Episode 5 Notes – It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World
Summary
Matt, with the reluctant support of Laurie, John and Michael, books a trip to Australia to find Kevin to bring him home. Matt is convinced that Kevin needs to be in Jarden (Miracle) during the 7-year anniversary of the departure because everything “special” that happened to Kevin, occurred when he was living there. (As the episode was aired on Mother’s day, there were many instances where it shows that women are just as important as men when talking about faith.)
Title
It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World is a take on the title of the American 1963 comedy movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Spencer Tracy starred). The movie is a commentary on American greed.
• Plot: A caravan of motorists who witness a terrible accident on a dangerously winding California desert highway. The auto-crash victim, reveals in his dying words that he has hidden a fortune of stolen cash, sending the drivers on a crazy race to see who can claim the loot first. A cop goes undercover and colludes with some of the motorists to get the money. After the money is retrieved and they are splitting it up, he reveals his identity and recommends that they turn themselves in as he takes off with the money. He is busted and loses everything in the process.
Opening Credits and Theme Song
• The credits open with a French man speaking very low. Not sure what he says, but I believe it is the French crewman aboard the nuclear submarine.
• The opening song in French is entitled in English “I Cannot Go Home.”
o After the crewman unlocks safe and takes the key, he swaps out his iPod to attach to the boat’s com system. Is the man speaking French over the credits what he was listening to on his iPod?
o This song is the opposite of Homeward Bound that Kevin sang in the finale of season 2.
RECAP
The “Explosion”
In last week’s episode, we know there was a large explosion of some kind that was grounding all flights and taxis in Melbourne.
• This week’s episode begins on a French nuclear sub somewhere in the South Pacific near an uninhabited island (homage to Lost? First episode of season 6). A crewman unlocks the safe to get a key to unlock the nuclear missile capabilities. He blares the episode’s theme song, Cannot Go Home on the com of the submarine. He then strips completely naked and kills another crewman for his key and then locks himself into the Missile Room where he proceeds to turn both keys at different stations using one arm and a foot in a very graceful and ballet-like pose. A joystick with a red button unlocks and he presses it. The action then opens up in Texas.
Airplane Trip to Tasmania
• As all flights are grounded, Matt charters a plane and pilot under the guise of foreign aid. Matt gives the pilot $20,000 while also appealing to his faith (the same amount that Nora brought to Australia coincidentally).
• While on their plane trip, we see the first tension that Matt has with Laurie. He makes it clear throughout most of the episode that he is displeased that she is there with him due to her not being a true believer or someone who directly experienced one of the miraculous events with Kevin. Laurie is there because she believes that Kevin might be more willing to listen/speak with her based on their previous relationship and the fact that Kevin called her when he was in trouble.
• Matt and Laurie – Before getting on the plane, we see the first sign of tension with Laurie that pervades the episode. Matt calls himself, Michael and John the Three Wise Men. He doesn’t want a woman who also is not a believer, getting in the way of his divine mission.
o We find out that Laurie is married to John for the first time.
o When Laurie says, “What happens in 4 days?” Matt says indignantly, “It’s the 7-year anniversary of the Departure.” Laurie responds by saying, “So” throwing shade on the whole premise that just because it’s the 7-year anniversary and has biblical context, doesn’t mean anything related to the first departure will happen again. There is no evidence. Laurie says that she was married to Kevin for many years and that at no time did he fit the Jesus profile.
o Matt has a problem with women in his life. His only concern is for retrieving Kevin and has forgotten all about his sister, Nora. He also forgot all about his wife, Mary and their son Noah while on this mission to anoint Kevin as Jesus Christ. Throughout the episode until the end, Matt dismisses Laurie and wishes she wasn’t there. When John suggested that maybe Laurie is a disciple too, Matt didn’t like it.
o Matt reads the following from the Bible: Daniel, Chapter 6, verses 21 and 22. This is a story about a man’s faith convinces God to save him from certain death in the jaws of the lions (see special notes below).
Satan’s Ferry and the Frasierites
• After landing in Tasmania, Matt and the disciples are faced with the choice of either having to wait a couple of days to take the Ferry because it is booked and risk being late for the 7-year anniversary back home or they can ask to join the private party who has booked passage that evening.
• Frasier – The private party is a group of libertine sensualists who plan to spend the entire ferry trip having an orgy. They’re celebrating the life of an elderly lion named Frasier — one of whose offspring they’ve brought with them. The woman welcoming guests on the boat asks Matt to tell a dirty joke (not believing he is capable). After Matt relays the joke, the woman says they can travel with them on one condition: if anyone says the name Frasier after midnight, that person will have to become Frasier.
o Frasier the Lion’s story is that a number of lionesses were not interested in having sex with the other lions at a zoo. An older lion, aged 91 by the name of Frasier was brought in and they all immediately had sex with him and gave birth to 35 cubs. This is based on a true story and Sarah Vaughan wrote a song about it named after the 1973 film inspired by these events, entitled “Frasier, the Sensuous Lion.”
• Orgy – during the voyage, or the voyeurage, the disciples go about their business with this crazy orgy backdrop. Everyone is making out in a free-for-all, while they are debating how to rescue Kevin. This can be seen as symbolism for the World at large.
o Most of the people in the orgy don’t care about anything except pleasure and escape.
Matt’s Journey and the Disciples
• Matt always has a mission or purpose. In season 1, it was helping the Guilty Remnant; in season 2, it was believing in the power of Jarden and helping his wife Mary; and in season 3 it’s to help Kevin find himself and to return him to what Matt views as the holy land of Jarden (Eden).
• Matt is very frustrated with the dwindling time to complete his mission and Michael says that they should give Kevin space to make up his mind about coming back. John points out that even if they are able to convince Kevin to come back. They would not make it back to Jarden in time for the 7-year anniversary of the Departure.
• Matt believes that Jarden is a magical place because his wife was saved and he had a son even though they weren’t able to medically conceive before moving there. John reminds him that it’s not, because he lost Evie and his wife Erica.
• As the episode progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that John and Michael are there for Matt maybe as much as Kevin, as they are familiar with his terminal illness and worried about him.
• Michael and John want Matt to come to terms with the fact that he is dying. This probably has something to do with the reason why Matt wants to get Kevin back to Jarden so badly. This is his last mission.
• Michael suggests to Matt that he should let Laurie help him cope with his approaching death because she was able to help cure John’s delusions of grandeur. Matt believes his spirituality will guide him above all else and doesn’t need psychotherapy.
• Matt fights with Laurie a good deal about science/faith. Matt believes he was appointed by God to help Kevin become Jesus. Laurie doesn’t believe in any of it and thinks that Kevin and Matt have deep-seated psychological problems. Matt is in the clouds and Laurie is grounded on Earth.
David Burton, “a.k.a. God or Yahweh”
• Matt is told about David Burton. When Matt meets David, he is reading a Louis L’Amour novel entitled, Lonely on the Mountain. David, clearly annoyed, just hands him his F.A.Q. card and gets up and walks away abruptly (which corrects some of the Bible’s mistakes). It says, Yes I am God on one side (see special notes for other side).
o When Matt reads the card, his nose bleeds for the first time, signaling his own mortality and the onset of Leukemia.
• The next time Matt sees David is at night when he just happens to see David throw someone off the ship’s deck. Frantic, Matt tries to get everyone’s attention and help. The passengers are in the middle of a sex orgy and they don’t want to be disturbed, nor do they care. He jumps in the water in vain.
• The Captain tells him that although David was his personal friend and a local hero/legend that everyone likes and doubts that he would kill someone. He tells him the story of how David became God.
o David died in a rock climbing accident, his friend took him to a cave, and when his friend came back, David was alive and just fine and said he was God. (This presents the possibility that David and his friends made it up since they were the only witnesses to his death, but probably not true because we see him on the other side with Kevin after these events.)
• After another terse conversation with Laurie, Matt becomes maniacal and goes on a rampage after David Burton, or God. He wants answers!
• Matt finds David, knocks him out then ties him to a wheelchair in front of the lion cage to question him.
o David admits that he threw the man overboard but he would not tell the authorities because he was “the Authority.”
o David said he won the bronze medal in the decathlon because that was, “before.” This suggests that after his resurrection, he was someone else entirely.
o David said that Jesus was not his son and he never came back to life, as Jesus’ identical twin brother pretended to be him.
o He claimed credit for the departure and said he did it just because, “He could.”
o The lion appears to roar at important points in the conversation, almost making it look like David had something to do with it.
• Matt tells David about all the sacrifices he’s made to serve him. David says “Everything you’ve done because you thought I was watching, because you thought I was judging. But I wasn’t. I’m not. You’ve never done anything for me. You’ve done it for yourself.” Matt then says, “Is that why you are killing me?” David says he can heal Matt if he unties him. Burton appears to clinch his fist as if he was going to hit Matt and then reaches out like he is going to touch him. Before doing so, he just snaps his fingers and says he is cured.
o David Burton conflicts with Matt’s image of God in that he is more in line with Yahweh who can be vengeful than the image of Jesus Christ he has painted on Kevin. Or is David more representative of Satan than God?
Transformation
• Matt tells his friends (they are no longer the disciples to Matt) that he is dying and he accepts his fate. Laurie also opens up about Kevin seeing Evie to everyone. John is very understanding that she didn’t tell him before because it probably would have made him crazy. This scene shows they are all resigned to their fate and that love conquers all.
• Matt is very changed by this experience. When the ferry captain asks him if he has any pressing business in Melbourne so that he can answer some questions about the David Burton business, Matt says, “No, I don’t” contritely. It appears that Matt is defeated and no longer believes in his mission and Kevin but also is finding peace. Just like Grace, Matt realizes that his mission was just a story he told himself.
• At the end of the episode, David is killed by the offspring of Frasier the lion as he tries to escape when the police are searching for him. Matt says, “That’s the guy I was telling you about” nonchalantly. God is now dead! Commentary anyone?
o Who is David Burton and what is his primary motivation? Is his story the same as Kevin’s or different? Has he experienced the same things that Kevin has with people worshipping David after he came back to life and this is why he takes the persona of God? (refer to special notes below)
o We heard that David emerged from the cave resurrected prior to this episode. This would mean that David returned to the “other side” when he saw Kevin in season 2.
o Is it a coincidence that Matt and the other disciples are on this boat with David Burton?
o The lion plainly kills David for everyone to see. Will David come back to life? If he doesn’t, will this hold any significance?
o Who is the person that David throws off the boat and why?
Other Items of Interest
• Maybe Burton and Kevin experienced the same things in resurrecting from the dead, but they are very different in their reactions.
o Is this David the same David from International Assassin or is a God-like figure just using his face?
o Is David Burton really God or some other manifestation? What about Kevin?
o If David Burton is not God, how does he know so much when Kevin sees him on the other side? Is he just a guide? David doesn’t appear to know everything about Patti when he meets him for the first time in International Assassin.
• French music again plays at the end of the episode. What does this mean for the coming weeks in a larger world context? Will anything happen in response to the French nuclear bomb blowing up a remote island?
Special Notes
Daniel, Chapter 6, verses 21 and 22
The story of Daniel in the lion’s den teaches us about the promises and faithfulness of God, even if we feel like everything has been lost. Daniel was a faithful servant of the King but prayed to the God of Israel. He was given power by the King. Others in the King’s court did not like Daniel and they conspired to change the law knowing Daniel’s faithfulness to God, so that the King’s subjects would only pray to him. Those who disobeyed were thrown into the Lion’s Den. The men outed Daniel and the King had no choice but to follow the law. The lions did not eat him and he was saved by God’s angel. The King then swore allegiance to Daniel’s God.
21:Daniel answered, “May the king live forever!
22:My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
David Burton’s Yes I Am God Card
I am the one true God. I go by many names but Mr. Burton is fine. I will not take a photo with you. There was no Big Bang, just nothing then light. Yes I created you. No I didn’t create unicorns. Eve was not made from Adam’s rib, it was his tibia. I asked Abraham to kill Isaac just to see if he’d do it. Yes evolution is real but it doesn’t work how you think it does. I won the bronze medal for decathlon and the one you can’t remember is the hammer throw. No I had nothing to do with the crusades nor any type of genocide/Holocaust.
Who is David Burton?
• The first time we hear about David Burton was in Season 2, episode 1 where Michael received an addressed letter from “Pillar Man” to David Burton in Sydney, Australia.
• In Season 2, episode 3, a news broadcast mentions a resurrection claim coming out of Australia, where a man that witnesses said was dead came out of a cave in Wanneroo, just outside of Perth, now alive. Witnesses said he “walked out covered in mozzie bites and said he’d just been in a hotel.”
• In Season 2, episode 8, International Assassin, after drinking the poison to die, Kevin sees David Burton for the first time when he was on the “other side.” David pulled Kevin out of a car that was stopped on the bridge with child-Patti. He put a noose around Kevin’s neck and dragged him on the bridge, asking him what he was doing with the girl. Kevin said he was taking her to the well to throw her in. David asked if she was resisting and he said no. David said that she wanted to be thrown it and that it was just like a woman, thinking she could improve him. Kevin replied, “I don’t understand” to which David says, “That’s bloody obvious.” David then gave Kevin a choice to either “cross or jump.” He told Kevin that if he killed Patti, he would never be the same. Kevin replied, “None of this is real.” David then said, “Friend, this is more real than it’s ever been” and then whispered something into Kevin’s ear that seemed to impact Kevin greatly.
• In the season finale of Season 2, after John shoots Kevin in the chest, Kevin goes to the “other side” and meets David again at the hotel lounge bar during karaoke wearing his Mapleton police uniform. David tells Kevin that he can’t return to his world until he sings karaoke. David says, “You love your family, it’s not your time, still have so much to live for…Come on, be original mate, why should you go back and the rest of us…” Kevin says, “Because I deserve to…Now tell me now.” David says, “If you want to get out of here, all you have to do is sing…The trial, it’s beneath you, it’s not elegant enough, it’s too easy. You pushed a little girl into a well, you don’t want to sing? Kevin sings Homeward Bound and wakes up alive.
Lonely on the Mountain Plot Summary
• This is Louis L’Amour’s eleventh book chronicling the lives of the Sackett family from Tennessee. In Lonely on the Mountain, William “Tell” Sackett receives a brief note from his cousin Logan stating that Logan will face starvation or hanging if Tell can’t drive a herd of 1,100 cattle to British Columbia before winter. Tell and his brother, Tyrel, commandeer a nine-man cattle drive across the Dakota Plains to British Columbia. Along the way they experience food shortages, prairie fires, and the ever-present risk of an attack by Indians or cattle rustlers. There is also the matter of a mysterious stranger who is clandestinely pursuing the Sacketts. While on the journey, an ambush party of Sioux Indians attacks the men and scatters the hundreds of steer.
• Orrin Sackett, the Sackett’s middle sibling, hears not only the disturbing news of the attack, but that his two brothers (Tell and Tyrel) were killed. Orrin must now assemble his own group of men to follow the trail to British Columbia and find out the truth. Louis L’Amour provides realistic and fascinating details of what life was like for the brave men and women who traversed the Western frontier. From Indian attacks to killer mosquitoes, L’Amour leads his readers on a trek resplendent with unexpected and suspenseful events. His rich characterization of the Sacketts, along with that of their friends and foes, is enhanced by colorful rough-and-tumble dialogue as they cross the barren countryside of Western Canada.