Chapter 42-3 Chasing Ghosts

[Witch_Doctor]

.....If anyone should kill Ink, it should be Michael, as Puck suggested. This was a great episode.

Puck's last statement in this episode was straight to the point. I agree with you, it seems like the stage has been set for a showdown.

[TacticalJHP]

I wonder if there would be a discussion of why Ink let CJ, Puck, Riley and Skittles go away unscathed. A case could be made that this is a mystery that can't go unanswered...

They posed no threat to Ink. No point in killing them when allowing them to live serves a better purpose.

CJ was cornered in Dunbar's basement armory, holding off zombies when Ink said "Leave her." He realized she was alone, and pinned. The rest of the tower has fallen, there was no point in forcing her to come out and loose more of his forces, so he left her in her hole. No threat.

Duncan (skittles) had a mental breakdown and hid. No threat.

Riley and Kalani at the hospital posed no threat either. He laughed when Riley drew her bow, and caught the arrow easily. They ran. No threat.

Puck had compound fractures in his arm and leg, as well as a concussion. He probably LOOKED one step away from dead, but either way, he was neutralized. No threat.

All of these people were able to then tell their story, and pass along the terror and expand on the myth of "The Man in the Pinstriped Suit," "The One With The Markings," "the colored one," and "Ink."

This is Psychological warfare 101.

What you have to remember is, while ink may have managed to get a good lawyer to get an insanity plea at his trial....He is NOT crazy.

"He knows exactly what he is doing."

[BrettANewton]

Here's a screen cap of Brett Newton aka Puck. Think it goes perfect after listening to that last episode.

Attachment 2950

KC used a shovel to prepare me for the roll. Method acting is hard sometimes

[TacticalJHP]

KC used a shovel to prepare me for the roll. Method acting is hard sometimes

Solid episode.

Great whole chapter.

Make sure puck comes back in the story, and not just tucked away. Tell KC to give him some baseball cards in the hospital bed or something.

[Footbutt]

Puck's last line in this chapter is reminiscent of Michael's Season 3 closing line.
Even Lizzy's previous line from the Season 2 opener during the fire, when Michael argues that their water reserve is for drinking and she says, "what good will it do when we're all dead" or something like that. i can see the same arguement being used for dealing with Ink vs. resource procurement.

i think it's all action and fast music from here on out!

[scbubba]

Attachment 2942

From left to right. Carl (Christian Vieira), Kc, Puck (Brett Newton), Muldoon (Shaun Lewin), Robbins (Tony Rey)

So, I'm all tore up from listening to the episode and then I come in and see the Fort Irwin Kings of Comedy all lined up smiling like that.....

As someone else has already said: best and worst episode so far. I was doing ok until Robbins started trying to get Muldoon. And then someone must have started cutting onions in my truck or something cuz I had eye leaks.

Very well done! Tony Rey, Shaun Lewin, Christian Vieira: it was great hearing your voices on the show. Your characters are at the top of the list for me and a lot of others. Thank you!!!

[scbubba]

Just went back and listened to 11-1 since there was a physical description of "Pinstripes" in the Tower:
6 and a half feet tall, broken and crooked teeth, skin covered in tattoo, bright green eyes.

Puck's description in 42-3: white teeth against his dark ink face

We've had a bunch of discussions about the apparent differences in behavior between Pinstripes in the tower in Chapter 11 and Ink/TOWTM in other encounters. This, to my thinking anyway, might hint back to their being some difference between the two. Not going to beat the horse too much but just bringing it up to say that it might have been another experiment that Roberts was doing.

He obviously was doing lots of physical experiments on mostly criminals, some definitely violent. What if he was also doing some experiments on another group looking for intelligence? I think we are supposed to assume that the Little Ones are smarter than your average Zed (see "Red Winter", "It Only Takes One", and some other episodes) and the oft repeated mantra from Burt in Season 1: "The smarter you are in life...."

It makes sense to me that he could have intelligence trials too. The zombie change by nature gives some enhanced physical characteristics. Pick a likely candidate, give him the "thinker" drug cocktail, dress him up in a nice suit (and body armor), and send him to see if he can infiltrate the Tower.

Maybe a little to for some, but it seems in the realm of plausibility.....

[scbubba]

They posed no threat to Ink. No point in killing them when allowing them to live serves a better purpose.

CJ was cornered in Dunbar's basement armory, holding off zombies when Ink said "Leave her." He realized she was alone, and pinned. The rest of the tower has fallen, there was no point in forcing her to come out and loose more of his forces, so he left her in her hole. No threat.

Duncan (skittles) had a mental breakdown and hid. No threat.

Riley and Kalani at the hospital posed no threat either. He laughed when Riley drew her bow, and caught the arrow easily. They ran. No threat.

Puck had compound fractures in his arm and leg, as well as a concussion. He probably LOOKED one step away from dead, but either way, he was neutralized. No threat.

All of these people were able to then tell their story, and pass along the terror and expand on the myth of "The Man in the Pinstriped Suit," "The One With The Markings," "the colored one," and "Ink."

This is Psychological warfare 101.

What you have to remember is, while ink may have managed to get a good lawyer to get an insanity plea at his trial....He is NOT crazy.

"He knows exactly what he is doing."

I like this idea of why Ink left the people he did (I mean, other than to progress the story and give the listener the bread crumbs...) and it's at the top of my list of why.

But I also have this idea gnawing at my brain that Roberts is a scientist, albeit a deranged one, at heart and he is studying. I'm not sure if he is trying to weed out all but the most fit remaining humans for use as stock or if it is just the curiosity of seeing something different (people in a survival situation).

The closest interaction with Ink/TOWTM/Pinstripes was in Chapter 11 at the Tower and, as I noted above, that might not have actually been Roberts. Other than that, he has not done much to be directly involved in conflicts - in the big battle at the Colony his direct role was to jump up on the wall, kill one person, and open the gate. He fled in a hurry once that was done and Saul started trying to shoot him.

So maybe he's thinking of himself as some sort of god playing with life on earth. He's staying removed/detached from much of it and letting his creations play out their roles....

[Footbutt]

self-preservation supercedes a curious mind, me thinks.

i think Bill Roberts found a "cure" or "happy Man/Zed medium", by evidence of his cleaned-up teeth.

either that, or he found some dentures.

[scbubba]

self-preservation supercedes a curious mind, me thinks.

i think Bill Roberts found a "cure" or "happy Man/Zed medium", by evidence of his cleaned-up teeth.

either that, or he found some dentures.

Could be. Could be I'm reaching on the physical description too. Puck only says white teeth. No mention of being straight and nice. No mention of NOT being broken or crooked. Also, I'm not sure we ever get another height reference. I need to go back and listen to Devil's Workshop again to see if Riley or Kalani make mention of how tall he is. 6' 6" is tall enough that most people would take notice. I'll give Puck a pass on the description because he was hurt bad and fearing for his life at the time.....