As Rebecca Solnit writes in her solemn election 2024 post-mortem essay at The Guardian, “Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do.”

On the 1976 campaign trail, Carter’s stock speech included this solemn declaration: “I want a government as full of compassion and decency and openness and honesty and brotherhood and love as are the American people.”

Perhaps all this helps explain why, as of Friday morning, more than 85,000 people had reacted to UnitedHealthcare’s solemn Facebook statement about Thompson’s death with a laugh emoji.

Making the role his own with his distinctive blend of solemn gravity and ironic urbanity, Parsons is the standout in the cast.

"Everybody in The Valley, all the youths, they're very upset. It's very solemn."