Gately, the wraith, and the figurants — "And Gately, even in recovery, can…"
And Gately, even in recovery, can still summon great verbatim chunks not only of drug-addicted adolescence’s ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Ren and Stimpy’ and ‘Oo Is ’E When ’E’s at ’Ome’ and ‘Exposed Northerners’ but also the syndicated ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Hazel’ and ubiquitous ‘MAS*H’ he grew to monstrous childhood size in front of, and especially the hometown ensemble-casted ‘Cheers!,’ […]
Context
Gately's memory working fine where the Substance aimed it: whole verbatim strata of broadcast TV, summonable at will — while the childhood that happened in front of those screens comes back only unbidden. The faculty's allocation is the joke and the wound.