Over the course of its first season, Feed the Beast has consistently proven itself to be one thoughtful and intelligent television show, since it has gone above and beyond a simple tale of two men trying to run a restaurant with silly drama surrounding them. It has instead become a showcase for the human condition, exposing our common weaknesses and fears and examining them in careful fashion, and last night's season finale was no exception to this rule.

In a way, 'Fire' served as a hybrid episode, giving us more of who we are and what we do, while at the same time, going above and beyond, allowing for the characters to continue to grow upon what they have learned and the end result of this was nothing short of spectacular...and scary. Because as it turns out, the theme for this week's episode was 'taking control' of one's life and while that proved useful for Tommy and Dion, they weren't alone in finally finding direction and getting everything under control. The Tooth Fairy just so happened to do the same and well, that's where the terrifying part comes from, but before we get to that part of the story, let's take a moment and discuss Tommy and T.J. because  their journey last night was downright incredible.

If anything, we have slowly been witnessing the transformation of Tommy Moran all season long and last night he finally shed the title of incompetent drunk and took on the new roles of capable father and competent sommelier/restaurant owner and well...this is the moment we were all waiting for. He was completely in control when it came to his son's life last night, guiding him for a change, keeping Dion out of fatherly decisions when necessary and knowing when to hold back and let his son have some fun as well. It was simply wonderful to see T.J. smile more than we've ever seen in this episode, despite the trouble he's caused in the past few weeks and speaking of the young T.J. was finally able to put together all the pieces to his trauma last night and we learned that he has been drawing Rie's death on paper over and over, not to cope, but to fill in the blanks that trauma created for him...allowing for something spectacular to happen...

T.J. ladies and gentlemen finally spoke, he finally let his father know that he remembered everything that fateful day and that it looks like his mother's accident, was no accident and well...one has to wonder if everything dark that's happened to Dion and Tommy in the past year all relates to The Tooth Fairy (more on that in just a bit). Because as was mentioned a moment ago, he too took control of his destiny. He filled in the blanks for Tommy, letting him know about Dion's debt and the offer he made regarding the new restaurant and well...it allowed for Dion to come clean to Tommy about those debts and it forced Tommy to try and do right by his friend and offer Patrick a 25% stake ownership wise in Thirio, something that Dion was absolutely against.

Which brings us to that ending. Because every storyline we've discussed so far, every moment between these characters was building to something stunning. It was in those final moments that T.J. spoke and in those final moments that disaster struck, because Thirio was in flames. Someone, opened the gas line, set a burner to low to blow the place sky high and well...all signs point to Patrick. After all, it's clear this episode he had enough of being told he was incompetent or a screw up by his father and the fury that came with this saw dad sent back to prison and introduced us to a different kind of Patrick altogether. Yet, while there is no concrete evidence that he was indeed the man responsible for Thirio's devastation, so many signs point to him. Dion rejected the notion of giving him the ownership stake, he just so happened to be at the poker game that Dion helped rob with his uncle and well...it makes sense for him to set the place ablaze to get exactly what he wants...his own restaurant and hopefully Dion and Tommy under his thumb and working for him.

But, let's circle back to T.J.'s admission to his father because this sudden twist of events when it comes to Patrick also implies the possibility, that he is the one responsible for Rie's death. After all, we know of his love of Dion and that he likes to keep an eye on him from afar and if he saw those flirtatious advances between the two of them, one could not put it past him to remove her from the sick little equation in his mind as well. In the end however, we can only hope that Dion, Tommy and T.J. survived the blast, because the show left that possibility quite vague, and wow...what a devastating episode. After weeks of wading through a quagmire of human emotion and silly decisions, Dion and Tommy finally had it together and now Thirio is lost, their dream left burning and who knows where this story will go from here. As of press time, AMC has not renewed this show for a second season, so if by chance the story doesn't move on from this point, then perhaps its legacy will be nothing more than a grand sweeping tragedy of two men, who did too little too soon to get their lives back on track and to end it like that, would be a bold move indeed. 

Series 1 Episode 2
Sex and Violence
 
Sketch List
Flying Sheep
A Man with Three Buttocks
Musical Mice
Marriage Guidance Counselor
The Wacky Queen
Working Class Playwright
The Wrestling Epilogue
The Mouse Problem
 
 
For the “Sex and Violence” episode of Flying Circus it was difficult to decide which sketch to focus on. The Man with Three Buttocks sketch is an interesting commentary on the faux-conservatism of the media as John Cleese’s show-host is embarrassed to refer to Arthur Frampton’s unique rear-end on air but with the same breath has no hesitation to ask him to pull his trousers down on television. The Wacky Queen sketch has interesting parallels to how we consume and emulate popular culture as technology advances. The assumption would be that if Queen Victoria had been filmed she would have only been filmed with dignified tracking shots whereas in the sketch she (played by Terry Jones) and Prime Minister William Gladstone (played by Graham Chapman) recreate the popular comedy of the time with water hose and fence-painting gags. 

The way the most dignified of figures are portrayed as imitating popular culture in this sketch is very similar to the way we consume and imitate pop culture today. Finally The Mouse Problem sketch is a complex critique of the exposé-style journalism popular in the 60’s that demonized “alternative” lifestyles. By trading mouse for homosexual in this sketch, the Pythons poke fun at the dehumanizing way exposé programs portray their subjects. The premise is silly but the critique is biting. While any one of these sketches would have made for interesting discussion, I decided to examine the very first sketch that Monty Python ever filmed, the Flying Sheep Sketch.

What if sheep were “laboring under the misapprehension that they’re birds?” While the Flying Sheep sketch has a funny enough premise, it is the way the Monty Python team explores “Ovine Aviation” that makes us laugh. The set is minimal, the costumes are basic, and the team provides us very quickly with a setting (a farm), and two characters of differing backgrounds: a local farmer (played by Graham Chapman) and a visiting businessman (played by Terry Jones). The camera does not move and all we are able to see of the sheep attempting to fly comes from the reactions of Jones and Chapman as they discuss and observe the dim-witted creatures imitating birds.

​Not once are we able to see what the characters on screen see, and our imaginations are only fueled by their discussion, the “baa-ing” sounds made off screen in time with the sheep hopping on their back legs, and the heavy “whumping” sounds that indicate a lamb plummeting to the ground. What’s so fascinating about this sketch is that it plays as if it were meant for radio. If you were to turn away from the screen and only listen to the dialogue and sound effects the sketch is still funny. Even the joke the team has set up of the surprisingly well-spoken farmer would not suffer for not having been shown on film as the accents adopted by Jones and Chapman solidly establish their differing backgrounds. Now presenting a radio-sketch on film that is still funny is quite the feat but, it is made all the more interesting when set in contrast to the scene into which it transitions.

The lecture on the advantages of Ovine Aviation presented by John Cleese and Michael Palin relies not on sound, as in the previous scene, but on the visual clues on-screen. There are a few sound effects that Palin and Cleese make that give some clue as to what they are talking about in the lecture, but as the lecture is presented entirely in French, an English speaking audience can get a bit lost. However, the diagram of the sheep (which opens up to reveal an airplane cross-section) provides the audience with a visual context where the French dialogue is rendered intelligible. Also, the sight-gag of the professors needing to wear the fake mustache in order to speak would be lost if this scene had been written for English radio, as the previous one might have been. It is once again with juxtaposition that the Python team elevates a relatively simple premise to a complex commentary on the reliance of one scene on auditory elements for the comedic effect and another’s reliance on the visual gag. The same joke is being made in both scenes, but the humor has a deeper impact as a result of the different comedic tools employed in order to make the same joke twice. 

It's been a wonderful and strange first season of Preacher, simply because this is a show that hasn't hesitated to take risks with its storytelling, or its design because let's be honest...this is one wild show.  But clearly the folks behind the scenes were saving their best moments for last, since the season one finale of this show turned out to be filled with jaw dropping moments, answers to some of the burning questions that have been plaguing this show all season long on its way to wrapping up as many plot threads as possible with a neat little bow.

One such plot thread just so happened to be Jesse's attempt at redemption. All season long he's been trying to do the right thing and fill the void in his soul by bringing people to the church the wrong way and well...he finally found some form of redemption this week. For one, there was finally peace between he and Donnie, since Preacher showed the man mercy back during that little incident in the gas station bathroom and that peace...eventually led to everything finally being cool between he and Tulip, and that's where we got some answers. Turns out long ago, the double cross from Carlos came from one simple thing, he was jealous of Jesse and Tulip's happiness and because of his actions...the panic and terror of being abandoned and caught, cost the couple their unborn baby. This is why Tulip has been so hell bent on revenge and well, she finally got Jesse to agree to put Carlos down, but she never let him. She merely wanted the same fury from Jesse, the desire to harm the man that cost them their baby, and with that...she settled on the two of them beating the living hell out of Carlos instead. 

But, the key to all of this is that Jesse's best actions and most fulfilling moments came without the power of Genesis since it's clear he's capable of inspiring good without it...and while that would have been a subtle and fulfilling way to end season one...that really wouldn't be this show's style. We still had a meeting with God on the Sunday Service docket and well, initially it really seemed as though Jesse was going to be embarrassed in front of his entire congregation, despite the fact the phone seemed to dial and that's when one magical moment arrived; someone on the other end actually bothered to pick up and the people of Annville were treated to something incredible...proof that there is more that happens after we die and a chat with the Creator of everything that has ever existed in the universe and believe it or not, God was willing to answer questions from the people that had gathered to meet him. Except...something wasn't quite right...

Because a few odd answers from the Lord caught Jesse's attention. For one, they were all sugar coated and fluffy and designed to please the ears of those in attendance, forcing Jesse to confront God about why he was being so dodgy about his answers and that's when it hit him...the Creator before him, was a fake, leading Jesse to fire off a command from Genesis for this imposter to tell them where the real God was hiding...and that's where everything went downhill. Fake God let everyone know that Our Lord and Savior was missing and that no one knew of his true whereabouts before being forcibly removed from the screen and that's when Jesse made the decision to take his leave of his church and Annville, and what came next...was wholly unexpected. 

The show decided it was time to slide into some incredibly philosophical places this go round and it explored what would happen, if in essence there was no God and the answer to that question...was a terrifying one to say the least. Armed with the knowledge that the Creator is missing and in essence not in charge of anything in the universe, the good people of Annville slipped into dark places. They tore the church to shreds. Suicide ran rampant everywhere and the gentleman we were introduced to recently, the one who fired off the excess methane by Jesse's church came into play on this night, because his need for a little sexual excitement, cost him his life by way of a heart attack and eventually...everyone in Annville. Turns out the need for that venting was simple, the entire town is powered by an underground methane plant courtesy of QM&P, and by not releasing the excess pressure...methane escaped through emergency vents and well...an unfortunate spark somewhere, blew the town and everyone in it, sky high.

That's right. Sheriff Root, Emily, Donnie and his family, Odin...they're all gone now. As is knowledge of the Afterlife and the situation with God and well, that was quite the sobering ending to say the least and a bold one as well. But...despite that dark little turn, Jesse and his love and his best friend were nowhere near the blast. They were getting french fries and making a big decision. They're off to find God now, and help Him as necessary, or teach him a lesson and the journey won't be easy...because there was one last nugget of surprise at the end of the episode, the Saint of Killers, the Cowboy; made it back from Hell after all, and no doubt...he is coming for Preacher and man...when all is said and done, this was an absolutely incredible season finale. It gave us everything we could ask for and more and well...now that our main characters are free of any emotional baggage and obligations, we should be in for an interesting second season as we begin the search for God. Until next year.