Murder in Small Town X, Episode 2: Rule of the Alien Queen

It's day 4 in Sunrise and the players of Murder in Small Town X are waking to find that their worst nightmare is finally upon them. Kristen has been made Lifeguard. All right, so maybe it was only my worst nightmare, but still. This untouchable blonde on a power trip all but single-handedly sounds the death knell for my buddy Andy, who, despite feelings to the contrary, doesn't seem to have a vendetta against anyone. Unfortunately, like Ripley before him, it seems that from the moment Andy saw that blonde head coming up the stairs of headquarters, his only hope was to hop in the nearest construction robot and make a run for the airlock button. Aliens references aside, though, with Kristen as Lifeguard it was obvious that this was going to be a fun show for everyone.

The show opens with host/lead investigator Gary Fredo talking about how stressful it is to lose a member of the team. Because Shirley didn't come back from her black envelope mission, the group now gets to see her recorded last words. They also find out that Shirley has named Kristen, the other black envelope player from last week, as Andy's successor at Lifeguard. Speaking of Andy, we now see a clip of him saying that he knew picking Kristen to go out last week could wind up costing him, but he stands by his decision and says it was the correct choice. Then we see a repeat of the clip where Kristen says that Andy has a vendetta against her. All of this ugliness aside, the investigators still have a job to do. We are told that a funeral and memorial service for the Flints will be held today, and that this will be a good time to see all of the suspects in one place.

After a brief discussion which ends with Fredo admitting that they have no clue about the nature of the murder weapon, the track-making begins. With Fredo's help (albeit in a far smaller capacity than in Episode 1) the group decides on three courses of action. First, Kristen delivers the clue that she "discovered" the night before: the wreckage of a ship by the name of Bonny Rose. Fredo informs the investigators that the Bonny Rose was destroyed in an accident in 1971 and that the owner of the boat was one Oscar Blodgett. The group then cleverly seizes on the fact that one of their suspects is also named Blodgett, and thus, Track 1 is established.

Track 1: Leita Rose-Blodgett

1. Investigate "Bonny Rose" Boat Accident
2. Identify Oscar Blodgett

Kristen assigns Andy and Angel to this track.

For the next track, Fredo suggests that they formally question Prudence Connor. From the pictures that they found in Nate's clock in the first episode, it seems evident that Connor was having an affair with the recently murdered Flint patriarch, but she still has to be questioned about it. In addition, Thibodeaux's alibi is entirely dependent on corroboration by Connor, so this needs to be investigated as well.

Track 2: Prudence Connor

1. Question relationship with Nate Flint
2. Compare Alibi with G.D. Thibodeaux

Before Kristen assigns anyone to this track, Stacey recommends that she send some "good looking men" to avoid the trouble that her and Stacey had with Connor at the crime scene in the previous episode. Taking her advice, Kristen sends Alan, Jeff, and Lindsay (if I were Brian I'd be offended).

Finally, since Thibodeaux is both at the funeral and one of their prime suspects, Fredo suggests that it's a good time for a little breaking and entering. It seems that Thibodeaux's cabin is now ripe for the plucking, so the third track will send a team of investigators to search his home. Being the good cop that he is, Fredo reminds the players that they don't have a search warrant and thus need to be extremely careful to not disturb the environment in question.

Track 3: G.D. Thibodeaux

• Search cabin for evidence

For this track, Kristen "selects" the only three investigators left: Stacey, Brian, and Katie. The three have their work cut out for them as they try to infiltrate a house, search for weapons and bodies, and look out for the return of G.D. Because of this, Jeff recommends that the investigators at the funeral keep track of Thibodeaux and let the players on track 3 know when he's heading home.

With everyone's plans fully in place, we now see Rev. Rusty Crandall, suspect and pastor, giving a eulogy at the memorial. The investigators on Tracks 1 and 2 are in attendance, while those on Track 3 approach the "well-kept" estate of Mr. G.D. Thibodeaux. (Seriously, this place looks like it was turned down for Psycho because it was too dilapidated.) Back at the funeral, Rev. Crandall begins to look like the suspect that he is. While remembering Abby Flint, Rev. Crandall becomes lost in thought, calling her young and vibrant before adding that she was pious, very pious. It seems that young Abby was a volunteer at Crandall's church. Gee, I wonder where that plot branch could be heading.

After Crandall, William Lambert takes the podium. While initially sounding mournful, Lambert goes on to discuss the founding of the Flint Foundation which will "do the things that Nate would want." When Lambert says this, Thibodeaux stalks off, forcing Alan to call the investigators on Track 3 and warn them. Meanwhile, at the Thibodeaux cabin the investigators are having a hard time getting in. When they finally do, they uncover a living room filled with toys. This prompts Katie to compare Thibodeaux to a little boy, at which point we flash back to the cemetery as Alan runs up to Thibodeaux's truck. Back at the memorial service, Lambert is continuing his explanation of the Flint foundation and the hotel which he is sure Nate would have wanted him to build. Behind Lambert, we see a sweeper exiting a car, and behind him Gen. Hayden DeBeck, suspect and Mind/Science leader. DeBeck wastes no time in telling Lambert that he is delivering a commercial and not a eulogy. We then see that Alan has coaxed Thibodeaux out of his truck by asking him what this "Connor's" first name is that they were talking about before. Clever. DeBeck, now fully in control back at the memorial service, goes on to say that he loves Sunrise and that the best way to memorialize the Flint's is to preserve the heritage of the town. He concludes by saying that Lambert and his business plans will destroy the land which he loves so much.

Back on Track 3, the investigators discover a bloody bathtub with a bag in it. Upon this discovery we flash back to Alan talking to Thibodeaux outside of his truck. Thibodeaux's only words: "Things aren't good for me right now." I think the investigators on Track 3 would call that an understatement. Thibodeaux goes into the cemetery for a drink while, at the cabin, the players have found a freezer with a pool of blood leaking from it. At the funeral, Carmen Flint's casket is being lowered, and the investigators are pursuing their individual leads. Andy and Angel talk with Leita and observe a drunk Thibodeaux rambling in the cemetery. Leita finally says she wants to spend time with her dead husband and Andy and Angel offer to escort her to his grave. In the cabin, Stacey exclaims that she knew something was missing as she climbs the stairs to what the investigators call a shrine. It seems that Thibodeaux has something of an obsession for Ms. Connor, as evidenced by the fish hooks through the eyes of a picture of Nate Flint, indicating that he was well aware of the little affair in which the two were engaged.

On Track 2, Jeff asks Prudence Connor whether she knew Mr. Flint that well. Connor responds by saying that she fixed his car a couple of times, but other than that not really. Jeff, knowing that the pictures inside Flint's clock indicate a somewhat different view of reality, convinces Connor to meet with him the next day, where he will be able to question her more fully. Meanwhile, Andy, Angel, and Leita arrive at the grave of Oscar Blodgett only to find out that it has recently been dug up and refilled. Leita immediately starts claiming that she knows who did this, and that she can't believe that they still remember. Andy calls Dudley, chief of police and cleared suspect, to come help them at the grave.

Back at HQ group 3 relays the details of their investigation to Kristen, Lifeguard and beloved by all. Stacey suggests that if the blood from the freezer turns out to be human they can then get a warrant and investigate Thibodeaux's place more thoroughly. At this point I remember thinking, “Yeah right, I'm sure that a judge will look at what amounts to stolen, circumstantial evidence and prance right over and serve G.D. with a search warrant.” I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but I'm pretty sure that illegally procured evidence is inadmissible for any legal use. That notwithstanding, back at Oscar's grave Leita continues to say that there is someone who has never forgiven her or Oscar. Andy and Angel try to get her to say who she thinks could have defiled her dead husband's grave, but she says that she doesn't want to talk about it right then. Dudley arrives and tells the pair that they will have to dig up the grave in order to examine the contents of the casket. With a quick call to Kristen, the rest of the nine, who are rather happily at headquarters, now know of group 1's activities. After a substantial amount of digging, and more derisive comments about Andy, the two find a water logged empty casket with an old dirty pillow as its only resident. When Dudley arrives, food in hand, the two tell him of the lack of a body, prompting Dudley to tell them that they need to guard the Blodgett grave site.

Flash forward to 9:03 PM, after what has apparently been a substantial amount of time (light to dark) Kristen and the rest of the group at headquarters openly wonder about the fear which must be running through the minds of Angel and Andy. At 11:33 PM Dudley arrives at the grave site and informs the two that he is concerned for the safety of the newly dug Flint grave site. He wants one of them to come guard the Flint grave while the other guards the Blodgett grave. Andy reacts understandably badly to this idea. After all, even if it seems silly to some of you that being stalked by a fake killer could be scary (you know who you are), you have to admit that you wouldn't want to be knocked out of a race for $250,000 dollars by a completely random fluke. Still, the idea that the teams must stay together is a good one, as I expressed in the recap of episode 1, but it has even more problems then I first realized. On the one hand, the show can't just eliminate people haphazardly, but on the other hand, and perhaps more importantly considering the litigious nature of these things as of late, is the fact that Fox can't just have these people killed on the spot. In order to make sure that the show complies with FCC regulations (unless they don't want to call it a game show, but that's another story) they have to make sure that they aren't manipulating the results as they happen. This is why Fox airs the disclaimer at the end of Small Town stating that the location in the black envelope where the killer will be is preordained. This is so Fox doesn't even look for a second like it is controlling the game for ratings purposes. (And I believe them. After all, look who came back last week.) But in order to do these random killings, Fox would have to set up a schedule that says, for example, if the two people guarding the Blodgett grave elect to separate, then the one at the Flint grave would be killed. And I'm just not sure that Fox has gone to all that trouble. Even if they had, though, there would be a strong inclination on the part of the randomly killed to sue Fox and then Fox would have to prove that they took the necessary steps to ensure complete independence from the result of the game. Personally, I wish they did the whole game that way. I envision I version of Small Town where all three of the groups are split up at different times and that one person every week doesn't come home. I think that would add a lot of drama to the proceedings and make the overall show better. But for now, Angel and Andy have a choice to make.

Angel elects to go with Dudley, taking the lamp and leaving Andy with only the flashlight to guard himself. As Angel arrives at the grave site, Andy laments the separation to a compassionate, caring Kristen, who takes little time to hang up on him and ignore the subsequent rings. Then as gentile as ever, Kristen states that Andy shouldn't be complaining, as this will only get him ready for the task which he'll be going on in a couple of days. Isn't she warm. In the ensuing conversation at headquarters Kristen says that she knows that the group is going to vote for Andy just to make her have a tough decision. When Jeff then makes a quick joke agreeing with the sentiment, he quickly retracts it in the face of the alien queen. Later, with a knock at the door (and an absolutely priceless opening by the cowering investigators) Andy enters seemingly alone. Angel is indeed behind him, though, and laughter and merriment ensue. That is until Kristen gets involved. Before the commercial we are shown Kristen stating that Andy doesn't work well with others and is a real annoyance to the group. But at the same time, we are shown a clip of Kristen getting mad at Andy's interrupting her and all but tearing his head off. This sequence as Kristen decries Andy's lack of social skills while simultaneously screaming and making the whole group uncomfortable is hilarious, it's a lot like the shot of the black widow while Jerri makes her move on Colby in Survivor 2.

The next day, the group goes over its discoveries from the day before. We find out that Oscar, Leita's husband, died in a supposed propane explosion and that she thinks she knows who stole the body. The mission for Track 1 is thus to investigate this thief. Since Prudence Connor didn't admit to having an affair with Nate Flint, Track 2's new mission is to confront Connor at the wake she promised to meet them at. And despite my previous objections, the human blood found at Thibodeaux's home has won the investigators a search warrant. Serving that warrant is the new mission for Track 3.

On Track 2, Jeff sits down with Connor and they listen to Mary-Elizabeth Merchant's rather disturbing remembrance of her best friend Abby. We see a clip from Alan confirming Mary-Elizabeth's strangeness and then we see Connor asking Jeff to come to her house (or houseboat, as the case may be). We are never told why Jeff is seemingly alone with Prudence as he shows her the pictures. We only see what is surely the most intelligent comment by any of the players thus far: Jeff is apparently not looking forward to going down these tracks and getting murdered. Well thank you for sharing, Jeff. When confronted by the pictures, Connor admits to having the affair, but she has no idea who took the pictures and swears that she really loved Nate.

On Track 1, the investigators arrive at the hospital where Leita is under sedation. There they find out that Hayden DeBeck was Leita's first boyfriend and that C.R. Flint, Oscar Blodgett, and Hayden were the founders of the Kingfisher aqua culture. When she left Hayden for Oscar, Hayden withdrew his shares in Kingfisher and we are told, "barricaded himself in the compound." This is why Leita feels that Hayden is the one who defiled Oscar's grave.

On Track 3, the investigators plus Dudley discover that the freezer that was leaking blood is now open and empty, but there is a trail of blood leading into the forest. After a brief chase, Dudley apprehends Thibodeaux, and the investigators discover that G.D. was burying bagged blood. Illegally obtained, G.D. is still under arrest for possessing the blood, but the discovery is hardly the critical clue that we were all hoping for. Thibodeaux, meanwhile, claims that he needed the blood because of his disease from the war. Back at base, Brian basically states that Thibodeaux needs to see a doctor, but excepting true anemia there is no reason for Thibodeaux to have the blood.

The next day, the investigators go over their finds. The bagged blood, it seems, is indeed type O, as was the blood found on the previous day, but the DNA does not match Carmen, Abby or Nate Flint. Still, the group decides to keep Thibodeaux as a suspect. Jeff relays what little he discovered by interviewing Prudence, and not surprisingly the group elects to keep her as a suspect as well. Then Angel tells the story of Leita Rose-Blodgett and Hayden DeBeck, and at this Fredo decides that the DeBeck lead will definitely need to be followed up on. With the evidence now analyzed, its time for the red envelope. Remember, if the investigators get the question in the red envelope correct then one suspect is cleared from their list. The question this week: What is the birth date of Oscar Blodgett? To which Andy and Angel both immediately realize that they took a picture of the gravestone. With the date easily discernable on their video monitor, the group has no trouble answering the question and clearing X-Ray, the cabbie, from contention as a suspect. Fredo warns, though, that the black envelope will be opened at six, and at that time the investigators will have to send someone to their death.

When the voting starts it is once again evident that the producers don't want this to be the crux of the show. We, the viewers, are only shown a few of the votes, although in this case it is patently obvious who the chosen victim will be. Both Jeff and Lindsay vote for Andy in order to make Kristen have a tough decision, with only Angel's vote for Andy shown to based on anything real; in this case, fear. Thus, when Fredo turns Andy's picture over no one is surprised, except maybe Kristen. When she is called to pick the other black envelope player she only mutters that she could kill everyone in the group for doing this to her. It doesn't take her long, however, to pick Brian from the crowd. She claims that this is because he knows what he is looking for, but come on, there's a gigantic flowered X at both the clue and the killing and she knows it. She copped out just like Kelly Wigglesworth and the great yacht breakfast before her, and Brian doesn't hesitate to call her on it in the next couple clips. There is trouble in paradise, however, as Kristen seems to have an ally in Lindsay, with Stacey not exactly telling her where she can shove it. But that's for another day. For now Brian, and Andy are the targets of the week.

Andy gets driven to his location, the old mustard mill, by the tattooed cabbie, Moe. Meanwhile, Brian is told by X-Ray that his location, the house at 45 Kendall Road, is too remote and that Brian most walk in the woods to get there. As Brian slowly walks through the woods, once again fully rigged for an appearance by the Blair Witch, Andy goes into what looks like an antique store. Brian eventually makes his way into the dilapidated house, where he finds running water and static on a TV. As Andy approaches what is almost certainly the mill section of the Old Mustard Mill, the gears come to life. As Both approach flowered X's Brian slowly reads off a name, Kingfisher Cannery. And that sound you hear, Andy, is the bell tolling for thee, buddy. I'm sorry.

To conclude the episode, Brian returns with a can of sardines canned at Kingfisher. Donning a pair of latex gloves, he opens the can and discovers the most family friendly portion of our program: two fingers (in mustard no less). One of these fingers has a ring on it, but its significance will have to wait until next week. As the show cuts to credits, we get to see one last disturbing image (as if the fingers weren't enough): Mary-Elizabeth Merchant looking strangely into a mirror. As if on cue she turns to reveal the clothing she has been putting on: A cheerleading sweater with a stitched name...Abby.

Until next week, then. Pleasant dreams.

Incidentally, the disclaimer at the end of this episode did state that the fingers shown were indeed artificial. Phew...

Richard Hoeg is an Economics major at Hillsdale Colege and very thankful that he won't have to propose to his girlfriend on an imac in the Outback with Jeff Probst breathing down his neck.

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