Jer at Sleeping Bag Studios -
Episode by Episode
Jer runs Sleeping Bag Studios and is the new Lester Bangs; hilarious, way, way off-center, AND Canadian. You can find his reviews on all things music at Sleeping Bag Studios.
Well this is heckin’ strange ain’t it…I’m reviewing podcasts now? What a world, what a world.
I’ll preface this initial review of the Purgatory, Missouri, series by saying that, YES…there could very well be some kind of spoilers found in here…but that the twisted mind of Stuart Pearson will pretty much make it guaranteed that any kind of theories I could come up with will be exactly that – theories, and likely nothing more. So while I might cite a scene or two that will tell you a little somethin’ here and there, without the context of the whole show and series to follow, you’ll only ever be as lost as I am.
What I can tell you with unwavering enthusiasm, is that YES – you should listen to every audible morsel of this show for yourself, because if you’re anything like me whatsoever, you’ll absolutely love this adventure into the mouth of madness. Plus, it comes with a freakin’ disclaimer warning, so it’s gotta be good, right? Y’all know I’m always willing to go down the rabbit hole with Stuart Pearson, wherever that may lead – and here we are…apparently you drop into Purgatory, Missouri. Which at least, seems better than just being dropped at random on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike like in Being John Malkovich…maybe?
You gotta love the Rod Serling-esque beginning to this show! No joke folks, if you’re not immediately engaged with this series from the very moment it starts, I’d be checking yourself for a pulse and some kind of confirmation that you are indeed, still amongst the land of the living. Honestly, it’s freakin’ terrifying right from its introduction, and if this represents even a fraction of the weight of what we’re about to experience here, you better buckle the fuck on up, because this will be one helluva ride.
You’ll start with a frantic call to the hospital from Arthur, who’s desperate to get in touch with nurse Kayla Munson, regarding Belinda, who began to shake and…speak? She’s been in homecare, stuck in a coma of some sorts, and clearly speaking wasn’t something anyone was expecting anytime soon. I loved listening to Purgatory, Missouri taking shape…there are phone calls flying around all over the place as it begins, with one in particular landing on the titular character of Theresa, who is calling from a payphone (remember those, kids?) from an unknown location. It sounds like she’s not even sure where she is, and can only give the description of a “rundown carnival” as her whereabouts. The details she proceeds to leave on a message only serve to heighten the tension, mystery & intrigue – and if you’re at all the type of person to get creeped right out by circus-related stuff & clowns & shit…again, Purgatory, Missouri presents itself like it’s gonna be real damn tough on your nerves and anxiety. Theresa sounds equally terrified and angry…and she might just be leaving us a clue of some kind on that first call as she vents her frustration, hangs up the phone, and says “Why did I just call myself Theresa?” I’m no detective (at least not officially…yet), but that seems like a random piece of information we should keep tucked away.
As the guy that writes here on this particular site of ours, you better believe that I appreciate the way that Purgatory, Missouri also works in music from Pearson’s American Gothic album, which as I understand things, it should! As far as I know, it’s the original inspiration for the whole shebang, so heck yeah, it was awesome to hear a piece of “We Are The Falling Rain” pop up in between chapters. The music itself is probably a clue too, come to think of it! Oh boy…I don’t know how I ended up with this here assignment, but suffice it to say, a clueless person like myself is bound to think EVERYTHING is a clue. So take that to heart dear readers, dear friends…and take anything I say with the proverbial grain of salt.
Back to Theresa. She’s confronted by someone shortly after she hangs up the phone, and that person seems to be normal enough, with the exception of the fact that she believes she’s dreaming and none of this is real. The creativity you’ll find in this show, and the voices being used, are outstanding…LISTEN to the attention to detail in the background…everything feels shrouded in shadows, looming and ominous. The description of what’s surrounding these two main characters as Theresa tries to get a grip on where she is, how she got here, and how she might get out, sounds terrifying. From the mounted cameras that are attached above them, to the carnies that are endlessly wandering around them like zombies, to the fact that neither Theresa or her new friend have any concept of how long they’ve actually been here for…Purgatory, Missouri gets real damn creepy, real damn quick. It sounds as if they’ve entered into the land of lost souls, and the longer that they stay, the more chance they have of never leaving.
But what if…what if the character of Harold might give us more insight into what this is and how we all got here? “Why did I think bouncing on a ledge was funny?” he says – and believe me when I tell ya, it sounds like he means it…you can hear the substantial regret in his voice. So now I’m thinking, what if Purgatory, Missouri, is like…some kind of metaphor for the carnival of life, yet rather than bringing together the good and happy things we typically associate with theme parks and such, this is like, where everybody that died in some kind of freak accident goes when they die…like a whole circus of misfortune? Harold…one of these ‘Pinbots’ that ping and pong off of the people that are lucky enough to still have some kind of consciousness, is like another way of saying NPC, which is pretty much what I use to label most of the people I encounter in my own daily life. Believe me when I tell ya, I understand the horror.
A seemingly simple, but crucial question is asked of Theresa by her newfound friend – does she remember the last thing she was doing before she got to where she is now? Theresa doesn’t have any recollection of that particular moment – but her friend does…and guess what? It’s a tale that seems to support my theory about Harold and how people might end up in Purgatory, Missouri…so maybe, just maybe, I am onto something after all. Then right as we seem we’re about to get some answers, the walls seem to cave right in on the reality we’ve just been exposed to, and we’re back in the real world – or at least, so we think. Back to the opening story of Belinda’s plight, complete with the hospital clicks and beeps of keep-you-alive machinery…which of course, introduces a new question. If Theresa didn’t know why she called herself Theresa, does that mean Theresa, is actually Belinda? It could potentially fray the edges of my theory on Harold and Theresa’s friend from the phone booth, but not irreparably. In fact, the way her friend appears to be drifting in and out of consciousness all of a sudden, and the fact that Theresa’s friend in this circus of misfortune was so certain that Theresa would join them one day soon, might just confirm that there’s a little weight to my theory…that because Belinda isn’t dead yet, is the only thing that has stopped her from ending up in Purgatory, Missouri, permanently. On the surface it seems like it’s the friend that’s glitching out…but it could represent Theresa/Belinda’s struggle to survive and the ability we have to fill in the blanks with our own thoughts and assumptions. The way that we justify the things we can’t explain, with something more comforting. As in, it might not have been Theresa’s friend glitching out at all, but could very well have been Theresa – we just don’t know! To further the point I’m making, if you, and everyone around you all appeared to be dead, wouldn’t it be much nicer to label it as all being a dream instead? Though I’ll admit, nightmare seems like it would be the more appropriate term…but we’ll go with it for now…and I think you get where I’m going with this.
I’m gonna say it again, as your friendly, neighborhood music-slinger – I love, love, LOVE the way that Pearson’s music is threaded into this story. Not only does it potentially provide additional clues and/or insight into the tale of Purgatory, Missouri, but it also gives you even more context to the album itself, to the point where we now have to wonder if it was the chicken or the egg that came first, you know what I mean? It now occurs to me, that this tale of American Gothic, was always clear to Stuart Pearson. That doesn’t necessarily make it any clearer for US…yet…but with his natural ability for storytelling, I’m confident that he’ll leave us enough breadcrumbs along the trail to figure out where the hell he’s going with Purgatory, Missouri. Regardless of if I ever solve this mystery or not, I’m happy to be on this ride.
Eventually, we come to learn that Theresa’s friend goes by the name of Blanca, which is wonderful for the symbolism it represents in such a bizarre realm where there are no definitive answers. She gifts Theresa with the most important piece of advice she feels she can give her, which is “to remember who you are” – and if you’re following this story & the theories I’m working with, that could be downright crucial to her survival and/or her never ending up in this crazy plain of existence forevermore. I found it interesting that each character seems to still have instincts as to what the right way to approach this situation would be…almost like they’d have to have been there before in some way. For Theresa, it seems super important that she stays close to that phone in case someone calls her back. For Blanca, she’d rather try to find the exit door somewhere over by the midway. Even in the strangest places, we all still have an inkling of which direction we should go…call it our inner compass I suppose. It’s a thing. It has to be a thing. If it wasn’t a thing, we’d all just be standing still and never go anywhere at all, right?
​
Blanca’s description of what happens to the Pinbots occasionally is outrageously funny to conceive of, and my sincere hope for all of you listening is that, whichever way you choose to go, hopefully it’s not that one. I ain’t gonna ruin that moment for you though…so you’ll have to listen for yourself to get the full gist. “Try to laugh when you can around here, right?” I think listeners sitting by their old wooden radios and transistors listening to Purgatory, Missouri, will appreciate the slight break in the inherent creepiness.
​
Things get chaotic as we’re introduced to a couple of characters checking out the Tunnel Of Love, which seems to breakthrough another phone call Theresa is attempting to place. Then the loudspeaker kicks in shortly afterwards, bellowing out the attractions all these unknowing souls can take part in. When it suddenly appears to start speaking directly to Theresa, and asks her if she would “like to experience something your eyes can see but your brain can not comprehend,” for a second, before going back to the list of potential entertainment…it feels like the park itself could be yet another character with its own personality that she’ll have to contend with as well. In the very next moment, Theresa witnesses what sounds like the very scenario that could have sent her to this ungodly place…and we learn the original situation that put her in the position she’s in now. “And just like that,” we realize that we might not have even been introduced to a main character in Theresa at all, but that we might also have a much better understanding of who the real star of this whole show truly is – Purgatory, Missouri. Stay tuned.
I’ll be back bi-weekly to discuss the next episodes, and see if I can come up with some new theories for ya. Make sure you’re checking this out for yourself – find the episodes of Purgatory, Missouri posted up at Stuart Pearson’s main site at: https://www.stuartpearsonmusic.com/purgatory-missouri-episodes
Purgatory, Missouri – Season One, EP 2: Tony
Alright you creepers…I’m back, as promised, ready to talk more about this here new podcast from the wonderfully twisted mind of Stuart Pearson, known as Purgatory, Missouri. If you haven’t read my thoughts on the debut episode, you should really catch up by clicking here – but if you’re not listening to this podcast for yourself yet, then for real…WTF is wrong with you! Be ashamed. Be very ashamed!
​
Okay maybe that’s a bit harsh, but you get the point. This series has been immediately shaping up to be super cool with its haunting vibes and mysterious storylines, and as anyone reading my notes on episode one would be able to tell ya, I’ve clearly become an instant fan. I had the feeling I would be, for the record – there’s just something about this Stuart Pearson guy I tell ya…whether it’s the music he makes, or the communication I’ve had with him behind the scenes, or remarkable stories like he’s crafting here in Purgatory, Missouri, or the interview I was lucky enough to snag with him last year…I’m tellin’ ya, Pearson is an incredibly gifted, highly creative, visionary individual, and he always creates wildly compelling stuff.
Do yourself a favor, and start listening to this show…especially if you dig things on the eerie side of life (and/or death). As always, I’d like to remind you all that I’m horrendously bad at keeping my big yap shut…there will be spoilers of some kind in here, I’m certain of it. I recommend clicking play on Episode 2 of Purgatory, Missouri, BEFORE you read my rantings (and/or ravings) here, so that I don’t taint your theories. Because lord knows I wouldn’t truly be able to accurately predict what is really goin’ on here.
​
A new episode, and a new character to be introduced to – Tony (played by Gary Lamb). He’s on the phone to start this episode up, and he sounds rightly pissed off…downright incensed if you ask me. I don’t wanna say we’re playing into stereotypes here, but Tony is gonna sound exactly how ALL of the Tonys in your head sound, and he’s probably just as nice in that regard as well. He’s doing his best to get his wife Marie (played by Julia Albert) back, and having to go through her friend Leslie (played by Gina Elaine) to get to her. Much like the last time we started up a Purgatory, Missouri episode, the insanity and chaos cuts to the quick immediately…and before you even reach the first break with Pearson’s music, you’re fully immersed in this show all over again. How could you not be? Honestly, that’s a legitimate question. Purgatory, Missouri is proving to have it all…mystery, drama, suspense, thrills, chills…annnd I’m starting to sound like the Crypt Keeper in trying to describe this…
​
Soon enough, Tony has discovered the (presumably) same phone booth that our friend Theresa from episode one ended up standing beside. He picks it up, and hears a message from the emergency broadcast system…which is…an interesting tidbit that feels like we should keep on file in the notes of our mind as we continue to listen. If you recall some of the theories I was working with in my last review, it seems like we could have a similar situation here…we heard a gunshot early on in this episode, but do we really know who it was that died? Purgatory, Missouri, could still very much be the island of lost souls of sorts…and maybe, just maybe, it was Tony that got a permanent dose of cold leadicillin. It’s not long after his first phone call experience that he runs into his first lunatic Pinbot that is frantically trying to understand how and why they got there, and of course, as is the case with all Pinbots, Tony learns they can’t really be reached. Living in a mental purgatory and caged by madness, these Pinbots run around on endless loops of insanity that is solely focused on what caused their apparent demise, yet the connection to the event itself seems entirely lost on them…like they know what happened, but they don’t understand the chain of events or the decisions they made that led them to their newfound fate.
“Come find me Tony,” is what he hears whispering to him on the wisps of the fog in his brain as he tries in vain to search for Marie…and if there’s anything that we learned for sure in listening to episode one, it’s that we should really keep questioning how sane we think Tony really is. He might already be further gone than we realize…as in, just because we’re meeting him for the first time as listeners, doesn’t necessarily mean he hasn’t been in Purgatory, Missouri, for a hot minute or two. I really liked this haunting element of the voices surrounding him though…we can’t really tell if they’re just what he hears in his head, or if it’s actually this twisted circus of zombie-like people that’s taunting him out loud. In any event, it’s not just Marie’s voice that he’s hearing…there are others…and they’re not so friendly.
​
The phone booth reappears, in a new location, and is just as enticing to Tony’s curiosity once again. As he grabs the receiver once again, it’s that familiar emergency broadcast warning we’ve heard before. You see? I might never know what the heck is goin’ on, but I know a clue when I hear one. There’s something goin’ on there…and you’ll once again hear Marie’s voice drifting in on the icy wind around him, potentially spelling out what really happened to her…so make sure to pay attention to that too.
​
More crucially, we run into Blanca once again…you know…the seemingly conscious individual that we were introduced to in the first episode? She’s baaaaaaaack. And she’s still with it somehow. We don’t know why just yet, but so far as we can tell, Purgatory, Missouri, has yet to fully sink its hooks into her psyche. Does that mean she’s a part of this place and its illusory characters? Is she the one that really knows what is going on here? Is Blanca in fact, the puppet master pulling the strings in behind the scenes and the only person that knows how everyone really ends up here, but is playing coy about it and refusing to share all the information she has? Don’t get me wrong, she’s plenty talkative and seems very willing to relate her experiences & share her own theories – but how do we KNOW that she can be trusted? Can we completely rule it out that she’s not far more knowledgeable about what’s going on? I’ll say this…from my perspective…it sounds like we’ve got no real choice but to kind of ride along with Blanca as our tour guide to get through Purgatory, Missouri…I feel like she’s the ultimate source for any clues we might be fortunate enough to stumble onto…like she’s dropping us tiny breadcrumbs of truth.
​
And just as WE think we might be possibly grasping some kind of KERNEL of what could be true, you’ll hear Pearson’s music come on for another break in the story, as he sings “you’ll never really know” in what plays like a real-time taunt for how twisted around he’s likely got just about everyone listening. Cute. Real cute Stuart. Sassy…I like it. The man’s got attitude…and knows so much more than we do.
​
We follow a similar process with Blanca doing her best to get Tony to recall the final moments before he arrived in Purgatory, Missouri. Honestly, she’s freakin’ fantastic. She’s got a wild sense of humor, and you really get the sense that she’s stable enough to have seen just about everything that this bizarre realm has to offer. Blanca makes a reference to some dude named Carlo…and much the same as how Theresa didn’t know she was Theresa in the previous episode, the lines begin to blur here in episode two, when it comes to Tony. Blanca simply starts referring to him AS Carlo…so we have to at least ask ourselves if she could be right about that, given that she seems to be the only one that has any kind of a grip on what it’s like to be stuck in Purgatory, Missouri. Was Tony ever Tony? Or is Carlo projecting to himself, some kind of James Gandolfini-esque version of Tony Soprano, to be his own persona now? I ask all these things rhetorically of course, because I ain’t expecting to find any damn answers here. Blanca’s more aggressive with Tony than she was with Theresa, but he’s kinda earned it by being a bit of a dick. She’s actively looking forward to this guy turn on into a Pinbot, which is deliciously sarcastic and evil. “Jeez, you’re a trunk-full of chuckles lady” says Tony/Carlo…he ain’t wrong, but again, he deserves the treatment he’s getting. Blanca outright continues to mock him openly to his face…and then I feel like we get one of the biggest insights into this whole story as she starts hauling out a set of intricate personal details that she couldn’t have possibly known…unless she knows more than she’s been lettin’ on, right? Blanca’s becoming the true key to our figuring out what’s happening in Purgatory, Missouri.
​
I love that, again, similar to episode one, you’ll find that the whole circus of freaks around the featured character is equally alive and potentially dangerous. Much like Theresa experienced, Tony starts talking to the park itself, and hears voices responding to him directly from the loudspeakers & such…and perhaps that’s the cue we should take in knowing that our main character is about to lose their mind once & for all? Tony heads into the Hall of Mirrors, and it’s just as terrifying as you could likely imagine. Not only do you get the sound of circus music decomposing all around you as your soundtrack, but Tony soon discovers that the Hall of Mirrors is going to show him clips of his own damn life and all the things that were awful about it. I don’t know about y’all, but I’d take a hard pass on going into a place like this, and I’ve been a fairly good person most of my life! Who wants to see all their mistakes and missteps up close and personal all over again? No thanks! That’s horrifying. But the metaphor that’s going on here, is spectacular, vivid, and incredibly well thought-out. It’s been said that the only way out is through by folks with far superior intellects than my own…but I have the feeling that this isn’t the case when it comes to the hall of mirrors, and that instead of a way out, it’s going to be what locks Tony in forever.
​
Blanca and Tony end up tussling hard, and distorting reality altogether. It ends up ripping the very fabric of time around them in this carnival, and even the voices will change as you exit out the other side of it all. Obviously, this is a MAJOR clue in terms of figuring things out in the long run…but I’ll be damned if I can make some kind of sense out of it…yet. All I can really tell you right now, is that the experience of what we go through at the end of episode two, is very reminiscent of how Theresa and the story of what was happening to Belinda during episode one, seemed to have some kind of parallel. It’s like…if you’ve ever held your ear up to some radio static as the station fades out of signal strength, and starts to cross its stream with another, so that you end up hearing other voices, mixed messages & different programs altogether…that’s kind of what it’s like to listen to Purgatory, Missouri when it goes into this multi-level/dimensional gear. We end up questioning which side of the glass we’re on with each episode in a way…and I’m digging that. It’s like Pearson is putting us into our own hall of mirrors too while we listen.
​
It’s all gotta mean something…but I don’t know exactly what…not yet anyway. Gimme a couple weeks to digest this all, and I’ll be back to talk about episode three soon enough. As we continue to dig six feet deep with these characters of Purgatory, Missouri, eventually we gotta strike some answers in the murk and the mire somewhere, right? I hope so. I’m starting to feel anxious…like I’m frantically searching for something that can never actually be known…and that by the end of listening to this show, I might very well end up running around like a crazy Pinbot myself, never knowing what’s real or what isn’t anymore.
Two weeks is like a lifetime these days, ain’t it? Not only is it tough to wait for another incredible installment of this here show, Purgatory, Missouri, from the devilishly delightful mind of Stuart Pearson, but to be honest, I’ve got the comprehension of a freakin’ goldfish, and after twenty-four hours my whole mental slate has basically been wiped clean, never mind two full weeks! I became artificially intelligent long before it was cool. Retention ain’t my strong suit…I suppose that’s what I’m tellin’ ya. I revert back to my factory settings almost every night whilst I sleep like the events of the day before didn’t even happen, reset for the morning and the next day ahead. But alas…this world likes to string us along like we’re chasing the proverbial carrot on a stick, don’t it? All the best shows make you wait at least a little while before doling out that next episode, partly because absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, does it not? It’s a darkened heart in this particular case I reckon, but you get what I mean. Time to strap in for the latest episode of Purgatory, Missouri.
So let’s see here…we met Theresa in the first chapter, and we met Tony in the next…today we meet Roger, who is played by the legendary icon himself, Mr. Dave Foley. I maintain, the intro of this freakin’ show alone is always enough to ice your spine…it’s damn near like everything else that happens after it is a bonus, every time. OKAY – episode three is gonna be like THIS is it? Right off the drop, you can instantly hear that there’s a MAJOR plot twist within what feels like mere seconds, which may or may not confirm some of the suspicions we’ve all had as we’re introduced to Roger and how he got himself to Purgatory, Missouri. As always, I completely recommend you have a listen to the show before you read this stuff I’m gonna write about it, because I am spoiler-central y’all. At least in my own way. I’m not known for having any correct theories about anything, but I do reveal details and what those details do to jolt the circuitry of my brainwaves. So while I can’t promise you anything I’ll say is right in what I’d surmise, I can promise you lots of leaked information about the episode. It’s best for you to listen first.
Anyhow. Where was I? Right. The first seconds of episode three. Are we to believe that Roger has purposely found his way to Purgatory, Missouri, through some kind of near death experience? Like he found this remarkable loophole that would allow him to travel there, yet still get the fuck outta there too, because he’s not actually dead? Roger himself seems to have a different assessment than I do as we’re introduced to him, but one that I certainly appreciate – he’s talking about Simulation Theory, of which I spend at least half of my days on Earth considering as well. With the Pinbots being so closely linked to NPCs, we’ve gotta at least ponder the possibility that Roger is correct about his whereabouts and…whyabouts? Is whyabouts a thing yet? If it isn’t, I’m declaring it is as of now…patent pending. “Oh…hi…normal human?” asks Roger to a familiar voice we know as Blanca (played by the absolutely incredible and essential to Purgatory, Missouri – Crissy Guerrero), and we’re back in full swing with the show that we love. Couldn’t have an episode without Blanca, could we? Roger is desperately trying to figure out how to play the game that he thinks he’s a part of, clinging onto the idea that he’s a player in a simulation and not in fact, dead. Which is also interesting, ain’t it? I was so sure at the start that he figured out a way to bust into the realm of the beyond, and he’s way more convinced that he simply jumped to level one on his first quarter. “I killed myself,” Roger admits…and so while he might not end up having the way back we thought that he might at the start when we met him, Purgatory, Missouri might just have found its latest victim/permanent resident instead. People sure have a way of opening right up to Blanca when they meet her I tell ya, and bless this fine lady, she’s as amused by it as we are. She’s proficient in the art of sarcasm to a level that’s outright astonishing, and something to aspire to.
Maybe there’s an Occam’s Razor thing goin’ on here. When someone shows you who they are, we’re supposed to believe them the first time, right? Blanca has been telling us from episode one that all these characters are meeting up in HER dreams – so maybe that’s what’s really happening. Seems like it’s just as plausible at this point as any other theory we could come up with on our own, doesn’t it? I love the fact that she essentially confronts Roger directly with this concept, which basically means that he doesn’t even exist at all…never has, never will, POOF – he’s just a character made up in her dreams.
Suddenly, Blanca seems to glitch right the fuck out in front of him in the middle of their conversation (rude!), and she doesn’t have any recollection of what occurred after she snaps back to…umm…reality? She does however, have a really odd connection to the phone booth that we should be keeping an ear on, which has Blanca knowing exactly when it will ring, and she directs the characters we’ve met along the way to answer the call. “My mouth has a mind of its own,” says our master of sarcasm – but this episode really dives into the fact that Blanca also knows much more about the people roaming through this crazy carnival and the history behind how they got here than they even seem to know themselves. The second phone call from the booth, which has a really weird & wonderful way of showing up in all kinds of places throughout this nightmarish theme park as they walk, is even MORE fun than the first – as it turns out, our friend Roger has already got himself a promotion to become a sideshow operator.
While he appears somewhat reluctant to accept the role, he doesn’t turn away from the idea at first either, and off they go to the Hall Of Mirrors to talk to Five (played by Mindy Sterling, who has been a part of just about every show you’ve ever seen and has a resume that stands taller than you are) to see what they can find out. Five is willing to level with Roger about who he is & who he’s about to become, and like many of the victims/unfortunate souls of Purgatory, Missouri, he can’t see the forest for the trees. Like it or not, we listeners already know that Roger is rippin’ down the proverbial highway to hell, and it’s probably only a matter of time before he’s gone as mad as the rest around this circus of carnage. We get further definition to what the Pinbots are from Five’s perspective – she calls them Boogeymen, which are people “lost in their regrets,” and “can’t see anything beyond their own remorse.” That tracks. Roger is also informed that Blanca is “not one of us” – which supports her notion of being the outlier she claims to be. Five seems to have nothing but contempt for Blanca even existing in the same airspace as she is. I find that interesting too…it also supports the idea that Blanca’s basically a part-timer in this place, whereas someone like Five laments her own permanence. Five goes on to warn Roger directly about Blanca – “She may be the most dangerous thing in the carnival, and that is saying something.”
It might already be too late for Roger though, who seems to be going through what Theresa went through in the first episode, right before we’re introduced to a couple of new cats roaming through the carnival. We’ve got Tunnel Of Love (played by Tonoccus McClain) and Highstriker (Alina Foley), who discuss some of the more confusing and complex inner-workings of the way things are run in Purgatory, Missouri. We learn that Five is “second in command” from their conversation, and that Five ain’t exactly well-liked herself. There’s an uprising happening in the ranks, and “change is coming” from what we hear. It’s all insane, and ends up creating more questions than I think I was hoping it might answer, but nonetheless, keeps us listening, riveted, and wondering where in the hell this show is going to end up next as it continues.
