The Danton Epic: The story of a boy who became a man and then did something he shouldn't have

"You'll see, you'll see and it's a much bigger story than you think," Frost tells the fifth estate. "It's because the FBI lied. They lied."

So says David Frost in defence of the man who those with the most knowledge of the case suspect of having plotted Frost's murder. If you want to be further dazzled by Frost's mastery of the English language, go here. Or, you can just take my word for it that he's a boob.

Here's what U.S. District Judge William Stiehl had to say about the case:

"I do not believe in over 18 years on the bench I have been faced with a case as bizarre as this one."

If you've been paying attention to this litte story, you'll know that it's very difficult not to hate every character involved (with the possible exception of Danton's mother, Mrs. Jefferson, who has been pretty much mute to this point). You have a psychotic former NHLer who has admitted to plotting somebody's murder; you have his hynoptist-of-an-agent hatching grand conspiracy theories involving the FBI (which, it would seem, couldn't possibly have anything to gain in all of this; but what do I know, a lowly student in Vancouver?); you have Danton's maniacal father, who has suddenly become the violent pursuer of a man he once publicly lauded as his son's saviour . . .

Basically, you have the makings of a number one blockbuster, except that you're missing the chief ingredient . . . a protagonist to cheer for.

Again, I would go with Danton's mother. You could make her the innocent bystander witnessing the unravelling of a family whose overbearing father elicits the scorn of his son as the latter slowly gives himself over, body and soul, to the preying coach, whose pubescent cult following's naive responsiveness slowly contributes to an increasing self-confidence that eventually sees the raptorial coach adopt delusions of autocratic sexual ownership. Having experienced no genuine model of adult guardianship, "the boys" vulnerably submit until a day when one of them finally sees the fundamental depravity of the whole situation. His mind already mostly gone, having found itself subject for most of its existence to the caprices of two very sick men, the boy, by this point a man, conceives of a plan of which he almost immediately repents. But no amount of repentance proves enough to undo the effects of the weakness (and sincerity) of a moment, just as no amount of evidential weight will stand in the way of the predator's ongoing attempts at controlling his victim's life and circumstances with telephone romance and public counter-claims.

And, of course, the ending has yet to be determined. Maybe the wife/mother will win the lottery and get the hell out of there. Or maybe it will end with some mass Shakespearean genocide. Either way, it's a strange story.