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Season 2, Episode 7 "The Cabin"
Candy and Cynth go into the woods with Cynth's sisters - and find Max and Andrew are coming too! Meanwhile, Zak and Brian have to stop new girl Sophie from making a terrible mistake, and work out what's gone wrong with Hube. As the spawn of R'Thilliach stalk the woods, it becomes clear that everyone has been manipulated... by a being called Tremis! (Air Date: 3 October, 2000)
Regulars:
Other Characters:
- Meryll Stevens-Knight - Candy's mother
- Aggie and Chrys - Cynth's mischievous sisters
- Max and Andrew - two love interests for two girls
- Lex Madsen - Wealthy new owner of Langborn Estate
- Niles Pipe - Officious aide to Lex Madsen
- Troy and Alastair - two mad lads
- Lolly, Stephie and Hettie - mean girls
- Sophie - trying to make a new start with the Slayers
- Some hikers - just the type to get into trouble in the woods
Episode Synopsis:
Brian has been carefully gathering information all season, and he finally has a breakthrough. He discovers the mysterious Beauchamp Theorem he has been researching is now in the care of Lex Madsen...
Cynth and Candy head up to a cabin by the lake for a week with Cynth's sisters. But the sisters spring a surprise - and produce Max and Andrew as well! Panic stations! But romance steadfastedly refuses to fire, and then the group are distracted by the arrival of something horrible in the forest retreat!
Meanwhile, Brian arranges to visit Lex about the theorem, while Zak asks Hettie out for a milkshake. Sophie and Hube are staying together and Alison's, and bonding happily. Then things go wrong. Sophie and Heather, who have apparently become friendly, abduct Lolly in a large van and drive off with her!
In the woods, the cabin is besieged by the walking spawn of R'Thilliach. As the group realise the spawn are attracted to movement, the walking spawn leave them alone - and start heading towards a nearby summer camp!
Zak and Brian chase down the stolen truck, and Lolly is thrown out, beaten and chastened and no longer Heather's friend. The radio in their car picks up a sinister radio show, talking about demons which are among us now... and they catch up with the truck as it idles, perilously close to the edge of a cliff, and the radio drones on at Sophie and Hettie...
Candy, Cynth and the cabin crew set out to the summer camp, liaising with another surviving hiker and discovering they need to destroy a cyst that has grown in the forest. Battling the fierce spawn, they split up. Andrew guards a cabin while Max and the sisters show true heroism in battling the creatures and saving the summer camp, while Cynth and Candy have the disgusting job of killing the cyst - which, showered in bile, they manage to do.
Zak and Brian try and coax the upset girls out of the truck and to safety, but without success until Zak risks his life to get into the cabin and seize the handbrake. With Brian holding on to his son as best he can, the truck is saved from plummeting to its destruction, and the girls are wrenched free from the radio show's spell.
In the aftermath, Heather grabs hold of Zak, horrified by what she had almost done. Sophie reacts badly - it turns out that Hubert had made an inappropriate advance on her, and in her confusion she had flown off the handle... and the radio show had got hold of them and convinced them both they were demons, and worthy of death.
Out in the forest, Cynth continues to set aside the question of Max, while Max balances his heroism against monsters with a complete failure of nerve on the question of Cynth. Andrew and Candy at least manage a heart-to-heart, where Candy tells him she's not going to go out with him because she doesn't want to see him hurt. But telling him that does seem to hurt him.
Hubert has gone. He is too ashamed to stay. He's let everyone down. The Ridgway house lies empty.
Trivia and Notes:
- Pre-production notes for the episode (.pdf file, 123K)
- This was a looong episode. Really it was a two-parter in one. It was really intense as well, and packed with incident and drama.
- In the inital plan for this episode, Cynth's old crush, and childhood penpal Ethan was going to be at the summer camp. This subplot was dropped when it became clear just how long the episode would be.
- The themes of this episode were as dark as any in the series' run. Although most of the details only came out in the aftermath, the sombre tone of the episode was almost unrelenting. Only the ever-reliable Troy and Alastair could provide some much-needed hilarity as the nasty events unfolded.
- "OH. MY. GOD. Chrys and Aggie brought Max and Andrew to the cabin!! OH god! I don't know what to do... Andrew knows that I took care of he beasts. Cynth basically saved my life." - from Candy's diary