DTF St. Louis

“No One’s Normal. It Just Looks That Way from Across the Street”

I finished the series this morning on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and it gave me all kinds of emotional feels.

What I was dreading came to pass. Floyd himself had spiked his Bloody Mary drink with the full bottle of the medication Amphezyne in it. This was not a murder, but a suicide.

The show does an admirable job of setting everything up. I believe that Floyd had been suffering from depression for some time. I believe that he has a difficult life and that his own self-image played a massive role in the end of his life.

I just have a hard time believing that Floyd would kill himself. I understand that depression is an insidious thing and that it can lead terrible situations. I just have a difficult time believing that Floyd would take that choice. He knew how important he was in Clark’s life, and he had told him that he was there for him…only to kill himself?

I told myself that it was going to be a tragic scene with Richard, who the episode had been setting up as our latest suspect. He had rode the bicycle to school for his first day and had a great day. He was so happy when he got home, and the new stuff that Carol had bought him went great as well. It was when he discovered the DTF St. Louis website on Floyd’s computer that led to a freak out.

Richard saw Floyd and Clark in their whitey-tighty underwear dance, making the assumption that they were having an affair. Richard could not comprehend the depth to that conversation between friends. I thought maybe Richard would have gone back and blasted Floyd and that is what broke the camel’s back. However, Richard just approached the window, made eye contact with Floyd and then turned away in disgust. Floyd pounded on the window and gave Richard the “I love you” ASL gesture, which Richard misinterpreted as “rock on.”

But Floyd did not know that Richard misunderstood him and I find it hard to accept that Floyd would kill himself with the issues between Richard unresolved.

Maybe that is what the series is saying. I learned to love the character of Floyd Smernitch over these seven episodes, with the heartfelt portrayal from David Harbour, that I can’t accept that the character would feel flawed enough that he couldn’t see the tragedy suicide would be. That I could only see the man whom is so caring and loving, but a man who was damaged beyond what he could possibly repair.

In the end, Clark was left very much alone, with his wife and kids gone, Floyd dead, and the affair with Carol, that had led to much of this, over. The final scene of Clark sitting alone on his swing set was heartbreaking.

Then, with Carol, most of the season was spent showing that she was an unlikeable character who appeared very selfish, only for the finale to completely switch that up. She went from being a prime suspect to just a loving mother who was trying to do her best for her family.

The episode is amazingly poignant, beautifully written and shot, with some fantastic acting. I don’t want to suggest that my difficulty accepting the result of the show meant that this was not exceptional TV. I found this episode thoroughly enthralling and deeply tragic. It is a sad end, but one that has all kinds of vitality. David Harbour absolutely deserved the Emmy Award that he received. The limited series received seven Emmy awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Linda Cardellini and Best Supporting Actor for Harbour.

Starting next week, the next show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk will be Amazon Prime’s Carrie.