Lately I have filled my alone eating moments with the viewing of Hulu television. Bizarre and stereotypically American as it sounds, I have found eating alone and watching some of the latest media presentations and franchise brainwashing to be quite complimentary. What’s more, I carefully select the programs that I watch. Aside from the dark, obnoxiously giddy drama of Glee that somehow (for a whole season!) captured me, I tend to prefer the Horror and Suspense channel.
The rationale is quite simple: mysteries make me think, and that is where Hulu keeps them. Blunt, I know, but true. And the better the mystery and the harder it is to solve, the more I enjoy it. And though there is a sort of camaraderie I share with the problem-laden Detective Monk, I ultimately enjoy Psych as a show more because I have a harder time solving its mysteries before the end of each episode.
As of late, however, I have not watched either of these shows. Instead, I have become addicted to Night Stalker. True, the writing is about as dramatic as the title, and the acting frequently fails to suppress its heavy-handed tendencies. Yet I cannot stop watching a new episode every time I find myself eating alone.
Carl Kolchak, a man deeply troubled by a past tragedy, plunges ever deeper into solving strange mysteries occurring across the city of L.A. Mysteries he suspects to be connected with his own misfortune. He is also a journalist for a fictional L.A. newspaper, working in the homicide department, a job that often provides Kolchak with tips, access and other (almost positively fictional) amenities he would otherwise be without.
If the mental disabilities of Detective Monk cause me to feel empathy and comraderie with such a character, than I feel an ever-greater connection with Kolchak. Though a successful topic for suspense television, dark and mysterious pasts are not for fiction alone. The shadows of the night, along with human wondering as to the meanings of nightmares, and perplexion with the unknown, all for me are realities. Though some would scoff and classify such things as pure fiction, I am without doubt that we live in relation to more than what we choose to see.
That is about as far as Night Stalker is capable of taking the conversation, but for me, the conversation runs much deeper. In the times of silence and simplicity, when humans lived in an almost inseparable relation with nature, there was still sin and great abuse towards creation, but it was within the boundary of acknowledgment towards this relationship. Kolchak looks at the night, and he sees a veil covering evil. Then he turns his face towards humanity and sees a tirelessly moving, completely ignorant populous, unwarned of the dangers they walk amidst nightly.
He seems rash to me. Though if I were continually subjected to the berating, and after episode one, entirely unfounded, skepticism of coworker Perri Reed, I might also become overly cynical of the masses. But then I daily interact with Reformed Christians (whatever that means), and they refuse to acknowledge the works of their Holy Spirit, let alone discourse about more-to-life-than-meets-the-eye (thank you, Obenchain).
I would like to meet the writer for Night Stalker, though the concept was originally based on a modern day tale of Dracula, the screenwriter for the 2005 television series seemed to desire taking the tale deeper than the basic man versus monster arch plot. What does that writer know of evil? He seems at first slightly juvenile in associating evil with shadow, though this is a common human flaw.
I mentioned only very recently that though an adult, I continue to struggle with a fear of the dark (incited when alone in such conditions). This fear I will refer to as pack separation anxiety. We, as humans, now reign above the animal food chain, and yet we still carry with us a very primitive fear (though more a reflex than a fear)—that if we are separated from the pack, we will be consumed. But what consumes that which nothing in the animal kingdom seems to be above?
In an even earlier entry, I discussed how we, as humans, differ from all other species within the animal kingdom because we alone have the ability to comprehend the metaphysical. We are, what some might label, “spiritually” enlightened. During the day, we can see, and though we still manage at times to cause ourselves anxiety, generally feel more comfortable with lighted environments. At least in the light we can see and defend ourselves against whatever might challenge our safety. At night, however, we are reminded that there are things we cannot see, things that might still prowl and prey upon us. We, without light, are without strong defense. Heavy reliance is placed upon that which is visible for security.
Such a concept begs the question “is there something invisible (or at least hidden in shadow) worth fearing?”
Perhaps.
I strongly believe in more than what I can see. Though I should not fear, I do. The only concept that now soothes my fear of that which I cannot see is that God has created it. Perhaps one day something dark and lurking will prey upon me, and even destroy me. But the beauty of faith in God is the knowledge that all will one day be justified. Some “Christians” would like to believe that evil will one day be destroyed. Such thinking brought great comfort to our predecessors, and if such thinking brings comfort to “Christians” today, it is better they think in such a manner then suddenly be terrified of evil triumphing.
Evil will not triumph. It will be justified and used for good. This is the unseen result at the end of all times. The worst of everything will be justified.
So Kolchak kills darkness (evil), while I believe that God will one day make darkness (evil) a servant to humanity. Perhaps one day we will soar upon its back, clutch its feathers as it flies through the sky, chasing the sun. Perhaps one day the steed of darkness will carry us like the saddle-less Shadowfax, and together we will explore the depths of the caves of eternity.
Until then I wonder if there is a battle to fight. There are certain whispers in the darkness, movements in the shadows. My question is what part to play in this movement. For now I will focus on the welfare of humankind, but I will never forget what I know. There is more to this world than meets the eye, and it is with us everyday.
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