Umbrella Man


The way this episode is arranged had me mentally drift off every time the umbrella man was preparing for his upcoming scheme - him first coming into town and renting a room, asking about the weather, etc. It was just all so dry and seemingly inconsequential to the plot.

So at the end of the episode I had concluded he was a magic man of sorts, materializing these magic umbrellas out of thin air that all will somehow provide clarity to a pivotal circumstance in each possessor's life - something similar to Twilight Zone's "What You Need".

I was surprised when I read a couple reviews of Umbrella Man on IMDB and discovered that this sweet, selfless old man was actually scamming people! But then I thought about it further, and I don't think its quite that simple.

Something about the way he knew about the lady's problems seemed too on-the-nose and heartfelt. There was awareness and genuine kindness in what he said to her, and it seemed to be just what she needed to hear at that exact moment.

In my mind there are 2 possibilities: 1) The umbrella man himself has healing powers which he administers by interchanging umbrellas, or 2) he could be the medium through which a higher power administers healing.

Think about it. First, He is a perfectly pitched pitch to get that lady's life back on track; who knows what far-reaching effects his intervention will have on her life and the lives of those around her. Second, he went into church to pray for rain so that he may continue to scam people and got an immediate and somewhat miraculous response. Third, when he started opening up to that lady he became someone else, a better version of himself. Observe how he looks and acts when speaking to her on the street, and compare that to any other scene with him before or after, and you'll see that he doesn't look like the same man at all.

Ultimately I think a higher power acting through the umbrella man makes the most sense, and I like the implications of this scenario. The umbrella man, like most of us, keeps his nose to the ground day after day thinking of nothing but the dollar that lies ahead, oblivious to the fact that God is working through him, through those he scams, through this beautiful, tragic, and precious thing called life, and that we are all one through this shared miracle. Maybe there are 2 versions of everyone, and it's up to us to decide which we want to be.

Naïve you say? That's very likely true, but the story is basically pointless if all there is to it is: 1) old man sells lady an umbrella, 2) lady finds out the umbrella was stolen. If so, why introduce the matter of the affair to begin with?

Of course the message could be seen as the complete reverse of what I just proposed. Namely to not confuse meaning with a little old man out there scamming women out of $5 at a time.

One last thought: Was there something I missed along the way that explains how the lady could feel self-righteous enough to ask her fling "how could YOU" at the ending? Takes two to tango, does it not?

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Great analysis, just rewatched this one
Regarding the lady saying how could you” to her fling she does say straight after that “no man is worth the tears of a woman” or something like that. I think she understood She was wrong to cheat and was telling her fling that too

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