The following is the first installment of a new series of posts in which I'll be considering the extent to which a classic television show lives up to its name. In other words, I will explore the American Gothic qualities of American Gothic. First up, the show's pilot episode:
The opening-credits sequence features a voiceover from Sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole). Even as he discourses about the American Dream, Buck strikes an ominous note: "For those who follow my lead, life can be a paradise. But for those who don't, it can be a mighty rough road." Apparently this sheriff wields plenty of influence in the small town of Trinity, South Carolina, and has no qualms about abusing his power.
In the first scene (set in an isolated rural home), protagonist Caleb Temple is trying to celebrate his 10th birthday, but his father Gage spoils the paltry party. Incensed by his daughter Merlyn's
ceaseless chanting ("Someone's at the door"), he proceeds to attack her with a shovel. The 16-year-old Merlyn has been traumatized into an autistic-type state by something she witnessed a decade
earlier (what exactly that was is revealed at episode's end: the rape of her mother by Buck).
Gage is obviously not in his right mind, and later claims that his violent actions were somehow directed by the nefarious sheriff. Perhaps the accusation is not that far-fetched, considering that Buck is the one who finishes off the wounded Merlyn by breaking her neck. Mercy killing or sinister murder? The ambiguity here points to the duality of the Buck's character. At once charming and chilling, he is the quintessential Gothic hero-villain.
Duplicity is a trait displayed by other characters as well. By day, Selena Coombs is a sweet-seeming grade school teacher; by night, she's a cunning nympho in cahoots with Lucas Buck.
American Gothic sports a heap of dead relatives and skeletons in the proverbial closet. Dr. Crower, an alcoholic, has lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. Caleb's cousin Gail was orphaned when a fire (deliberately set?) claimed the lives of both her parents. And Caleb's mother ostensibly committed suicide ten years earlier by jumping out a window (or was she pushed by Buck, who was there at the time?).
The most memorable moment from the first episode finds Buck whistling the theme music to The Andy Griffith Show while approaching Gage's jail cell (where he then tries to force the man to sign documents granting the sheriff legal custody of Caleb). The parodic whistling serves as the perfect indicator that Trinity is no bucolic Southern town--it's Mayberry with a very dark underbelly.
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