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Zak overhears John being told to break up the Slayers East - but this betrayal is interrupted by the arrival of a golden man from another dimension. He has come to destroy the Cult of R'Thilliach - but is he an even greater threat? The Slayers East versus the White Lady in a fight to the finish, and when it's over nothing will ever be the same!

Regulars:

• Candy
• Cynth
• Zak
• John

Other Characters:

• Alison Ridgeway - Candy's watcher, John's mother
• Meryll Stevens-Knight - Candy's mother
• Brian Stevens - Zak's father
• Coral, the White Lady - vampiric leader of the Cult of R'Thilliach
• Opie - a deranged vampire, Coral's sidekick
• The Golden One - Glowing otherdimensional warrior
• Christian - the cutest hottest boy in school
• Andrew - Cynth's neighbour, Christian's best friend
• Max - Cynth's friend - and love interest?
• Phil - Zak's best friend
• Lolly - Queen Bee mean girl of Exeter Junior High
• Stephie - Lolly's sidekick and sycophant
• Hettie - Bottom of the Lolly-Stephie pecking order
• Troy - School nuisance #1
• Alistair McAlistair - School nuisance #2
• Gom of the Woods - Yucky trader-demon
• Spawn of R'Thilliach - Loathsome winged horrors
• "Police Officer" - actually a killer!

Episode Synopsis:

Zak visits John, with whom he's become friendly. There he overhears Alison telling John to stop Zak and Cynth from being involved in Candy's life. After Zak sneaks away, Alison and John are visited by the Golden One, a shining warrior from another dimension. Elsewhere, the Cult of R'Thilliach sense his arrival - and prepare to do battle.

Zak, wondering what to do about John and Alison's betrayal, heads off with Brian for some father-son time. There, Brian's recent reinvigoration is explained - he has fallen under the control of Coral and the R'Thilliach cult. Under their control, he delivers Zak into Coral's clutches and imprisonment. Elsewhere, Cynth is visited by the Police Officer last seen in Episode Three, and she too is bundled off into Coral's lair on the old Langborn Estate.

Meanwhile, John and Alison listen to the Golden One, who tells them he has come to destroy R'Thilliach and end its corrupting influence. It knows R'Thilliach operates through mortals, and so it needs mortal assistance.

Elsewhere, Candy realises something is up and heads out to the Estate. There she confronts Coral for the first time. Coral tells her that a Golden Man has come, and as he destroys R'Thilliach, he will also destroy the earth and everyone that lives upon it. According to Prophecy, he can only be stopped by an army led by the Slayer. She is that Slayer. It is up to her to save the earth - by allying with Coral and the R'Thilliach cult.

Zak and Cynth go home with Candy, and the three of them try and figure out their next move. With the fate of the earth at stake, the school day passes in a haze - even when Andrew, with Christian urging him on, works up the nerve to ask Candy out on a date, which takes her utterly by surprise and leads to a clumsy refusal. Brian is still missing, holed up with the cultists at the estate, and Meryll is beside herself with worry.

At their home, John and Alison work with the Golden One to prepare for an assault on the R'Thilliach Cult. Candy visits, and is perturbed by Alison's instruction to cut Cynth and Zak out of her life. She doesn't trust the Golden One and doesn't accept Alison's advice, leaving in confusion. John, likewise, doesn't know which way to fall.

Night comes. The Golden One begins his attack. Everyone converges on the Langborn Estate, where Cynth and Zak and John work to free Brian, while the Golden One tears apart Coral's mind. Candy has to get through Alison in order to stand in the way of the Golden One, and they argue fiercely as the battle around them rages.

As John works with Zak and Cynth, he decides that his mother has the wrong approach. He and Cynth are distracted, however, when Zak gets surrounded by vampires - he is only saved by the timely arrival of Meryll, who risks her life to save him. Together they free Brian, and their ongoing conflict is resolved by her display of parental love.

The Golden Man wreaks havoc on the R'Thilliach cult, but Candy convinces Alison to trust her, and they stand together against the otherdimensional warrior. Together, they drive him back and banish him from this reality.

In the ruins of the Estate, Alison and Candy are joined by John, Zak, Cynth, Meryll and Brian. The Slayers East are finally united.

Trivia and Notes:

• [Yet again, I wish I had better notes for this episode. I only remember little bits and pieces of what happened and my notes suggest lots of cool stuff that could have turned out in a number of different ways.]
• Coral is defeated in this episode. It is revealed that the Cult of R'Thilliach has deliberately and permanently weakened the dimensional walls around Exeter. This weakening was exploited by Horagoth (Episode Two) and the Dark People (Episode Four). Additionally, Knifey and Rufus (from Episode Three) are revealed to be escapees from the Cult's 'army'.
• The dimensional weakening is a recurring explanation for strange happenings in town, in the same way that the Hellmouth in Sunnydale is used to justify the number of strange events there.
• R'Thilliach is explicitly referred to as an 'elder god'. This is a deliberate allusion to the works of H.P.Lovecraft, a native of Rhode Island where this series is set. There are several homages to Lovecraft among the series' monsters, but R'Thilliach is the first and greatest.