John from Cincinnati/His Visit: Day Two

His Visit: Day Two
Season 1, Episode 2
Airdate	June 17, 2007
Written by	Kem Nunn
Directed by	Gregg Fienberg
← 1x01 His Visit: Day One	1x03 → His Visit: Day Two Continued
John from Cincinnati — Season One

His Visit: Day Two is the second episode of the first season of John from Cincinnati. Shaun is entered into the surf competition that he missed the day before by Linc Stark, but his heat ends in tragedy.

Guest Stars: Dayton Callie (Freddy), Jim Beaver (Vietnam Joe)

Plot Overview

The day after the missed competition heat, Shaun's demo reel still has Linc Stark interested in aiding his professional career. Although Shaun missed his heat, Linc is offering to muscle him into the competition as well as sponsor him. Mitch comes home to find Linc in his kitchen, making this offer and, surprisingly, hears him out. He agrees to let Shaun participate in the competition—not that he could have stopped him anyway—and allows Linc to offer his assistance as a manager as long as he doesn't fall into the same trap that he did with Butchie. Linc promises that there will be no focus on "attitude," just the talent.

In the early afternoon, the Yosts head for the competition without Butchie in tow. Butchie and John have wandered away from their motel room in search of alcohol and cardboard stand-up women. They meet up with Vietnam Joe on the pier when Butchie finds out that John was dropped off in Imperial Beach by Joe. He also finds out that John's credit card still works and that he claims to be from Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Barry had a vision after going into an epileptic fit in his home. The vision told him that he should not demolish the motel after all and, instead, he should attempt to renovate the rooms. He tries to start with room 24, the room that he said he lost his virginity in, but something in the room shocks him. He gives the key back to Ramon and declares that the room is haunted.

When the surfing competition begins, Butchie and John are already on their way back to the motel. Before they make it all the way there, Freddy Lopez, the dealer who Butchie threatened while dope sick arrives on the motel site and waits for Butchie to return.

At the competition grounds, Linc fights with the father of the boy Shaun is replacing in the competition. Shortly before the heat starts, one of the surfers cuts his foot open on some glass outside of the tent, foreboding circumstances for the events to come. Shaun easily outshines the competition. While the other surfers are stumbling into one another and wiping out, he's sticking moves that display his inherent talent. With three minutes left in the exposition, an earthquake hits the area, creating monster waves to ride out on. The judges miss these last moves because they're too busy fooling with their displaced junk at their table and, consequently, miss Shaun falling off his board. When he doesn't come up, Kai shouts for help.

Eventually, the two show up and Freddy gets into a brawl with Butchie. The fight is ended prematurely by Ramon, who has Mitch on the phone for Butchie. He tells him that Shaun has a broken neck and is being airlifted to the hospital. He also yells at him for not answering his phone, which Butchie claims had a dead battery. Freddy offers to get Butchie high and drive him to the hospital. He welshes on the drugs, but gets both Butchie and John to the hospital. Mitch and Cissy are already there and have already been given the bad news: One of Shaun's vertebrae was crushed and the lack of oxygen to his brain has caused catastrophic damage. He can't breathe for himself anymore and been put on a respirator. For all intents and purposes, he's brain dead.

Also at the hospital are Cass and Link, who are trying desperately to look like they don't know each other. Kai sees through their ruse and mocks them for it, which causes Cass to run off in search of the elevator. Bill decided to forgo the elevator entirely and took the stairs so that he could smuggle in Zippy, his mysteriously resurrected bird from the day prior. After putting Zippy near Shaun, Shaun's eyes open suddenly.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Sha Na Na: In reference to Freddy, Ramon references Sha Na Na, a rock novelty group from the 1980s who covered 50s doo wop hits. Jon "Bowzer" Bauman was a singer in the band and played the character of a gangly greaser.

Ramon: He looks like that Bowzer guy from Sha Na Na.