John from Cincinnati

Episode Overview: Shaun and John are missing, and everyone is going crazy looking for them.  Mitch returns with a former mentor, and those weird stick figures start showing up everywhere.


As this penultimate episode of John from Cincinnati begins, Shaun's gone, and his grandmother Cissy responds with the level head you'd expect from her.  After going nuts running around the house and alarming everyone on watch (Freddie and Bill, whose psychic bird Zippy is also missing), she calls up Tina and verbally accosts her.  Tina has no clue, and Linc is out jogging.  She heads over to Butchie at the motel, who promises to check on Cass.

On a beach in Mexico, some stranger is walking up to an old man.  Oh wait, it's Mitch Yost, finally back after a three-episode absence.  The man is an old mentor (Howard Hesseman) nicknamed the Chemist from his drug days, and Mitch lays the weirdness on him.  They plan to head back to Imperial Beach together to see what's what.

Dwayne is on the Yost website looking at another video.  This one shows two of those stick figures, the big one and a smaller one, which Dwayne assumes to be proof that Shaun is now "gone" with John.  At Bill's place, his dementia increases when he believes Zippy is now communicating to him via a different bird, ordering him to do recon on the two missing.

Eccentric lotto winner Barry Cunningham is driven mad by the visions of Shaun in his bar, and Dr. Smith tries to calm him down.  Apparently everyone is having crazy dreams lately.  They chat in the bar, surrounded by figures of Shaun and the old dead guy who presumably gave Barry his first homosexual experience all those years ago in the motel.  Outside, they run into Ramon, who was at the church praying, and he has an Avon catalog that contains images of John's stick figure symbol.  Dr. Smith recognizes those from his flower catalog as well.  What this means is anyone's guess, but Ramon wants to cook.

Linc sicks his former VP (still unbelievably played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, aka Zack Morris) for help finding John and Shaun.  Butchie punches out Linc while Cissy continues scouring the pier, showing every bum and homeless person a photo of Shaun for a lead.  Vietnam Joe asks around at the VFW. 

Mitch and his mentor return to the Yost house and see the destroyed sanctuary tree house.  Cissy shows up and takes a swing at Mitch, telling him about how Shaun is gone.  Cissy fills him in on the tape and the deal with Linc.  Mitch wants to bring in the cops and the press, volunteering to take some of the weight off her shoulders.  Mitch speaks to the press about their missing grandson.

Ramon, Barry, Attorney Dickstein and Dr. Smith are gathered in the bar when Dwayne shows up with another Internet message, this one featuring a whole lot of stick figures.  Barry looks up to see a string of stick figures on a banner above the bar, though it's unclear if they're really there or if he's delusional.  Both could be true, actually.

Butchie ends the episode by going off to surf, looking up at the sky.  A pretty dull episode, but that's to be expected when John isn't in the picture.  What does it all mean?  Next week is the season (and likely series) finale, and the preview promises "all is revealed."


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of HBO