The drug provides an inverted arc of an effect: a big shot of L-dopa knocks out the symptoms, affording a twenty-minute window of fluidity and fluency. If too much is taken, the dose will overshoot the mark, producing the wild gesticulations and head twists. When the L-dopa begins to wear off, the descent is even quicker: a rapid reentry into a state of torpor marked by a frozen affect, the opposite of Michael’s on-screen persona.
