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Strange Angel - “Sacrament of the Ancestors” (This is a recap/review of the ninth episode of Strange Angel. There are spoilers, so proceed with caution! Catch up on the rest here.)

Alfred is conducting a mass, and Jack looks positively agitated. Alfred tries to gently close Jack’s eyes, but it doesn’t work. He’s still agitated because he replays Richard’s last words in his head.

The scene flashes to Jack at work. He is working overtime to clean machine parts, and his boss is impressed. He notices Jack is now not only on time, but he works overtime since his “little side project” didn’t pan out. Jack’s boss offers him a supervisory position at the Pueblo Powder Company.

The scene flashes back to the mass. Jack looks across the room and sees Susan kneeling.

Next, the scene flashes back to Susan and Jack getting ready for the mass. Susan is dressed in a gorgeous black dress, with white or silver piping forming designs around the top of her dress and her breasts, her waist and forearms.

They discuss the offer, and Jack makes comments that are uncharacteristic for him. He talks about having more money and buying a bigger house - quite a traditional viewpoint. He asks Susan for her opinion.

Susan: “I think you should do whatever your true will tells you to do.”

Jack: “You can stop that. I know what you’re doing.”

Susan: “What am I doing?”

Jack: “Giving me a taste of my own medicine.” (pause) “Why are you so insistent we go tonight?”

Susan: “Because I’m trying, Jack.”

Jack: “What if I’m not in the mood to go to a mass?”

Susan: “Well, I want to go.” (pause) “Would you prefer I go alone?”

Jack doesn’t respond but gives a twisted smile. The shoe’s on the other foot now, and he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like the thought of sharing Susan with another man, but he certainly had no issue with his own practice. Jack already feels a failure, so I’m sure Susan actually feeling pleasure from another man would put a nail in his coffin.

The scene moves back to the mass. Jack is still watching Susan as she receives a wafer into her mouth, while she is on her knees. Ernest, robed and eyes covered with a black ribbon, stands in front of Jack.

Ernest: “May you be granted the accomplishment of your true will.”

Jack takes the wafer into his mouth rather angrily.

The scene again flashes back to a very short time immediately prior to the mass. Jack finds Ernest in the kitchen. He’s baking up a batch of wafers for the mass, and he’s very excited.

Ernest: “I am this close to my next ascension.”

Jack mentions the offer and seeks Ernest’s opinion. Ernest advises Jack to focus on this offer during the mass.

Back to the mass, Ernest remains standing in front of Jack and continues reciting the following words.

Ernest: “Whether they will absorption into the infinite, or to be united with your chosen and preferred, I say unto them “Love is the law.”

As Ernest passes to the next congregant, Jack begins to chew his wafer. He grimaces as if it tastes bad. He is not enjoying this mass at all. He shakes his head slightly and chokes down the last of the wafer. Jack catches Susan’s eye across the room. She looks at him briefly before she closes her eyes.

Alfred begins speaking and tears the sheath surrounding Joan, who is standing naked in the center of the room. She licks the knife Alfred has gripped and presented to her. The chanting in a foreign tongue continues. Suddenly, Jack notices water leaking from the roof and dripping into a bucket, and then onto his own face. This is how distracted Jack is - he is focusing on a bucket of water instead of what is going on in front of him.

Joan takes and holds the knife, as Alfred begins kissing her knee. It’s intimated he works his way up as Joan recites words similar to those she recited in “The Mystic Circle of Young Girls.” Jack looks bored, while Susan watches Joan intently.

After Joan and Alfred are finished, Joan dons a robe with the help of others and Alfred stands before the congregants, who then rise. The women next to Susan look at her pointedly. Susan catches on and quietly leaves the room. Jack follows, even though he is allowed to stay. On the way down the stairs, Susan questions him.

Susan: “You’re sure you want to go?”

Jack: “If you’re coming for me, the least I can do is leave for you.”

Alfred follows them and welcomes Susan back, not to “partake in the workings,” but to attend to “other matters.” As he leads Susan back up the stairs, she turns back to look at Jack standing in the foyer with a stunned look on his face. I almost feel bad for him - not!

Susan is seated in front of Alfred’s camera. He asks her a series of questions, yet again, to get her to release her inhibitions. He wants to know how she responded to the mass and hovers his hand over her chest and midsection. Susan’s response, or lack of response, shows Alfred that she is regressing. He’s not frustrated, but Susan is a mixture of contrition and frustration herself, yet still wants to try again.

This time, Alfred asks Susan about the vision of the young girl she saw at her mother-in-law’s house. She does not yet identify the girl as herself, which I find interesting. Alfred takes Susan’s picture and compares it to her other pictures.

Alfred: “We haven’t made much headway.” (big sigh) “I thought this vision of the girl was the key, but the essential agitation persists.”

Susan: “You made the pain go away once.”

Alfred: “But it came back.”

Susan: “If I’m being honest, it’s gotten worse.”

Alfred: “You remain so ephemeral, not just to me, but to yourself. It’s…” (looks up and closes eyes, smiling) “It’s as if you were made of air. Perhaps it’s time we tried a different technique.”

Susan goes outside and joins Jack in the car.

Susan: “Ready?”

Jack: “So, are you not gonna tell me what you two did in there?”

Susan: “You ought to know. You’ve been through his purge sessions.”

Jack: “Did you talk about me?”

Susan: “No, Jack Not everything is about you.”

Ha! Jack is so full of himself. He really thinks Susan is doing this for HIM. I doubt he has any idea just how much her wrist bothers her. However, that wrist is only symptomatic of her real inner pain and turmoil, of which he could really care less. He’s way too wrapped up in his own issues.

Richard and his team are in the desert. Several tents are filled with all the equipment and men Jack could ever want, and they are still not close to being ready for their Air Corps demonstration in less than a month.

A new member of their team, Marvin Nichols, tries to go beyond what Jack started. The team even has Jack’s notes…but they still don’t have a key ingredient, Jack.

Chiang: “A solution to an impossible problem requires someone who doesn’t believe in the impossible.”

Marisol is on stage performing in a play as Richard watches with rapt attention and adoration. A couple in the audience makes out, oblivious to everyone. Once the play ends, Richard claps enthusiastically. It’s literally the only clapping going on because the audience is pretty bare.

Richard goes to Marisol’s dressing room, where she is in a state of undress. They are clearly a couple now, considering how comfortable he is with her. Richard tries to convince Marisol to accompany him to dinner with Jack and Susan. She is uneasy and questions Richard’s motives. Richard admits he has a work-related question for Jack and wants Marisol present to quell frazzled nerves and predispositions to aggression between himself and Jack.

Jack and Susan arrive at a swanky black-tie dinner and see Richard and Marisol dancing. Obviously, this sight surprises them, as Richard is not known for such frivolity. Right away Susan recognizes Marisol. They all greet each other awkwardly before sitting down for dinner. Marisol refers to Richard as “Richie,” which I find slightly nauseating.

The tension is thick at the dinner table with countless double entendres flying around. Marisol becomes visibly nervous and excuses herself to the ladies room. Susan joins her and cuts right to the chase. She reveals that she knows who Marisol is. Marisol is defensive, but then blithely reveals how Alfred dispatched her to help Jack through “Richie.” Next, Marisol reveals her true intentions, which surprisingly changed from being famous to being adored by a man and starting a family. Susan then offers a little bit of advice, after hearing that Richard is smitten with Marisol and that Marisol cares for him as well.

Susan: “Then you should come clean. Nothing good ever started with a lie.”

Back at the table, Richard asks Jack what he thinks about Marisol. Jack makes a polite comment and presses Richard to get to the point. Richard admits he still needs Jack’s help, even though he quit the team. Jack smugly tells Richard he’ll come back on certain conditions. However, Jack’s self-congratulatory demeanor reduces to a balloon rapidly losing air in the span of seconds.

Richard informs Jack that he was replaced with Marvin, a chemist superstar with impeccable credentials. In the same breath, Richard also lies and says Marvin is fitting right in, and the team is making excellent headway. Interesting that Richard is now the one blowing smoke and telling the lies. He’s playing the part of The Wizard quite well. Jack is further infuriated that Richard is using his notes.

Jack: “You’re stealing the fruits of my labor?”

Now it’s Richard’s turn to have a smug mug. I really find it unbecoming. He looks like such a loser when he does it. However, Jack isn’t going to part without deflating Richard’s newfound confidence.

Jack: “You want to know what I think about Marisol?”

Richard loses the smug look and lowers his drink.

Jack: “I think you should make sure she’s with you for the right reasons.”

And with that “fuck you,” Jack finishes his drink and leaves the table just as Marisol returns. Susan is close behind and stops briefly to ask what happened before following after Jack.

The next day, Susan discusses the situation with Alfred as they walk up the stairs in the lodge. Once he points out that Marisol is happy, which is the Thelema’s aim, that conversation is over. Alfred moves on to the matter at hand, which is to conduct a session with Susan.

Alfred: “As an air elemental, you need to be contained.”

“Contained” means Susan lays on top of a table and has a sheer, red cloth drawn over her. With each question Alfred asks about the girl in Susan’s vision, he hammers a nail into the cloth, tracing an outline of Susan’s body.

Susan speaks rapidly, shuddering with each metal crack of the nail being pounded into the table. She envisions the young girl and recalls she had an orange in her mouth. Susan also recalls that she hated oranges, because they made her sick to her stomach, as far back as she can remember. As Alfred continues his questions and hammering, Susan says she is allergic to oranges and mentions there was an orange grove behind her house, so she kept far away from it.

However, Susan sees the young girl’s feet running through that very grove. The trees surround her, full of bright, sunny oranges, while the rest of the grove and scenery is in black and white. The young girl looks happy and carefree as she strains on her toes to reach an orange. Susan is breathing heavy and shaking her head back and forth on the table.

The young girl’s fingers barely brush the orange when a hand reaches to lower the branch for her to grasp the orange. Behind the hand is the face of a handsome young man, and the young girl smiles, sweet and innocent.

Alfred: (hammering) “What do you see?”

Susan: “I see me.”

Alfred: (stops hammering) “Why would you be so frightened by yourself?”

Jack drives out to the desert where Richard is working. Again, Jack’s entry is questioned by a gatekeeper of sorts, someone who asks if he needs assistance. Instead, he rushes into a tent and starts looking through things while Marvin works nearby. Marvin calls for Richard. However, once he recognizes Jack, he stops in his tracks and rambles on in admiration. He spills the beans on the true state of the project and shows Jack the problem they are trying to solve.

Just as Jack is leaving, Samson, Chiang, and Richard all rush to the tent. Jack has a box of his things in hand, and Richard actually tries to stop him, albeit briefly. I think I would have liked to see Jack punch Richard in his smart-yet-stupid face.

Richard: “I tried being nice, inviting you to a very expensive dinner.”

Jack: “A genuine apology would have gotten you a lot further.”

Richard: “You’re the one who should be apologizing to me the way you spoke about Marisol.”

Jack: “I wasn’t insulting her, I was insulting you. Ask yourself, Richard. What could a girl like that possibly see in you?”

Jack should have left it at that, but he had to puff his chest out again by mentioning his “very significant job promotion.” Richard takes the opportunity to humiliate Jack by pointing out who employs him. Jack leaves with his things, but not before Richard says he doesn’t need Jack’s notes…Sure, Richard. Then why did you ask for Jack’s help?

Ernest looks out his window at the lights on at the Parsons’ house. Susan showers, and after she gets out, she sees a shadow behind her. When she turns around, no one is there. Next, she’s startled by Jack’s voice. He’s just returned home, ranting and raving about Richard. Susan ignores him and continues staring at herself in the mirror.

Jack goes out to the garage to work. Meanwhile, Ernest is putting in his own work at home.

He places candles in a circle and cuts his forearm with a knife to draw blood that he drips and smears onto the floor in the sign of a pentagram. He places Jack’s cigarette lighter from his father in the center and chants with that gorgeous voice of his before speaking.

Ernest: “I am known to you by my name, Nuit, and to him by a secret name, which I shall give to him when he at last knoweth me.”

Ernest is at first startled by a knock on the door but then smiles knowingly.

Ernest opens the door for Jack, who is briefly taken aback by Ernest’s bloody arm. Ernest doesn’t skip a beat.

Ernest: (pointing at Jack) “You need help with something.”

They walk up to the hilltop behind their houses, carrying a small rocket and some metal items in a wheelbarrow that Ernest pushes. Jack questions Ernest about his arm, and we learn that Ernest is conducting his last working before ascension to the second triad. When Jack continues questioning what Ernest was trying to manifest, Ernest changes the focus back to Jack. Jack reveals they are about to conduct a test that will let him know whether or not he should take the offer of a promotion. He is torn and doesn’t know which decision to make.

Jack: “See, it’s all well and good to talk about following your true path, but what if you’re faced with two bad turns in the road?”

Ernest: “You remember the first night I brought you up here? It was standing right there.”

Jack: “You mean the mountain lion?”

Ernest: “No, Jack, the Great Beast. He showed you the way. He did it then. He’ll do it again.”

As they continue their ascent up the hill, I notice how Jack refers to the project now as “our project,” because the team is down to just Jack and Ernest. Jack isn’t part of Richard’s team anymore.

The moon is bright, and the small rocket stands on a metal frame, the city lights twinkling in the background. Jack exhales nervously and then lights the fuse that Ernest holds gently in his hand. The rocket launches, but explodes into the sky. Jack sits silently for a moment in disappointment.

Ernest: “You’ve fired off a million rockets, Jack. Don’t let this one mean more than it has to.”

Jack is not having any of Ernest’s support and optimism. Instead, he quotes Thelema’s Book of Law and takes the results as a sign that he should accept the promotion at work. However, Ernest is not ready for Jack to give up, because he still needs to keep ascending. He stops Jack as he walks away.

Ernest: “You want a sign? Here’s your goddamn sign.”

Ernest holds up Jack’s cigarette lighter.

Jack: “What are you doing with that?”

Ernest: “I took it. There is no law beyond ‘do what thou wilt.’”

Ernest throws the cigarette lighter to Jack.

Jack: “That was my father’s.”

Jack turns to continue walking down the hill, and Ernest follows after him.

Ernest: “Oh, you mean the one that abandoned you?”

Jack: “Shut your fucking mouth.”

Ernest: “Nothing else matters in this life but being true to yourself.”

Jack: “I tried. People keep getting in my way.”

Ernest: (yelling) “Open your damn eyes. You remember what it felt like when I took you up in that crop duster and everything else just faded away?”

Jack: “I’m going home, Ernest.”

Ernest grabs Jack’s arm and turns him around.

Jack: “Let go of me.”

Ernest: “Not gonna happen, Jack. Not ever. I am the only one who’s gotten you closer to what you want.”

Jack pushes Ernest and walks away again. Ernest runs after Jack and tackles him. They both roll down the hill and wrestle one another. Ernest seems to have the upper hand because he’s on top of Jack. Ernest begins chanting, and then…bites Jack’s ear! I was really disappointed here, because I felt ZERO sexual tension, despite the wrestling and ear biting. (Let me know what you think…maybe I just have high expectations after the great chemistry I saw during their first visit to the hilltop.)

Jack elbows Ernest off of him.

Ernest: “Never forget who you are, Jack. You’re not a supervisor. You are a Marvel!”

Jack holds his ear, then looks at the blood on his hand, and at Ernest, in disbelief.

Jack: “Am I part of your ‘workings’?”

Ernest: “Can’t outrun your destiny, Jack. A man of will knows no boundaries.”

Jack: (runs away) “Stay the fuck away from me.”

Ernest calls after Jack, but the realization of what he’s done settles in quickly. Ernest shifts his feet anxiously as he grips his head with his hands.

Richard and Marisol are at her place. Marisol irons clothes while Richard goes through an insufferable mathematical explanation as to why Marisol is the one for him. It takes a while, but he finally tells Marisol that he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Marisol looks anxious and responds with the dreaded, “There’s something I have to tell you.” But that’s about as far as we get with them, for the time being.

Susan is in session with Alfred again, nails pounding the cloth tighter and tighter around her. Susan is fighting it, but Alfred continues to press her. Susan sees herself in the orange grove, smiling at the handsome young man. The young man’s face is also smiling but then changes to fear. Susan is now crying during her session, and Alfred touches her arm.

In the grove, Susan turns to see Virgil approaching with an angry look on his face. He is holding some sort of tool, which he uses to strike the young man violently across his face, after grabbing Susan’s arm and jerking her backward. Blood spurts from the young man’s face and Virgil drags Susan away as she looks back at him. By this point, Susan is panting and crying harder on the table, and Alfred pulls the cloth off of her.

Very briefly we see Jack accepts the supervisory position at work. When he returns home with a bottle of bubbly, house painters are coming out of Ernest’s house. There’s a for sale or rent sign in the yard. Jack learns Ernest took off without paying the rent.

Painter: “He a friend of yours?”

Jack: “No. Hardly knew him.”

Jack pauses to look through the open door to the empty house. His face doesn’t just look angry. I think he also looks betrayed.

Susan isn’t home yet, so Jack sits on the porch, cracking open the champagne and drinking it straight from the bottle. He wanders into his garage and trashes the place in a rage. When Susan comes home, she sees smoke coming from the yard. Jack has a small bonfire going, and he’s burning all his materials.

Susan: “Jack! Jack, what are you doing?”

Jack: “I’m getting rid of everything. You should understand. You’re such a big believer in purging all of a sudden. I’m done pretending. I’m not gonna lead mankind to the moon. I’m not gonna bend the world to my will. I’m a gainfully employed chemical company supervisor.”

All the while, Jack continues throwing his papers into the fire.

Jack: “You were right about the Agape. It does corrupt people. It makes them believe that they can have anything they want, however twisted.”

Susan tries to stop Jack, but he continues.

Jack: “Ernest left this godforsaken neighborhood, and we’re getting out of here, too. You want three bedrooms? Why not four? Heck, maybe we’ll have twins.” (grips Susan’s face) “But most of all, you can stop punishing me by going. Okay? I’ve learned my lesson. I just want things to go back to the way they used to be.”

Susan: (tearing up) “What if I can’t?” (pause) “I don’t think I can go back to who I used to be. I don’t want to.”

Jack: (stunned) “Please don’t say that. I know I’ve made some mistakes.”

Susan: “It’s not that. I…I learned something today, something about myself.”

Susan can’t seem to continue. She just shakes her head while Jack asks her what it is.

Jack: “Does the Grand Magus know?”

He takes the Book of Law and tosses it into the fire, saying he’s done with it and wants his wife back.

The fire ignites further, and the embers travel to the roof of their garage. Jack climbs a ladder to throw a bucket of water on the roof, but the damage has spread quickly. Large footprints appear on the burning lava of a roof. The fire forms the shape of a four-legged animal with glowing eyes and multiple heads. It approaches Jack and roars. Jack, almost as if in a trance, feels a hot wave of air wash over him, and watches the Great Beast and footprints disappear.

Good things about this episode: Susan’s revelations and her movement towards (hopefully) less pain and more freedom. Bad things about this episode: not enough Ernest, and thus far there’s no hint of a resolution of Ernest’s feelings for Jack. The previews for the final episode make it look like Ernest is still in the picture, despite having left his house. Jack comes back to Thelema and wants to form a more formal partnership with Ernest. I’m not optimistic their partnership will provide anything that interesting in the final episode, but can I at least have Susan getting off and telling Virgil to fuck off? I’ll settle for that for the time being and hope for the best for Season 2.

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