Episode description[edit | edit source]
[Culture and Politics Forum, full name and link redacted for privacy, “Movies and Television” sub-forum. All usernames changed. Accessed for this description 01.05.2020.]
User1 Just snagged an email from BCS with a preview ticket! I’ve been all in since the trailer and it’s not far from me so I figure I’ll go.
User3 Go for it man. What was the subject line. Maybe I got one
User5 You’re a scab
User1 No
User1 I’m very excited. The subject line was “BCS FROM THE VAULT: LAKESIDE”. Going this evening.
User3 Let us know how it is if you’re allowed!!! Maybe you can hint if you can’t ;-)
User2 Do you think he saw it?
User5 Maybe his conscience got the better of him
User2 Stop bumping the thread
User3 every single time i see an update i swear to god
User2 Stop bumping the thread
User1 Hi, they said I shouldn’t spoil anything but —— that. That movie is ——ing weird.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
I remember one year, a classmate offered me half-sincere comfort, as she left for the exposition in St. Louis. I played at pouting, but my disinterest must have been obvious, even then. How could the self-important exhibits of a World's Fair compare to the sensuous sights and sounds of an entirely new world?
For each promise broken by Atlantic City, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, beautiful Bluff City vowed something grander, greater, even more unpredictable. In reality, the only urges vocalized were to be puritanical urges. A desire to suppress, to moderate, to control. But in Bluff City, a different sort of desire was the heartbeat of a dream unfolding. The sea played forbidden rhythms on the coastline. The air was cast with the warm smell of sugar, and the hotel facades were made into glamorous living things. The entire world was imagination incarnate, and soon became inspiration for my then-amateur fiction.
I thought what I saw there was simply a projection of my own young romanticism. But when I returned to the people and places of Atlantic City, I could sense a connection, though in which way I could not tell. These people had that vibrance in their hearts, too, only it was covered by something else. Smothered, choked. And it is because I did not see their misery in Bluff City, that I first suspected there could be something else. A third shore. A third city. And young, naive writer that I was, I wondered what inspiration I might find there.
Which is why, in my twentieth year, I took an extended jaunt. Perhaps you've heard the story, "Alexandra P. Hughes, heiress of the Blaufelden Fortune, missing off the coastline." But the overturned boat was no more than a distraction. I was not lost to the waves at all. I was crossing a desert existential. Beset upon by heat and hostility, with my only respite being the long, blue shadow of that most miserable town.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
Not wanting to take on a lion, Bart picks up his phone and returns to the set of I’m AM, Are You?.
Caitlyn, having finally got the message of Eve’s arrival, meets Eve in the lobby of Caitlyn’s office. Eve tells her about her surprise about seeing the picket line protestors, but Cailtin assures her that negotiations between the writers and the studio are just taking longer than expected. They head down to the cafe (although Cailtin still has her earlier flat white in her hand).
The weather turns stormy, with rain beginning to fall heavily.
They pass by Angie speaking to someone else very excitedly, presumably about the same topic. As they walk, someone wheels a stage backdrop towards a set from the long-term storage towards Stage 2. Eve asks Caitlyn about it, and Caitlyn says it is a little weird that they’re moving something like that during the strike, as they’re not currently filming anything. Eve asks if she can go look at what they’re doing, as she has never been to a studio before, but Caitlyn talks her out of it, concerned that they would be disturbing some kind of lighting test.
Caitlyn and Eve reach the cafeteria just as they are closing up and sit down to catch up on one another’s lives. Julian H Bluff enters, trying to get a cup of coffee before the cafeteria closes, and the barista gestures to Caitlyn and Eve, indicating that they have gotten the last coffees. Julian approaches them, and Eve introduces herself to him and the two chat a little. Julian says they should head out before the storm, and Eve says they can’t leave before she stops by to see Bart.
Bart does his segment on Coconut Aminos, chatting with the show’s hosts when all of the lights in the building go off and the red emergency lights turn on. Taber comes on set, telling them to take off as they can’t do anything else that day. Brad Callahan, one of the hosts, checks that he didn’t cross a line by bringing up Bart’s college injury during the segment, and Bart assures him that it’s fine.
Bart texts Deshaun (“hey Deshaun. Do you know what the “DL” (lol) is with this lion????”). Deshaun responds, misunderstanding Bart and believing that Bart is texting him about sports. Bart clarifies that he meant a literal lion and Deshaun is surprised, asking questions about who else was involved and saying that he will “look into it for [him]”.
Meanwhile, Caitlyn and Eve are in the cafe when the power goes off. Eve expresses worry that they are not safe at the Studios, but Caitlyn is more worried about her work not backing up correctly. They receive an emergency warning on Caitlyn’s phone about flash flooding, and realise that they are the only people still in the cafe. They head towards Bart so that they can leave. As they pass Stage Two they see a man that Caitlyn does recognise as staff leaning against one of the doors.
In Stage One, the power comes back on. Deshaun texts Bart to tell him that he has been told that the lion was a robot, although neither he nor Bart believe this. Bart texts Caitlyn and Eve that he’s heading towards the welcome centre and will be leaving soon.
The three of them meet up in the welcome centre with Deshaun. Deshaun gives Eve back her phone, and asks if Bart can talk to him before they leave. Eve and Caitlyn look at the museum exhibits to give them some privacy.
Deshaun wants to quit in solidarity with the striking workers, but feels like it means he’s giving up on his dreams of being on tv someday. Bart gives him a short motivational speech (“I think if you have a dream you’re gonna make it happen”), and Deshaun agrees with what he says. They discuss the lions, since neither of them have heard anything about it (even Deshaun, who’s supposed to get higher pay if there are live animals around). Bart is surprised that Deshaun is working so close to the holiday and with the storm, and Deshaun says he’s more worried about the lion being outside in the storm. He makes Bart promise to keep in touch if he quits, and Bart agrees.
Another phone alert goes out that the bridges to Bluffington Beach have been closed due to flooding, advising them that the storm is only expected to last for an hour but that people should stay indoors so that they cannot leave the Studio.
They leave the welcome centre, the camera lingering on a small set on a pedestal behind them of a madcap comedy ‘The Vows of the Lions’, indicating to the audience that not all is as it seems at Bluff City Studios.
They spot Angie who is leaving, having not yet heard about the bridges being closed. Deshaun gives her back her phone, inadvertently revealing that she is press rather than someone who works at the studio as she had previously implied. Eve asks who Angie was here to see. Deshaun is evasive at first, but then tells them that Angie is reporting on the strikes, as the studio isn’t losing money during the strikes and has announced several upcoming movies to investors despite not filming anything at the Studio.
Bart exclaims about the lions, attracting the attention of Angie. They discuss the lions and what Bart saw, and all agree that it is unusual. They notice that the storm has also knocked out the wifi and internet to the area. Angie says she wants to go investigate, and Deshaun offers to take her to where Bart saw the lions, despite Bart arguing against it.
Bart, Caitlyn and Ever follow, surprised at the amount of activity still happening at the Studio despite the weather. Eve peeks behind a tarp covering one of the backdrops as they pass - it is a matte painting backdrop of a minor league baseball park with the sun setting from an Primetime Adventures shoot (backdrop 3B). For Eve, it is a little anticlimactic.
They reach the marshland, which has began to flood, and begin to look around. Peaches begins barking. Eve, holding Peaches in her arms, walks in the direction of her dog’s attention, seeing a patch of blood leading towards Stage Two. Eve gets the attention of the others. Caitlyn says it could be stage blood, but Bart says it’s real.
They head towards Stage Two, following the blood trail until it stops at the locked stage door. Caitlyn and Bart both want to let it go, saying that the situation is fine. Angie presses on, telling Deshaun to take her to the security office so she can continue investigating. Eve convinces the others to follow (although Caitlyn continues to protest), saying that they can’t let Angie and Deshaun head into danger alone.
They hear a gunshot from inside the sound stage, and rush to catch up to Angie and Deshaun. Angie is looking through a computer downloading files in the security office, surprised to learn of the latest gunshot but refusing to leave even after Deshaun says he can hear someone coming.
Bart and Deshaun decide to keep whoever it is busy to give Angie enough time, opening the door to see Gary and Michael heading towards the security office. Bart asks about the gunshots and blood, but Gary brushes his questions aside. To delay him further, Bart begins to argue with him.
Inside the security office, Angie finishes downloading the files. Caitlyn and Eve are reluctant to leave Bart behind, and they decide to wait outside. As they step out into the hallway they hear a low growl.
Julian H Bluff arrives, surprised to see Bart there as everyone was supposed to be evacuated. He offers to organise a boat for Bart, leading Bart and Deshaun (as Bart has said he needs something from Deshaun’s locker) away. Greg ominously asks to talk to Deshaun afterwards.
Meanwhile, outside, a lion steps out of the bush, and the group can see that it’s bleeding from its shoulder. Eve tosses the lion the croissant she got earlier from the cafe and the lion eats it before calmly walking towards craft services, pausing to look back at them.
The lion paces back and forth in front of the craft services door, pawing at it. Eve wants to help, opening the door for the lion. The lion walks inside, making noise to draw them inside. Angie begins filming as they follow. It leads them down a long hallway, and they can hear people working in the kitchen. The lion heads away from the kitchen, stopping again in front of an industrial pantry door.
Julian leads them to Deshaun’s locker, complimenting him on his work at the Studio. Bart tries to text Eve and Caitlyn but the phone service is still out due to the storm.
Eve opens the pantry door and an unconscious body falls out, tied to a chair. On seeing his clay-like face, Angie drops her phone, cracking the screen. Eve checks for a heartbeat (slow but there), and as she does so his face begins to “frown a little bit more” and a business card of Julian H Bluff falls out from the inside pocket of his blazer.
In the locker room, the man pretending to be Julian H Bluff prompts Bart to take the boat. Bart is hesitant, giving the weather as the reason, and Julian agrees, saying that he should stay in a secure location, and he knows just the spot; the place where they’re been doing night shoots. Bart and Deshaun exchange a look as they part ways, and Bart mouths ‘don’t go back to Stage Two’.
Julian leads Bart to Stage Two side entrance, telling Bart that he’s letting him in on something big. Bart says he thinks it would be cheaper to sort things out with the union and Julian says that he doesn’t think they’ll even need staff writers in the future. He leads Bart through the dressing rooms to the set, which is in the middle of a production where Julian is shooting a movie called ‘Grand Opening’.
Meanwhile, Angie, Caitlyn and Eve attempt to discover the identity of the man in the pantry, starting by trying to remove what they believe to be his mask. As they touche his face, he grins.
On the set, Bart feels himself slipping into “dream logic” - Julian sits into a director chair, gesturing to the director seat next to him that says ‘Dr Bart’ on it. Things slip in and out of frame and Bart’s eyes can’t keep track of it. Although he doesn’t know what he’s seeing, the audience knows that something from Bluff City or Blough City is slipping into the world.
Bart is shaken out of his daze as water laps at his feet as the sound stage begins to flood.