At the end of every episode of S-Town, the song \u201cA Rose for Emily\u201d plays. As Reed closes his reflections, this cheerful piano tune begins playing, yet its lyrics are sad. The tune reminds me of the slightly synth-ier \u201cLife on Mars?\u201d. If you can remember how Bowie\u2019s song makes you feel, this song strikes a similar note. And these emotions beat in sync with the heart of S-Town. As each episode is told, the stories of different lives unfold. Some stories make us feel cheerful, some make us lonely, some make us angry, and when Reed plays his cards right, some episodes make us appreciate the extraordinary beauty of these emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was not the case with episode three of S-Town. Reed takes on the challenge of narrating the death of John B. McLemore, starting from the difficult phone call Reed answers a few days after McLemore passes, to the funeral proceeding and aftermath of his death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually, Reed\u2019s artistic interpretation of events guide listeners\u2019 feelings through S-Town\u2014details like the old clock analogy or Woodstock\u2019s \u201cfuck it\u201d philosophy. This episode lacks the same care. Reed doesn\u2019t reminisce strongly over McLemore\u2019s suicide, doesn\u2019t go into his own feelings dealing with the tragedy, or say much at all on a personal level. Instead, Reed shrinks back to the role of a reporter, telling the stories of Tyler, McLemore\u2019s mom, and the two gold-digging cousins who arrive at McLemore\u2019s property after he dies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reed\u2019s closing statement especially bothers me: \u201c[Tyler\u2019s] going to try and fight the cousins the official way, through the courts. But if that doesn\u2019t work, he\u2019ll take matters into his own hands.\u201d For readers listening to episode three, McLemore has just died. This episode, where Skylar breaks news of McLemore\u2019s death, was supposed to be the death episode, and ending this episode focusing McLemore\u2019s estate proceedings was frankly off-putting. It felt like a cheap cliffhanger, like Reed moved on before even closing McLemore\u2019s casket. I can\u2019t understand why Reed wastes the crucial ending lines of this episode like this. Perhaps it was because Reed felt he wasn\u2019t close enough to McLemore, or didn\u2019t have the right to emotionally capitalize on McLemore\u2019s death, or because these thoughts are saved for a later episode. I just wish Reed offered an explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet despite how episode three was handled, I still love S-Town, and I\u2019m still curious to learn more. As I discussed in my last post, Reed\u2019s thoughtful storytelling brings Woodstock to life, in all its joys and flaws. Episode two especially paints Woodstock\u2019s inhabitants in such bright and expressive colors. Coupled with Reed\u2019s intelligent narration, episode two was my favorite episode so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So much ground is covered here. Reed interviews several townspeople about Kabram\u2019s alleged murder, then interviews Kabram himself. Turns out Kabram didn\u2019t kill anyone, rumors just got out-of-hand\u2014\u201cshit gets fuckin\u2019 twisted,\u201d as Kabram puts it. Can I just talk about these interviews for a second? All of Reed\u2019s interviews with the townspeople are a joy to listen to. They\u2019ve got this heavy Alabama drawl, they cuss mercilessly, and they lead insane lives, so they tell great stories. Kabram\u2019s interview is especially memorable. He starts off talking about this party where everyone\u2019s drinking and doing mad drugs, \u201clike takin\u2019 Xanax and doin\u2019\u2014mixin\u2019 speed with it and stuff.\u201d And then a fight breaks out. This rando Dylan pulls a knife on Kabram\u2019s friend Tim, who gets slashed a 4-inch gash on his neck. Now Tim\u2019s all bloody and dying and has to go to the hospital. \u201cYes, that is the craziest shit I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d Kabram laughs. Dylan stabs Kabram, too, in the thigh– \u201clike I almost cut my gooch, mate.\u201d (Kabram gets stitches \u201cnear the meat of his gooch,\u201d Reed adds.) The whole interview has great levity from both sides but stays concise thanks to Reed\u2019s overarching narration of events, which weaves seamlessly with the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reed\u2019s narration weaves seamlessly too between thoughts. Viewers feel like they\u2019re following Reed\u2019s thought process, almost like a retelling of Reed\u2019s memories, because of how naturally he transitions between ideas. When Reed interviews patrons at a tattoo parlor, each set of interviews brings up a new idea. Reed talks about outcasts, and racism, and kindness, and each seemingly meandering point helps readers later understand McLemore\u2019s hatred of Woodstock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s important also is the moments Reed doesn\u2019t speak. He pauses, transitional music drifts in, and readers have a moment to reflect on his words. It\u2019s the audio equivalent of a page break. They make Reed\u2019s words more impactful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyways these thoughts that Reed dwells on make more sense when McLemore expresses his sorrows over the selfish complacency of Woodstock\u2019s townspeople. It\u2019s the selfishness that allows racism to survive, or the complacency to shrug off a near-fatal wound, because \u201clow-down dirty shit like that happens when you hang out with low-down dirty people,\u201d or the indifference to the larger suffering of people around the world. Reed points out that McLemore is hurt by others\u2019 inaction towards suffering and is conversely exhausted from caring so much about this suffering himself. As with episode one, Reed narrates larger themes. All these little bits here and there fit into why McLemore thinks Woodstock is a shit town. We leave S-Town with these thoughts, humming to the offbeat tune of \u201cA Rose for Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word count: 919<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the end of every episode of S-Town, the song \u201cA Rose for Emily\u201d plays. As Reed closes his reflections, this cheerful piano tune begins playing, yet its lyrics are sad. The tune reminds me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":765,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions\/765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}