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Zak forces Brian to tell him the truth about his mother, as horrific monsters try and drag more people into their dark dimension. Also, Candy and Nick become friendly, and Cynth gets a babysitting job! (Air Date: 29 April, 2001)

Regulars:

• Candy
• Cynth
• Zak
• Brian

Other Characters:

• Meryll Stevens-Knight - Candy's mother
• Alison - Candy's watcher
• Lolly - Bossy mean girl
• Stephie - Lolly's mean sidekick
• Max - friend of the Slayers East, Cynth's love interest
• Nick - cute guy, but son of a bad man!
• Sophie - troubled young woman
• Ashleigh Witherspoon - Watcher Council liaison
• Evie Shaw - precocious seven year old
• Andrea - Zak's long-lost mother

Episode Synopsis:

Zak reveals to his friend Phil he came back to Exeter because his mother told him he was needed to stop things getting worse. He's been seeing her ghost...

At school, Cynth regrets missing training to babysit a girl named Evie. Max is curious about training. Elsewhere, Nick Madsen asks Zak why his father warned him not to talk to him. Nick tries to join Candy, Cynth, Max and Zak, but Lolly and Stephie drag him away. Then Lolly comes back to tell Max they're going on a bike ride in the woods - clearly to rub in their success.

Meryll tells Brian she wants to go on holiday. The slaying stuff is wearing her down. Brian doesn't like the idea of leaving Exeter undefended. Things are uneasy.

Ashleigh Witherspoon drops in on training, and warns about mystical energy in the woods near Langborn. Alison is obviously smitten with him. Sophie and Candy bond over this.

Cynth, babysitting little Evie, meets Evie's favourite doll, the 'Fairy Queen'. A tree comes to life and smashes a window in an attempt to grab the girl! Cynth gets Evie out and calls Candy. By the time Candy arrives, the tree monster is gone.

Zak tells Brian he;s been seeing his mother. Brian realises it's time to tell the truth. When Zak was a child, Brian and Andrea were out driving and had an accident. When Brian came to, Andrea was gone. Brian followed her trail into the forest, and witnessed her being carried away by a giant tree-monster. In the ensuing weeks, no sign of her was found. Brian tried to rationalise this away, while simultaneously beginning a lifelong investigation into the occult.

Alison, Candy and Zak are searching the woods the next day and run into Nick's biking expedition with Stephie and Lolly. The tree monster attacks! Nick helps fend it off and they get away alive. Nick promises to ask his Dad for advice, and is clearly impressed with how Candy and Zak handled themselves. They're impressed by his cool head too.

Alison identifies the creature as a Polyp of Thush Negur Yung. Sophie and Candy hang out. Zak sees his mother - he agrees to go with her into the woods. She doesn't think she's dead and tells him she dwells in a strange palace where people trade in dreams. They reach a clearing where six tree monsters have gathered around a strange blue rift. Zak calls the others.

The Slayers meet and charge into the woods, and battle is joined. Brian is reunited with Andrea, but they don't have time to catch up - they need to close the rift. Alison and Brian cast the spell as Zak and Candy fight off the Polyps, and the rift closes.

Andrea has to leave. With the rift closed she cannot stay. Zak and Brian both get to say farewell, and there is fresh pain in their hearts but also peace - Andrea lives on, in some fashion, some where.

Trivia and Notes:

• Pre-production notes for the episode (.pdf file, 121K)
• Things get much more intense in this episode as the questions surrounding Andrea, Zak's mother and Brian's first wife, are finally answered. This mystery has been bubbling under since the first series and is finally brought to a memorable head in this episode. The mystery culminated in a stunning monologue by Blair Rhodes as Brian, which was one of the most memorable moments in the entire series. Again, the whole cast rose to the occasion with some truly incredible performances
• This episode also features the return of troubled teen Sophie, last seen in season 2 episode 8, and introduces Evie, Cynth's babysitting charge. The Babysitters Club children's books were one of the inspirations for the series, and one of the reasons it was set in New England, so it was good to finally get some babysitting on screen!
• The monsters in this episode, the Polyps of Thush Negur Yung, are a direct homage to Lovecraft's borror mythos. Lovecraft, of course, was the other big reason this series was set in New England.
• SOPHIE: I cook worse than her and I grew up on a bus!
  ZAK: I think they live on baked beans in Britain.
• "Nick Madsen is right in with Lolly and Stephanie. He's pretty cute but he is untrusty because of being Mr Madsen's son.... Nick called Lolly and Stephanie 'kids' and was really serious with me. He didn't know that I'm the Slayer, even though his father told him to stay away from Zak..." - from Candy's diary