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From “Anagrams” [xxi]
One of Halberg’s more whimsical decisions: just when the action is coming to a head, attempt to pull off something formally innovative. “Underwritten? Lithe!” could have been a note to his detractors in this metaphorical on-screen corrections list. Each one of its 23 scenes was followed by a “what really happened” reveal, until the audience ran out even of false hope. “It was a bold decision, and by bold I mean stupid,” says Ingram. “I tried to reason with him: if you go to pull the rug out from under somebody’s feet 23 times they’re just go- and step off the he had that kind trick in mind the table cloth cutlery, crockery, undisturbed. over and over until the very smashes hell.” The whole an unrealized them share a captors and K, and Cain are together as the ing to get bored rug. But I think of conjuring where you pull out and leave the and glassware Only you do it again 22 times last tablecloth everything to episode was sneeze. We see joke with their Adah, Father allowed to stay sun rises. But Erratum: For blubber, read brother. Compassion; shoeshine. Authoritative; whiten. Hard; daft. Veldt; thought. Inertia; in- herit. Mothered; afterthought. Work; ho ho ho. Schoolteacher; orthodontist. Enlightened; muddy. Horny; hyphen- ated. Underwritten; lithe. Theft; fuddle. Honorable; anaesthetist. Handbag; ow. Thud; ahhhhh. Huh?; entertainment. Sainthood; elf. Revolution; neology. Dad; backbencher. Bosom; overstay. Watchmen; wretches. Hydrate; shoot. no, we jump-cut to their separation and Father K weeps hoarsely as their hands are tied behind their backs. After an inappropriate remark about Adah, Cain kicks an AK-47 from the weaker-looking patrolman’s skinny arms and scatters the rest in a hail of bullets. But no, we jump-cut to Cain being repeatedly pistol- whipped by the same patrolman. It seems unnecessary to list the others. This is now a world where honor is an anaesthetic and the saint is as fictional as the elf. They beg for water. Cain takes a bullet to the knee.