What’s Beard Reading? (3.03: “4-5-1”)
There were no new books in Episode 3, “4–5–1.” Instead, Beard is re-reading what seems now to be his go-to, Inverting the Pyramid. We also catch a glimpse of The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro left on the desk clearly mid-read, spread open with cover facing up.
I’ll confess that this episode left me a bit cold. In some ways, that may have been intentional on the creators’ part. Zava’s arrival is disruptive, and the episode followed suit. Ted insists that they “gotta make this fella part of the team,” which seems to be mere lip-service, given how many over-the-top accommodations they make for this eccentric new Greyhound.
The tensions Zava introduces are palpable, even while he is absolutely an unstoppable force on the pitch. The team is racking up wins like never before, all due to Zava’s dominance. He will no doubt lead Richmond to victory but at what other costs?
There’s an incoherence that lurks beneath the winning streak, evident in lines from Zava himself: “I am an empty vessel filled with gold,” he tells Ted. “I am your rock. Mold me.” It doesn’t take much for a team to rise to the top of the heap with a superstar like Zava racking up goals. We want Richmond to succeed this season, to “win the whole thing” and pull out the fairytale ending (à la The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro). But the disjointed feel of this episode makes clear this isn’t the path to do so.
Jamie’s storyline in this episode is the most intriguing to me. He’s the only one, it seems, who is bothered by Zava’s presence, at least the one whose discomfort is most visible. Jamie is used to being the standout, but now he’s overshadowed.
It’s too easy to say that Jamie is simply being fragile, ego bruised and content to pout. He seems to recognize that the teamwork and collaboration Ted prizes (and he has come to appreciate) isn’t possible with Zava around.
But Zava, too, is a prod for him to do better, not only to regain attention but to be truly excellent. Competition, this storyline reminds us, can actually be good to draw out our best. That’s just what Roy promises to do in his commitment to train Jamie.
I will add that this episode introduced several other new storylines, which to me felt forced and heavy-handed, driven more by agenda than a natural outflow of the characters and spirit of the show (Colin hiding his relationship with Michael, Rebecca seeing a psychic).
We’ll see where the writers take these storylines, but the barbs at religion weren’t promising. “If I wanted to be scammed out of all my money,” Rebecca says about the psychic, “I’d go the old-fashioned route and become obsessively religious.”
And Sassy’s indiscriminate pursuit of pleasure continues the show’s lamentable approach to sexual ethics (“I’m gonna do a lap,” she tells Rebecca and Keeley at the bar, “If Ted’s already gone, I’m telling you right now, I will be attempting to scale Mount Zava.”)
How this fits with the show’s attempt to recognize and value human dignity will never make sense to me. Perhaps a little like Zava’s (hopefully brief) time at Richmond: it subtly erodes the beautiful spirit that had been established and spells trouble if left unconfronted.
Other Installments of “What’s Beard Reading?” (for Season 3):
Episode 1, “Smells Like Mean Spirit”
Episode 2, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”
Episode 7, “The Strings That Bind Us”
Episode 8, “We’ll Never Have Paris”
Episode 9, “La Locker Room Aux Folles”
