It's a touching set-up and a number of fulfilling and heartfelt moments are mined from the simple presence of a bare cot.
It's a touching set-up and a number of fulfilling and heartfelt moments are mined from the simple presence of a bare cot. Laurel regularly breaks off, to tell Hardy he'll be back at the golf range in no time, or to enquire if he needs anything. Jeffrey Holland as Laurel expertly creates this relationship with no physical assistance. Obviously there is no other actor there to accept or validate his affection but Holland manages to paint the picture of a loving friend using simply the words he's been given and the empty bed.
At times the script does veer a little bizarrely and the subjects Laurel brings up seem a little forced - and even quite inappropriate - considering the situation he finds himself in, regardless of the duo's relationship. Obviously, some leeway must be given for dramatic purpose, but the course of Laurel’s conversation could have been played with a little more tact. That being said, Laurel's topics do often hold decent and underplayed subtext. At one point he openly grieves for his dead father and reveals he “often look[s] out at the ocean, just to make sure it's still there;” it's clear his pining for the ubiquitous is as much for what he may lose soon in Hardy as it is for what he has already lost.
