The episode depicts the economics and ethics of illicit drug trade-the look is surreal, the soundtrack blares, and the audience experiences the joy and anxieties of Ecstasy induced hallucinations.

Part one ends with a jolt. In the Mary XMAS Superfest parking lot-setting for the latest rave —— a red Miata, driving in reverse, rams right into Ronna.
The action also does a reverse, rewinding back to Simon asking Ronna to take his shift.

Part two is a buddy story —— Simon and his boys' night out in Las Vegas, courtesy of Todd Gaines' credit card. Tantric sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Blackjack, lap dances, and a car chase ensue. Lady Luck runs out once Simon misbehaves in the Crazy Horse. In the car, Simon's friends reiterate the chain of events:

Simon ignores them, still checking his rearview mirror.

The boys are bounced back to Los Angeles. In pursuit are Victor Sr. —— proprietor of the strip joint —— and his son, Victor Jr. Egos bruised, they now possess Todd Gaines' credit card and a bent for revenge.

Fade out. Fade in.

Once again the action rewinds back to the grocery store's employee lounge. Simon is asking Ronna to take his shift —— in the foreground Adam and Zack's television show is on. Ronna's aborted drug deal is revisited from Adam and Zack's point of view. The cuts are quick with the exception of Zack mouthing a silent "Go"13 to Ronna-in slow motion. Ronna exits the Venice house —— under police surveillance —— unscathed (for now) and attention is turned to Adam and Zack's relationship.

Assigned to Detective Burke, the two actors are wary of "The Man"14 —— particularly his intense and rather alarming admiration of their physiques. August plays with Adam and Zack's perceptions and the audience is complicit. Homophobics are taken to task —— but before the comedy can become a morality tale —— Amway and its acolytes are held up as the comic objects of bias and fear.

Adam and Zack arrive on the Mary Xmas Superfest scene to confront Jimmy —— the make-up artist with whom they each have had an affair. And that is when they run into Ronna:

"Ronna SLAMS against the soft top. Rolls across the windshield. Slides off the hood. Over the headlights. A smear of blood."15

The three episodes converge once Adam and Zack deliver Ronna to the ER and go. Claire winds up at the local coffee shop in search of Ronna and Mannie. Her who'dda thunk it? companion obscured at Go's starting point is revealed: Todd Gaines.

Claire and Todd go to the drug dealer's apartment. Victor Sr. and Victor Jr. are Gaines' surprise guests —— but no one is more taken aback than Simon, who charges in looking to hide out. Recriminations, gunshots, and apologies somewhat settle accounts and life goes on.

The last line of dialogue points up the characters' avoidance of finding meaning in the traumatic events that have just occurred:

MANNIE
So. What are we doing for New Year's?16

References particular to Los Angeles conveys much of the humor in Go. Gadabout characters with the same Zip Code tie the fast and loose plot together. Morality, intolerance, and disenfranchised youth are potential thematic issues to sift through, but without development, Go's narrative remains a divertissement —— a stylistically hip slice of SoCal 90's life.

Magnolia

Magnolia is another screenplay written with heady narrative style that focuses on twenty-four hours of a diverse collection of Angelenos separated by fewer than the requisite six degrees. Unlike the characters in Go, however, Anderson's characters have a history that gives depth to the morality issues they are compelled to face.

A prologue explicates three unrelated occurrences that are not, the narrator declares adamantly: "Matters of Chance."17 Next, the principle characters are introduced. Damaged and displaced, these saints, sinners, and saviors are each at the center of a personal drama-unwittingly poised to pass through destiny's door. The characters' stories intersect throughout the sequence of events. A latticework so fine it allows for complete immersion in Magnolia's lush textures. The plot doesn't so much evolve as revolve around the past, present, and future:

NARRATOR
There are stories of coincidence and chance and intersections and strange things told and which is which and who only knows . . . and we generally say, "Well if that was in a movie I wouldn't believe it." Someone's so and so meets someone else's so and so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that these strange things happen all the time . . . and so it goes and so it goes and the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us."18

The past "sins of the father laid upon the children"19 thematically connects the characters. Anderson credits Aimee Mann for the inspiration to magically transform nine stories into a cohesive whole: "This 'original' screenplay could, for all intents and purposes, be called an adaptation of Aimee Mann songs."20 Themes introduced and delved into in Magnolia make a day in LA a universal, rather than local experience for the audience.

The following is a "speed round to determine who's who":21

Frank T.J. Mackey is the messiah of misogyny. A strutting infomercial on how to "Seduce and Destroy"22 women. Hatred for his cancer-ridden father, Earl Partridge, is corrosive. Earl betrayed wife Lily during their marriage. During her losing battle with cancer, he left young Frank to care for her —— an act Earl now regrets. Translucent and tight-wired, Linda is Earl's second wife. As Earl lies on his deathbed, she falls apart in the Partridge family attorney's office confessing her own infidelities:

LINDA
I don't want him to die, I didn't love him when we met, and I've done so many bad things to him that he doesn't know . . . now . . . I love him. I love him so much . . .23

Phil Parma, Earl's nurse, is the angel of mercy who effects the reconciliation between father and son. Attempting to locate a line to Frank in the back pages of a porno magazine, Phil telephones an operator standing by for Seduce and Destroy:

PHIL
. . . I know that maybe I sound ridiculous, like maybe this is the scene of the movie where the guy is trying to get ahold of the long-lost son, but this is that scene. Y'know? I think they have those scenes in movies because they're true, because they really happen.24

Earl owns Big Earl Partridge Productions —— producer of the "What Do Kids Know?" quiz show, hosted live from beautiful downtown Burbank by television icon Jimmy Gator. Jimmy is also dying of cancer. He attempts to reconcile with estranged daughter Claudia:

JIMMY
. . . I want so many things, Claudia. Maybe we can just talk to straighten our things out. .

CLAUDIA
. . . Get out of here, get the fuck out of my house.25

In a later scene, Jimmy confesses his extramarital affairs to wife Rose:

JIMMY
I've cheated on you . . .

ROSE
. . . I'm not mad. I am, but I'm not. Y'know?
JIMMY
I love you so much.
ROSE
. . . I'm not through asking my questions. Why doesn't Claudia talk to you, Jimmy?
JIMMY
Why. . . what do you mean?
ROSE
I think that you know. . . . Did you ever touch her?
JIMMY
I really don't know. . . . I don't know what I've done.
ROSE
You deserve to die alone for what you've done. . . . You should know better.26

The "What Do Kids Know?" latest show features child prodigy Stanley Spector. His dad, Rick Spector, is the epitome of a stage father —— pushing his ten-year old to succeed. If Stanley continues on this path, he will grow up to be 1968 Quiz Kid Donnie Smith. An adult in a state of arrested emotional development:

DONNIE
I really do have love to give, I just don't know where to put it.27

Ten-year old Dixon watches Stanley on "What Do Kids Know?" What Dixon knows is who killed Porter Parker, a dead man discovered in his grandmother Marcie's closet. Dixon's father is Worm, a young black man under suspicion. The Dixon/Worm/Marcie/Porter story is expanded upon in the screenplay —— but cut down for the screen. What is hinted at in the film is clarified in the shooting script:

MARCIE
I killed him [Porter]. I killed my husband. He hit my son and he hit my grandson and I hit him. . . . I strangled my husband to protect my boys.28

Although a life or death connection is made between Dixon and Linda Partridge, the Dixon/Worm/Marcie/Porter characters' primary function is the minor role they play in police Officer Jim Kurring's story.

Kurring lacks the canniness necessary for a cop —— but his sense of justice is pure. He responds to a disturbing the peace call after Jimmy Gator has left Claudia's apartment. Struck with her vulnerability, Jim overcomes his shyness and takes a chance:

JIM KURRING
. . . I'd be a fool if I didn't do something I really want to do which is to ask you on a date.
CLAUDIA
. . . I thought you were flirting with me a little.29

Throughout the narrative Anderson builds tension with intense visual images, culminating in the jubilant chaos of frogs raining from heaven. When asked about the frogs in an interview, Anderson replied: "You get to a point in your life, and shit is happening, and everything's out of your control, and suddenly, a rain of frogs just makes sense."30

Resolution, for good or ill arrives at dawn. Unencumbered by the past, the children can now be saved: "From the ranks of the freaks who suspect they could never love anyone."31 Relief in redemption and divinity in forgiveness are encountered in Magnolia's "saddest happy ending."32

Anderson concludes his thematic argument in the voice of Jim Kurring:

JIM KURRING
Sometimes people need a little help. Sometimes people need to be forgiven and sometimes they need to go to jail.33

"So Now Then"

Rules that are arbitrary to begin with are meant to be fractured.

Go and Magnolia exemplify a new generation of screenwriters who possess a keen ability to fearlessly rend traditional narrative and remain true to their original voice.
Experimentation with story expression, however, does not necessitate total abandonment of solid narrative foundation and the elements of storytelling. A story that resonates requires substance as well as high style. An underlying framework-spun with imaginative storytelling symbols and daring expository presentation-can make the difference between movies for audience observation and those for audience absorption "and all that that implies."34