TAsunder said:
I like the link storyline. I didn't really follow his rant to the IT guy. I thought Link was going to be the antagonist to john's angelic goodness, but it seems like he's being given a second chance too.
There is an explanation of the speech on
HBO's "Inside The Episode":
Linc's Meltdown
A few comments on the scene in which Linc (Luke Perry), the founder and CEO of Stinkweed, spins out of control during a meeting with his lieutenants. When he says, "Fires," he's asking if the company faces any fresh crises that need addressing. The "e-commerce *****-fest" refers to a problem that many manufacturers face these days: By selling direct to consumers through their own web sites, they risk alienating the storefront retailers through whom they built their businesses before the Internet existed. It's a particularly nettlesome problem for surf-related companies, who depend on specialty shops not only for sales, but also to maintain their "core" image among serious surfers. That's why "Wonder Boy" says Stinkweed is rolling out new P.O.P. ("point of purchase") incentives: to placate its brick-and-mortar retailers, and why he says, "A wise man [i.e. Linc] once told me, 'The core shops are Stinkweed's soul.'"
But all of that has become a ******** capitalist game as far as Linc's concerned, because the SoCal surf tycoon has reached a tipping point. He knows something earthshaking is going on in Imperial Beach, and that it revolves around John Monad and the Yosts, but he can't figure out what to do about it. Here's what David Milch, the show's creator and head writer, had to say about this scene before it was shot: "Sometimes the way you force yourself to walk through a new door is to cut off your avenues of escape."
Which explains Linc's rant. Without even knowing why, he all but sets himself on fire. Here's the transcript of Linc's self-immolating tirade, and the exchange that leads up to it:
WONDER BOY: If this is a referendum on information technology, our target demographic's for it.
LINC: Oh, so that ship has sailed? The best we can do is hope to jump on board? Does that summarize your position?
WONDER BOY: [Mimicking Linc] If you're treading water you're getting ready to drown.
LINC: If I'm treading water, ****-face, I am not swimming toward a ship that has set sail and begging them to pull me into their dinghy. If I got a surfboard beside me, I'm getting on that ****er and I'm paddling out, turning around and flipping the bird to all the *******s on that ship. And maybe three percent of them weren't sure they wanted to be on that boat to begin with. And some of them, they're diving off. Now them... them I give 'em a big f**king smile, I ride up to them on my board and say, "Hey how would you like to buy one just like it, or my jockstrap, or my boardshorts, wetsuits, ski jackets, snowboards I always take with me when I'm surfing, I am such a tremendous boardshort-wetsuit-ski-jacket-snowboard ripper." What I'm not is a ****ing ******* with allergies trapped on a boat or jerking off to the Internet like ninety-seven percent of my target demographic. And the upside for me is, I like being on the water.
Linc pulls down his pants.
LINC: So if you're not too salty from your salmon, maybe I could interest you in a little ham.
WONDER BOY: Give me a ****ing break.
Two final things about that scene: Luke Perry earned many high-fives for nailing, repeatedly, the long speech he received just the night before. And Wonder Boy was deftly played by Zack Whedon, author of the season's tenth and final episode. (On a related note, the bicycle-rental dude who tosses Butchie the keys to the surf shop was played by Ted Mann, also a writer and producer on JFC.)