Hex Episode 4 (7 November 2004)

Summary:

• Cassie turns bad, and therefore goes to S&M haunts.
• Azazeal lurks, smirks and annoys.
• Finally, another lesbian ghost!

Dark misty night – Thelma is again making a mess in the dining room, staring desolately at the sculpture that she did last week. We can hear piano music playing, which obviously startles Thelma, who goes upstairs to see David, the Head of the school, singing in what we presume to be a fancy dress party in the 1920s. It doesn't seem to be completely real, and Thelma sees things through a hazy reflection in the mirror. We can see two women looking at Thelma, and then kiss, one of them revealing herself to be Joe, the randy English teacher (I knew it! At least, I hoped it.) We then see Cassie sitting with Azazeal and a really pretty woman, and she kisses both of them, while Thelma looks on, upset.

Dorm room, morning – Cassie wakes up, and confirms the fact that she was possessed the last episode,

Thelma: "Sweet dreams?"
Cassie: "Yeah. Until you appeared."

Cassie then lights up, with the manky eyes, and looks possessively at Thelma. If that is possible.

School corridor – It's supposedly Christmas. We can see Cassie walk down the stairs confidently. Troy breaks apart from his clique and kisses her, and then tells her about how they will have to go out with his friends, to which Cassie completely blows him off, saying "I want to see you, all of you. Just not anytime soon." Leon smirks appreciatively.

Dorm room – Cassie looks at herself in the mirror, and asks Thelma if she would "have her." Cassie then teases Thelma sadistically by telling her that she was just getting used to the idea of touching her, followed by the patronizing statement that Thelma "wouldn't fit in" where Cassie is going.

A club – At first glance it seems Thelma would certainly fit in, as it seems to be a gay club-meets-S&M bar. And turns out to be Azazeal's "new haunt." Wow, that would be an interesting episode of Cribs. Cassie flirts with Azazeal (or maybe we should say Cassie-under-the-influence-of-an-ear-worm flirts with the fallen angel), and he tells her that the idea of him and her mother together excites her, putting people off their dinners throughout the country.

Dining room – Finally, Thelma stops paying for the confectionary, and we see her unlocking the vending machine and clapping her hands excitedly--just as a 1920s woman walks through the room behind her. So, the whole montage at the beginning was not a dream? Maybe the vending machine has some sort of lock that stops Thelma from stealing by inflicting her with the Headmaster's singing voice.

Cassie interrupts as she comes back from her night of debauchery, causing Thelma to leap behind a pillar (similar to the comic genius of Alice in The L Word), and saunter up the stairs.

The grounds – The Head asks Joe to stay over Christmas, to "look after the orphans" (what is this, Hogwarts?) We find out that she dumped her "arse-hole" of a boyfriend--which is all the more reason why she should hit on Cassie, then! Although, it seems that it's more a case of Cassie hitting on David (the Headmaster), as when she bumps into him, she tells him that he should try out the whole pleasure and pain thing, which he seems rather bemused by.

School – Cassie is inside working, when Thelma asks her tentatively how her night went:

Cassie: "You know how I get when I've drunk too much."
Thelma: "Sick?"
Cassie: "Horny."

And, thus continues the teasing of the lesbian ghost.

Common room – Troy tells Cassie to stop playing games with him, while Cassie jokingly calls him a stalker. You actually feel a shred of pity for the poor boy.

Hallway – Troy's friends talk about how Cassie is a "whore" (as say Gemma and Roxanne) and a "bad girl" (as says the lecherous Leon.) Gemma, Troy's 'girlfriend' (I use the term loosely) gets upset, especially when the other two say that Troy is obviously in love with Cassie. For once, I both agree with Gemma and Roxanne, and I don't think they are as horrible as I used to--not compared to Cassie possessed, (although she is still as beautiful as ever when she's evil, which I suppose says something.)

Grounds – We can see Joe catch up with Cassie and tell her enthusiastically about the English course she set Cassie up on, about women in love. Cassie is, unsurprisingly, apathetic, and tells Joe that she would prefer to read some of her erotic fiction instead. If she hadn't obviously said it to shock and even hurt her teacher, I would be jumping around the room. But I'll leave that for later.

Nightime – Cassie is playing 'Truth or Dare' with Troy and his friends, which I suppose acts as a decent plot point, but really, how old are the writers? The spinning beer bottle serves to tell the audience that the oldest woman Leon had been with was 54. As Thelma watches from the door, the bottle lands on Cassie, whose dare is to put one of her body parts into someone else's. She initially goes to Troy, teasingly, and then French kisses Leon while Troy glowers and Gemma and Roxanne look on. As they leave, we see Cassie come out behind Leon, asking him, "truth
or dare?" and leading him away.

Bathroom – Cassie seems to have turned the game into 'hide and seek', as we see Leon looking for her in the bathroom, pulling back the shower cubicles. I think I saw a horror movie like this once. As Cassie pulls Leon into her cubicle, she simultaneously tells him to shut up, while telekinetically turning on the shower tap, and closing the curtains. Being evil seems to make her good at multitasking. Thelma, meanwhile, is creeping into the bathroom looking furtive, and is a bit concerned when she figures out what's going on. Ever the intelligent casper ghost, she turns on the cold water taps, ensuring that Leon and Cassie jumps out of the shower, with Leon calling Cassie a "nutter." She may have been scarily telling him to look at her, but I really doubt he can blame her for the piping.

Toilet cubicle, a.k.a. the best scene so far – Thelma, and her hot cowboy boots, is talking on her mobile phone (the same one as mine! I definitely felt a gay vibe from it) to either an answering machine, or a very bemused person. She talks about how Cassie is evil, and how by electrocuting Cassie (as "That's what Cassie always seems to do"), she will un-posses her, and about how she thinks electrocuting her will be rather fun. Again, Jemina Rooper is brilliant, and if I talked about her comic timing anymore, I would probably get a restraining order.

Dining room – We can see that Thelma is back again to paying for her food, but it doesn't stop the same 1920s-vintage woman glide behind her. This time, Thelma follows her into the library, where the woman is looking at something in a glass box, and who asks Thelma if she is there to help solve the inscription. Thelma is at first completely shocked that this woman can see her, and even more shocked when she shake hands with the other ghost:

Thelma: "We can touch each other!"
Peggy: "Steady on, I will have to get to know you first."

We learn that Peggy, who was an Egyptologist, lived in Medlham, and who is also a lesbian, explaining her cause of death as being the flu in 1923, although "I like to say my husband caught me with the scullery maid." Thelma looks on appreciatively, and women around the country rejoice. The thing in the glass box turns out to be an Egyptian engraving, and Peggy talks about the story she is deciphering, although it seems Thelma is more interested in her than the block of stone. Until, however, the word Peggy is having trouble translating turns out to be 'Azazeal'. He gets around, doesn't he?

English class – Joe tells her class to behave themselves over the Christmas holidays, while Troy looks sulkily at Cassie (who we learn knows about her encounter with Leon). Outside, Troy asks her about the shower sequence, but she is aloof and uncaring, eventually agreeing with his half-hearted offer to break up.

Dorm room – Thelma is looking at something underneath Cassie's desk, showing her black sparkly panties. We see that she is trying to loosen the plug in an attempt to electrocute Cassie, and she only pauses in her campaign when Cassie comes in.

Dorm room, night time – Cassie complains about not having an ensuite bathroom, and says that Medlham is like Auschwitz. The possession seems to have blown her notion of reality, because if Medlham is in anyway similar to a prison, then I want to be a criminal. We can see that she has wet hair, and she picks up her hairdryer (wasn't she taught anything in, er, school?), intending to put it in the Thelma-tampered plug. Thelma looks worried, covering her face partially with her upside-down magazine. However, all that happens with that safety-code violation is a blowing of the lights and Cassie thinking Thelma has gone crazy, as Thelma checks to see that Cassie is still manky-eyed by holding up Cassie's lighter, pretending to look for a bug in her hair.

The spooky dead of night – Azazeal stalks ominously around Medlham. He watches Cassie sleep, until she wakes and immediately starts flirting again. Azazeal believes that women through the ages haven't changed, and then tells her that his last true love was the pendant-woman, and that he has had therapy. That obviously hasn't worked. He tells Cassie that "there will never be another man who waits 250 years for you--well, not one in such good condition." Oh, my knees, I can feel them weakening. They do the horribly inevitable and kiss.

Outside – We can see Troy getting into his car, still looking sulky (Or "heart-broken", according to the evil green one). Thelma and Cassie sit on a bench, while Thelma talks brightly (although probably too brightly, as in she is trying to act normal to Cassie) about how it will be nice to have Christmas with just the two of them. Cassie cuts in, saying that she knows what Thelma's getting at, and that she has seen Azzy, will see him again, and doesn't care about what Thelma thinks. She also says "I think we misjudged him... he's no more evil than you or I" to a rightly-doubtful audience. Thelma storms off, leaving Cassie in her bitchy afterglow.

Azazeal's Crib, or Club – We can see him canoodling with some fishnet-wearing women, and Cassie looking on, mildly jealous. Azazeal saunters over, tells her arrogantly about how he can see everything before anyone else does. Cassie is "dominant" and tells him that he's a brat, and to get her a drink. They flirt some more sadistically:

Cassie: "You are going to fuck me up, aren't you?"
Azazeal: "Probably."

They kiss some more, which is then continued into the school against the lockers (pausing only when Joe wanders about the school, probably taking a break from her writing) and then into Cassie's bedroom. There are candles, there is rain, there is sex.

Dorm room, morning – As Cassie wakes up, we see Azazeal leaving the building. Joe also sees him, and starts telling him that it is private property. However, obviously the whole 'fallen-angel' complex really works on the women in this show, as Joe goes all gooey-eyed and flirtatious.

Laundry room – After finding out that she can't get anything off her blue urn, Cassie does her laundry, accompanied by Thelma. We can see that Thelma is still trying to electrocute Cassie, as she slowly lets a tap pour water over the floor where Cassie is standing, ironing.

Thelma asks Cassie why she has a "sickeningly sweet" smile on her face, to which Cassie again responds with the patronizing statement, "You wouldn't understand." Cassie then talks about prostituting herself to the first years to do her laundry, while she makes Thelma fold her "increasingly small" knickers. Thelma then tries to subtly drop the iron into the puddle of water, but Cassie stops it with her powers, mildly suspicious.

The Lesbian Library – Thelma and Peggy talk about the living walking with the dead and the typicality of men (while flirting, of course.) They discover that Azazeal's lover was buried alive, as she was terrifying to the villagers, and she was carrying Azzy's child. Oh, damn foreshadowing.

Corridor – Thelma is playing with the main electrics while wearing goggily goggles, still managing to look incredibly cute. When Cassie goes to put her steel key in her steel locker, Thelma looks on expectantly, but nothing happens. But another girl whose locker is adjacent to Cassie's starts being electrocuted. Cassie grabs her, and they both end up electrocuted. Thelma was right--it did look like fun. (I think some of Cassie's sadism has affected me, damnit!)

Outside – An ambulance pulls away, as Cassie sits with Thelma on a bench, un-mankified. They talk about what Cassie did, and how she sort of knew. Cassie apologizes to Thelma, who says she will put her on a "tight leash."

Cassie: "Thanks, you know, for electrocuting me."
Thelma: "Any time."

Dorm room, night – We see Cassie take off her pendant while looking in the mirror, where she sees the reflection of Azazeal on her bed. Although she tells him to go, when he kisses her neck she has a mixture of temptation and anguish on her face. She tells him that she doesn't want anything to do with him, and he tells her it's a bit late for that.

Next week: The season finale. Cassie is pregnant with Azazeal's baby, who doesn't want to let her terminate the baby that will apparently unleash the fallen angel people and probably cause the apocalypse. As long as Peggy and Thelma solve it all while flirting, I am sure it will be fine.

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