I'm so surprised that no other viewer has written a commentary on this episode. This is the final chapter which leads to the death of the American writer. It covers his receiving of the Nobel Prize for Literature. It focuses on his last marriage to Mary, herself a formidable character. It takes "The Old Man and the Sea" and shows it as a metaphorical and possibly biographical entity. It covers the efforts to deal with his mental illness. What this brought out was in addition to the fragmented ego and cruelty of this man, he was a victim of numerous head injuries, including two plane crashes in a few days (it was reported that he and Mary had died and many newspapers produced obituary pieces. When Ernest "returned to life," he actually enjoyed what was said about him. But these brain injuries had taken their toll. He became unproductive and abusive and forgetful. We hear about his electroshock therapy at the Mayo Clinic which was designed to cure his depression, but had a nasty affect on his short term memory. We are told how he tried to recapture his old life and continue in Cuba, only to run headlong into the Castro regime, particularly after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Suicide had been a talking point for him for a long time and the shotgun thing had been practiced for the amusement of his friends. I really enjoyed this Ken Burns, et. Al. Portrayal, even though he was a tough figure to embrace. My task for the future, is not to reread the big books (I've read some a couple times) but to go back and read the shorter pieces. Also, take a shot again at "A Movable Feast."
