Posted: 4/17/26 at 11:21am
John Adams, you hold your own, God bless ya, much like your namesake! No, you didn't give me that impression; I was just making that point for others who might develop that impression.
In order of clarification:
* Re: "the very idea": the very idea that he might be Jesus.
* Re: starting "The Vow" for the kids' sake: she sees how hopeful they are (well, at least one of them), she realizes that whether or not this man is Jesus, he needs help, she thinks she can manage it, and the snap decision she makes is to humor the belief.
* Re: line readings: in my interpretation, they're not always for the kids' benefit or intended to be read as such by the kids (emphasis mine). Sometimes, they're how she copes with the situation. To use one of your examples, in my head, I hear "I swiped it from my dad, but I know you'll forgive me" as something the kids can read as sincere, and she can intend as "heh, long as we're saying you're Jesus, right?"
(To digress for a second: This may be my own 'armchair quarterback' directorial interpretation, but I do not think that either the exclamation or the following confused muttering in pain is intended to be a deliberate deception. I think he first realizes who they think he is when she says, whether wholeheartedly or not, "Being the Son o' God, it can't be that difficult for you." I can see very clearly the mental gymnastics that follow in his face before deciding, in the absence of any other solution, to ride it out: "Son of God? What the hell is she... wait a minute... did I... wait, what?! Oh no! No, no, no, no, no... think, think..." I picture him being very confused by all the stuff the kids are saying that implies a Jesus connection until he realizes, in that horrible, vulnerable outburst of "I want my mother back!" and what follows, what she means.)
Back to that bullet point (which I only do with asterisks because the forum's bullet-pointing system, in my experience, bites the big one): When I talk about offering an "out," I see her in her dialogue frequently testing him in a way that devout belief, at least as experienced by fundamentalist Christians of the nature implied in her small town, doesn't allow for, and that doesn't strike me as merely an incredulous kid. "Steal the car? Break the seventh commandment?" You're supposed to be Jesus, do you realize what you're asking me to do?
On a somewhat but not strictly related point that technically falls here, I don't think any of what I say about "found family" implies a sophistication beyond her years. She doesn't have to consciously know that's what she means for it to be her intention, or for us to derive that interpretation of it.
* Re: "one more 'failed messiah'": To be specific, I'm referring to everything that has let her down that follows in that sentence as a "failed messiah"; I'm not using the phraseology in its most literal sense. For "failed messiah," in that context, substitute "every dream that didn't come true," or even "every person and event that did not meet or exceed her expectations," which is perhaps more on the mark.
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Updated On: 4/17/26 at 11:21 AM
