Bob Ross - Winter Sun (Season 02, Episode 02)
Bob begins this week’s instalment with charismatic self-deprecation. In the process of painting the setting sun, he is reminded of a time when his eggs didn’t turn out properly and muses that his ability to paint saved him from a life of poor cooking. After missing the opportunity to derive humour from the obvious allusion to the nomenclature ‘starving artist’, Bob sees a big tree.
Only, there is no tree. We don’t see a tree. Contained in this confusing contradiction is a lesson about imagination and uniqueness. Bob’s tree now makes an appearance in a magical few seconds. The only explanation offered for the miracle is that Bob has scared it out of the brush. Little advice is offered as to how to frighten the trees hiding in our brushes.
After a brief anecdote about a moose stepping on a tree while Bob lived in Alaska, we get this episode’s highlight: “We spend our entire lives looking, but never really seeing”.
The rest of the episode is filled with Bob’s glances to the numerous stage hands overcome with emotion and teary-eyed cameramen not being able to focus on the only thing in an otherwise black room. But none of that matters, because we have our life lesson for the day.
Overall: 4/5