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Maynard checks out the new HBO series

What the heck is “John From Cincinnati”? The title doesn’t exactly beacon you in. In fact, I was ignoring the whole thing until I noticed that David Milch was behind the show, and suddenly I became interested. Milch previously created the excellent HBO series Deadwood. He brings a compelling depth and maturity to his drama.

Here’s a quote from the Salon interview with Milch. This will either intrigue you or turn you away:

Q: But what I love about [Deadwood] is that you find things to care about in a wide range of different characters.

Milch: Some people will not know themselves. As the minister says at [Wild Bill] Hickok’s funeral, he quotes Paul — that was what I wanted to do that Roman show about, was the first guy they arrested was Saint Paul. But Paul says, “If the hand shall say, ‘Because I am not the foot, I am not therefore the body of Christ,’ is it not of the body?” In other words, because we misunderstand our natures, does that exclude us from the community of spirits? And the answer is no, it just means we misunderstand our natures. So many of these characters misunderstand their natures, but that does not prevent us from recognizing that they’re of the body of Christ. My feeling about “Deadwood” is it’s a single organism, and I think human society is the body of God, and in a lot of ways it’s about the different parts of the body having a somewhat more confident sense of their identity over the course of time.

Did you follow that? I think Milch is saying that he wants to convey both the characters themselves, and the greater picture that the characters cannot perceive. He seeks a hint of the transcendental in what others would regard as mundane. That’s a tall order, but an important one. I want to keep an eye on his work.

“John From Cincinnati” is distinctly unconventional. The central focus is on three generations of a troubled family of professional surfers whose lives are disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious stranger named John. Who is this John? He seems to be something of a simpleton, but perhaps there’s a method to his madness. Oh, yes, and a bit of the miraculous as well.

What does it all mean? Where is David Milch taking us? I can’t say, and I think there will be ambiguity in any case. But I’m going to stick with it because, wherever it goes, I sense this series is wrestling with the same fundamental questions that we all are.