Episode description[edit | edit source]
I am making eye contact with myself in the mirror. Look at you. Look at you, kid. You did so good. I know you did. Couldn’t have done anything else but that.
Your face is not my face. We look nothing alike. So I’m making eye contact with myself and trying to see you there. It was a long day. How was yours? Maybe it doesn’t work like that. Maybe it’s morning there, and you haven’t started yet. Up you get, kid. Up and at ‘em.
Up and at ‘em, kid. In the morning the wind blows east, skein of geese above the old power station. Maybe it’s blowing west for you. Cattails around the bones of the pump building.
I am making eye contact with myself and my peripheral vision fades down to a point. Pink square of the window behind me. What is it the old men say about mirrors and windows?
“One was invented at the dawn of the week in triumph and accolade, but as the next days passed, in heat and frustration, they found it was not what they had meant to make. Not what they had meant to make at all. So, it followed that by the time the week had ended, they had created the other. And then they were done.”
Contents[edit | edit source]
Plot[edit | edit source]
The group walks south through the Tri-City Tunnel via a narrow maintenance walkway along the side of the Tunnel - Already leading the way, hustling ahead of the group. Following them, in order, is The Augur (giving the occasional direction), Robyn and Quincy walking together, and Samantha at the rear.
They can hear the sound of cars - a high pitched sound and a deeper, thumping noise. Eventually, the group sees the cars, idling - one “knightrider” synthwave-type car and the other a big, “Dom Toretto” style American muscle car, parked opposite one another so that the drivers can talk to one another. It is clear that they are passing information covertly about the group. Already, who has been walking ahead, crouches on the maintenance walkway to eavesdrop on their conversation and discovers that the group’s movements are being tracked and that a trap is being arranged to catch them.
One mentions that the group could potentially travel to Bluff City, but both drivers feel this is such an impossibility that it’s not worth accounting for. The cars head off, beginning their plan to box the group in.
The group catches up to Already, who passes on the information and floats the idea of trying to get to Bluff City, though their heart isn’t really in it. Robyn and The Augur react negatively (Quincy is enthusiastic, although the idea of Quincy going alone to Bluff City is quickly shot down by Robyn). Already floats the idea of the group just walking them to the door of Bluff City if they don’t want to go there themselves, but The Augur says this is just as impossible as “it’s not a door, it’s a hallway”.
The Augur asks Samantha and Robyn how they found their purpose in the enclave, and then tells Already they there will be a purpose for them in the enclave. They then walk past Already, leading the group towards their previous destination.
Peering out of the exit, the group sees that the sun is setting. They’re overlooking a large, iron bridge and they can see the woman in the knightrider car at the end of the bridge, laying out a line of orange cones. She sits on the roof of her car holding a weapon. Samantha heads forward without the rest of the group and is sighted by the woman. The woman calls her over and Samantha calls back loud enough that she hopes the others will hear her and be forewarned about the woman’s presence.
Samantha heads towards the woman, her hands raised. The woman asks what she’s doing and Samantha says she is going for a walk, which the woman finds suspicious. Samantha asks what the woman is doing out here and the woman says she is hunting for the group. When Samantha expresses surprise that anyone would be travelling this far out with a child, the woman opens the vision of her helmet, revealing the empty space underneath.
The Augur appears next to Samantha, threatening the woman and revealing her to be a demon. The demon scoffs at The Augur’s threats, but The Augur doesn’t back down, telling Samantha to leave with the others. The Augur spins her umbrella, holding it in front of her face to shield herself from the demon’s gaze as she attempts to mesmerise the demon. Samantha stays behind with The Augur, lending The Augur her strength.
The points of light inside the demon’s helmet begin to grow out of the helmet. The light begins to spark (similar in appearance to a Catherine wheel firework), spinning in time with the umbrella and sending out sparks. Samantha’s eyes also begin to glow, the presence of The Augur grounding her against the demon’s control.
Through their connection, Samantha and The Augur find they are able to read one another’s minds, an experience that startles both of them. The experience is similar to the kind The Augur pretends to have with her followers, and she is struck by the sudden understanding of why Samantha enjoys working as a bartender, feeling as though Samantha’s connection to the people she interacts with in that way is much more genuine. Samantha feels a deep connection of community with The Augur.
The demon’s eyes pass through the umbrella and their bodies in a blast of heat, though The Augur and Samantha are unharmed. The demon and her car are gone, though the orange cones remain. The Augur’s umbrella bursts into flames, leaving behind a mark of the demon on the back of The Augur’s left hand and Samantha’s right hand. The Augur drops the umbrella. Samantha and The Augur both process having experienced one another from the opposite person’s perspective, especially aspects of their previous relationship.
The Augur apologises aloud, acknowledging that Samantha did put effort into their relationship that they had not previously recognised. Samantha says that it was not work to her to do it.
The Augur warns them not to touch the cones as they pass through them, the Augur leading the way and watching the others carefully.
The group makes their way to their goal: the Jeff Brown Jr Dentistry and Auto Repair shop. It is abandoned, and the group enters through the broken front window. Searching the front dentist-style office, the group discovers that the former owner, Jeff Brown Jr, was a relative of Julian H Bluff, the movie studio executive, and that Jeff Brown changed his name to avoid association with the Bluff family. Quincy, reading the articles, announces to the group that “these dentists fix cars!” and finds the combination of business “tremendously exciting” and starts asking Robyn questions about how the business would operate.
The camera quickly cuts to Ketchle, the man that Robyn had previously welded inside the car. He is now driving the car at full speed, towards the group’s location.
Already searches the room, their phone in one hand, looking frantically for the reason they were brought here. They find a pair of keys on a keyring - one a slightly bigger, thicker key with a thick black key fob (similar to Riku’s keyblade from Kingdom Hearts), the other is an old 1800s-style key. There are also two keychain accessories: one a 1980s keychain accessories shaped like a card encased in resin with a picture of a rose and the words “Blossum Deliveries and Investigations. Only receives calls from Bluff City” with a phone number. The second is a metal keychain accessory shaped like a lighthouse with the words “Bluffington Beach Lighthouse, established 1857” on it.
In the distance, they hear the sound of dogs approaching, some who look like dogs and some that do not look like dogs at all.
Already holds up the keys, asking the group, but mainly The Augur, if this is what they’re looking for. The Augur agrees that it is possible as she only knew they needed to go to that location. She grows excited, telling them that it might be the second destination that they might really need to be in order to get rid of the phone.
Already rushes to the car in the garage (“that’s a chunky car!” says Quincy). The key unlocks the car but the car won’t start. Already calls out to Robyn to help, and Robyn attempts to fix the car engine. It works, though Robyn knows the fix might not hold forever. The car starts and the group piles into the car.
Already gets out of the car and takes a mechanics hammer, smashing the phone into pieces. The Augur tells them to bring the pieces with them, and Already scoops the pieces of the phone into their pocket. They speed out of the garage just in time, as the dogs reach the garage (some have doubled in size, but some, more dangerously, have halved in size with their teeth remaining the same size). The dogs chase after them, joined by Ketchle in the hovercar and the driver in the muscle car the group saw speaking to the demon woman in the Tunnel earlier.
Duke leans out the back window, two paws on the windowsill, barking at the dogs chasing them. Robyn is in the passenger seat, with The Augur in the back left hand seat, Samantha in the back right hand seat, with Quincy in the middle, reaching forward to mess around with the glove box and trying to pull Duke back inside the car.
As they don’t have working headlights, Samantha lights flares and throws them out the window. The light startles other animals around them - geece, hares, frogs - and begin to leave the car chase, leaving only Ketchle and the other bounty hunter with the muscle car heading towards them.
Ahead of them, the group can see the light from the lighthouse, heading towards it. The Augur asks Robyn to use the wires in the car to signal her followers in the enclave via morse code (“the path from the sea to the deep land is blocked by a beast who would draw our blood. Use it as fuel to keep the lantern lit”). Her followers come to their aid, wielding home-made weapons as they approach the bounty hunter in the muscle car and clearing the group’s path forward and leaving only Ketchle chasing after them.
Already finds a pack of old cigarettes in the driver’s side door and they offer them to Robyn, and then turn and offer one to the others also. Robyn takes one, The Augur takes one (though they specify that they can’t smoke,) Samantha takes one, and Quicy enthusiastically agrees to take one but is dissuaded from taking it by Robyn, Samantha, and The Augur. Duke eats a cigarette.
Ketchle’s car weapons, two electromagnetic harpoons, locks onto their’s. Robyn uses Ketchle’s gun, shooting at him and managing to shoot off one of the harpoons before they drop the gun. The second harpoon from Ketchle’s car hits them. Robyn crawls over Already and pries the harpoon out of it as the cars are brought closer and closer together.
As they get closer to the lighthouse via the mid-level elevated boardwalk, Already attempts to knock Ketchle’s car off the road. The front suspension of their car goes out, lurching the car forward and Ketchle’s car goes over the edge. Ketchle fires the harpoon, catching their car and pulling it over with it. The group scramble out of the car just in time to see both cars fall to the ground below them, with Quincy grabbing the keys on the way out.
The group head towards the lighthouse. There is a three-story estate-style house attached to the lighthouse, and the key only works on the cellar door. The group head down the dusty stairwell, The Augur leading the way and using the last flare to illuminate the room. In the darkened cellar is an “infernal machine” created by Alexander Blaufelden later used by his granddaughter Alexandra Hughes and his later descendant Julian H Bluff to pull energy from and make connection with other worlds.
The flare creates a coherent shadow from the machine against the wall, forming together to create a door. Already opens the door, hoping that this will be an end of their long journey and that they will no longer be hunted. On the other side is Snoopy’s, Samantha’s bar (“Shit, it’s Snoopy’s!” “Stop cursing!” “Fuck, it’s Snoopy’s!”).
Quincy asks if the door can go places other than Snoopy’s. The group have no idea, but let them open the door to try it. When Quincy opens the door, it opens onto a paved schoolyard and parking lot, although the viewer cannot tell if it is Bluff or Blough City. A red jansport backpack with a pink tamagotchi tied to one of the zippers rests on the fence. Quincy takes in the sight, mentioning that “[their] mom’s always late after school to pick [them] up”. They look back at the others, unsure if they should walk through.
Robyn asks if they want someone to walk through with them, and Quincy tearfully nods. Robyn says they will go with them. The Augur warns them that the door could close behind them, but Robyn is unconcerned (“fixing a door is easy”). Quincy hugs Samantha, The Augur, and Already, saying goodbye and telling Duke to stop barking at night (“it’s making Already mad”). They take Robyn’s hand, ready to go forward.
Robyn asks the others to tell Knotts what happened when they get home. Already is optimistic that Robyn will be able to return. The Augur asks what kind of stories Knotts likes (“ironically? Not ghost stories”). Robyn and Quincy walk through the door into the parking lot, Already holding the door open.
A car pulls up. Quincy picks up their backpack, hefting it onto their shoulders. They hug Robyn and wave to the person in the car (though the camera can’t see who they are) and Quincy approaches them. Robyn turns to look back, but the viewer can’t tell if they are making eye contact with someone or looking towards where a door used to be but isn’t anymore.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Austin Walker (The Augur, Providence)
- Ali Acampora (Samantha)
- Jack de Quidt (Already)
- Andrew Lee Swan (Robyn)