"The Cat"
13 April 1997
Interesting that the teaser involves explaining to a child why the parents always die at the beginning of animated features about
little animals; Eunice is dying and Robin cares for little animals. Assigning a purposeful double entendre to the writers of Early Edition is like assigning
immortality to Lucious Snow; we will never know. At any rate, this episode poses the question, "Does the Newspaper Fairy send Gary Hobson to rescue
Lucious Snow's lover as a reward to Snow? Is Snow himself the Newspaper Fairy? Chuck suggests, "Maybe it's a warning from old Lucious himself."
Or, is the Newspaper Fairy a Jewish Mother? The cat becomes ill, Hobson finds a vet in tomorrow's paper, thus meeting Eunice, the vets mother, lover of
Lucious Snow. Eunice is dying of a literary device, a disease that she cannot pronounce. Early on she says "He looks like a cat I used to know" and later
"That's why your cat brought you to me ." It gradually becomes clear to us that she knew Lucious Snow. Did she know about the newspaper, or did she
only become aware of it in conversation with Gary? It takes a literal explanation about "A guy with a cat and a newspaper" from Louie to make this known
to Gary Hobson. The mission is not moving someone out from under an object, although a digression has Chuck doing exactly that when his stockbroker
Japanese fails, but in convincing the dying woman to undergo medical treatment. Perhaps I am as dense as Gary, but I never understood why she is
unwilling to be treated. Even in convincing kids not to hang with criminals, Gary Hobson must perform the occasional physical rescue. This is a rescue of
the mind, taking place over time; and when it comes down to the wire as it were, it includes another Early Edition device, the unwilling helper .. Louie
must convince Robin to come to her Mother's side. This seems a bit contrived, even for Early Edition. Gary doesn't seem to be doing anything except
keeping the dying woman company. Perhaps he is keeping her awake and alive. It is, after all, a literary device. "The Cat" serves to deepen the mystery of
the Newspaper's origins and strengthens the chronological link between Hobson and Snow. Oh, and add Louie to the list of people who know about the
paper.
-Wayne Morrow wmorrow@flash.net