Episode 5 - Spirit of Greed
Return Home2016
If you’re reading this, that means you finished Episode 5.
Do you hate us?
Please don’t hate us.
We promise we’ll explain everything in due time.
For this one, we wanted to go back to our main story a bit, and explain a bit more about just what Jonathan and friends are going up against, and just how serious it is. Oh, and also introduce a bad-ass new villain who is probably one of the creepiest things I’ve ever written. And that’s saying something about a character who has no lines other than heavy breathing and roaring.
We always knew we wanted to bring Zayne back, even before we heard him come to life for the first time, thanks to Cleve North. He was a fun character to write in Episodes 1 and 2, and his death being permanent was never an option. We don’t want you to feel like bringing him back was a cop out, because we DO already have an explanation as to his return, and it DOES play into the overall mythology we have established. So, at some point, you’ll learn how he came back, and why he doesn’t remember our trio.
Moving along, I’ve always been fascinated by the seven deadly sins. I don’t know why. It just seems incredibly interesting to me. Last year, at Knott’s Scary Farm, following around after the Green Witch, they had the seven deadly sins in humanoid form, and I thought, “That’s a great idea!” Now, obviously I didn’t go the route they did, with monsters taking over the role. But, I thought having each sin be an actual entity, and physically inhabiting a human host, would be an interesting way to take it. Of course, having already set up that there were seven indentations in the talisman worked out nicely, no?
I really enjoyed writing the characters of Kayline Robina (played by Evelyn Barouch) and her weasel of a husband, Michael (played by returning actor BJ Grip). They definitely show a different side of Melancholy Falls, more of the elite side…and quite possibly members of the Society of Shadows. I thought it was a good red herring, to have our heroes look closely at Kayline, but instead, never worry about the real threat being Michael. His short little monologue at the end of 5.3, about why he does what he does, was fun to write, and an even bigger joy to record with BJ.
Evelyn, who hasn’t really acted professionally before, I thought was fantastic! Though she lives a bit away from where we usually record, we did a Skype session so I could direct her, and she totally had the rich bitchy personality we were looking for down.
One thing that I DO know some people were bummed about was the lack of Buddy in this one overall. I agree, but I really wanted some time to develop the Jonathan and Ami relationship more, and I thought some alone time between the two of them would help. Of course, it’s Buddy who saves the day anyway, in typical Buddy fashion, making him the unsung hero yet again. I love working with both Alyssa and Forrest on this, and both of them will have larger roles in the coming episodes…even a few centered on their characters, to learn a little more of their backstories.
The Raggity Man grew out of our desire to have a villain who IS a real threat to our heroes. Not to say that everything they faced so far isn’t, but he’s not someone you can get away from with a sarcastic remark. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t care, he just does whatever it is he does. I’m fascinated by music from the 20s and 30s, and I listen to a lot of obscure stuff. The Raggity Man, by Edward Meeker, came on one day when I was writing Episode 3, and it just clicked in my head. It was a creepy sounding song to begin with, it had a great name to it, AND it sounded even creepier when slowed down. Most things do, but for some reason, this one took the cake. The Raggity Man was exactly what we were looking for, so we ran with it.
We need to give a huge shout out to Andew for this episode, too. His sound design was wonderful, not just for the entire episode overall, but especially for the Raggity Man. He took my dumb, heaving breathing and turned them into something truly terrifying. As I told him after I listened to his first mix of Episode 5.3, I legitimately got chills the first time the Raggity Man appeared. He is terrifying, and he’s only that way because of Andrew. Just another reason why I am so thankful for him!
Though he was defeated, don’t worry, this isn’t the last you’ll see of the Raggity Man. He features into an upcoming interlude, along with another fan favorite, and I am sure he will be popping up again in the future.
Also, if you want to listen to the full song…
And now…that cliffhanger.
We released the Episode 5 finale early, since we were done with it, and thought it might be nice to do, since we are going on hiatus for a little bit now. Literally an hour after it was released, we got a BUNCH of tweets and emails from folks about it.
“WHAT?! NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US! WHY?! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!”
That’s basically paraphrasing what we received.
We have alluded to Jonathan and Ami’s relationship since the second they met (again) back in Episode 2. While Return Home is about the weird stuff going on in Melancholy Falls, at the heart of it, it is really about the relationship between these three friends, who reconnect again after all these years. While we did drop a bombshell at the end of Episode 5 as to what Jonathan and Ami’s relationship was prior to his return, you still don’t have all the answers.
This very special day that they talked about at the end of Episode 5 will be seen (heard?) sooner than you think…but don’t think that will answer everything.
Now that we are on hiatus until September or so, continue to keep up with us on all of our social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr), and be sure to sign up for our ARG that will begin shortly after we do our live show at Midsummer Scream! This is phase one of MANY for the ARG, but we will also be sending stuff to your home (oooh, spooky!), so don’t miss out!
If you’ve enjoyed the show so far, please consider telling your friends about us, and leaving us a review on iTunes. Every little bit helps, and the bigger audience we have, the more fun stuff we can do (like an expanded ARG)!
As always, thank you for listening to our show. We are humbled that so many of you take the time out of your week to do so, and that you are so kind to us about it. We love you. Thank you. And see you after the hiatus!
