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Pranams to my most dear and queer Strange fam. We are finally at the penultimate episode of this show and I do not know how to process this. I’m scared. I’m hungry. I’m sleepy. LIFE IS SO CONFUSING! I’m not too sure what to expect but as we have seen, literally anything can happen in this story. Anyway,

Let's go!

Let’s start with a completely unreliable recap of our story and cast of characters.

There are the Wilsons who are dead, the mayor Hugh, his inappropriate wife Anna, a handful of assorted professors, an annoying doctor and poor Janet who is being plagued by the mud and the doctor. And sentient mud is eating the town.

The town has finally become a disaster area and people are being evacuated.

I don’t remember much about this story, but I do remember saying waaaay back then that they should evacuate the town. Of course, being a woman of color, no one listened to me.

There is no gas, no water, no electricity, difficulty getting phone lines, and looting!

If there was no internet and sentient mud was eating everything I would absolutely be looting.

I think the professor wants to get into the sewers. I can’t remember who this professor is but whatever.

He is taking the inspector with him, who has promised to run away the minute things look bad.

Cut to the annoying doctor and one another professor who have found the heart of the mud.

And by heart, I mean an actual beating heart.

The doctor is now saying that all the people who were admitted to the hospitals had the same symptoms, including depression.

It is this depression that makes these people do things which are completely alien to their personalities.

Is that a sign of depression?

I guess it is now.

Anyway, they have finally connected the depression, headaches, general strange behaviour and dead animals to the mud.

Don’t forget that it’s also eating the town you guys.

These dudes with their brains have decided that the mud is...

Hypnotizing certain people and the animals!

Not going to lie, I did not see that coming. At all.

Someone called Maggie has done the opposite of what everyone else is doing, and come into the town.

I think she’s here to see the mayor’s wife.

How weird it must be; you are trying to get your stuff together because you have to evacuate by 11 o clock because there is killer mud eating your town and someone called Maggie just drops in for a visit.

Maggie has opened the curtains in Hugh’s room and Hugh is crying ‘my eyes, my eyes’.

Maggie is the worst.

Now we are listening to two people? Lifting something? Pushing something? I don’t know what’s happening.

I think we are with the policemen who are trying to move the piano for an old lady.

Oh the building is shaking now.

Did it fall? I think it fell.

What was the point of that scene?

Anyway we are now back in the sewers which is filled with dead rats.

The inspector is encouraging the professor to put his ear against the wall ew don’t put your ear against a sewer wall wtf

They can hear someone breathing!

The sewage water is now a dirty green!

Is that a strange thing to see in a sewer?

They have spied someone in one of the sewer alleys.

I think it’s our old friend Janet HAI DEAR

There seems to be a bunch of people down there, like so many.

It is unclear why these two didn’t see this all these people before.

The professor has discovered there is mud all over the walls so he’s like come on let’s jooties.

You’re taking the people with you, right? Right?

We are now back to the wonderful world of Mud Hypnosis.

Did you know there is a song called Hypnosis by a band called Mud?

Here are some of the lyrics-

You're hypnotic when you touch
Your hypnosis is too much
And you burn me with your hypnotistic fire
You're hypnotic when you feel
Your hypnosis is too real
And I hope you're not a hypnotistic liar

*

I hate liars, but I especially hate hypnotistic liars.

It’s just an ok song.

Anyhoo, back to our story.

The mud is apparently trying to hypnotize humans off of the planet.

Why does it need to do this if it’s already swallowing everything?

That other first fellow professor has come to tell these guys about the people in the sewers.

You actually left them in the sewers wtf you guys.

Now we are back with Hugh and his wife.

Hugh is luring his wife into a dark room and it’s really taking an awful long time.

Hugh is now going bananas.

I think the post office has exploded?

Does this have something to do with the story or is it just a random post office exploding?

Seems to be a random post office exploding, cool.

Everyone is suddenly talking about the Earth’s core for some reason.

Are...are they blaming the earth’s core for all this?

Yup. The earth’s core apparently wants to kill everyone. THE EARTH’S CORE YOU GUYS

And the mud is the army of the earth’s core.

Wasn’t there a book about something like this? Or a video game?

We are now with the doctor and one of the assorted professors because the doctor is not leaving Janet down in the sewers!

They are cool with leaving everyone else there though.

He keeps trying to approach Janet but I think she keeps running away.

Who can blame her fam.

I think the mud is eating Janet.

*

This recap is very confusing to read, but also this episode was jumping all over the place. I’m not saying this show made a lot of sense in previous episodes. But it felt like this one was really flying by the seat of its pants. I for one had no idea hypnosis would be involved, or that the ultimate enemy would be the Earth’s core. Still, here we are. I know there is no real incentive to, but do join us next time, where we will be listening to the very last episode of this mind-boggling science fiction extravaganza.



Kuzhali Manickavel's collections Things We Found During the Autopsy, Insects Are Just like You and Me except Some of Them Have Wings, and chapbooks The Lucy Temerlin Institute for Broken Shapeshifters Guide to Starving Boys and Eating Sugar, Telling Lies are available from Blaft Publications, Chennai. Her work has also appeared in Granta, Strange Horizons, Agni, Subtropics, Michigan Quarterly Review, and DIAGRAM. She used to blog at http://thirdworldghettovampire.blogspot.com/. She's now at https://www.kuzhalimanickavel.com.
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