John Monad

John Monad is a fictional character who appears on the HBO original series John From Cincinnati. He appears in the surfing community of Imperial Beach and becomes close to a surfing family. He appears to have magic powers, the source of which is unknown.

John's Idiosyncrasies

John often talks to those around him using phrases he has heard. In , Cass and Butchie describe John's brain as being on "autopilot." They believe someone had programmed his brain to pick up linguistic information from others, but was not originally supplied with its own material.

John's "Powers"

* Making limitless credit cards or money appear out of his pockets
* Healing knife wounds

John's Effect On Imperial Beach

Upon John's arrival, all the characters began to react differently to his odd attitude. The first person he met was Mitch Yost. Mitch Yost didn't think much about him on first meeting, but after Shaun was healed, he began to question his involvement in the strange events, noting that they only started after John's Arrival. Cissy Yost, Mitch's wife, doesn't have much interaction with him but seems to react like she does with most - with hostility, disapproval and aggression. This has changed since John's strange prevention of Cissy's suicide. Butchie Yost and Kai both like him and believe he poses no threat. The retired cop, Bill, tries to undermine John every chance he gets. Shaun Yost also likes John although the two of them rarely meet.

Episode Analyses

Day One: On the first day of his visit John approached Mitch Yost to tell him that 'Mitch Yost should get back in the game' and also to say 'the end is near' (so far it has not been explained where he learned these statements). After being cursed off by Mitch and Linc Stark he wandered down a dirt road surrounded by fields where he met Vietnam Joe who took him to Butchie's Yost's trailer. When they arrive at the Snug Harbor Motel, Joe hands John and John's newly acquired credit card over to Butchie. Then the two of them decide to go hit up the surfing shop that Cissy Yost owns which leads to Butchie and Kai, Cissy's only help there, getting into an argument. Which then escalates to the point where Butchie leaves and tell John about how he gave Shaun up. John is then present as Butchie and Mitch begin to fight which eventually leads to the new owner of the motel (a psychologically scarred homosexual) Barry pointing a gun at himself due to traumatizing memories being brought back. But Bill shows up in time to disarm him and tell everyone that Cissy has been arrested. John accompanies them all to the jail and begins to get closer to Shaun while there. After the matter is resolved Butchie, Shaun, and John decide to go surfing. Butchie begins to wonder how good John might be but after Johns first wave he becomes pretty convinced that John has reasonably good abilities.

Day Two: As the second day starts off John finds himself at Butchie's place. Butchie then lets John 'dump out' first in the bathroom. The two of them set out and begin to explore town. They go to a liqueur store and get some beer and some cardboard female models. On the way back John walks out in front of traffic which leads Butchie to believe that John may be from a small town. When Butchie asks John if he is from Cincinnati, John then mimics Butchie by saying 'I am from Cincinnati' When John and Butchie return to the motel they find Butchie's Hawaiian dealer Freddy waiting for them. Freddy and Butchie begin to fight which ends with Barry telling the two 'Shaun broke his neck' at the Huntington surfing competition. Freddy now becoming less hostile drives Butchie and John to the hospital where they wait for any answers. When Bill arrives he lets his bird kiss Shaun which makes him make a full recovery. John goes to the bathroom while he waits and begins to get really close to Kai also. When the family decides with the help of the leading doctor to take Shaun away from the hospital John accompanies them out the back and hides out in their house with him. He eventually leaves with Kai after saying 'I'm gonna bone Kai Butchie, may need to break her jaw first'. Kai takes him back to the surf shop and feeds on the fact that he obviously has no idea what bone means. They eventually make their way to Kai's trailer where John makes Kai 'see god'. Kai, after she comes to, tells him never to do that again. They then return to the Yost house and make it behind the crowd of rowdy news reporters he then says 'see god Kai' again as Kai lays eyes on the fully recovered Shaun going up his half pipe.

Day Three: On the third day John finds himself alone in a field. Soon after he finds himself strolling down a street alone when a car filled with Mexican gang members who offer to give him a lift. He agrees and tries to fit in with them. As they arrive in town the gang members demand money of John for giving him a ride. Of course, all he does is mimic them so they stab him and leave him to die on the side of the road. He is soon found by Vietnam Joe who tries to get him into town, only to find the wound has healed. He then begins to think someone set him up. He brings him to Butchie's where Butchie and Kai, who have been looking for him all day, are waiting. John later runs into Cass who gives him a place to stay.

Day Four: In the morning John and Cass talk about her work John only saying 'pick up your camera'. As John and Cass go to the mall they wind up bumping paths with Linc's who asks John if he has boned her and he replies in his normal way. Later on that day John and Cass video tape a Christian street fair. John mingles with the crowd and even hops into the ring with a few wrestlers. after bouncing against the ropes a few times, he gives the contestants hugs. Cass and John return to the hotel they are staying at as Cass begins to work on the video.

Day Five: In the morning John heads over to Joe's hideaway and tells him he wants the vato's who gutted him to face arrest. Joe agrees to it and they go to Bill's house. Bill reluctantly agrees to accompany them and the three stake out the road in a van. During the time there, they hear a carpet commercial that John begins to mimic, then John falls into a coma-like state. In that state, he appears before Cissy as she is about to kill herself. He mimics the carpet commercial overtone with text that pertains to her which convinces her not to kill herself. That night, he goes to the Snug Harbor Motel and begins to ramble on about his father. His words seem to reach out to all the characters one by one as they appear in the motel's parking lot. As he finishes, they all disappear and John awakens in the van.

Day Six: John awakes at Cass's room then leaves her there to work as he begins to adventure on his own. Though his day is not seen, at the end he appears next to most of the characters, including the Lawyer Dixstine and Cissy. When he finally arrives at Cass's he takes Cass into a hug and says 'Shaun will be gone soon' Cass then gives a shocked look.

Day Seven: The next morning John tell Cass that they made a tape. She isn't sure what it is, but when the Yost web master gets an email from john saying "Shaun will soon be gone," which cause's them all a panic. When John finally shows up after hours of trying to sort trough the truth and fiction of the situation Bill takes John into room twenty four to interrogate him. Bill doesn't get very far with John until John stabs himself multiple times. When Bill checks the wounds, he finds they have all healed. Freaked by the turn of events he rushes from the room, letting Freddy go in to finish him. But before he can, they get a call from Shaun saying he is at sea world. Later after Kai decided she wants to leave Cissy and quit, John implants the idea she should stay.

Day Eight: John has disappeared, and so have Shaun and Zippy. The Yosts and their acquaintances search for him, but without success.

External links

# [http://www.johnmonad.com/flash.html JohnMonad.com] , an HBO promotional site
# [http://www.hbo.com/johnfromcincinnati/cast/characters/johnmonad.html Character profile] at HBO.com