VLVL2 (3) A Finesi Romance #1

[jbor]

>>> I'm more inclined to think that Zoyd hasn't understood the ritualistic
> gag
>>> and PI routine which Van Meter and Hector employ here. I actually think
> that
>>> Van Meter provides the corroborating information about Leon
> deliberately,
>>> and that the "Aaaaa" is for Zoyd's benefit, or part of the routine. A
> snitch
>>> needs to be careful not to let others know that he is a snitch.
>> 
>> I agree.
>> 
>> 
>> This is not the first time Hector has  been to their pad.
> 
> [snippin']

on 12/8/03 12:53 PM, Don Corathers wrote:

> This is a little *too* nuanced for my flavor. I think it's a comic scene to
> be taken at face value. I think it is Hector's first visit. I think Scott
> splits because he instantly recognizes Hector's cop aura. Van Meter,
> half-bright or stoned or both, doesn't.

Zoyd has instantly recognised that Hector is a cop too. Hector tells Scott
that "[m]aybe later ... you could explain all this to your friend here ... "
(23.7) Explain what, I wonder? And Scott, while he also instantly recognises
Hector is a cop (it's flippin' obvious, after all), doesn't flee right away
and even mocks Hector's accent. Scott only flees when Hector indicates
Melrose Fife.

And Van Meter "ran in frowning" *because* Scott fled. Pretty straightforward
I'd say. 

Don't know about the W.C. Fields thing. That idiomatic "fatal ... " is
pretty common, but it's worth keeping in mind.

best


> The tipoff that this is Hector's first PI payment to the household is
> "[T]hat fatal five-spot...." (24) a reference to *The Fatal Glass of Beer,*
> the 1933 W.C. Fields short. The fatal glass of beer is the *first* one,
> which irretrievably sets one on a course toward alcoholism. (If the fiver
> wasn't the first one, what was "fatal" about it?) That the film is
> unadulterated slapstick is, in my opinion, an advisory on how to read the
> scene, if one is needed.