The Gist
Hank is holding a high-stakes poker tournament and Julius Hoffman, a Grade-A creep, shows up to play. After lots of insinuations and obnoxious "I know something you don't know" scenes, he pushes the reverend into confessing to a sordid past that revolved around gambling. Wow. Who would have thought?
Meanwhile, Hoffman is targeting Matthew for annihilation. Poker annihilation. He draws Matthew in, building his confidence and enjoyment of the "easy money" he can make, appealing to his shaky grasp on manhood and his thirst for adrenaline. And he schemes to scam him (and some other townsfolk) out of lots of money, causing him to gamble away Ingrid's engagement ring, become a breaker of promises, and get his ass beat by thugs. It's very dramatic. Of course Julian is found out, confronted and sent packing.
Commentary
1. Hank/Michaela have a lovely dynamic. They barely interact directly, but when they do it's comedy gold:
Michaela: "Competition for what?"Well, Hank with anyone, really
Jake: "You ain't interested."
Michaela: "How do you know?"
Hank: "Ain't you learn nothing yet? Poker, Michaela. Bunch of stinking drunk men sitting around smoking, talking dirty and we'd like for you to come. Interested?"
Michaela: "No thank you."
Hank: "Darn."
Julius: You sure you don't want a drink? I'm buing
Matthew: I'll have a ... sarsparilla
Hank: ... whaaat?
The moment doesn't really translate that well in text, but it was fucking hilarious.
2. There is a whole bizarre subplot where Brian is working to earn money so he can buy a bald eagle on display in a cage at the general store. He wants to set it free, you see. Anyway, he earns enough money but the eagle is too freaked out and takes some time to fly free. Which it does. Eventually. All I can figure is that Brian's story is perhaps intended to be a parallel to Matthew's. It's super stupid, though.
3. I love that as Matthew begins his moral descent, he still sticks to drinking sarsparilla.
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