Daughters of the Shadow Men

I do think there is a correlation between Sydney, in the third episode of Caffeine called "The Idiot," passing out a mysterious package to a buyer who has fits and Dante bringing a tinfoil package to his school with flour in it, pretending it was crack. Being a little genius Sydney also knows how to bring the young man out of a fit he is having on the floor.  Raymond wrote this episode and I think that Dan wrote the second episode with Sydney bringing him in with two body guards to try to collect money owed him, certainly resembling the character of a very young drug dealer. 

I think Raymond has been rethinking all his "Caffeine" plots since he became too ill to continue with his grueling teaching schedule combined with shooting "Caffeine" and other projects he was doing.  I told him that he would have to retool the series to fit his new found conviction that he had to get back to AA and being guided by a high power.  I was thinking that a future episode could involve the brilliant Sydney getting 'busted' some way, maybe by the authorities who might take him away to juvenile lockup or by his dad. 

Dan has busted Dante's Uncle Joey in the past.  He let Joey live in his home with Angelina, his sister, and Joey was caught buying drugs. After he served a jail sentence Dan told him he could come back to stay only on condition that he never do drugs again  He and his sister both realized that Joey needed constant supervision to keep away from drugs. He needed family structure or he was going to be lost. Dan's policies with Joey were very successful.  Joey, in turn, looked after Dante when they were both out of home, working or going to school.  Dante was never without an adult watching over him to keep him out of trouble.  But Dan said that Joey had no will power whatsoever and could not hang out with his former friends or associates because he would just go along.  Now some years later, Joey did finally move out, closer to the college he is attending, and he has a girlfriend to watch over him, and a job to help him pay for his car. 

Dan has always kept Dante from hanging out with the bad boys, the little thugs that inhabit so many neighborhoods whose parents do not supervise them and who are apt to be doing mean and criminal things at a very young age. They had many and many a discussion about these temptations. 

Which is one reason I questioned Dan's screenplay for their movie "How to be a Hitman."  I thought it sent the wrong message.  I said why don't you write a story about rehabilitating Joey?  He said that was ghetto stuff that would not interest anyone.  His real life experiences would not sell.  You had to write what the world wanted.  The biggest problem with the Hitman movie was I thought it lacked conviction about what is right and wrong.  Dan has got a lot more conviction than that but perhaps he has needed a wakeup call to think things through on an even deeper level.  

Dante's Uncle Raymond has again questioned whether they should go on with "Caffeine" after having shot about 9 episodes.  They will have to stop when school is out because the camera and the set will no longer be available to them.  I say that Caffeine is not that troubling in many of its little dramas, that they need to become more flexible in the direction they take, and if Sydney needs to be busted write it!

He sure got busted at school.  Dan and his Uncle Raymond are Dante's role models.  Raymond has been improvising comedy with Dante at family gatherings for a long time.  They have had us hooting with laughter  over their portrayals of an Italian restaurant owner and his son, the waiter.  He would say "I beat him and beat him.  He still won't mind me."  Black comedy in our family has always saved us.  We have always laughed at everything we could because there was so much to be upset about. 

Well, this character of Sydney in Caffeine is going to be a big challenge to Raymond and Dan, the script writers.  Dante is a natural born actor.  He is theirs to guide.  I will be interested to see what future stories they write for him!

Take another look and see what you think: http://caffeinetv.net   

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• #1 Comment from lanurseprn 
  4/6/08 2:49 PM | Permalink

  Everyone in your family is so creative! I love that!  You are all artists! You have painters, writers, actors, just all of it exists in your family. How lucky you are.
  Pam