Cool stuff. Love the analysis here. I know nada about poetry or chemistry, but it was a fun read.
I think the choice of "Gliding Over All" is an interesting one too. Gale Boetticher is such an innocent victim in this story, harmless nerd who's passionate about the craft. It hurts the viewers to see him die and it hurts his killer when he pulls the trigger.
The only solace the nitpicky viewer can find is in the titular poem. The poem speaks so positively of death, and it almost makes you think Boetticher found peace in the afterlife somehow:
"Gliding o'er all, through all,
Through Nature, Time, and Space,
As a ship on the waters advancing,
The voyage of the soul—not life alone,
Death, many deaths I'll sing."
Maybe this is Gale speaking from the grave. The exact same theme is easily reflected in that Peter Schilling karaoke song found on that tape (hilarious btw):
This is brilliant writing. I'm going to teach "Mas" to my Comp 2 college students as visual media and setup the episode with the poem.. I'll also send them this article for bonus context 😁
Cool stuff. Love the analysis here. I know nada about poetry or chemistry, but it was a fun read.
I think the choice of "Gliding Over All" is an interesting one too. Gale Boetticher is such an innocent victim in this story, harmless nerd who's passionate about the craft. It hurts the viewers to see him die and it hurts his killer when he pulls the trigger.
The only solace the nitpicky viewer can find is in the titular poem. The poem speaks so positively of death, and it almost makes you think Boetticher found peace in the afterlife somehow:
"Gliding o'er all, through all,
Through Nature, Time, and Space,
As a ship on the waters advancing,
The voyage of the soul—not life alone,
Death, many deaths I'll sing."
Maybe this is Gale speaking from the grave. The exact same theme is easily reflected in that Peter Schilling karaoke song found on that tape (hilarious btw):
"Earth below us / Drifting, falling
Floating weightless / Calling, calling home".
This pop song is very similar somehow.
This is brilliant writing. I'm going to teach "Mas" to my Comp 2 college students as visual media and setup the episode with the poem.. I'll also send them this article for bonus context 😁