| Episode Guide: The Story Begins First Aired: 17th October 2004 Written by: Julian Jones Directed by: Brian Grant Cassie Hughes: Christina Cole Thelma Bates: Jemima Rooper Azazeal: Michael Fassbender Jo Watkins: Anna Wilson-Jones David Tyrel: Colin Salmon Troy: Joseph Morgan Leon: Jamie Davis Roxanne Davenport: Amber Sainsbury Gemma: Zoe Tapper Rachel McBain: Jessica Oyelowo It all starts sometime in the past. A woman, Rachel, wanders through the house, she's needed in the kitchen she says, to excuse herself from talk of the slave trade. Leaving the house, she enters what is presumably the slave quarters, sees a s weird old African slave chanting over some sort of vase thingie...a young slave appears, her boyfriend it would seem...as her kisses her, she watches the old man sacrifice a chicken....and boom into the opening credits, with Garbage's "#1 Crush" playing as the theme music. Present day and we're back at the house...clearly now a school...pan around and we're now in an English lesson, watching our lead characters. In fact we meet all the regular cast in this scene with the exception of David Tyrell the headmaster, and the demonic Azazeal. After the lesson and throughout this first half, we start to get an idea of the group dynamics. Thelma, Cassie's room mate, clearly fancies her. Cassie in turn is besotted with Troy, who is having casual sex with Gemma, one of the dim but popular girls. We get a good sense of Cassie as the outsider as well, being mocked in the art lesson, ignored in the toilets etc. Popping outside for a smoke, Cassie ends up in the same building that was being used as the slave quarters in our flashback...and what should she find but a collection of strange artefacts, one of which being the strange vase thing from earlier. She cuts her finger on one of the spikes sticking out the bottom, then the blood drips into the vase. Remember that, it's significant! That night Cassie starts having nightmares...she sees Rachel from the flashback, a girl with bleeding hands...the same girl hung from a tree...an inscription saying �Azazeal� and a woman, her head shaved and bleeding, drowning in the lake. Later, in another bathroom (this school has plenty obviously), Cassie is alone, and suddenly starts hearing people whisper her name...more and more whispers. Then the bald woman in there in the mirror...she looks terrified, the mirror breaks, and we cut to a commercial break. After the break Cassie is back in bed, she can�t sleep, and according to Thelma she�s being a �miserable cow.� Next morning in the headmaster�s office with Headmaster David Tyrell and teacher Jo Watkins, we confirm what we already knew, that Roxanne is an air-head, and Cassie wants to be popular, we also learn the headmaster has a bit of a soft spot for Cassie, and that she�s grown up as �her mother�s nursemaid� according to him. Later outside, after learning the Thelma would like to shag Lucy Lui, marry Cameron Diaz and kill Drew Barrymore, Cassie sees a mysterious man watching her across the lake...he disappears, then she has a very confusing episode where he�s either there or not, and a tree branch nearly falls on Cassie. This is when she sees Roxanne breaking up with her boyfriend...from the emphasis she puts on secrecy, I think he must be a teacher or something but I kinda missed that bit...anyway she swears Cassie to secrecy, and after a quick interlude where Cassie receives visions of Rachel, the mysterious man and the drowning girl from touching the vase thingie, Roxanne comes to her room, making sure she�s going to keep quiet, and invites her to come and watch a film with them later. Feeling very uncomfortable watching what turns out to be porn, Cassie attempts to fit in, which is all she wants at this stage. Thelma gets home, bringing a mug she made for Cassie in ceramics class, but she�s not there. She goes in search of her and disappointed at finding her with the �in crowd�, she leaves. Next day in the dining hall, after a little tiff with Thelma, Cassie sees as painting of the woman from her visions. According to Mr Tyrell its Rachel McBain, the first mistress of the estate which now forms the school, built around 300 years ago apparently, all built on the slave trade. We learn that Rachel was not a nice person, and became fascinated by the voodoo religion of her African slaves, as we saw in the flashback at the beginning, and then went insane. We also learn that a young maid went missing, who later turned up drowned in the lake, sacrificed by Rachel, attempting to summon something, or something. That would be the drowning girl we keep seeing obviously. Later whilst not in her Media Studies lesson, Cassie happens upon Roxanne and Gemma, and joins them for a cappuccino with no chocolate, where she is invited to a party Leon is holding. Back in her room, Cassie knocks the mug Thelma made off the table, but it hovers in mid air, turning over until Velma opens the door, Cassie�s concentration is broken and the mug smashes to the ground, leading to a confrontation between the girls about Cassie�s newly acquired strange behaviour. Next commercial break. Wandering through town, Cassie buys some new clothes for the party which can only be described as slutty, and changes while Thelma pretends not to be interested. At the party, after being ditched by Roxanne, who is clearly not interested in friendship, Cassie tries to talk to Troy, without huge success. Its then that Roxanne suggests to Leon that Cassie would happily sleep with him tonight, which would seem is the whole aim of the party. After trying to kiss her and pointing out that she has no friends, Leon follows Cassie outside to apologize, where he makes his move again, and as Cassie screams, the fuse box explodes and all the lights go out. Running into the hallway of the school, Cassie meets Rachel McBain, whispering her name, then the name �Azazeal.� After bumping into Jo Watkins the teacher, Cassie returns to her room and tells Thelma everything, all about Rachel, the vase thingie, and her emerging powers. The next day outside, Cassie sees the mysterious disappearing man again, while Thelma gets a demonstration of her powers when a nail varnish bottle moves across the table. After watching Frankenstein starring Peter Cushing in Media Studies, Jo tires to talk to Cassie, showing her concern for her student. Returning to what I am referring to as the slave quarters, Cassie looks for more artefacts, and comes across the Azazeal inscription she saw in her dreams earlier. After some serious flirting between Cassie and Thelma, which is going to become an issue later, we cut to the art class. And yes, as I suspected, Roxanne�s ex is the art teacher...I must have missed that in the first art lesson earlier. After some rather unpleasant remarks, Cassie manages to set fire to a sculpture above Leon�s head, which falls on him while Thelma watches Cassie in horror. And just when it�s getting exciting, another commercial break. These are getting annoying now. In the headmaster�s office the next day, Cassie is being questioned over the incident. But then she thinks to ask about Azazeal. Turns out he�s the leader of the Nephalim, Hebrew for �fallen ones.� Two-hundred fallen angels who fell in love with mortal women and taught them witchcraft, blamed for all the worlds evil before God hurled them into the abyss. David clearly believes what he is saying here. At another party, after some more serious flirting with Thelma, Cassie shows clear control over her new abilities, using a power cable to trip up Leon, causing him to spill his drink over Troy, all an elaborate ploy so she can se him with no top on. Thelma, realising what Cassie is doing, is disgusted, and the two argue. They argue about everything, about the way Cassie is abusing her powers, how she is using Thelma, leading her on, and how she likes to be in control. Upset, Thelma runs off, watched by the mysterious guy, who disappears as usual. And in no time at all we�re on another break. I�m sure they�re getting more frequent! The next morning (this episode seems to have covered a lot of morning and evenings!) Cassie wakes up to find Thelma�s bed still empty. The police are everywhere, and Cassie is questioned by Jo and David about Thelma�s disappearance. She reluctantly tells them about the argument, but leaves out the part about the mysterious disappearing guy. Seeing him outside holding a single red rose, she follows him to a graveyard, where she sees a number of fresh roses at the grave stone of Rachel McBain. Back inside, she follows the sound of whispers to a room where she finds him playing the piano. She confirms that he is in fact Azazeal, as we all suspected I�m sure. He needs to regain his strength, and for this he needs Cassie, revealing that none of what has happened to her was accidental, including finding � the Canari�, otherwise known as the vase thingie. Realising she has leverage here, she demands to see Thelma, so he takes her to a hidden room, where Thelma is bound to a chair. Needing a new sacrifice to restore his strength, Azazeal intends to take Thelma...problem is he needs a willing sacrifice. While mentally working the leather straps on the chair undone, Cassie offers herself in Thelma�s place, admitting that she loves her. As Thelma breaks free, she rushes to stop Azazeal, and is stabbed by the same knife we saw the voodoo guy using at the start, and dies in Cassie�s arms, while Azazeal takes on a new, demonic form. Cassie wakes up in her bed, just as before. Perhaps it wasn�t real....but alas, she gets to the lake just in time to see the police retrieving Thelma�s body. Cutting to the funeral, we see everyone gathered, as Azazeal looks on from a distance. Then, just as its getting all emotional....no, not another commercial break, Thelma appears at Cassie�s side! She may be dead but she�s not gone. And thus concludes the first episode. A brilliant start to what promises to be a highly enjoyable and suspenseful series. There�s lots set up that we�re going to need to investigate...David Tyrell clearly knows more than he�s letting on, and what is Cassie�s connection to Rachel McBain and the Nephalim? Keep reading my episode guide to find out!! Back To: Hexed Up Home StrangeOnline Home |
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