VLVL2 (14) Overview, Ch13, 268-293

[Paul Nightingale]

The chapter divides in two, focusing in turn on Brock Vond and Frenesi (and
then Zoyd and Hub) in the aftermath of PR3 and Frenesi's escape from PREP.

It begins (268-274) with Brock, an account of his personal philosophy that
takes in family life and the need for order, as well as psychological
insights provided by Cesare Lombroso. For the most part, the narrative
adopts Brock's perspective; occasionally we're given the (contrasting) POV
of his partner Roscoe (either "sidekick" or "Cagey Old Pro"). Brock recalls
a brief meeting with Frenesi at PREP, "just after the events at College of
the Surf": this might, he thinks, be the one time he "possessed" her.

A second phase (274-280) in this first half of the chapter offers Brock's
back story, emphasising his irresistible rise, as far as he'll be allowed to
go: handicapped by a modest social background, he has come to realise that,
to those with power, "the Real Ones", he'll always be a hired thug. His
awareness/construction of social inferiority is here juxtaposed to an
account of his sexual power over women. The chapter then returns to his
yearning for Frenesi, following her escape; before alerting us to the fact
that he has long been under surveillance himself. His obsession with Frenesi
might have cost him his career, which explains why he can't go after her.

The second half (or third phase) of the chapter (280-287) takes up Frenesi's
story upon leaving PREP, her meeting with Zoyd at a Corvairs-aka-Surfadelics
gig, the birth of Prairie. Impending fatherhood transforms Zoyd, who works
hard and gives up on acid (until the moment of Prairie's birth, when Sasha's
hostility has marginalised him). The Corvairs are given a recording contract
that goes nowhere, while Zoyd (not Sasha, who remains ignorant to the end)
gradually learns of Frenesi's involvement with Brock, Weed et al. When
Prairie is born, Frenesi's depression alienates her from her daughter; she
hallucinates about Brock, whose role here is to express her own (projected)
fears of entrapment within motherhood. This passage is followed by the
actual, and unexpected, return of Hub, also estranged from the family (in
his version, because he "was never the brave Wobbly her father was").

A fourth and final phase (287-293) completes the chapter, "Hub's idea of
therapy": his account, given to Frenesi, of Hollywood labour politics at the
end of WW2, the optimism of the young family ("such happy-go-lucky kids"),
Hub's own "shameful peace". Frenesi recovers and comes to appreciate that
Prairie, rather than a means to entrapment, is "perfect cover ... and all
she'd ever have to do to be safe was stay inside that particular fate": she
can put 24fps behind her and carry on making films. Brock's return ends this
particular vision.