Part 5

Danny is still on Jack's lap, and now asks, "You would never hurt mommy or me, wouldja?".

The mood of the Bartok piece darkens a bit, as Jack wonders what Danny means by that, and after he is reassured that it wasn't a put-up question, he lightens up, as does the music. I still think it's perfect how the scene almost seems to have been written around the music, but I later learned that this was not so.We sense we're seeing the last glimpse of Jack Torrance before his eventual unraveling.

"I love you Danny. I love you more than anything else in the who-o-ole world. I'd never do anything to hurt ya. Never! You know that, dontcha? Good! Hmm-hmm!"

WEDNESDAY

Danny is in one of the hallways, playing with his little cars and trucks...

Until a balls rolls along the carpet, into his toys, breaking his concentration.

He knows something's up, and I always liked how he looked a little pissed off at whatever the hell was going on, and this time, he wasn't running off in the other direction.

The mysterious Room 237 door is open, and beckoning.

Wendy, meanwhile, has her hands full. And increasingly so. Looks like she's even doing some of the heat-rotation chores that Jack is supposed to be doing.

Jack is having a nightmare in the Colorado Lounge, and Wendy rushes to him to see what's going on. I like how Jack falls to the floor while waking up, looking around wildly as if he'd just got a whopper of an electric shock, the images still racing through his head as he's realizing that it wasn't really happening, and takes a bit of time to put it into words. I also like it how we can only imagine how horrific it was when he tells Wendy about it, with no type of flashbacks or grisly images to it.

And then, as if things couldn't get any worse...

Danny wanders in, sweater collar torn, thumb in mouth, catatonic, and bruises on his neck. Wendy immediately thinks Jack did it, curses him out for it, and runs off with Danny in her arms, leaving Jack puzzled and pissed off.

Newer fan theories abound that Jack did it just as soon as the camera cuts away from the two of them in their scene together, but that was on Monday, and this is Wednesday, and I'm sure Wendy would have seen something by then...right? Plus, he had on a different sweater!

Jack stomps off, grumbling and cussing to himself about what has been going on, and maybe letting off some pent-up frustrations building up in him for some time. We haven't seen this part of the hotel yet, have we?

Something about the downward glissando that makes Jack's walk into the Gold Room that much more chilling, like he really shouldn't be going in there, let alone jonesing for a drink, as if it's some form of hell that he's descending into.

And then Lloyd the barman appears, along with a fully-stocked bar, just as Jack grumbles something about selling his soul for a glass of beer. Is he really there? Is he a ghost? Is he part of Jack's deteriorating sanity? I like how there's no definitive answer to be seen, or spoon-fed to us. Today's director would show (somehow) during the scene, that Jack is alone and talking to himself the whole time, and blow the whole thing.

The scene is intact until Jack takes a drink, and then we see that it's the second shot he's been poured. I really like the natural flow of the uncut scene, where Jack toasts himself to getting off the wagon, which he obviously really hated, and then downing the first shot in one go. He lets it "burn", and you just know it felt every bit as good as it tasted to him. And you know he wouldn't have just one...not after an afternoon like this!