Episode 1.07

Part 1

Episode: 1.07
Air date: July 11, 2002. The episode is set sometime in early June, near the end of the school year
Cast Members: Desi Stark, Doug, and JD

We opened the Episode with a "Previously, on Buffy," where we highlighted the elements from the earlier Episode that would have relevance to this one.

Teaser

Nighttime. A nice car is stopped by the side of the road. We see this car through the windshield of another car. Because there’s a video monitor mounted on the dash of this second car, we take it to be a police cruiser.
The radio inside the police cruiser crackles to life. A voice announces, "Everything checks out OK." A hand enters the frame and picks up the radio handset inside the cruiser and replies, "Roger that." The hand returns the handset to its cradle.
We hear a car door open and close. Moments later, we see a policeman through the windshield, and on the video monitor, as he approaches the first car.
Cut to the driver of the first car. He’s a young, Hispanic-looking kid. Well-dressed, maybe 18. He’s nervously fidgeting, but there are no signs of any illegal activity. The kid straightens when the policeman appears at his window.
- Cop: (handing back driver’s license and registration) Do you know why I pulled you over?
- Kid: No.
- Cop: Your right tail light is broken.
- Kid: (visibly relaxing) Is that bad?
- Cop: It’s not a moving violation, but you want to make sure you get that fixed.
- Kid: OK, I’ll tell my dad.
- Cop: Thank you, Mr. Mendez.
The cop steps away from the car. The kid composes himself and is just about to put the key into the ignition when the cop returns quickly and says angrily, "Thought you’d get away with it this time, didn’t you?" Cut to the view from the cruiser’s windshield as the cop fires point-blank at the kid. A moment later, he fires a second shot at the slumped and motionless driver.
The cop turns and begins to walk back toward the cruiser. Cut to black. Roll theme song and title sequence.

Act 2: The next day at school

JD uses a microscope in biology class to compare the blood she collected from one of the "homeless" prom attackers to the slide of standard human blood. Yup, looks like blood, alright.
Desi is collecting yearbook signatures. She’s all bubbly, and signs others’ yearbooks with joyous wishes and little pictures of flowers.
- Troy signs her yearbook, "Have a great summer, Donna."
- Desi is chatting light-heartedly with everyone she sees. She goes to her locker. When she opens it, the locker door blocks everyone’s view of Desi. The camera, however, is on the same side of the door as Desi, and the camera sees all. Desi’s face falls as she drops her charade of cheer. She sighs heavily.
- There’s a knock on Desi’s open locker door. Desi reasserts her façade of happiness and closes the locker door to reveal Doug. She perkily asks him to sign her yearbook. In a spot by his picture that Desi has reserved for him, Doug writes, "Thanks for pulling me out of that foxhole. You saved my life. –Doug."
- Melissa comes strolling up to Desi, smiling. Melissa and Desi enthusiastically ask each other to sign her yearbook. That done, Melissa poignantly looks at Doug for a moment, does not ask him to sign her yearbook, then says to Desi "Have a great summer!" and strolls off.
- Doug says "I’m going to miss her."
- Desi asks Doug what he’s been doing. He replies he’s been writing songs and studying (not for school – we’ve seen him spending lots of time on his computer, reading up on the occult). Doug points out the information that’s available on the Internet, plus the existence of The Occult Emporium for "hardcopy" books, just a few blocks away. Desi says she thought you had to be a priest to get books about this stuff. Doug says, "No, they just get an expense account. I have to pay for my own."
- Desi asks if Doug found anything about the "homeless people" who attacked the prom. Not so far, he says. Desi says she’s glad that nobody got hurt. That’s when JD comes limping up. Yearbook signings follow. JD signs the book, and also draws a picture, but the camera doesn’t see what it’s of.
- Plans for the summer are discussed. Neither JD nor Doug have any specific plans. Desi’s father will be taking in the local historical sights and tours. They’re not maritime, but they’re interesting. To him. Desi fears she’ll be out of town a lot. Desi plans to do more volunteer work at Phoebe Home so as not to have to go back to Steamtown again.
- Mr. Kovacs is walking down the hall. He sees the Cast Members. Desi does not ask him to sign her yearbook, and he doesn’t offer.
- [Here’s where we decided that Mr. Kovacs is bald. We also retroactively decided he wears a toupee. While he was chaperone at the prom, during the fight, his toupee got launched into the air and landed in the punch bowl. It hasn’t been the same since. And it’s of Mr. Kovacs and his toupee that JD’s picture is. (Diagram that sentence, I dare ya.)]
Cut to scene of the exterior of the police station at 4^th and Hamilton
- Most of the traffic is inbound, entering the police station. Many policemen are bringing in various and sundry ruffians and youths. Some of the kids wear gang colors. In fact, a large cop is dragging a handcuffed Lucas (formerly known as Youth #4) into the police station.
- As Lucas is led into the station, he cockily yells to the crowd things like, "You’re all safe now! He’s got it under control!"
- Inside the station, Lucas is plopped down into a chair for in-processing. The camera pans around the room. There are many people in similar positions throughout the room.
- The camera wends its way to a less-public room in the police station. Uniforms and plainclothes are working busily at desks. A higher-ranking officer (HLG) is crossing the room when he’s stopped by a lower-ranking officer (LRG) with a manila folder in his hand.
  - Lower-Ranking Guy: You need to see this. (hands paper to higher-ranking guy)
  - HRG: What is this?
  - LRG: It’s for the arrest warrants we’re going to be putting out. For the gang stuff. Take a look at who owns that building.
  - HRG: (under his breath) Oh, mother of God! Go show this to Chief Kuhns. (hands paper back and heads out of the room)
  - [In real life, Chief Kuhns resigned as chief of the Allentown police shortly before we played this episode. Whatever’s coming up in our Series bodes ill for Chief Kuhns.]

JD is looking to find Pedro, the Lobo whom Desi and JD saved from the mob last episode.

JD finds Pedro with some other Lobos. She waits around until the other Lobos leave and Pedro is alone. She greets him in Spanish. He doesn’t recognize her, but she convinces him that she was present when Pedro was accosted by the mob of townspeople. She asks him what happened. He honestly doesn’t know; he was on his way to Hamilton Mall to buy new treads [shoes] when the residents of the neighborhood descended on him. ["The whole town is getting strange. My homies are getting picked up by police or getting chased through hoods. That’s not the way it’s supposed to go. We’re supposed to rule here."]
JD wonders if that’s what happened to Lupito – was he the victim of vigilante action? Pedro asks what JD knows about Lupito. JD says he turned up in a park. Dead. Pedro is incredulous. Who killed him? Carmines? Pedro vows revenge on whoever killed Lupito.
It occurs to JD that because of the condition of the body, it may take the police some time to discover the identity of Lupito’s corpse. It’s possible that Pedro may have realized that Lupito was missing, but word hadn’t yet gotten out that he was dead.
When Pedro asks, JD says that Lupito’s body was found in Fountain Park. Pedro vows to take the information of Lupito’s death back to the Lobos so they can strike back against the Carmines. JD points out that it could have been nearby residents who killed him, particularly since Fountain Park isn’t in either gang’s territory. Pedro says that in any case, something has to be done about this.
JD offers that Lupito may have been killed by another Lobo.
In parting, JD says that if Pedro sees anything weird going on, he should let her know. She does not, however, give him a way to contact her. Instead, she says she’ll "be around."
As JD heads home, she passes SeraTec, a corporation that processes and sells human plasma. Healthy people can donate plasma twice a week because the blood cells are separated from the plasma and returned to the donor. According to some of the Carmines, SeraTec pays a donor about $50 for each collection. In fact, the Lobos and Carmines have agreed to a cease-fire while on SeraTec property, because both gangs earn money by donating plasma there.
JD had heard that SeraTec does all sorts of testing on the blood of donors to ensure that the donors are healthy and the blood is safe. She has a brief flashback to the scene in biology class when she was looking at the prom-crashers’ blood through a microscope. As JD enters SeraTec, we cut away.

Cut to Doug. He stops in at the Occult Emporium.

The proprietor of The Occult Emporium, Abe Solomon, is played by Tony Shaloub in an aged version of his role of "Jeebs" from Men in Black.
Solomon is standing behind the counter, watching the shop.
The book on demonology that Doug ordered has arrived.
Doug asks how familiar Solomon is with demons. Solomon draws the blinds and speaks in hushed tones. He asks Doug what he wants to know about demons. Doug says he’s seen several of them, just a few nights ago. They had runes where their eyes were supposed to be. Solomon tells him to come back tonight, alone. Doug asks if he can bring a friend? Solomon consents and Doug leaves with his book.

Desi calls Aegis Security

She’s calling to apply for a job. The personnel director (a woman named Brenda) describes the qualifications (which Desi meets) and schedules an interview.
Cut to a commercial break.

Act 2

An exterior shot of the Allentown police station at 4^th and Hamilton

Approaching the building is James Schuler.
As he approaches the door of the building and is about to enter, Lucas is just about to leave the building. He yells "See you later!" over his shoulder to the policemen inside as he is about to leave.

The door is only wide enough for one person. Mr. Schuler and Lucas reach it at the same time.
Lucas gives Mr. Schuler a cocky stare and holds his ground. James Schuler’s smile never breaks or fades. He also holds his ground.
Mr. Schuler’s demeanor changes subtly. His smile doesn’t diminish, but his eyes harden. With just a slight shift of his shoulders, Mr. Schuler’s body language says, "Civility is not to be wasted on the likes of you." He does not break eye contact with Lucas.
Lucas momentarily glances away, then looks back at Mr. Schuler, who continues to meet his gaze. Lucas looks down. Then he takes a step backward and moves aside. Mr. Schuler passes through the door without a word.

Cut to the basement of the police department, which is where the morgue is located.

Two men in lab coats are looking over a collection of papers.
They begin discussing the body that was found in Fountain Park. Apparently, the papers are somehow related to that case. The findings indicate that, based on appearances and the degree of decay, the body was probably exposed for about two years. However, they found intact marrow inside the bones. Marrow normally degrades within three to four weeks after death. One man asks the other whether he’s sure he performed the analysis correctly.
There’s a knock on the door. Mildly surprised, both men turn toward the door when it opens and Mr. Schuler enters.
Mr. Schuler says, "Hi. I was told by the police officers upstairs that I could come down to see you guys. There was a report in the newspaper that a group of homeless people had attacked a high school prom recently. I had been accosted by a group of homeless people and wanted to verify that these are not the same people who accosted me."
The morgue attendants look at each other and then lead Mr. Schuler over to one of the vaults. They pull open the vault drawer. There's a body in it, covered with a sheet.
- When they pull back the sheet, we see an unkempt and unwashed man with a scraggly beard.
- Mr. Schuler looks down at the body, then looks up at the faces of the attendants. "No, that's not one of them. Thank you for your time."
- He turns and walks away. The camera remains on him as he exits. As the door closes behind him, the camera tilts down to show, lying in the drawer, one of the rune-eyed guys as Desi and friends saw them.
- Cut to one of the attendants. "That was weird." He pulls the sheet over the corpse and closes the drawer.

JD enters SeraTec
- JD approaches the nurse at the receptionist's desk and says, "I was told to drop off some samples."
- Through clever subterfuge, JD convinces the technicians at SeraTec that they should analyze these samples for "the works" and phone the results to her. JD gives her name as "Melissa" and leaves her cell phone number. She makes up a fake accounting number to charge the cost of the analyses to, based on her ample exposure to health-care forms while she was admitted to Lehigh Valley Hospital.
- JD makes a note of the rates that SeraTec pays for donations, in case she needs any extra money in the future.
Cut to Doug, who is heading to band practice
- He's clutching his new occult book to his chest. He pulls out his cell phone and dials a number.
- Cut to Desi in her room. She's looking through the want ads. She passes by ads for retail clerks and phone solicitors when she's hit by a wave of light-headedness and euphoria. Then the euphoria passes, just as Desi stumbles across an ad for Aegis Security. As she says "Hmm," her phone rings. It's Doug, asking her to accompany him to The Occult Emporium that evening. She accepts the invitation and they hang up.
- Doug leaves the residential area for the long-past-its-prime industrial area where lies the abandoned warehouse that Doug's band uses for a rehearsal hall.
  - Two teenagers who look vaguely familiar to Doug run past him, pursued by a large crowd of Allentown residents brandishing makeshift weapons.
  - The teenagers duck into one of the abandoned buildings and barricade themselves inside, temporarily safe from the crowd. The mob is bent on violence as they vainly attempt to force their way into the building. They keep an eye on the boarded-up windows so the teenagers can't get out.
  - Doug watches from across the street as the crowd continues to pummel the building, while the teenagers inside claim to have a gun. The crowd starts to chant, "Kill the gang members!"
  - A police cruiser pulls up. Two police officers get out of the cruiser. The audience recognizes one of them from the Teaser. They get the gist from the mob, and order the crowd back as they pound on the front door. "Allentown police! We want to come in to talk!" The policemen then enter the building.
  - Doug is trying to fond out why the crowd wants blood when a shot rings out from the interior of the building. A few seconds later, there's a second shot. The crowd gets very somber and steps back from the building.
  - A minute later, the door of the building opens and the two cops step out. They report that one of the gang members tried to grab his gun and he was forced to shoot the kid. The other gang member tried to grab his partner's gun and, when the cop fired on him, he leapt out a second-story window and escaped.
Cut to Pedro inside the Lobo house
- He finds Ernesto and reports that he's heard Lupito is dead. Ernesto's look is initially one that seems to say "And...?" Then suddenly, his expression changes and he snaps, "What do you mean, Lupito is dead?"
- Pedro explains what he's heard. Ernesto immediately blames the Carmines. Pedro suggests that since the body wasn't found in Carmín territory, the Carmines might not have done it. Ernesto counters, a little too vigorously, with "Then who do you think it was?" Pedro folds and hesitantly agrees that it must have been the Carmines.
- When Pedro asks what the Lobos should do, Ernesto says, "I'll get back to you." Then Ernesto walks away, as Pedro's facial expression changes from one of confusion to suspicion.
Cut to Desi in the waiting room of Aegis Security
- Desi has a chance meeting with Kevin.
- She explains that she's applying for a job there. Kevin offers a recommendation, but Desi says she has her bases covered, thanks. After a few moments of awkwardness, Kevin wishes Desi good luck and starts to leave. Then he stops and asks Desi if they can talk. When Desi hesitates, he says, "It's not about you and me."
- In a small conference room, he tells Desi that Jewel and Doug did not stick around to talk to the police after they found the body in Fountain Park. He says that this behavior has been noted by some as being "suspicious." He'd hate to see Desi denied a job she'd be good at because of her associations. He has no advice for Desi, but he wants her to be aware of the circumstances.
Cut to JD as she visits the Carmines' house
- JD notes that the numbers of Carmines have been significantly diminished.
- JD finds Ghost exhorting the Carmines to keep a low profile and to not antagonize anyone. "Defend yourselves as necessary, but don't piss anybody off if you don't have to." Ghost confides to JD that he thinks the whole town is turning against the gangs.
- There's a commotion in the house. JD investigates to find that Spyder has appeared. He's greatly agitated and limping. He's bleeding from a bullet graze along the side of his head. When Ghost has finally calmed Spyder down, Spyder tells how he and Wrestler were heading downtown when a crowd of townfolk started calling them names and then chased them. They ducked into a building and some cops showed up.
- The Carmines let the cops come into the building. The cops were listening to the Carmines' story when each of the cops suddenly pulled his gun and fired. Spyder was right by a window; he tumbled out the window when he felt the pain. He doesn't know what happened to Wrestler. Spyder remembers hearing one of the cops shout, "Thought you’d get away with it this time, didn’t you, Poncela?" They must have mistaken Spyder and Wrestler for somebody else, since neither is named Poncela. Still, that gave them no call to start shooting!
- JD patches up Spyder and leaves.
JD meets up with Desi
- Desi confides to JD that Kevin wanted to take JD, not Desi, to the prom. JD is incredulous. Desi is crushed.
- JD tries to make Desi see that despite how things started off, Kevin enjoyed being at the prom with Desi.
- Doug comes by to say that he has a meeting that night with someone who might know something about creepy things. This leads to Desi's wish that she could meet with Philip Glass. She explains who Philip Glass is and how much she wants to find him. Doug volunteers to help track down the elusive Mr. Glass.
Doug and Desi go to The Occult Emporium
- Abe Solomon proves that he knows about demons by showing them a picture in a book of one of the creatures that attacked the prom. He calls it a "Harbinger," or a "Bringer" for short.
- He explains that the Bringers serve an ultimate Evil which they are trying to summon into the material world. The evil that they're trying to summon is like a force of nature, the source of all evil.
- Desi asks why only she and JD and Doug can see these things as they are, but no one else can. That's the big question. Abe asks if they've taken part in any rituals lately. They respond that they've interrupted a few. Abe, Desi, and Doug begin researching the small Egyptian box that they saw during one of the rituals that Desi and Doug interrupted. They discover that this type of box was used to hold kohl, the heavy, black eye make-up that wealthy ancient Eqyptians wore. When Doug questions this, Abe points out that the Egyptians believed kohl was mystical as well as cosmetic: it protected the wearer from the Evil Eye and from deception by illusion.
- In one of the books, Doug eventually discovers glyphs that look like the graffiti they found in the alley where Ernesto ambushed the Carmín in Episode 1.01. Similar glyphs were at the Home Depot in Episode 1.02. Abe explains that these glyphs define the boundary of a veil spell, a spell which can make one kind of thing look like another. These glyphs are activated by the sacrifice of a human being. Hmm. Things are beginning to click....
JD discovers a new tattoo parlor 02:04:00
- The proprietor is Charlie Dubose, a tattooed and pierced man who's in a wheelchair. The name of his shop is "Skin Deep."
- The artwork that's displayed on the walls catches JD's eye. About a third of the samples are labeled "Retired," with a date. Charlie takes credit for all of the designs.
- JD notices a newspaper clipping on the wall. It tells about a policeman, Mark Glaser, who was gunned down during a routine traffic stop.
- The shooter was Carlos Poncela. He was captured soon after and is awaiting trial. The policeman, Mark Glaser, had gotten a tattoo (his first) at this shop about two weeks before he was killed.
- Some of Glaser's partners came into the shop after he was killed and asked for -- begged for -- the same tattoo that Glaser had gotten. Charlie refused at first; each tattoo is a work of art, and in order to preserve its uniqueness, he retires each design after he uses it. But the cops said Glaser loved the tattoo and they wanted the same one as a memorial to him. Against his better judgment, Charlie consented and gave them each a tattoo identical to Glaser's.
Back to Desi and Doug in The Occult Emporium
- Further research on the glyphs reveals that they're powered by the sacrifice of a human life. The tome admonishes that the death in the vicinity of the glyphs must be human. Otherwise, when the soul is drawn into the glyphs, they will reject it. In a worst-case scenario, the glyphs will shatter, scattering their power over the area in which they're drawn. Doug and Desi realize that this is what must have happened in the battle at the Home Depot in Episode 1.02. They were caught in the blast radius, and that's why they can now see demons for what they are.
- Abe says that there are only two ways to lift the veil. The first is by performing a counterspell that requires a tremendous amount of power. The second is by killing the sorcerer who raised the veil in the first place.
- Doug asks if Abe can cast such a counterspell. Abe replies that he's not sure. Doug then asks if there's a way to find the sorcerer who cast the spell. Abe begins looking through his large piles of books for a tome with the answer to that question. He says it'll take some time for him to find the answer. They don't have to stick around; when they next come back, Abe will have the answer for them.
- As Desi closes up the books on the counter that they've been reading, she doesn't notice that on the inside back cover, one of the books has a small pocket that holds a sign-out card, like the kind that a school library uses. The camera closes in on the card and the list of names on it. Just before Desi closes the cover, we see that the last name on the card is Philip Glass. Oblivious to this, Desi and Doug put the books away.
- As Desi and Doug leave The Occult Emporium. As they head for Doug's car, they see a figure standing near it. It's Fly Lady.
- Disarmingly, she invites both of them to go out for coffee. They decide to go to the City View Diner.
- "Priscilla" (as Fly Lady calls herself) explains that she's fascinated by Desi and her reputation.
- At one point while Priscilla is reaching for the sugar container, Desi sees Priscilla's hand as it really is: a huge version of the forelimb of a fly. Desi squeals and recoils. This allows Priscilla to deduce why Ernesto is so interested in Desi -- because Desi can "part the veil."
Cut to JD as she leaves the tattoo parlor
- JD calls Kevin and arranges a meeting so she can talk to him. They meet at the City View Diner.
- JD explains that she's not as good a person as Kevin seems to think she is. She's not evil either, but she's not "Goody Two-Shoes" like Desi. JD will never forget that Kevin saw past her clothes and her background and gave her a chance. No one has ever done that for her before. But she wants Kevin to move on. Specifically, she wants Kevin to move on to Desi. She explains to Kevin that Desi likes him. However, she's a little short on specifics for how to deal with the current situation.
- JD then warns Kevin to keep an eye out for "weird" things goings on. She describes one of the less outlandish things she's seen: the neighborhood that almost lynched the gang member. Kevin counters that that reaction is almost to be expected, considering a bunch of gangers recently wired an Agway truck with enough explosive to take out a city block. "That's gonna turn a town against you real fast... Things have been simmering for quite some time in this town, and when you've got somebody who goes over the line that far, the pendulum's going to swing all the way to the other side."
- In any event, JD tells Kevin that if he sees anything really weird -- and he'll know it when he sees it -- he should let JD know. That she'll have advice on.
Cut back to Desi, Doug, and Priscilla
- Priscilla informs Doug and Desi of a ritual that will be performed on the south side of the State Hospital property in Allentown, along River Drive. They may be interested in it. It may give them the opportunity to see all they need to see, to answer all their questions.
- Doug asks why Priscilla won't be participating in the ritual. She replies that she is supposed to be there, actually, but she has no stake in whether the ritual successful or not. When Doug asks point blank if this is a set-up, she replies no. Desi asks how Priscilla will benefit if they interrupt the ritual.
- Desi excuses herself to go to the ladies' room to call JD. JD takes the call and excuses herself to the ladies' room so she can talk privately. Desi and JD are unaware of each other, as one is in the first stall in the ladies' room and one is in the last stall. Desi tells JD what she's learned about the ritual and invites her to come along to interrupt it. It's when JD agrees and Desi offers to pick her up that they discover they're in the same building. Some prairie-dogging occurs before they realize they're in the same room.
- JD returns to Kevin and excuses herself. Kevin begs for help with Desi from someone "on the inside." JD says she'll see what she can do. Desi and Doug similarly say goodbye to Priscilla and take their leave. Desi, Doug, and JD head to the State Hospital grounds.
- On the way, they formulate their plan: Desi will attack the demons and keep them busy while JD and Doug destroy the box, which they know is important because they saw it an earlier ritual that they interrupted. (This happened in Episode 1.04.)
Getting there
- River Drive is perhaps one of the creepiest roads in Allentown. There's no berm because vegetation grows right up to (and beyond) the edge of the road, and there's nothing along that road except for a Norfolk Southern freight yard and the South Forty of the State Hospital property. There are only a few places where it's possible to pull a car off of the road. At this time of the night, it's even scarier.
- The Cast Members find that the back entrance to the State Hospital grounds is completely overgrown. It looks as if it hasn't been used in decades. The back gate, which was padlocked shut, has been knocked down, apparently rammed by a vehicle. A nearby shack, probably a maintenance shed, is also overgrown with vines and weathered with neglect -- which gives it a decidedly sinister aspect. From behind the shed, the Cast Members can hear chanting, and they can see flickering light, as if from one or more candles at some distance.
- Doug arms himself with a tire iron. He and JD wait at the periphery of the property until Desi distracts the cultists by hurting them severely. Desi makes her way toward the chanting.
- Desi find the robed chanters gathered around an overturned 55-gallon drum. Atop the drum is the Isis box. Nearby, at the feet of several of the chanting robed figures, is the limp figure of a teenage girl. One of the robed figures picks up the girl when the real action starts:
  - Desi bangs on an empty 55-gallon drum at the other end of the gathering. The chanting stops and everyone turns toward her. Desi announces, "I've done the lobster. Anyone know where I can get some squid?"
  - The robed figures start looking at each other in confusion. The one holding the girl drops her and shouts, "Don't just stand there! Hold her off!" Some of the figures remove their hoods, revealing the hulking goons we saw in the fight at the Home Depot. Except this time, they're wearing heavy, black eye make-up. One hood in particular is pulled back to reveal Squid Face, who's also wearing make-up around his bulbous eyes. Battle ensues.
  - Ernesto has not thrown back his hood, but we recognize his voice as he yells at the captive girl, "Get to your feet!"
  - Desi leapfrogs over one of the charging goons to kick the goon behind him in the chest, sending him sprawling.
  - JD and Doug cut down a vine. They then throw a rock off into the distance and yell into the mayhem, "There's more of them!" When some of the goons charge toward the noise that the rock made, intending to intercept the new interlopers, Doug and JD clothesline them. They fall to the ground, choking.
  - Ernesto drags the girl to her feet and moves her toward the Isis box. Meanwhile, Squid Face gets a solid hit on Desi, who recovers and grabs the tentacles that hang from his chin like a beard. Hanging onto the tentacles, Desi pulls her feet up and drop-kicks Squid Face in the chest, propelling him into the 55-gallon drum on which the Isis box rests. The Isis box sails into the air. Ernesto loses sight of it as it lands in the underbrush between JD and Doug.
  - JD grabs the box while Doug moves to rescue the girl. There's a buzzing sound, and suddenly Priscilla is standing next to JD. Priscilla says, "Destroying the box will shatter the veil." JD, startled, runs off with the box. In the distance, we can hear the whistle of a late-night train.
  - Priscilla turns to Doug and says, "Without the box, Ernesto may resort to killing the girl." Doug runs toward Ernesto and the girl. Desi continues her melee with Squid Face.
  - JD is running toward the train that's approaching. She can see its light in the distance. The freight yard is down an embankment. What does JD have in mind, and will she get to the train in time?
  - Ernesto positions himself between Doug and the teenage girl. He gets to say, "You! What happened to your hair? I've had enough of you!" just as Doug barrels into Ernesto. Ernesto goes sailing off into the vegetation as the girl drops to the ground. Doug extends his hand to the girl, who hesitates for a moment. Ernesto begins to get up when Doug says, "It's him or me." The girl takes Doug's hand and they turn to run. Something shoots past Doug's head with a snapping sound as he and the girl race toward the car.
  - JD reaches the tracks of the approaching train. In the illumination of the train's light, she sees that the Isis box looks like an incredibly poor reproduction of an Egyptian artifact, a cheap museum knock-off. When she turns it over in her hand, black powder sifts out. She stumbles toward the tracks, reaching out to put the Isis box on the nearer rail. JD just gets the box aon the rail and pulls her hand back when the train rolls past, shattering the box into a million splinters. The instant this happens, there is an inexplicable white flash that comes from the shards of the box.
  - Quick cut-away to the alley where the ambush occurred in Episode 1.01. The graffiti on the walls flashes with a white light. Cut now to the concrete casting facility from Episode 1.04. From among the myriad of storm-drain components, we can see isolated flashes of white light. Cut to an exterior shot of the Home Depot from Episode 1.02, where the same sort of flashes can be seen. JD, now covered with black powder that was released when the Isis box was crushed, can feel that something has happened.
  - Back to Desi's battle. As the little flashes occur, Squid Face bulks up slightly, as if there was a small part of the veil that the Cast Members had not been able to penetrate before, and now the veil is completely gone. As Squid Face gurgles, "Now you are mine!" the goons who have been fighting next to him look at him and gasp in horror. They stop fighting, back away, and then flee into the undergrowth. Pedro, who apparently has been cowering in the vegetation since the fighting started, leaps up and points at Squid Face. Pedro shouts, "That's what killed Lupito!"
  - Ernesto, who looks human, starts to take a step toward Desi when suddenly Priscilla is at his shoulder. She too looks human. She says softly to Ernesto, "I wouldn't if I were you." It's difficult to tell whether this is a warning or a threat, but it seems to be more of the former. Ernesto stops.
  - Desi gives Squid Face the chance to retreat. He does not take the opportunity. Desi presses the fight home -- which goes harder than she expected it too, as if Squid Face is stronger now -- but she ultimately succeeds. The battle ends when Desi knocks Squid Face down and snaps its neck. Desi discovers a fragment of tentacle stuck to her hand. "This sucks!" she mutters, as she pulls the tentacle and breaks the grip of the tiny suckers thereon.
  - The Cast Members get to the car and and drive off. They have a brief discussion with the girl they rescued. The discussion ends on an unsettling note.
  - Cut back to the body of Squid Face, who's still lying in the woods off River Drive. A pair of shoes enter the frame and step up to the body. The camera tilts up to Priscilla, who's looking down at the dead demon with a neutral facial expression. After a moment, she smiles.
Cut to a back yard, later that night.
- It's a rather nice back yard, behind a large house. A rather nice car pulls into the rather nice back yard and stops. Out of the car climbs James Schuler, who is not smiling. He comes to the back of the car and opens the trunk. He begins to pull out something that's wrapped in canvas. However, the bundle is tied with ropes in several places. The contours provided by these lacing make it obvious that the bundle is a human body. He has the body in what's practically a Heimlich maneuver and he's pulled its upper part from the trunk when the body's head suddenly snaps and it begins making muffled cries. The body's head smacks Mr. Schuler square in the nose. He releases the body as he grasps his nose and begins staggering about in obvious pain. The body tumbles to the driveway with a thud and a grunt, then lies motionless.
- Mr. Schuler hops about and finally regains enough composure to deliver a hard kick to the body, which barely reacts to the blow. A male voice says, "I suspect you're going to regret having done that." Mr. Schuler turns to see Ernesto step from the shadows near the house. After a brief conversation , Mr. Schuler picks up the body and begins to drag it toward the house.
- We get a close-up on the bundle as the body's left hand falls free of the canvas. We briefly see that on the ring finger of the left hand, there's a signet ring that bears an intaglio of the head of a unicorn. As Mr. Schuler drags the body into the basement, he says to Ernesto, "We'll finish this soon." Ernesto doesn't budge as Mr. Schuler and his cargo disappear into the basement of the large house.
[This ends Part I of Force. In Part II, we'll conclude Force.]