‘John From Cincinnati’: The end is near

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I know that this show has been talking about it for two weeks, but color me surprised: Shaun is gone. Hey, who thought narrative foreshadowing would actually come to fruition on this show?

Cissy wakes up and finds Shaun missing from his bedroom, leaving behind his wetsuit. None of the cast of characters knows where the boy has gone off too -- and Vietnam Joe says the last person he saw him with was John. Of course, Shaun only disappeared after he signed a contract with skeezy surfing promoter Linc, so who knows what side of the good vs. evil divide his soul has been given to?

John, in his oh-so-clear way, pushed another message through the Internet, one that shows the large stick figure from last week’s episode now next to a smaller stick figure. Rosa gives Ramon an Avon catalog, and inside he finds the same stick figures drawn amid the eye shadows.

In the kinda real world, Cissy frantically runs around Imperial Beach showing photos of Shaun to every derelict and beachcomber she comes across; Kai, Linc, Butchie and Tina form a Scooby-Doo search party. In hallucinationville, hotel owner Barry keeps seeing visions of the boy in his ‘Twin Peaks’-esque tavern -- and long-lost Mitch turns up on a beach and chats with an Old Man and the Pharma-Sea type, who returns with him back to IB.

So we all see how this is going to end, right? John obviously kidnapped Shaun since he succumbed to the evils of capitalism. And Cissy is going to start selling Avon door to door. Yeah, your guess is as good as mine. And with that, it’s time to note that next Sunday, Aug. 12, is the finale for ‘John.’ ‘Big Love’ will be taking over the time slot on Aug. 19.

-- Ann Donahue