She gasps, and listens to John's words through headphones.

Beach & Beans: At the coffee shop, Linc and Tina try to make sense of what's been happening to them. They've both come to the realization that they're not very good people, and they feel a compulsion to stay in Imperial Beach and make things better. That transformation includes wanting to stay together, and they seem content. On the computer, Dwayne gets an e-mail message, and he's shocked by what he sees.

Hotel, Cass' room: Cass frantically searches through the room, and finds the black curtain folded up in the closet.

Snug Harbor Motel, barroom: Barry and Ramon look around in the disused barroom that was once part of the motel. Barry starts to twitch, and Ramon realizes that he's having another epileptic seizure. Rather than act concerned, Ramon is gleeful, encouraging Barry to have another vision of winning lottery numbers. But all Barry can see is a vision of turning this bar into a theater, a "temple of art". Greatly disappointed, Ramon leaves to check on the shuffleboard court.

Street: Tina is driving; she sees Shaun on his skateboard. She offers him a ride.

Motel: Freddy is convinced that something bad is going to happen. Palaka offers to help, but a moody Freddy punches him in the gut. Meanwhile, Dwayne and Jerri drive to the motel -- they're concerned about what Dwayne saw in his e-mail, and they want to talk to Butchie about it. Cissy shows up too, kicking a suitcase full of Mitch's clothes across the parking lot. She informs Ramon that she's moving her husband out. Dwayne and Jerri bring Cissy into Butchie's room, which is open, to show her the message.

Barroom: Barry tells his teddy bear about his plans for the new theater. He has another vision, hearing a future patron at the bar greeting him warmly... but then the voice turns angry, muttering that Barry is a "fucking faggot" and a "cocksucker". Shaken, Barry joins Shaun, who's sitting at the bar. They raise their drinks in a toast, and then set them down. "Don't worry," Shaun says. "I'll be gone soon."

Parking lot: Ramon works on the shuffleboard court, muttering angrily about his bad luck.

Motel office: In the office, Mercy Hospital lawyer Mark Lewinsky meets with Meyer. He has a "slam-dunk" for Meyer: Dr. Smith's resignation letter, admitting to incompetence and destruction of hospital records. Lewinsky's plan is that Meyer, representing the Yosts, could get a huge settlement out of this and then reward Lewinsky with a cut. Meyer is dubious.

Butchie's room: Dwayne and Jerri tell Cissy that a strange message from John was sent to Dwayne's private e-mail address through Butchie's website. Dwayne thinks the police should be involved. Meyer comes in to talk to Cissy. Butchie comes home to find a crowd in his room. "If this is an intervention, I'm clean," he quips.

Yosts' house: Tina drives Shaun home, and they find that no one's there. They're both delighted with this rare opportunity to be together, and Tina offers to take Shaun to Sea World. Shaun says that he'll leave a message at the store.

Bill's house: Palaka tells Bill that his boss has had a vision of bad things to come -- and even though Freddy won't admit it, it would be helpful if he could talk to Bill about it.

Motel, Butchie's room: Butchie tries to call Shaun, and leaves a message. "This is bullshit," Butchie says, "John's a good guy."

Freddy's room: Bill stops by. After the typical exchange of insults and threats, Freddy admits to Bill that he's been dreaming of Shaun being gone.

Parking lot: Dwayne goes to his car to get his laptop. Palaka asks Dwayne what's going on in Butchie's room. Dwayne says that his domain was hacked, and they're concerned about Shaun.

Butchie's room: Dwayne returns with his laptop, and plays John's video message. This is the film that he and Cass made the night before -- John is standing in front of a black curtain with a white stick figure printed on it, repeating the phrase "Shaun will soon be gone." Cissy and Meyer are concerned, but Butchie defends John, saying, "Words mean something different for him." He points out that John has strange powers and abilities; who knows what's going on?

Freddy's room: Palaka enters, and tells Bill and Freddy that Dwayne received partial confirmation of Freddy's vision. They walk into the parking lot, and see John appear out of nowhere.

Parking lot: John knocks on Butchie's door. Butchie bursts from the room to have a heart-to-heart with his friend. John repeats that "Shaun will soon be gone," and Butchie says that he has to stop saying that; he doesn't know what he's saying. "We don't remember our father's words," John says. Bill butts in, and Dwayne plays the message for him. Butchie says to John, "Would you hurt Shaun? You wouldn't hurt Shaunie, would you, John?" John agrees, "Hurting Shaun doesn't ring a bell." Having seen the message, Bill decides to have a private talk with John. Butchie is unsure about this, but Cissy nods. Bill leads John off to an empty room, which just happens to be Room 24. Butchie urges John to try to explain what he means. "I'll try, Butchie," John says.

Room 24: Bill sits John down, and says that they need to get to the bottom of this. John is clearly smart enough to have hacked into Dwayne's domain, so Bill demands, "We'll have no more of the parrot talk." Still, John doesn't seem able to explain himself; he looks confused and sad.

Parking lot: Butchie notices that Cissy has brought a suitcase filled with Mitch's clothes.

Room 24: Bill knows that there's something different about John, but what is he, really? John responds by pulling out a knife, and yells, "Stare me! Stare me down!" -- a reference to his stabbing a few days earlier. John turns the knife on himself, and gives a repeat performance, stabbing himself in the gut. Bill is horrified -- but when he looks closely, he sees that there's blood, but the wounds have already healed. Bill doesn't know what to do. He leaves the room, and tells Freddy, "He's yours." Freddy enters the room and closes the door, with obvious menace.

Parking lot: Cass arrives, with her video camera. Cissy gets a call from Tina, and announces, "He's all right. The porn queen had him at Sea World." Palaka hurries to Room 24, knocking on the door and calling to Freddy that Shaun is safe. Furious, Cissy calls Kai, saying that she just got a call from Tina who said that Shaun called the shop, so why didn't she hear about where Shaun was from Kai? Desperate, Palaka keeps banging on the door of Room 24, urging Freddy not to kill John.

Barroom: As the dust settles, Freddy tells Bill that Palaka caught him before he could kill the shape-shifter. Bill says, "You don't know what the fuck he is." "No," Freddy says, "but whatever the fuck he is, he's gotta come through both of us."

Beach & Beans: Meyer tells Daphne about Lewinsky's proposal. The suggestion is unethical; he could be disbarred if he went along with it. Kai enters, ranting about the angry phone call from Cissy. She cut her foot open this morning and had to get it fixed up; that's why she couldn't keep tabs on Shaun today. Cissy knows how much Kai cares about Shaun, but she screams at her anyway. Kai is fed up; she's going to quit.

Hotel, Cass' room: Cass brings John back to the hotel, furious -- and as soon as they get in the door, she slaps him across the face, crying, "What have you gotten me in the middle of, John?" All John can say is, "Work here, Cass." She slaps him again. She helped him make that video and scared those people, and she doesn't even remember doing it. She presses him for answers -- but he closes his eyes and goes limp.

Hotel, bar: Butchie and Tina have a drink together, confused about what's going on in their lives. Tina is proud of Shaun, and wants to spend time with him. She asks if Butchie minds if she sticks around; he says he doesn't really get a vote, but he doesn't mind. She tells him that she's fucking Linc. He doesn't know what to say -- it's clear that the news disturbs him, but he doesn't have a say in that either. As a closing shot, he tells Tina, "You don't fuck Linc. Linc fucks you."

Yosts' house: As night falls, Freddy and Bill are on stakeout duty outside the Yosts' house, in Freddy's car. Bill has brought Zippy along for telepathic support. Meanwhile, Palaka keeps a watchful eye over them, lurking near a neighbor's fence. Kai walks up to the house, and she ends up sitting on the curb with Bill. She tells him that she's quitting her job. John appears behind her, invisible to them, and urges her to stick it out. She isn't sure what to do. In the car, Freddy glares at the house, muttering, "It ain't over, believe me." Zippy squawks. Inside the house, Shaun is in his room, juggling.

Tally

A running tally of the curse words used in John From Cincinnati. For the series total so far, see Series Tally.

Profanity

"Fucking": 25
"Fuck": 15
"Shit": 7
"What the fuck": 3
"Asshole": 2
"Balls": 2
"Bullshit": 2
"Faggot": 2
"Fucked": 2
"Give a fuck": 2
"God damn": 2
"Hell": 2
"Piss": 2
"Pissed off": 2
"Ass": 1
"Ballbuster": 1
"Bang": 1
"Bone": 1
"Cocksucker": 1
"Dump out": 1
"Fuck you": 1
"Get the fuck out": 1
"Give a flying fuck": 1
"Go fuck herself": 1
"Prick": 1
"Suck": 1
"Towelheads": 1
"Whore": 1

John's catchphrases

"Shaun will soon be gone": 6 times
"We don't remember my father's words": 4
"Stare me down": 3
"Work here, Cass": 2
"Doesn't ring a bell": 1
"I don't know, Butchie instead": 1
"My father has more big and huge for me": 1
"The internet is big": 1
"Those fuckin' towelheads are going to get themselves eradicated": 1

Cast

Regulars

Note: Although credited, Garret Dillahunt and Bruce Greenwood did not appear in this episode.

Guest starring

Co-starring

Jesus Beltran : Neighbor
Brad Gerlach : Sonny Mac
Nora Kirkpatrick : Hotel Bartender

Transcript

Transcript of episode 108

Theories

We see the "man" symbol again O-<, this time quite obviously as the backdrop to John's video. This is the same symbol that Meyer drew in the concrete and John keeps drawing on the ground with his foot. It was also outlined on the Shuffleboard court for most of this and the last two episodes, and it was alluded to in John's strange soliliquy (the circle and the line, etc.). Obviously this symbol has some very important meaning since it is so far the most used. -- User:157.174.221.167 30 July 2007

Does anyone else get the feeling that John really wanted to say something but couldn't a couple of times this episode? Specifically when he was being interrogated by Bill and also when Cass is yelling at him. -- User:157.174.221.167 30 July 2007

I interpreted his grimaces and stammering as the frustration of being unable to fully articulate what he was trying to express. In other words, he was stammering because he was frustrated that he couldn't tell Bill everything he wanted to, or make Bill understand what exactly he meant. I've always felt that John has a firm grasp on what he wants to say but his message is obfuscated because he is still learning how people talk properly, as evidenced by the use of his constantly accumulating vernacular of arcane and indirect phrases to express himself. -- User:Sickwheels 31 July 2007

It is interesting that during his argument with Cass, she suddenly stopped, refolded the backdrop cloth thing, and did exactly what John told her to. The fact that we now know that he can completely mind control another person brings up a few very good questions. For instance, it means that everything that has happened to him, he could have prevented, like him being stabbed. This means either he wanted it to happen or he didn't understand what was happening. -- User:157.174.221.167 30 July 2007

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His Visit: Day Six	His Visit: Day Eight