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part four: The Music of Hearts, A♥, 2♥, 3♥ 

Summary: A♥ the music of hearts

Ed and Audrey leave the Bell Street Theater and Ed recognizes a young man sitting on a bench as the same one sent to the theater. Ed dreads the ace of hearts as the most dangerous but reassures himself it’s the fourth and final ace. He tries to sleep but has noise thrumming through his head, and when he finally dozes off, he dreams of him and Doorman driving on an open road. The ace of hearts has the names of three movies: The Suitcase, Cat Ballou, and Roman Holiday. It’s a few days before Christmas. Ed drives around delivering Christmas cards made from aces from old decks of cards to the people he’s helped. 

Summary: 2♥ the kiss, the grave, the fire  

Ed hosts a Christmas Eve dinner for his friends. Everyone brings food and drink except for Marv, who arrives empty-handed, so they invoke the terms of the agreement, forcing him to kiss Doorman on the snout. The three guys go to a Christmas bonfire and overhear a father talking smack to his son, with which they all identify. It’s Ed’s first Christmas without his father. Later, Ed mourns at his father’s grave. He regrets not speaking at Gregor’s funeral about his good qualities to counteract the widespread opinion of him as a drunk. The memory of his family not eulogizing his father makes Ed afraid the same thing will happen to him. He wants “words” at his funeral, and he realizes that for that to happen he needs to have done something for people to speak about. 

Summary: 3♥ the casual suit  

Ed participates in the family tradition of gathering on Christmas Day for a meal and gift-giving. Bev, Leigh and her kids, Katherine and her kids, and Tommy with a new girlfriend Ingrid make up the group. Ed decides not to indulge the polite platitudes from Ingrid and Tommy. Ed and Bev exchange barbs. Later, Ed tells Bev that he plans to become his best self before he relocates anywhere else because it’s not the place but the person that makes the difference. Later, Ed picks up Milla who has bought him a new black suit with an ocean blue shirt. Ed calls a cab to take Milla home and Audrey’s boyfriend, Simon, is the driver he gets. On the way home. Ed and Simon talk about Audrey, and how she’s been so hurt by the people she loved that she now doesn’t want to love. Simon understands that it’s Ed whom Audrey loves, not him. 

Analysis of A♥, 2♥, 3♥ 

The timing of the ace of hearts with the Christmas season portends that the interventions will be personal to Ed, and he senses this. Associations with broken hearts and heart attacks indicate his worry.  Ed hears the beating of his own heart in his ears, indicating panic as he anticipates the new interventions. Even though he’s had success, starting each mission has brought up his fear of failure. Ed’s dream of being on the open road with Doorman by his side expresses his subconscious anxiety about a future without Audrey. The desperation to know who is behind the missions intensifies. 

Christmas traditions offer a sense of normalcy to Ed. He undertakes Christmas card deliveries to the people he’s helped. He hosts the Christmas Eve meal and game of Annoyance and the evening presents a slice of life with universal features of holiday family gatherings. There’s a potluck. Marv must express affection to a creature he abhors. The evening winds to a morose close as the friends fight off memories. Ed especially feels the grief of his first Christmas without his father and painfully revisits his family’s silence at the funeral. Owing to the interventions he’s accomplished, Ed has acquired a new appreciation for an honorable life that is worth eulogizing. In the process, his perspective has evolved to believe that every life is worth honoring, even that of an alcoholic father.   

On Christmas Day, Ed takes a new tack with the traditions he feels are empty rituals. Rather than going along with platitudes, he expresses disbelief at Ingrid’s pleasantry that Tommy talks about him and Tommy’s promise to call him. To his mother, he answers her accusation that he is a loser because he hasn’t moved away by stating he intends to become a success where he lives. His clarity of purpose stuns Bev, who accepts his goal as reasonable. These small corrections to the expectations his family has for him bring Ed relief. 

To cap these new traditions, he puts on the new suit that Milla gave him. She shows fashion sense, picking out an all-purpose classic for a wedding, funeral, or job interview. She gives a gift to Ed as Jimmy, but through his sharing of Milla’s world, Ed evolves into someone new who’s a combination of both men. Putting on the suit symbolizes his transformation. He’s still wearing the suit when Simon picks him up from Milla’s place and their honest interchange achieves depths of understanding Ed would not have dared before the aces started arriving. Ed sees Simon in his own right rather than as his adversary for Audrey’s affection.

Previous section part three: Trying Times for Ed Kennedy, 4♠, 5♠, 6♠, 7♠ Next section part four: The Music of Hearts, A♥, 2♥, 3♥

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