#it’s a subtle but noticeable shift. at first des didn’t reveal his intentions to get the Azran legacy

[thymeisasocialconstruct]

It very quickly developed from ‘We need to keep the girl out of Targent’s hands because the Azran Legacy is powerful’ -> ‘We need to unlock the Azran Legacy with Aurora’s help.’

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 44 Review: The Second Séance

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

Hello and welcome back to my Garden of Evil, in time for the final episode of Strange Paradise by its co-creator and original headwriter Ian Martin. This marks yet another milestone in the history of this fun and sometimes perplexing soap opera: a little bittersweet, although I know that, unlike viewers in 1969, I can return to early Maljardin whenever I want.

In some ways, Ian Martin’s departure will benefit the show. Like a traditional soap, his SP scripts were generally slow-paced and heavy on recap, with variations of certain lines (e.g. “we must find the conjure doll and the silver pin”) repeated episode after episode. When Robert Costello replaced Selig Alkon as producer, he mandated several changes to the show. His stated reason: to help SP’s other co-creator Jerry Layton achieve his goal of improving the Gothic soap’s ratings:

"New York and Los Angeles stations took it off the air because ratings were poor.  And because they are the key stations for money purposes, Robert Costello, who did Dark Shadows for four years, was called in," one of the actors said this week. "Costello took one look at several episodes and said he wasn't going to have anything to do with it the way it was.  So the series was changed considerably.”

[...]

In the studio this week, Costello (who produced The Nurses, the Patty Duke Show and Armstrong Circle Theatre) said Strange Paradise was abandoning old voodoo, hallmarks of the first 13 weeks, for heavy occult (witches covens, ESP, apparitions and the like). "The concept, though good, was not completely workable for a day-in and day-out series," admitted its creator and executive producer Jerry Layton.[1]

Naturally, so many changes required a segue from the show’s original format that wasn’t too abrupt, hence the break from Martin’s original plans for the story and the creation of the current weird transitional plotline about the Rabbit of Evil. There are twenty-one episodes of Maljardin left after this one, followed by a shift of setting to Desmond Hall. Like Maljardin, Desmond Hall has its good parts and bad parts, fun characters and not-so-fun ones, but I’ll cover those when I get to them.

Do you remember my Episode 40 review, where I speculated at the end about how the original second séance might have gone? Well, this one is similar in some ways to the séance described in the Lost Episode summaries, but the way it plays out is bizarre. And by “bizarre,” I mean, “What the hell is Vangie thinking, holding it now?”

The (visible) participants of the first séance, from Episode 36 (clockwise from top left): Dr. Alison Carr, Quito, Vangie Abbott, Raxl, Reverend Matt Dawson, and Jean Paul Desmond.

In Episode 36, the choice of who participated and who didn’t participate in the séance followed a certain logic. Four of the six chosen participants had a direct connection to Erica Desmond: her sister Alison, her husband Jean Paul, and her servants Raxl and Quito. The latter two were doubly qualified to participate, both being members of the Conjure Faith, with Raxl helping Vangie determine who could attend and who was forbidden in the previous episode. They excluded Elizabeth, Tim, and Dan for being “disruptive influences” and Holly out of concern for her safety, but allowed Matt because of his strong faith as a man of the cloth. (Remember that, at that point, they still trusted him.) In addition, they left a seventh chair open for Erica’s spirit, making the total number of (invited) participants seven. This, according to Vangie, is one of the ideal numbers for a séance, the other being five. It’s logical, it follows the rules that the author establishes via Vangie, and therefore it makes sense that the second séance would be set up in much the same way.

In my post on Episode 40, I used this logic along with clues from several Lost Episode summaries (including the one for this episode) to try to reconstruct the events of the original second séance, which was slated to take place in that episode before script rewrites. The summaries indicated that Matt would return for the second séance and that Elizabeth would join him, although Vangie’s reasoning for including her in this one is unknown. I excluded Holly from my list because I felt it would be out of character for Vangie to knowingly endanger her life and speculated that Alison may have refused to take part out of justified anger at Jean Paul for making Vangie endanger all of their lives. I also excluded Tim and Dan, because I felt that neither had any reason to participate unless substituting for someone else. In addition, I assumed that Jean Paul would have originally participated in all the séances, being the one who initiated them in the first place, as well as Raxl and Quito for their loyalty to both their dead mistress and to Vangie. I concluded that the most likely participants for the second séance would have been Vangie, Matt, Elizabeth, Raxl, Quito, and Jean Paul: six living/undead participants like the first, but with Alison swapped with Elizabeth.

But what do you do on short notice, while Jean Paul is freaking out in his room, Alison trying to help him calm down, and Raxl and Quito are...sleeping, I suppose? (The episode gives no explanation for their absence, unlike with Jean Paul and Alison.) You hold an emergency séance in the same exact location as before, at a glass-top table identical to the first, with whomever is available. That includes Matt, Holly, and the disruptive influences of Elizabeth and Dan. Vangie claims there’s no time to wait, so emergency séance it is, even if it means breaking all the previously established rules.

Holly lampshading how the second séance comes out of frigging nowhere.

“Jean Paul cannot wait,” says the Conjure Woman. “The need is urgent, the need to find out from whence this locket came. I must choose those of you who will help Jean Paul Desmond contact his wife Erica.”

Holly tries to nope out of it, but Vangie--surprisingly, given her previous concern for her safety--refuses to let her. “You, if the spirits choose,” she insists, “the spirits” here most likely meaning some combination of Robert Costello, Jerry Layton, and Steve Krantz. (Let’s remember that the Serpent previously told her not to invite certain people, Holly included.) It’s a cop-out line, in effect, where the show acknowledges that it’s breaking the previously established rules to obey the new producer’s wish to speed up the action.

The reason why this séance is so urgent? The bloodied locket of Erica’s that Raxl found around the black rabbit’s neck in the previous episode, combined with Vangie’s speculation that the rabbit may be Erica reincarnated. The fact that the locket had blood on it makes Dan even more suspicious of Jean Paul, especially after Matt reminds him that eclampsia (which Jean Paul claims took Erica’s life) is a bloodless death. He begins another tirade about how he thinks that Jean Paul killed both Erica and Dr. Menkin and how he’s going to sail off the island, which Vangie interrupts:

That’s Vangie’s way of saying “shut up.”

Vangie tells the four characters in the room--Holly, Elizabeth, Dan, and Matt--to sit at the table and begin the séance, because a presence has arrived. The first three do, but Dan remains standing and tries to persuade Matt to not take part in the occult ritual.

“You, GO!” Vangie screams at Dan. “PLEASE, GO!” He leaves and, without having anyone join hands, Vangie calls out to her father, the Conjure Man, to ask whose spirit is there. And then she enters a trance and starts screaming, “LET ME OUT!” while breathing heavily. Frightened, Holly runs to her room, while Vangie continues screaming, only to leave her trance a moment later and ask, “Where’s Holly?”

“She couldn’t stand it,” says Elizabeth. “I don’t think that I can, either, or any of us.”

“It was two spirits,” Vangie continues. “One so angry, so confined in some place, in some form.” She rubs her neck as though rubbing scabs left by the chain of an uncomfortable locket. “It’s so dry, so dry!” Elizabeth leaves to get her a drink to quench her thirst.

The way Vangie rubs her neck reminds me of Erica’s bloodied locket.

Their first attempt a disaster, they go their separate ways. Vangie speaks to the portrait of Jacques Eloi des Mondes, demanding an answer to how the rabbit and locket appeared. In her monologue, she reveals that he “[has] always been an enemy” and that he “would laugh at [her] clouded sight”; also that the spirit she felt was “not so much evil as angry, horribly angry and confined!”

Elizabeth offers Vangie some wine. Rather suspicious.

Elizabeth returns with some wine for Vangie’s throat (wouldn’t that only dehydrate her more?) and is about to set it on the séance table when Vangie stops her. “The spirits may not cross it,” she explains, so Elizabeth moves the glass and decanter over to the table where they usually sit.

Vangie picks up the locket and starts thinking out loud about it, when Elizabeth says that she wishes that Jean Paul would just let them open it. This enrages Vangie, who says, “I made a mistake when I asked yo to join the séance. I need all the help I can get, but yours will disrupt!”

“I will not be ordered around!” Elizabeth shouts.

Hearing Vangie scream about how she brings anger, Elizabeth leaves for Holly’s room, where she confides in her about how she doesn’t trust Jean Paul anymore. I think that this is Martin’s subtle way of letting the audience know that her romantic pursuit of Jean Paul/Jacques is over and the new producer and writers have no intentions on continuing it.

Elizabeth’s dress has some interesting pleats/pintucks in the front.

Holly asks her if she believes that the rabbit is Erica’s reincarnation. She thinks it’s ridiculous, but acknowledges that they must humor him while they are stuck on the island because his delusions affect everyone trapped there. “Holly, we need each other,” she says, “if only to exchange notes.” She persuades Holly to return to the séance to keep tabs on what happens.

Elizabeth has come to her senses.

Meanwhile in the Great Hall, Vangie lampshades Jean Paul’s and Alison’s absences again and predicts Dan’s death and Jean Paul’s continued possession. (At least that’s what I think she means by “Jean Paul’s mind and body will hang in the balance by an act of the Devil.”) Still determined to disbelieve in his religion’s personification of evil, Matt accuses either her, Raxl, or someone else on the island of masquerading as the Devil. She starts to try talking him into staying and being part of the séance using his belief in the afterlife, when Dan arrives and announces loudly and in the direction of Jean Paul’s bedroom(!) that he’s going to use one of the boats in the boathouse to escape and tell the police about his suspicions.

That’s when Holly arrives for the séance do-over. This time, it’s four visible characters--Holly, Dan, Matt, and Vangie--plus the spirit, thus making a total of five. Like the first séance, she tells them only to focus on Erica, but this time Dan’s anger disrupts the contact and Vangie flips out on him!

The bad subtitle here, while not especially original, is too perfect.

He storms out and the séance continues. Vangie calls on her father for help, saying, “There is a message...a warning...I cannot bring it through! The path must be clear! What is the warning, Conjure Man?”

And then, all of a sudden, the spirit comes through:

Vangie: (possessed) “Let me out! OUT! Let me out!”

“OUT, OUT, OUT, OOOOUUUUTTT! Is he here yet, Jean Paul? JEAN PAAAAAUUUUULLLL!” [Notice that they’re not touching hands as Vangie insisted that the participants of the first séance do.]

Holly: (possessed) “Out, out, out. Let me out.”

“Out, out, out, OUT, OUT, OUT, AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Matt directs Dan to the decanter with a tilt of his head and Dan makes Holly drink the wine that Elizabeth poured for Vangie earlier. But, rather than calm her, the wine makes her collapse to the floor in agony:

Holly faints from the poison in the wine.

“If the missing cyanide was in this, I’m afraid Holly is dead!” says Dan after sniffing the inside of the glass. But is it cyanide, and is Holly Marshall dead? I suppose you’ll have to stay tuned for Episode 45 (the episode or the review).

I don’t want you to think that, because I criticized some things about this episode, I must dislike it. Quite the contrary. While some things about this episode do reek of subverting expectations just for the sake of subversion (they didn’t have to film a séance episode on Colin Fox’s day off), the final scene is wonderfully chilling and Angela Roland gets to use her acting chops more in this episode than in any of the previous ones. Also, the missing cyanide subplot finally becomes relevant again at the end with Holly’s collapse after drinking the wine.

Coming up next: A two-part post looking at the best and worst things about Ian Martin’s episodes of Strange Paradise, followed by the Episode 45 review. I’ve been working hard on these and look forward to posting them within the next week.

{ <- Previous: Episode 43   ||   Next: Episode 45 -> }

Notes

[1] Sid Adilman, “TV’s Colin Fox and his Strange Paradise,” Toronto Telegram, November 29, 1969. I omitted part of this passage to avoid spoilers, but the omitted portion is also noteworthy in that it indicates that they had already begun filming Desmond Hall by November 1969.

[blackrose-ffxiv]

Dress for the Class You Want 07/17

After adjusting his beret for the thousandth time, changing his gloves to nicer leather ones, and pulling his coat a bit more snugly around himself, Quincy Pallene departed at last for the Scholasticate. He walked at just the right pace, took just the right route, and thus arrived at just the right time to the Scholasticate. He was nervous as he approached the proctor standing at the door, and politely requested Onfroi Haillenarte, who should be expecting him. At that point, he tucked himself politely near a stained glass window, hands tucked behind his back, to wait for his...friend's...arrival.

Onfroi de Haillenarte looked much as he did on the last visit. The same black robes of a scholasticate student. The same glasses. The same unkempt hair. He slouched slightly in the doorway, not quite leaving the safety of the scholasticate’s grounds as he peered around. His gaze didn’t even settle on Quincy at first. He seemed to be looking for something else. When he didn’t find it he finally turned his attention fully to the redhead. “Anselme didn’t come with you today.” He noted as he finally left the shelter of the doorway and walked to join the other near the stained glass. “I didn’t expect you to come alone. Hello again.” A hand lifted and fingers curled into a half-hearted sort of greeting.

Quincy gave a polite bow, making no move to shake Onfroi's hand. He shrugged. "Anselme is busy most of the time. He's training with the Argent dragoons to keep in shape, and helping with a few misadventures. I see him at meals, would you like me to take him a message to come see you?" He offered politely. He downplayed the fact that Anselme sometimes found Quincy in his study corner of choice to eat cookies -- Onfroi didn't need any ammunition.

Lips pursed briefly before the older boy smiled, dropping his hand back to his side as though it had become too troublesome to hold it up any longer. “No. Now that I know where he is I can find him. I didn’t expect you to come at all.” He rephrased. “Especially by yourself. I thought I had scared you away.” Almost as an afterthought he tilted a fraction forwards in what was probably a bow.

Quincy looked mildly uncomfortable, then huffed. "You," he said carefully, "are probably the least scary thing I have faced in cycles and cycles. You have no idea what scary is. This is an opportunity that I won't pass up, so I am afraid you will have to keep to your word. I'm sure you don't mind -- I'll be a novelty that you can tout about, so long as I get what I want, too." He lifts his chin, doing his best to be brave. "I want to know what to do to get in here."

The elezen’s head tilted about forty five degrees to the right in a sudden motion as he knocked his bangs out of his eyes to peer more intently at the hyur. The Haillenarte brothers shared the same pale blue eyes, yet on one it was a summer sky, another a frozen tundra and on this one the closest approximation was an uncut tourmaline, rough but with hints of something sparkling underneath. “You’re a bit rude.” Onfroi noted flatly. “But that’s to be expected and I’m glad you came back. I even hope you pass your exams.” He stated as though he should be congratulated on his benevolence. A shoulder tilted to indicate the direction of the door and Onfroi turned on his heel to head back, assuming Quincy would follow.

"You were rude first." Quincy retorts, just as bluntly. He then smiles sweetly. "But that's to be expected. I'm glad I came back, too. I wore a nice ruff." He reaches up, pulling his hat off and smoothing his hair before he tucks the chappeu into a pocket of his satchel. He followed after Onfroi with no comment on how kind he was. People didn't get accolades for not being terrible, at least not in Quincy's book. "I'm smarter than almost everyone, so I don't suppose it will be too difficult. One must always be prepared, though. You can't study too much."

“I’m allowed to be.” He explained as he led the way through the hallways back towards the library. The elezen’s attention moved over to what Quincy was wearing, as though noticing it for the first time. “So you did. It looks funny on you, your neck is short.” He explained, though the small smile had returned. The doors to the library were already open, a few students studying hard at tables around the room but Onfroi headed directly for one of the open ones. “It’s good you tried, though.” He added on as he patted the table he had claimed as theirs.

Quincy was annoyed. Onfroi was such a brat. "No one has any excuse anymore to be an awful person, Onfroi," He pointed out, even as he produced a cloth from his satchel and set to wiping off his seat and the table before the seat. Only then did he sit, and produce parchment, quill, and inkwell, and set to arranging them neatly in front of himself. "These were a gift from the man I'm going to apprentice to. He paid the personal tailor to the Argents to make it for me. I think it looks quite nice."

“I’m being honest. Not awful.” Onfroi clarified, holding up a finger then pointing where the other boy was seated to instruct him to wait there. The elezen wandered off in a little more direct pace now that he had a clear objective in mind, gathering up a few books before he returned to set them down in front of Quincy, keeping the spines turned towards himself to obscure the titles for the moment. Then he continued. “Don’t trust older men with expensive gifts.” He suggested calmly as he picked up the first book and turned it to face Quincy. “What if they want you to pay it back.” Book number one was the ever-popular much-debated Enchiridion. “This one doesn’t matter as much anymore but you should still be familiar. If you aren’t already.”

"Who hasn't read about the Fury? It was one of the few books the Archives had multiple copies of. I've read the past four editions, of course, and the changes were subtle but fascinating. You've obviously read the first edition and this one?" He pulled it over, flipping open the cover. "Ah, a third." He made a careful note. "Third edition, Enchiridion." He murmured to himself. "As for Sir Lionnet wanting me to pay anything back, I doubt it. He's just eager to see me get in here. The Argents will be sponsoring me, though, and I wanted to talk to Anselme about sponsoring me as well. A ward of one House and a friend to another -- quite the resume, is it not?"

The smile grew somewhat as Quincy took the book and flipped through it, marking it easily for what it was and even which edition. “You are plainly well-read. You did say you had a job didn’t you? Which means sums won’t be a problem.” He turned the next book around and laid it down in front of Quincy. A History of Ishgard, already decried as being full of inaccuracies and better suited for bed time stories than fact. “Resourceful too if you’re already gathering connections and building yourself a case. Admirable in smallfolk, making do with everything they have. What did you want to study here?”

Quincy copied down the title, though he shook his head in amusement. "Aren't they moving on from the History of Isghard to the Revelations of Ishgardian History? It's a new book, but it shouldn't be difficult for the Scholasticate to obtain at least one copy." He murmured, before looking up at Onfroi. "You have no idea what resourceful is, Onfroi, you wouldn't last a day where I came from. In fact, I'd be quite impressed if you lasted a bell. I have had three jobs, and I am still working at two of them, of course, to save for my tuition. I translate books into braille for the heads of House de'Bayle, and I organize and tend the library for House Argent at the moment. Sums are easy enough, however, but if there are complex calculations I will need to brush up. I've several books for that, though, now." He smiled a bit. "I learned everything I know by myself, too."

The older boy giggled quietly as he laid the next book atop the first. Sure enough, it was Revelations. “These can’t leave the library, as they’re reference copies. Yet seeing how resourceful you are, I don’t think it will be a problem for you to acquire your own. If the Argents don’t already have a copy or two.” He settled both of his hands atop the stack of books not yet revealed, shaking his bangs out of his face as he listened to the redhead’s ‘resume’. “I want to see you last through a society tea in return.” He suggested calmly, perhaps misunderstanding Quincy’s strutting as an actual challenge. “With handshakes proper greetings.”

Quincy grinned. He was right! He copied down that title as well, looking pleased with himself. His penmanship, of course, was exquisite. "The Argents do have a copy of both, I've skimmed them, helping my friend Luca prepare civics lessons for his sisters." He paused at Onfroi's challenge, then looked thoughtful and curious. Perhaps this was an opportunity... "If I can wear my gloves, and wash my hands somewhere after greetings, I might be able to do it." he mused, "It would be good practice to get over my...hang-ups. If I want to be a chirurgeon, I'll have to, of course." He lifted his chin. "But I bet I could do it." His gaze dropped to the list. "So we've Religions, History, and mathematics. I presume there's classics, as well?"

“I’m going to be a chirurgeon.” Onfroi stated matter-of-factly as he turned the next book to lay it out in front of Quincy. A collection of essays and treatises on the shifting political climate in Ishgard. Followed soon after by a second outdated book explaining the hierarchy of the Theocracy. “The curriculum is changing but studying up on the usual sort of things a private tutor would usually should ensure you pass and receive advanced placement.” Fingers twitched slightly as they settled atop the remaining stack. “I don’t think you could do it. Tea. I’m willing to bet on it.” He offered, the smile quirking somewhat, hitching up on one side to rest a little crooked.

@tuftananke