Podcast: Purgatory, Missouri – Episode 7 – Rules

So here we are, the final installment, for this season at least. Will we get the answers we have been looking for? More importantly, will the characters find out exactly where they are? We have had plenty of clues, but not quite enough to say what is going on, not for sure, and indeed, the characters caught in the titular hell (?) hole all seem to have come to different conclusions. To some, it is the afterlife; to others, it is a computer simulation. Is this the creation formed by the fleeting memories of a coma patient, or maybe some fever dream? There is only one way to find out. I’m going in…

“38” (Dave Foley) comes right out with the question that is on everyone’s lips…” What is this place?” he asks his superior. Of course, there are no direct answers, only more questions from the more knowledgeable “One” (Richard Malmos). But it is reinforced that Blanca is not like everyone else: her glitchy nature, her memories, and her destabilizing effect on the whole place and the people who run it. Do the answers lie with her?

What we do find out is that this place is fragile, not only in the physical sense, with holes in the Perimeter becoming more numerous every day, but with the growing unrest amongst the rank-and-file Carnies. Brutality and cruelty are ingrained in the system: constant surveillance, hardcore minions carrying out the wishes of the higher echelons, and the use of fear to keep everyone in their place – it’s all part of the modus operandi.

As “Blanca” (Crissy Guerrero) challenges “One” over the sacrifice of “Void” (Nathan Smythe) to the seemingly bottomless abyss that is The Perimeter, the effort of doing so causes her to glitch out. We realize that her fading out in the Carnival land corresponds to “Belinda Vacca’s” struggle to break out of her coma in the real world. Is the Carnival just a place we go when we are not conscious in this world, a place that some can return from?

And then, there she is, “Belinda Vacca/Blanca,” awake in the hospital, back from the not-quite-dead. Does this confirm what we suspected? Is the Carnival a halfway house between this life and what lies beyond? A place where those who don’t meet the absolutes of life and death are held in a holding pattern? God’s waiting room? Limbo? Purgatory? Spoiler Alert: It would seem so.

If music has always been a crucial part of the scene setting here, it is never as effective as it is in this final chapter. Always dark and suited to the environment, this time out songs like “The Spirit Moves With a Strong Back Hand” and “3 Feet From a Vein” take us down an even more apocalyptic blues pathway, running from stomping country to ethereal gospel to anthemic roots-rock, encapsulating all the moods and menace, feelings and fears perfectly.

I have mentioned the music and the actors, but, of course, there are so many other unseen creatives and unsung heroes, puppet masters, and logistical whizz kids that make the show what it is. And whilst I can’t name them all (they are, by their very nature, unseen and unsung), Richard Malmos’ direction has to be mentioned. Brilliantly pacing the action and helping the actors breathe life —and, of course, where required, unlife – into their roles is an art in itself, especially in the medium of audio, where the listener’s imagination has to do much of the heavy lifting.

So the season does end on answers, some at least. There are still many more questions regarding things such as where the Perimeter leads and why troublesome denizens are sacrificed to it. Will the uprising among the lower-order Carnies occur, and if so, what will it usher in? Who’s in charge, and what exactly are the rules? The only way to find out is to pick things up where they left off with the next season of Purgatory, Missouri.

Pleasant dreams, people.

Play Episode 7 of Purgatory, Missouri HERE

Previous Episodes and Interviews HERE