You get to a place in a radio show, say around episode four, where rather than putting more questions in the listener’s head, you need to start answering some of the ones they already have. You need to start giving them the lay of the land, in this case, the lay of the otherworldly, terrifying “trash-can carnival,” so that they can start understanding at least something about what is going on here.
With this need for the beginnings of clarity and understanding in mind, we are treated to a flashback courtesy of Alina Foley’s portrayal of “Highstriker” (many people here are named after the ride or stall they are in charge of) as she recounts to “Tunnel of Love” (Tonoccus McClain) her first encounter with the strange character known as “Five” (played by Mindy Sterling), who seems to be calling the shots, at least she is in the present…if time actually works the same way here.
The interesting perspective here is that before coming to this place, she was a Mayor, the Mayor of…well, I’m sure that will come back to her…someone who is used to giving orders. She is also someone from some earlier era, one where telephones and Ferris wheels were the stuff of science fiction if they even had the concept of science fiction in her time.
There is also a telling aside about “Highstriker’s‘” startling encounter with a rather diabolical figure from history. This part of the story puts a tick, a big tick, in the box for the theory that this may be The Afterlife, or at least the sorting office for it, rather than a dream state, a living game, a coma dream, or whichever paradigm you have favored up until now.
Meanwhile, Blanca (Crissy Guerrero) and Roger (Dave Foley) make their way to the titular perimeter, where they meet “38” (played by Nathan Smythe). Only he’s not “38” anymore; he’s A Void, although even he doesn’t really know what that means and can only try to make sense of it through the logical application of physics. I’m not sure if logic carries much weight here!
The dynamic between Roger and Blanca is interesting. It may be the one true friendship in the whole place. He is a man losing the last memories of what he was before, and she is subject to psychedelic glitch-outs as if she is a faulty program rather than a lost soul. It begs the question of who works in this hellish carnival and who is just passing through on their way to…wherever next.
As always, Stuart Pearson’s music creates the perfect atmospheric backdrops and edgy interludes, dark Johhny Cash meets Tom Waits vibes in a dark Americana sonic collision. If any music was made to cast a show around it, this is certainly it.
So, do we now know more? Have we been given any answers? Perhaps not, but at least our questions have become more focused. Is this the afterlife, or at least a step towards it? If so, what sort of afterlife is this? And, if it is that, what comes next? And how do you access it?
All these questions will be revealed…eventually. For now, all we can do is follow the characters around and pick up clues and understanding as they do. It’s almost as if we are there with them. Which is a frightening concept, but hey, isn’t that the point of the show? Damn, another question!