The evening begins at The Brick, where Ed and Chris are discussing Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon playing pool and arguing over which toes their friend lost to frostbite.
Edna Hancock, a wealthy and reclusive landowner makes a rare appearance. But she’s not there for drinks or to catch up. She’s there to let Holling know she’s running against him for mayor. Five years ago, she asked Holling for a stop sign near her house. Holling forgot. “See you on election day,” she tells him.
[Cue moose strutting to funky jazz music.]
On the radio, Chris excitedly waxes philosophical and poetic about the wonder of democracy. He’ll do a lot of this in this episode. As a felon, he can’t vote, but he sees beauty in the act of voting and in the concept of a government by the people and for the people. And if we weren’t living in the times we’re living in, I’d probably appreciate all this a lot more instead of it making me sad.
Ed goes to see Dr. Fleischman for an eye twitch. It turns out he’s experiencing stress over the election. He’s never had a chance to vote before, and he’s not handling the pressure well. It’s a lot of responsibility. Fleischman’s a bit confused, as it doesn’t seem Holling does much as mayor. Ed says he gets a special parking lot in front of Ruth-Anne’s store. Sure, everybody parks there anyway. But they all know it belongs to the mayor. The hoopla makes a little more sense to Fleischman when he learns Cicely has never had an election for mayor. “Unbelievable. I’ve discovered the Brigadoon of electoral politics.”
Ed asks for advice on who to vote for, starting a political debate between the conservative Joel and the liberal Maggie.* At the grocery store, Fleischman is expressing his bemusement over how much these people care about such low-stakes silliness when Ruth-Anne uses her powers as town clerk to name him Election Commissioner. When he refuses, she plays hardball, calling in his tab. He begrudgingly agrees to do the least amount of work possible. Oh, and it turns out Maggie is the chairman of the election committee. You see, the Chairman makes the election arrangements, and the Commissioner oversees them. But that doesn’t mean Ruth-Anne is going to enforce this or anything for the simple reason that she and Maggie don’t want that.
*Again, I have to note that it’s funny/not funny how the actors have the opposite views in real life.
Holling visits Edna to apologize and promise the stop sign, but it’s too late. Holling’s barber tells him not to worry… but that he wouldn’t be voting for him. He just couldn’t get “worked up” about voting for the incumbent. He wants something new for the sake of something new. Like that time he bought a Chevy to replace his beloved old Dodge. But he assures Holling that he’s got his wife’s vote, at least. “She says you can’t trust women.”
Voting based on novelty, vibes, and a baffling sort of bigotry… How things haven’t changed. I’m sorry to keep bringing up the current state of politics here, but this episode just feels too real at times.
Joel and Maggie argue some more, but this time not about Left vs Right and instead about the meaning of elections. Joel finds them fascinating in a detached, data scientist sort of way, whereas Maggie sees them as an important occasion worthy of a certain decorum and gravitas.
Holling visits Marilyn to get a feel for which way the “Indian vote” is shifting and if she’ll do anything to help. Marilyn is Marilyn and does not leave him with any solid information or promises. As for her own vote? “It’s personal.” Holling is giving out free beer when Ruth-Anne comes in to tell him to stop. Edna has made a complaint about this illegal activity. And she also calls him out for his decades of tax evasion. Holling is furious. It’s personal now. Shelly at least is, perhaps predictably, hornt up over her man’s greed and ambition for power.
Cicely holds a debate, with Ruth-Anne presiding. Edna is… not exactly a people person. But she’s forthright about this and makes a pretty strong case about Holling not doing much for Cicely.
Maurice angrily leaves the debate and is waiting for Edna at her place after. He reminisces a little about the time they first met. She shot at him, which he appreciated, just as he respects her logging and drilling operations in the area. She has that pioneer spirit he admires and sees in himself. “It takes big people to tame a big land… We came here with nothing but our dreams and investment capital. And now look at it.” He sees this stop sign business as a sign of encroaching government–as the beginning of the end of his libertarian paradise. He seems almost on the verge of self-awareness here–almost recognizing that “taming” and “civilizing” the free, wild frontier means there is no longer a free, wild frontier. But ultimately he accuses Edna alone of being the one who “let the genie out of the bottle.”
Cicely holds its election. Chris ditches the David Foster Wallace look in favor of a haircut, suit, and tie, and he visits not to vote but to watch and admire the act of voting.
That night, as a wide-eyed Ed sits eagerly next to him, he reads the results on air:
Holling Vincoeur: 247
Edna Hancock: 255
Chris, on that day’s peaceful transition of power: “The mass of people on this planet still live under the yoke of some autocratic or totalitarian regime. Today tiny Cicely Alaska stood up and put another ‘W’ in the ‘Win’ category for democracy.”
Back at The Brick, the morose crowd is tiptoeing around Holling, who demands they stop moping and start playing some music. Shelly tells him she’s proud of him, and assures him her hormones have stopped raging. That oughta make him feel better.
Maurice laments the changes on the frontier he’s worked so hard to change. Edna comes in for a drink, and Holling congratulates her. Ed tells Ruth-Anne how empowering it felt to vote. Outside, Joel and Maggie congratulate themselves on a job well done. On air, Chris reads Lincoln and Jefferson.
Miscellaneous notes, quotes, and anecdotes:
– Fun Shelly Earring Alert!: It’s hard to see, but unless it’s my imagination, she wears sharks with a swimmers’ legs dangling from their mouths. If so, these are the funniest yet.
– The Cicely election cycle is really short.
– Ruth-Anne says something about Chris’ tendency to “wrap himself in the American flag,” which she thinks is “to compensate for his criminal past.” The rare call-out of Chris’ phoniness is particularly gratifying after last week’s episode.
– We really don’t learn anything about the difference (if any) in politics between Holling and Edna.
– The Biggest Laugh comes from the Q&A section of the debate:
Lumberjack-Looking Guy: I was wondering if the candidates saw the stop sign as a Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian expression of democracy in action.
Ruth-Anne: What kind of a stupid question is that? Sit!
– Ruth-Anne, a self-described agnostic, can quote the bible chapter and verse.