the world according to david milch...

After recently finishing the series, Deadwood, I moved on to John of Cincinnati, also created by David Milch. I had heard it was pretty “out there” so I was excited since “out there” is my cup of tea. As soon as I started watching, I knew Milch had gone beyond what most Americans find acceptable. I’m not surprised it was only given one season but it’s unfortunate because Milch, as an artist is only getting more and more brilliant; too bad that along with his brilliance, he's become less accessible.

When I listened to Milch’s commentary on Deadwood, it was like going to church and he was the preacher. Milch, 64, was raised by an abusive father who ended up committing suicide. Milch was an alcoholic by the time he was twelve and addicted to heroin for thirty years. He didn’t get sober until his fifties, 'To me, sobriety is taking the world as I find it. Trying to glorify it in its complexity, its reality, its beauty, its horror, and not try to judge it.’ OK, so a preacher in a Tom Waits song but a preacher all the same.

As I listened to Milch’s commentary on the final episode of John of Cincinnati there was a moment at the beginning when he was silent and my eyes started to well with tears. It was then he came back and said, “I’m lying here crying.” and then he went silent again. His mourning echoed through the silence. He was lying to rest another one of his babies; put to rest before its time. His commentary was heartfelt and sad. Here are some of the gems from his commentary.
“You just gotta keep showing up, and waiting for the miracle.”

“Each one has found a way to keep faith with a hope in the possibilities of the present.”

“The muse has to know where to find you.”

“Trust the Universe to father your child.”

“Even soulless materialism if willing to submit itself to the possibilities of the present moment without distortion, can be an instrument of salvation.” (Can I hear a, hallelujah?)

“If you bring the right heart to it, any word is a pass to God.”

“The Universe forgives it all.”

“You can’t understand it before you do it, you just got to get in the fucking thing and drive.”

“If you wait to be sure something’s true, you just got to act as if it’s true and behave based on that action, a lot of the times it works.”

“Christ said, when I come back I’ll come back as a thief in the night.”

Link (a character) understands that in this society God is dead, people are terrified of miracles so he’s trying to provide a commercial premise so that people don’t get afraid of John (another character) and the kid. If we are going to keep from committing genocide we got to accept the mercantile premise as the organizing principal of our society and it doesn’t mean we can’t regain a sense of the miraculous.”

He ended with “OK, good luck to you.”

And I will do the same, “OK, good luck to you.” - until tomorrow.