FORKNI-L
Digest - 8 Sep 2006 to 9 Sep 2006 (#2006-242)
Sat, 9 Sep 2006
There are 2 messages totalling 65 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Episode discussion - "Last Act"
2. Ben Bass Update
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 06:46:14 -0400
From: gwatson2 <gwatson2@r.......>
Subject: Episode discussion - "Last Act"
I think we finally decided on the 8th, didn't we?
One of the things that struck me, yet again, about "Last Act" was the
thematic similarity to "Last Knight". Except that here Nick denies the
possibility that he might come to want to die, and especially--and
explicitly--denies that he might ever commit suicide. (Okay, you might
argue that--assuming LaCroix did actually stake him at the end of LK--it
wasn't suicide. Except that Nick did actually asked him to do it, in so
many words, which makes it *assisted* suicide in my book.) Anyway, here the
points have to be made by someone else, since Nick denies them. However,
they certainly seem to resonate with him! So much for Erica staying away
from him because she wants not to infect him with her "disease", as Janette
puts it.
In "Last Act", it's clear that--whatever Nick may say or deny--he
feels a strong urge toward self-destruction. It's demonstrated in the way
he flirts with the sun, burning his fingertip, and then his hand.
It makes for a thematic bridge across the intervening episodes.
It's not at all surprising that they chose to include a clip from "Last Act"
in the finale.
One question on this point: should we take the "ghost" that talks to Nick
to be a real ghost, or a figment of his imagination? When I say
"imagination", though, I don't mean an visual hallucination, more a sort of
materialization on screen of the thoughts in his mind. The visual
equivalent of voice over, you might say. Like having a graveside
conversation with a dead friend: it's not a ghost you're talking to; it's
their memory.
If the ghost is real, then Nick is actually getting the argument for
suicide from *her*. But, if the ghost is a representation of an argument
that is actually internal, then these rationalizations and arguments are
*his*. In that case, the ghost represents an attempt to argue against what
she had done, not with her (which would be pointless, since she is dead),
but with himself, and his own impulse to destroy himself.
Greer
gwatson2@r.......
http://ca.geocities.com/gwatson2@rogers.com/index.html
Greer
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 14:45:56 GMT
From: Jean <jmtof@j.......>
Subject: Ben Bass Update
Ben is shooting a mini-series in Toronto by the name of "Would Be
Kings." More info to follow as I get it.
Jean
------------------------------
End of FORKNI-L Digest - 8 Sep 2006 to 9 Sep 2006 (#2006-242)
*************************************************************
Knight graphics and parchment background created by Melissa Snell and may be found at http://historymedren.about.com/
