"The Smell of High Wines"
any thoughts on this unforgettable segment?

Comments on "The Smell of High Wines"

Dan Jameson
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Posted Oct 13, 2014 - 6:21 PM:

I think this episode may haunt me for a long while. the final ambiguous line by Grover is what fascinates me; is he accusing the narrator or revealing his own hand in the affair? we can assume the narrator is unstable by the tone of his voice, but otherwise there is no circumstantial evidence to prove anything, which is what I believe gives the story its ambiguous terror.:

this episode actually unsettles me to the point where I am having trouble with the prospect of listening to it again to try and unravel the mystery. in point of fact, it scared the s*** out of me.
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Posted Oct 14, 2014 - 5:45 AM:

Yes I love "The Smell of High Wines" episode!! The beginning has such a wonderful description to set the tone. When he finds the body of the man in the tower is really creepy. nod
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Posted Oct 14, 2014 - 5:47 AM:

I still haven't heard to all the episodes yet.. maybe half of them,... But now I know which one to listen to tonight!
Paul
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Posted Oct 14, 2014 - 7:37 AM:

Just gave it a re-listen. Definitely one of the more haunting episodes.

It could almost be the story of an insane person who kills when he smells high wines and who's guilted into suicide. But not quite making sense is better.
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Posted Oct 14, 2014 - 7:45 AM:

Uhhh... thanks for the spoiler
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Posted Oct 15, 2014 - 8:16 AM:

I'm a bit confused.. The ending is a bit confusing to me..
I do however like the episode a lot.. has great atmosphere, but I am a bit lost.
Perhaps someone can spell it out for me.

By the way Paul, your version here is horrid! Here's a much better copy which came from a higher source. I manually cleaned the heavy scratch in the first 5 minutes, but I didn't use any processing or anything (with exception to about maybe 5 seconds in one part). No other work was done on it other than the first 5 minutes of manual cleaning.

https://db.tt/Lq9pXzre
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Posted Oct 15, 2014 - 10:25 AM:

Dan Jameson wrote:
I think this episode may haunt me for a long while. the final ambiguous line by Grover is what fascinates me; is he accusing the narrator or revealing his own hand in the affair? we can assume the narrator is unstable by the tone of his voice, but otherwise there is no circumstantial evidence to prove anything, which is what I believe gives the story its ambiguous terror.:
I beleive Grover responded saying "I know you didn't" when the narrarator said "I didn't kill him", and a little earlier Grover said something like "I sensed you were there".. So this seems to imply that Grover was the murder, and .. the narriator was now.. dead from suicide.. and doesn't know where he got the gun??.. But .. that doesn't make sense, because Grover and him where talking with each other as if both were alive, and there's nothing really inferring a ghost.. is there??.
What is clear is that in the last moments Grover is smelling the high wines and asking you if you smell it to.. and you are about to be killed.
Bottom line... I'm still a bit confused
Paul
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Posted Oct 18, 2014 - 7:37 AM:

Endof80 wrote:
Uhhh... thanks for the spoiler


If you don't get around to something in the first 65 years after release, expect spoilers.

Dan Jameson wrote:
I think this episode may haunt me for a long while. the final ambiguous line by Grover is what fascinates me; is he accusing the narrator or revealing his own hand in the affair? we can assume the narrator is unstable by the tone of his voice, but otherwise there is no circumstantial evidence to prove anything, which is what I believe gives the story its ambiguous terror.:


If it weren't for the house detective alibi in the second murder, I'd think the narrator was guilty. He'd have to have been extremely quick, or have done it earlier and waiting to reveal the body, which I suppose is possible since nothing about a medical verdict on time of death is included.

Endof80 wrote:
So this seems to imply that Grover was the murder


I don't think so. I saw it as implying that Grover suspected the narrator, but didn't want to admit as much.

Endof80 wrote:
What is clear is that in the last moments Grover is smelling the high wines and asking you if you smell it to.. and you are about to be killed.


I never thought of that interpretation. To me it sounds very clear that the narrator is commiting suicide. Grover is no longer present at the end, the narrator is the one talking. Grover saw the narrator's body in the dream, which means the narrator is about to die. The listener should smell high wines because the narrator is about to die by his own hand in front of you.

The ambiguity to me is whether the narrator's suicide is a result of repressed, maybe subconscious remorse for previously having killed two people in a sort of halliciongenic fog.
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Posted Oct 19, 2014 - 1:15 PM:

Well.. I just had to give it another listen,
Yes, now I have to agree, it's clear that after his talk with Grover, and during his talk with us in the final moments of the show, Eugene is getting ready to commit suicide ,... But is it he's doing it out of remorse, suppressed or otherwise, for being a murder??.. He says "I don't know why.. I didn't tell any lies, Grover didn't either.. I don't know where this gun came from.. you know what I'm going to do with it?"
So he seems to be asking in a sense if you smell his death.
I guess.
.
I also find it vague on if Grover had any involvement in any of the murders, or if he just had a vision.. Grover says that he knew Eugene didn't kill Dutch, but he also says he knew Eugene had been in the same hotel in Ohio on the night of Dutch's death.. and when pressed for how he knew, he said "I guessed it". -Why did he guess it??
Also in the office when Eugene thought he smelled a hint of high wines, Grover says you can't smell it in here because of the air-conditioning.. possibly implying that the air-conditioner was making the smell on Grover.,. maybe??
I still don't know.. it's all spinning speculations.
.
I still remain, as John Crobsy put it ,"as baffled as the dishwashers.." on this episode.
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