I Have a Use For You…(Taboo)

Published February 23, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Dear Rog, Big D, and Gene:

First off, I enjoy your podcast on Taboo. Your plot and character analyses are brilliant, and on a personal note, your cultural competence and self-awareness is inspiring. Thank you for the time and work you put into your podcasts. They truly are a gift.

OAN, I have a use (question) for you…actually, a few uses.

(1) What is up with Horace’s fascination with tribal women? When James found an old program in his father’s belongings from a play Lorna acted in, her role was one of a savage tribal woman. I wonder if her costume was similar to how Salish looked when Horace met her at Nootka.

(2) In the forest wet-dream scene in episode four, was James actually making sex with Zilpha? He appeared to be looking for Zilpha, while the thing with the wooden mask was having intercourse with her. In the same episode during the Countess Musgrove party, someone (or something) was wearing the identical wooden mask. Maybe the mask is the one speaking to Zilpha and the one who told her to kill her husband. Maybe James was not always visiting Zilpha in her dreams as an animal to make sex with her. Could it be something else? (Which could be why she is so cray cray).

I also wonder if Salish was trying to drown James, or if she was preparing him for a vision that she had about his future. A vision of the shipwreck of the Cornwallis and a vision of him being waterboarded. Perhaps she was trying to build up his tolerance to being under water? James appears to be prophetic in his visions (the explosion, cutting off the thumb of traitors, etc.). Maybe he inherited this “gift” from Salish. Also, Salish being in the tower with him in episode 7 totally creeped me out.

Hopefully, I didn’t go too far down the rabbit hole with these questions. Looking forward to the podcast tomorrow. Again, thank you for what you do.

Annie from Cincinnati

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