On Becoming a God in Central Florida Episode 7 'Flint Glass' Review: The war between FAM values and real value
This article contains spoilers for 'On Becoming a God in Central Florida' Episode 7 'Flint Glass'
In last week's episode, we saw Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst) having a showdown with Cody Bonar (Théodore Pellerin). At the end of the episode, she calls reporter Mirta Herrera (Melissa De Sousa) as a whistleblower on FAM's business practices. She is now on a warpath, back to her original mission to take FAM down, since she realizes that the blame for Travis' death lands squarely at FAM's door. Unfortunately, she doesn't know that Mirta has been fired for her drug use and is not the most reliable ally.
The opening scene for episode seven of the show sets the theme that the characters meander around -- about fake and real value. Krystal, fed up with Cody, sells off the diamond on her engagement ring and replaces it with flint glass. They might look the same but one costs nothing and the other leaves Krystal richer by a whopping $10,500. Krystal, with her canny instinct, knows the real worth of objects, people and situations in her life. It is displayed in the way she bargains at the jewelry store and her decision to drop Cody.
Throughout the episode, we see her turn everything fake in her life into something with real value. She takes the diamond money and uses it to "invest" in the real money-spinner in her life, the water park. She funds its advertising campaign through her Splashercize class (that brings in "2 dollars a butt") and also convinces Stan Van Grundegaard (Usman Ally) to give her Ernie's job as the manager at $350 a week. After a long time, she is finally making "real" money unlike FAM's bogus "bonus checks".
Ernie on the other hand, disregarding everything with real value in his life (like the love of his long-suffering wife Bets and his job, which he quit in the last episode) clings to the fake happiness of FAM. He instructs his son to sell the Garbeau tapes (in English) that have no value to his Spanish-speaking downline for $5 a pop. It is money that goes straight into Obie's pocket, not his. At the same time, the Spanish language tapes that he has created by translating Obie's tapes line by line is given away for free. He sacrifices a real date with Bets (at the Olive Garden) for a 'fake' one, taking her to the ESL class where his downline is getting ready to become fake "CEOs".
Bets, on the other hand, is getting real tired of all the FAM craziness invading her house. While she is glad that Ernie finally seems happy, she can't help seeing how their downline families are being affected adversely. She brings up how one of them took the 2,000 dollars, saved up for his child's college education, to buy FAM "starter kits". When Ernie says he will earn enough to send his son "three times to college", she asks, "how many times does the child need to go to college". The show again contrasts the real value of a college education being thrown away for the fake value of a FAM business.
Obie Garbeau, after his humiliating run-in with vice president Dan Quayle last week, is already feeling rattled about his 'empire' and its worth. When Cody brings him the news that his competitor Beau Bridges (who also runs a FAM-like, multi-level marketing scam) is trying to build a downline in Florida, he knows he is in trouble. His 'hand' Roger Penland also alerts him to how Cody ratted on his father to the FBI and asks him to reevaluate his "reckless use" of Cody. These suspicions could not come at a worse time.
Mirta convinces Krystal to spy on Cody and Obie Garbeau. She gives Krystal a 'spy briefcase' with a recording device so that she can tape the conversations between Cody and Obie Garbeau. So Krystal fake 'makes up' with Cody and 'gifts' him the briefcase. When Obie calls Cody to the middle of nowhere (with Mirta in close pursuit), Cody is carrying the briefcase. At the meeting in a sweat lodge, Obie, after testing him and confirming that Cody is ready to die for him and kill for him, inducts him in a pseudo-religious ceremony and draws a dollar sign on his forehead with ashes. Mirta tries to capture footage of the two while Roger Penland finds her car. The repercussions of this discovery will probably play out in the next episode.
But, as usual, the episode leaves its most explosive moment for the end. After Cody returns from his 'induction ceremony' and goes to sleep beside Krystal, she goes to the bathroom to listen to the tape in the briefcase. Turns out Obie knows how to spot real value too. In the tape, he tells Cody that he has talked to the owner of the water park that featured prominently in Krystal's scrapbook and will be buying it and create 'Garbeau World', just like Walt Disney. When Cody, in his naivete, says Krystal "will be delighted", Obie says, ominously "Krystal won't be anything". To which Krystal has only two words to say: "F**ck This." Between Obie and Krystal, I'd put my money on Krystal.
'On Becoming a God in Central Florida' airs Sundays on Showtime at 10 pm ET.