Meanwhile, Ken and Gerard clamber off the ferry. They cross the street -- no small feat, considering that the task takes on the appearance of the forty-fifth super-expert triple-advanced level of Frogger -- and catch a cab. They take off for the train station, and we watch them cringe broadly at the speedy and death-defying antics of the driver. This entire scene is notable in part for the hilarious sequence of facial expressions that Gerard, in particular, produces. You know, I like wit as much as the next girl, but show me a guy who makes funny faces, and I become the cheapest date in history. Gerard voices over that he finds the Extreme Taxi thing that seems to go on in Vietnam very unnerving. "It's not worth winning a million dollars if someone's gonna die," he says. The pedestrian population of Vietnam thanks him, I'm sure. In the cab, he and Ken both cover their faces in horror at what's unfolding. Hey, that's just how I watched this whole episode! Shout-out!
In the train station, Zach continues to carefully monitor Flo, watching for sudden fluctuations like the guy who reads temperature gauges at a nuclear plant. She's returned to her recurring theme, which is that the situation is miserable, and she can't do it, and blah dee blah. She says that she's going to have a nervous breakdown on the train, and asks if he really wants to watch that. I'm sure he doesn't, actually. And I don't either, considering how unfortunate it would be to see her reputation for plucky perseverance interfered with by signs of distress. "I don't want to do this anymore," she whines. (FDD3.) She lies down on a bank of plastic chairs for a nap, but for whatever reason, the train station starts playing psychotically cheerful music over the speakers. Horrified at this development, she and Zach take off for a different terminal, where she lies down and goes to sleep. Call me a sadist, but her suffering in this sequence is beginning to take on a tone of absurdism that I find slightly satisfying, particularly when the music starts to play.
Just at 7:00 AM, the Bald Snark arrives at the station. They go inside and have a chat with Ian and Teri about getting first-class tickets. Teri somewhat gleefully tells them that she thinks Flo is bailing out. Gerard asks what exactly went on, but we don't see how much Teri tells him. In the other terminal, we see Flo snoozing in her nerd glasses on the benches while Zach, who can't sleep because he has to stay with Flo to throw baking soda on her in the event she spontaneously combusts, stares out the windows. I suspect he's wondering how many hours can possibly be left before he gets home and cuts through the links on the chains that currently bind him to the Flobatross.













Comments