Episode description[edit | edit source]
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YOU can fix it: Episode 10: Testing The Erase Head
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[Upbeat music]
Hi! I’m Marianne. Patience with the plastic!
[Upbeat music concludes]
If you were watching last time, we hit a bit of a mystery. This Persimmon VHS player was sold to me as having a broken erase head, but we took a look and it seems just fine.
Let’s give it a test. See what’s going on here.
So you can see I’ve got it plugged into the mains. And a TV over here. Now, if this erase head ISN’T broken, it’s going to wipe whatever we put in, so I picked something I don’t mind losing.
Five years ago - and I don’t mean to brag - my aunt was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. I know. The real big leagues, huh? Came away with a twenty pound dried ham and four nights in San Diego.
And I was out dog-sitting this great dane I know, Stavros, so I taped it. I don’t think I need to keep this on the archival record any more. Let’s feed it to the Persimmon.
[VHS feeder click]
Get that rewinded. Hit these two buttons on the front, here and here.
[Extended whine of erase head]
See, that SOUNDS alright. When these things fail, there’s a chance they chew up the tape, and I’m sure we’d have heard that.
[VHS player click]
I reckon… I reckon what we’ve got here is a completely wiped tape and a perfectly functional Persimmon. Sellers plug something in wrong and think it’s broken.
An anti-climax, I know, but these things happen sometimes. But let’s hit play and see if I’m wrong.
[Tape whirs]
[Wheel of Fortune theme, audience applause]
From Bluffington Beach, Atlantic City, it’s Cured Meats Week on…
WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!
[Marianne laughing]
I think the erase head is broken.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Plot[edit | edit source]
Cam drops the kids off at the school. It’s after hours, so the kids head to the main office to look at school records and search for information about Britney. The librarian, Miss Maxwell, is there on her computer.
Ronny asks Nolan if he has any inside information from being in trouble (and therefore in the principal’s office) a lot, but Nolan can't remember seeing anything in particular that would help. They decide that Frank will distract the librarian while the other kids investigate the main office.
Frank rushes in to ask Miss Maxwell if she’s ever seen a ghost. Miss Maxwell says that she has (“ghosts are everywhere”), and warns Frank to be careful about ghosts (“all of them will get you”). Frank is stunned by this and asks follow up questions, which Miss Maxwell very calmly answers, sending Frank into a panicked spiral.
Ronny, who has been listening in, rushes in to ask Miss Maxwell about Britney and Ollie, and shows Miss Maxwell the photo, agreeing that “they could be ghosts”. The kids insist that Britney does go to their school. Miss Maxwell looks up the record, although she can only find a record of her older sister Jessica. Frank asks if a ghost could have erased the files, and Miss Maxwell says that she thinks that it would be beyond a ghost’s ability to do this.
Miss Maxwell examines the photo again, and tells them that the kind of thing that could erase Britney’s record in that way is too dangerous for them to be messing around with (“there are things in this world that are more dangerous than ghosts”). CC is angered by the dismissal (“this is why nobody comes to the library!”) and storms out. Frank says they won’t look into it, but asks Miss Maxwell if she knows of someone they can call if they need help.
Miss Maxwell, moved by Frank’s earnest fear, tells her that to stay safe they shouldn’t go through the Tunnel again, saying that she believes that Britney had been "left behind" there. She gives Frank her phone number to call in case of emergency.
She also tells them that she frequently traveled between the cities when she was younger, although in her day it was a longer, more difficult process. Although the journey is easier and quicker now, it still carries a risk, as the technology used to travel between the cities can “break”.
Nolan attempts to bribe her to tell them more, but as she doesn’t value money it does not work. Nolan then asks if Miss Maxwell will write him a note so that he doesn’t get in trouble with his parents. She also refuses to do this.
The kids head home, planning to sneak out later and meet up to go to the Atlantic City Airfield at night to investigate.
Frank’s family are a little worried about her late arrival, but she easily passes it off as just being out playing with her friends. Her family eats dinner in front of the TV. During the commercial breaks of a game show, the commercial that Frank is in comes on. The rest of her family, busy eating and arguing about which flavor of Pepsi is best, does not notice. The Frank on the TV locks eyes with Frank in real life, and Frank breaks out into a cold sweat, immediately worried that this is a sign she has been marked by a ghost.
CC's parents, who have been caught up in moving, have not noticed that she isn’t home, assuming that she was in her room. Chinese takeout arrives for dinner, and Theo slips out, getting in a car and driving away. Her parents chat about the move as they eat, not acknowledging that Theo isn’t there.
When Ronny arrives home, his parents are at the hospital for his father’s treatment. His Aunt Josie is home, and has made mac and cheese for dinner. Ronny asks if she believes in ghosts, and Josie says she does. Ronny says he has a friend that thinks she might be haunted, and Josie says his friend should get in contact with Pastor Hest.
Josie says she accidentally gave him the wrong tape recorder, and asks to switch it back, as the one she gave him was supposed to go to her office. Ronny lies, saying that he gave it to CC, but Josie sees through the ruse (“I don’t let anybody lie to me under my roof”) and Ronny caves. Ronny goes to the bathroom, attempting to figure out what is different about the tape recorder that Josie has given him before he has to hand it over.
Inside, there is a second microphone next to the first. Both go to the tape deck part, but one is light, bright blue leading to a second soundboard, and looks out of place. Ronny takes out the second microphone, and the tape that had Britney’s recording on it, before he gives the tape recorder back to Aunt Josie. She takes it, not noticing any change, heads off to work.
Nolan, who was supposed to be grounded, walks in through the front door. His mother asks where he’s been, and Nolan says that he just forgot that he was grounded, and got caught up because Frank took a photo of a ghost. His mother is skeptical that he forgot, and tells him that he will be in “big trouble” if he sneaks out again. She sends him to his room and says that she will call his friend’s parents to tell them that he’s grounded so he won’t be able to go hangout there.
The kids call Cam again to help them get across town. He collects them (including Frank’s dog Tiny), telling them that if their parents aren’t okay with their trip, the price is double (“the potential upset parents fee”). Ronny, who’s nervous about his Aunt seeing him, wants them to be extra careful.
The kids head upstairs to the Blossom Investigations office, which appears to be empty. Frank knocks, to which there is no answer, and then tries the doorhandle. It’s locked, and so Ronny tries to pick the lock. While he’s doing it, his Aunt Josie walks past, luckily not seeing Ronny and the other kids.
Inside, the cramped office is empty and looks oddly unused. Frank and Ronny start looking through the filing cabinets. They find the file on Ollie, tracking her disappearance after she and her friend El went into the Tunnel and only El came out. As part of their investigation, they built a machine that they put in the Tunnel that would work as a passive tagging machine for the supernatural in the area, creating a nametag for whatever passed through the tagging system. They also find a note from Agent Heard that says “if only we had fixed the tracking sooner, I think we had about a week. If we had gotten to her in the first week we could have saved her”, giving the kids an idea of the timeframe they have in order to save Britney. They find an update on the file updated by Josie, who notes that she has not seen any movement on the case, and a cassette tape of the Blossom Investigation team singing an opera (recorded within the Tunnel), which can protect the listener from any ill effects from the Tunnel.
As they leave, they pass by an AutoMate SAARA, which has a “bad face” drawn on it. Behind it, two Concern agents, Agent Bailey and Agent Clark, watch the kids exit via the videoscreen in the rearview mirror.