Anyway, I echo Gareth's comments about how utterly devastating Chigurh's encounter w/ Carla Jean was, especially the very subtle denouement when he checks the bottom of his shoes. In the novel, it's quite explicit that he kills her, and I felt the Coen Brothers' treatment was far more effective.

Also, since Cormac McCarthy doesn't give us much internal dialogue for his characters, perhaps with the exception of Sheriff Bell, I'm not sure the novel jibes with Gareth's observation that at the end, Chigurh may have a new perspective on life.

In the novel, the accident seems completely random. And Chigurh goes again into automode in his actions, methodically assessing the situation and administering to his injuries. It made me wonder whether Chigurh might have also been combat years before (like both Llewellyn and Wells).

I got the sense Chigurh was a product of war, a perfect soldier — amoral, fearless, unrelenting — and that simply his “training” kicked in at his most vulnerable moment. And perhaps McCarthy''s telling us that in a world that's gone to hell, only those shorn of humanity and morality will survive. The rest of us will cower and hide in the shadows until age takes us.

A+ for effort on the headphones, even if it didn’t work out as expected. Too bad about the rapscallion.

+ Phi, I just don’t know, will have to see it again!

Gareth – I’ve an awful feeling you’re going to keep mentioning Zodiac every week to remind me how much I hated it!

But glad to hear the shout out for Roy Scheider’s Blue Thunder. I left the comment on your previous Scheider post inbetween downloading this episode and getting time to listen to it last night.

Jett – time you rented a copy of Blue Thunder from your “local” online DVD postal service to discover that helicopter shows aren’t all about the action. It has a great finale.

Blue Thunder (film) > Airwolf > Blue Thunder (TV spinoff)

Do you do requests? Want to hear your views on Juno next week? Think Jett and Gareth will have different takes on it, and it’s been out long enough that Spoilers Ahoy won’t be needed.

I wondered why Chigur didn’t kill Tommy Lee’s character in the hotel room, when TLJ went back to the room to investigate after Brolin’s character had been found dead.