Last night, John from Cincinnati wrapped up its first (and last?) season on HBO. I'm still not entirely sure what to think of it -- I often felt distanced from the show due to its artifice and its love/hate relationship with verisimilitude; on the other hand, I was constantly entertained by its oddness and engaged by its rich intratextuality. For instance, an insignificant line of dialogue from an earlier episode often would be repeated many episodes later, perhaps with a slight modification, to enhance a comic or mystifying moment. These connections are not meant to be a wink towards the viewer: they are essential to the major themes of the show.

What are those major themes? I'm not sure I'm equipped to discuss them here with sufficient eloquence, but these two essays about the last two episodes, respectively, get close to the heart of things, I think. A quote from the second essay:

I think the show is largely centered around an examination of what it would be like if Jesus came to Earth today, and using that framework, it would make sense John would use a major corporation to spread his message. He converts his disciples, and by putting his logo on everything, he will help to spread the message.

That is indeed the most obvious explanation, although there's no reason to believe that there's any connection to Jesus, or Christianity in general. The way that the car dealer in the final episode talks to John ("You're off-line now, Country.") conjures elements of science-fiction more than any traditional notion of religion. The entire text of the dealer's scene can be found at HBO's "Inside the Episode" website section, where it's described by one of the show's writers as "probably the most important puzzle-solving moment of the season."

It's clear that JFC has an intricate design, and recent hints of global implications (John talking about "towelheads" and 9/11/14) -- in addition to David Milch's unique brand of dialogue and character development -- make me curious enough to want to look forward to the second season, if there is one. But while I know that Milch is a sort of genius, I can't help thinking that there's something off about this show -- that perhaps in its struggle in being both profound and entertaining, it falls short on both accounts.