Episode Report Card Demian: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Something Better Change
By Demian | Season 7 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.22.2005
Hell. Zankou's meditating, or whatever, over his open-pit barbecue as Secretly INSANE Brody snits, "I don't understand -- what are we waiting for?" He gets his answer when The Straggly Demon Of Bad Suits blazes into the chamber, howling in agony. Zankou, who apparently sucked the Straggler into the chamber, tosses out a quick freeze, then crosses to circle the Straggler with his hand scanning the burning demon's head. Once Zankou's retrieved the information he'd been seeking, he releases the freeze, and the Straggler continues on his way to The Waste Land. At Brody's prompting, Zankou quickly reveals he interrupted the Straggler's vanquish to discover the identity of the Avatar they'll be "flushing out" for Brody's deadly vial of tendrilly doom. Zankou then sends Irritating Max Perlich to recruit a volunteer for the next part of his plan while Brody rages on some more about the Glamorous Ladies' safety. "What are we waiting for?" he reiterates. Zankou claps a friendly hand on Brody's shoulder and replies, "The opportune moment for you to show yourself." And with that, Zankou blazes both himself and the bulging one...
...up to Straight Estates, where he reveals yet another small part of this evening's larger plan. Zankou will finagle a way to send Raige, still infected with the paranoia crystal, to Straight Estates. Once Raige arrives, Brody's to convince her that Uniqua, unbeknownst to the other Avatars, placed him in some sort of protected spot so The Change would overtake the rest of the earth's populace while leaving him unaffected. Zankou quite rightly believes that this information will amp up Raige's paranoia to the point where she'll demand an explanation. When Uniqua flares in to offer one, Brody's to unleash the deadly vial of tendrilly doom. Brody once more insists on first learning how to reverse the paranoia. Oded Fehr, who by now has easily become the best guest demon they've had on this show since Crazy Grace Zabriskie -- and even, quite possibly, the early Colethazor -- casually leans against the counter in the kitchenette and at last reveals that all Brody need do is shatter the crystal. Brody makes a mopey face and wonders why Zankou didn't provide that information long before now. "Leverage," Zankou twinkles. He sidles past Brody, exhorting the latter not to miss Uniqua with the deadly vial of tendrilly doom, before backing himself up towards Brody's front door, where he blazes out. Brody, looking all conflicted and angsty, then inexplicably crosses to an old New York City souvenir snow globe -- it features the World Trade Center -- and shakes it around pensively because he's...thinking about his parents again? And how his life's unfortunate events have conspired to lead him to this point? It's not clear.
Out in the street, Phoebe and Dolta pick their way through a clot of slumbering bodies outside a movie theater as Phoebe's paranoia leads her once more to question the Avatars' true motives, going to far as to compare them to Greeks bearing gifts and whatnot. So distracted is she that she fails to spot a couple of Stragglers in time, and is forced to jiggle away to safety while Dolta deals with the demons. He demolishes one Flaming Ball Of Death and takes another one, harmlessly, to his shoulder before the two Stragglers squiggle out. Why he didn't vanquish them is beyond me, but that, supposedly, isn't as important as Dolta realizing there's something very wrong with his sister-in-law. He's just noticing this now? Dolta latches onto her arm and orbs out of there, heading back to the Manor.