Episode description[edit | edit source]
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YOU can fix it: Episode 9: Persimmon Idiosyncrasies
Subtitles provided by gardenia76
SUBTITLES PROVIDED BY GARDENIA76
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[Upbeat music]
Hi! I’m Marianne. Patience with the plastic!
[Upbeat music concludes]
Today we’re still dealing with Jocelyn’s Persimmon model VHS, and I know last time I said “great choice of model.” Well, I stand by that, but…
[Sound of toolkit on desk]
These things… they’re put together well, but they can be fiddly.
All sorts of reasons as to why. Let’s start by taking the back off.
They say that back in the day, someone at the Persimmon plant screwed up an order and got a batch of washing machine parts delivered.
… Just, uh, lift this back panel off. You can reach in with a dauber and press that little film back…
So, apparently this washing machine part order was far cheaper than what you’d use to make VHS players, and some guy on the factory floor figured out the similarities.
If you ask me, nothing in here looks like it came from a washing machine. And we fixed one last series! Maybe it’s just a story.
But look at this… See these screws here? Far bigger than they need to be, huh?
And this rotor arm. You’d think it’d be made of plastic, right?
[Sharp “tink”]
Metal.
But enough of that. We’re here to fix the erase head, which should be…
Huh. Now that IS a puzzler.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
Father’s needed me at the shop more than I thought he would. At first, stretchin’ the taffy was a pain, literally, my arms would hurt all night, and even though I finished before the sun had set, even though my friends were staying out late, I just wanted to go home and rest. Now it’s better - my arms are stronger, and father says that’s good for me, that it’s good to be strong in this world. I know what he means, but I think I know it in a different way than he does.
The worst part of working, though, are the customers! Visitors from the big cities, visitors from the little train town between there and here, and all of them are rude! They all ask us too many questions, and I can never tell when they want answers or when they just wanna insult us. “Do you also sell freshwater taffy?” I mean, yes, but I doubt that’s what you mean.
It wouldn’t be so exasperating except… everyone is already so worried about how the Golden Fortune, that new pier, is changing things. We knew it would be an amusement pier but we didn’t know everything else it would be. Yes, there are games and rides and shows, but there’s an entire shopping arcade. They’ve got a haberdasher and a bookstore, a hardware supplier and, yes, a candy shop too. Father’s worried about that, what it will mean for the holiday numbers. In the single month since it first opened it seems like its become everyone’s favourite everything! I used to wanna be everyone’s favourite everything, but now, looking at something like that from the outside, seeing how it shakes the world? I never wanna be that.
As shocked as father and I are, I cannot imagine what those working at the little pier across from us must feel. We have felt the impact, but they are falling apart. Must this be the way? Is this what it means to be young near the shore? To see the familiar replaced with bigger and better and bolder? To see silver turned dull next to gold, to be told that the sound of the waves are not good enough to dance to anymore? To watch them lay out the polished wood one board at a time until it reaches past the shore and into the sea? If this is what it means, that to be young near the shore means to grow by it, and I don’t want to be young anymore.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
The Bluffington Beach schoolbus emerges from a tunnel from Blough City (mirroring the ending of season 1 visually), passing by the empty apartment buildings and unfinished construction sites of Bluffington, with The Upper Crust and The Shops At The Cove in the distance. Inside the bus, the kids are wearing airplane-style headphones on, listening back to the concert they have just performed in. Mr Garret watches from the front, monitoring the children. Ronny can hear an additional sax part, as he is listening to a personal recording given to him by his aunt Josie (rather than the copy given out by Mr Garret). The bus drops all the kids off at the school, leaving the kids to get on their own separate buses home from there.
Ronny arrives home to a darkened apartment, lit by the light of the television as his father has fallen asleep through a Kentucky City basketball game. This is further confirmation to Ronny of his father’s illness, as his dad would previously have never slept through a game. Although Ronny tries to close the door quietly, the sound wakes his father. His father clumsily tries to hide how tired he is, but Ronny easily sees through it.
Ronny’s father asks after the competition and if they won (“it’s not really one of those”), and offers to make him dinner. Ronny, reconising his father’s tiredness, says he can make himself a sandwich, and the two head to the kitchen. Ronny’ father’s pours them both a glass of ice tea, apologising to Ronny, as he had hoped to be up and have dinner going by the time Ronny arrived back home. Ronny gently waves aside his concerns, asking how the basketball game is going (his father, having slept through the game, peeks over Ronny’s shoulder to check the score). Ronny’s dad says that he’s proud of Ronny, and that he used to play an instrument in school himself (the trombone) in an attempt to bond, and says that they should do something as father and son on the coming weekend. They hug and although Ronny acts as though he’s embarrassed, he is touched by this.
The camera goes to a note on the fridge behind them: RONNY CALL AUNT JOSIE WHEN YOU GET HOME. Neither Ronny nor his father notice this note.
On her way home, Frank stops by a fire hydrant that has burst, saturating the grass around it and creating a stream. She follows the water, down some steps to the front of her house. Her father is by the door, brushing water out of the flooded hallway. The tv is also on at Frank’s house, but the one in her living room is showing a cowboy movie from the 50s or 60s which her older siblings are watching. Instead of joining them, Frank heads upstairs to watch tv in her room.
When she turns on the tv, she can see the side of The Upper Crust up close as an advertisement plays. The Upper Crust’s mascot, Mr Pizza, says “Wa-hey! Everyone loves pizza!”, gesturing in time with the view of the mascot that Frank can see from her window.
She calls down the stairs to ask if her package has come, and her mother says she left it in the bathroom. When Frank goes to the bathroom, someone is taking a shower while watching a talk show on a small tv wrapped in a condensation-proof plastic, and there is a parcel addressed to her (Miss Frankie Already). She tears open the parcel and inside is a VHS tape with 90s commercials on it. Frank watches these in her room, taking detailed notes (“really into cars” “bright colours”).
Meanwhile, CC arrives home, picking at pizza from The Upper Crust. Her parents are busy in the basement packing up the house to move, as they move at the end of the month. CC’s room is the only room that remains completely unpacked, although there is an empty cardboard box in the corner as a hint that she should begin packing. Instead of packing, CC hangs out on her bed, relaxing and listening to “some CD that her brother gave her” on her CD player.
Theo knocks on her window, wanting to get into the house via her room so that he doesn’t get in trouble with their parents. CC quickly lets him in, and the two talk about how neither of them have started packing. Theo tells her to put just a few things in the box to stop their parents hassling her about it. She asks him about where he’s been going and Theo dodges the question. The two briefly talk about the concert, which CC enjoyed despite Mr Garret being there.
Nolan’s grounding almost gets extended after his parents get a phonecall from Mr Garret about how he has a note to give them after he gets home. When he arrives home, his mother asks how he went with the concert (“we won”), and how his part went, asking to hear the recording. She asks if there’s anything else he’s supposed to give her and Nolan gives her a hug and says he’s going to go to his room. Nolan’s mum says if he can think of anything else he’s supposed to give her in ten minutes, she’ll be making dinner, and Nolan realises that she knows about the note. Nolan finds an old note that he had never given her to pass off as the current note (“Consistently late, both to class and to practise. We don’t know where he is when he’s late. We give him ample time to show up. Band practise takes place a full half hour after class finishes.”).
Nolan gives his mum the old note, and she says that she’s glad he didn’t lie about it, although she is puzzled that the note is for something so trivial when Mr Garret made it sound much more serious on the phone.
The next day is a grey, wintery Saturday, so the kids head to their hideout to play and hang out. Frank asks Nolan if he’s still grounded and Nolan says he is, and that he was grounded for “like four things”. Ronny is surprised that he’s out if he’s grounded, but Nolan is unconcerned as he is “already more grounded”.
They are interrupted by the sound of static from outside their hideout. CC assumes it’s her speaker, but Frank peeks her head outside to see what’s making the sound. The world outside appears to be warping as though in a heat mirage in time with the static sound. It disappears when she opens the door, although she can still see the effect happening to the big white windmills in the distance. CC exclaims over the sky (“the sky is like... goofed up!”), directing the others to look as she steps outside. The others follow, although Nolan is suspicious that they’re playing a prank on him. Once Frank points out the effect to the others, they can see it.
Under the static, Frank can hear the sound of saxophone and believes it’s coming from the spooky old boathouse. Ronny recognises it as the sax solo he heard on his recording of the concert, although he can’t remember who played it. He brings out the recording he has to play it aloud for the others, as they can’t remember hearing the sax solo. When Ronny hits play, it syncs to the sax solo in the distance. Frank is very freaked out by this, as the sax solo still doesn’t appear on the other recordings of the concert.
Frank gets on her bike, encouraging the others to follow her as she tracks the source of the saxophone. The others follow, with Nolan carrying Tiny (as Tiny will not be held by anyone else). As they approach the boathouse, the warping effect seems to halt and the static fades into the background of their awareness. The sun begins to set.
Ronny approaches, spotting that the screen door that is currently open when it has previously been closed. He finds this unnerving, but puts on a brave face. Frank says she’s too scared to go in but thinks one of the others should, Ronny volunteers as he has done “much scarier stuff back home”, accompanied by Nolan and CC. Frank stays behind, watching the others with Mr Pizza branded binoculars.
The three see an old CRT tv on inside the boathouse and decide to knock on the door, but get no response. CC yells to ask if someone is playing saxophone inside, but they get no response to this either. Ronny finds a loose window, attempting to open it even after Nolan reminds Ronny that he has learnt people don’t like it when you do that. CC gives Ronny a boost up to climb inside.
The boathouse seems to be empty but shows signs of someone living there, which Ronny tells the others. Nolan says they should leave, since there’s no saxophone there and that’s what they’re trying to find. As the CRT tv is on, the three kids wonder who would put on VHSs of music videos and then leave.
Meanwhile, Frank sees someone walking towards the boathouse from the opposite side to the kids. She tries to whistle to warn them, but can’t, so instead she yells a warning as loud as possible. Both the kids and the figure hear her, and the figure begins running towards the boathouse.
CC and Ronny run back towards Frank, while Nolan takes Tiny and hides up a nearby tree. From the tree, Nolan gets a better look at the figure - a woman in her mid 20s dressed in practical clothes, who seems annoyed by the kid’s interruption. Although she’s not chasing after the kids, she does yell out of the window for them to stay away (“it’s not safe!”). She slams the window shut.
Frank sees another figure in the grove. She leads the others towards where she saw the other figure, keeping them out of sight as they go. They can feel movement in the Tunnel under their feet, as they are close to the entrance to the Tunnel they know about.
As they get closer the sound of the saxophone stops, and they can see light coming from inside the grove. The sound of applause comes from the grove and the flash of a skirt as though someone is bowing. Frank peeks out, and she can see a middle-aged woman and a girl around their age who appear in black and white as though they have been lifted out of a tv screen, with the woman suffering from the warping effect they saw in the sky earlier. One of the figures, the one who had been playing the saxophone, is dressed in the same band uniform that the kids wore to their competition.
Frank tells the others what she sees (“television ghosts!”), and Nolan thinks they should go. Frank doesn’t want to leave without taking a picture, and the kids have a whispered argument about whether she should in case it gets them in trouble. Frank crouches in a slightly awkward position to take the photo while still hidden, and CC steadies her.
As she’s taking photos, Frank can see their name badges through her camera lens - ‘Britney Namour’ on the girl their age, and ‘Olivia “Ollie” McGowen’ on the woman’s. Frank recognises the girl’s name as seeming familiar, and relays the information to the others. Nolan remembers that Britney was lead saxophone in the band, and CC remembers that she was friends with her, and that Britney’s older sister Jessica was dating her brother. They find this unsettling, as Brittany played with them yesterday. They realise that despite their memory of her, only Ronny’s recording had Britney’s saxophone playing on it.
Despite this, Ronny and Frank still do not remember her. Frank, scared by what she has seen, wants to leave. Ronny wants to stay and help. As they argue, the sound draws Ollie and Britney’s attention. The kids begin having their argument at a whisper, with Frank arguing that they should go back to the lady in the boathouse.
The static grows louder and the kids decide to run. They begin to run and the static grows even louder, blocking out the sound of their voices as they call out to each other.